Surviving Disneyworld, Part II

I really feel it’s time to get back to the positives in life, because the negatives, though very real, cannot be changed.  Every moment is precious, as we all know, and I am doing my best to live my life with that philosophy.  With that in mind, I’m ready to get back to my Disney trip report.

Disney, Day 3

When I went to bed Sunday night, I could really feel the 57 points I’d eaten.  I didn’t feel bloated or uncomfortable, but I just felt…not right.  Although it was all within my weekly allotment (since my week ends on Sundays), I just felt like I needed to do something to get back on track.

So, Monday morning, I got up about 5:40am and went for a 2 mile run in the dark!

That’s me in front of the Yacht Club lighthouse, which is out in the Epcot lagoon.  Yes, I did bug a random stranger to take a picture of me at 6:45 in the morning, but I promise you I paid it forward all week long…every time I saw one person taking a picture of another person, when it was clear that they were a couple or a family, I stopped to say, “Would you like to be in the picture, too?” I could tell I made a lot of peoples’ day by doing that. 🙂

Anyway, after my two-mile run, I felt much better and more positive about my day. It was a pretty good run…

And the sunrise was beautiful…

After rousing the kids and the husband, it was onto Hollywood Studios!

My kids loved HS, mostly because it had a Star Wars ride. (I think my husband also secretly loved it for that reason.)  We also did Toy Story Mania, which is a hugely popular ride, but I personally thought was just okay. Definitely not worth a long wait!  Luckily, my sister-in-law had forewarned me about the ride, and when we arrived, I ran ahead—literally—and picked up Fastpasses for it, so when we did ride it, we didn’t wait long at all. (I also got yelled at for running through the park. But it was fun to run through Main Street with the movie music playing for that 30 seconds before I got reprimanded—it was like I was in my own personal action flick! I’d totally do it again. 😉 )

We did lots of fun shows at Hollywood Studios, including the Indiana Jones show as well as my beloved Beauty and the Beast.

Back at the Toy Story ride, we ran into a funny character.

Loved him, lol!  My son tried to get me to go on this ride.

But I wasn’t budging. 😉 (That’s the Tower of Terror, in case you couldn’t tell.)

We were able to sign the kids up for the Jedi Training, much to their delight, and while we waited for our time slot, we had lunch at the Backlot restaurant.  After the previous day’s heavy lunch, I went for a nice salad.  And it was quite good!  I forgot to take a picture, but I did get a shot of dessert.

I had some mousse, but it was really more like a pudding, so I just had a few bites.  Because pudding isn’t nearly as exciting as mousse!

The boys did the Jedi training, which was fun as well as quite humorous.

I only took a few pictures because I video-taped most of it, thinking the Fastpass photographer would have better shots.  As it turns out, the shots were quite expensive (ten bucks a piece?!) and I wasn’t impressed enough with them to buy any.  I wish I could have video-taped and done still shots!  Ah, well.

We did the new Jack Sparrow “adventure” (which, I’m sorry, was just not that exciting, and definitely not worth the long wait!), and then we headed out to Fort Wilderness for the Hoop Dee Do Revue.  If you’ve never experienced it, it’s great fun for adults and kids. It’s a dinner show that’s totally hokey with lots of bad jokes, but I love it.  My kids did, too!  We had a great time.

Not to mention, the food was awesome! Fried chicken, pork ribs, and the best mashed potatoes anywhere!  And then it ends with a strawberry shortcake to split.  Yum!!  I took the skin off the chicken to make it healthier, but I enjoyed plenty of mashed taters and shortcake. 🙂

Here’s how that day ended up:

Eight points over, but I also earned 8 activity points with my run and all my walking. So, a pretty good day!

Disney, Day 4

Day 4 was supposed to start at Epcot and end at Magic Kingdom, but we decided to do Magic Kingdom all day instead.  Because we like being flexible on vacation! (And after all, isn’t Magic Kingdom the whole reason you go to Disneyworld??)  Our day started quite fun—we stopped in the lobby to say hi to the Yacht Club greeter, who is dressed like a captain, of course! We chatted for a few moments and when the captain learned that the boys’ grandfather (my dad) had been a commander in the Navy, he gave them a special treat: they got to be Captains of the Day!

One of the staff took this picture with her camera as well, and when we got back to the room that afternoon, it was put in a nice little paper frame proclaiming their “title.” It was so cute!

At Magic Kingdom, my husband, who is a sucker ;), couldn’t resist buying the boys each a little souvenir.

As much as I make fun of my husband for buying into the hype, I can’t deny that I love this picture and I know I will treasure it always. 😀

We also had a chance to see an old favorite…

In the first picture, Buzz is looking at the bottom of DS#1’s pin lanyard.  My son not only has the original “Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin Clearance Card” (a laminated card given to the kids who rode that ride back in 2005), he also has an “anchor” for his lanyard that is a very large Buzz Lightyear pendant.  We bought him that anchor on his first trip to Disneyworld in 2005, and they don’t seem to sell it anymore.  They don’t give out the “clearance” cards either.  I think Buzz was quite impressed not only that my son had these items, but that a ten-year-old was sporting all that Buzz stuff. 😉

We rode all the rides again, except that I chose to bypass Space Mountain this time.  My one and only time on Sunday was enough.  But at least I rode it once, right?

DS#2 was really frustrated by the fact that none of the kids’ menus at Disney seemed to include a hotdog, so my husband (Jason) chose to let them have lunch at Tony’s café, a place that sold only hot dogs. And not just any hot dogs…big hot dogs covered with all kinds of crap (chili, cheese, etc.).  I was not about to eat that, since I’m only marginally interested in hot dogs on a good day, so I just skipped lunch.  Okay, actually, I didn’t skip it…I chose to have it in the form of an ice cream sundae. 😀

I have a friend from junior high who lives in Florida now and actually works at Disneyworld—she’s a 20+ year employee!  We took her to dinner Tuesday night to Chef’s de France.  It was a great time and a delicious meal!

I had roasted chicken and potatoes with a few bites of mousse for dessert.  And that, I assure you, was some delightful mousse!

Here’s day 4’s final tally:

Not bad, and definitely worth all the GREAT food.  You’ll notice that I once again had a banana and an apple for an afternoon snack.  The club level lounge had those and oranges always there for the taking, and since fruit is “free” (ie, zero points) on Weight Watchers as well as being “free” at the resort, I took full advantage of it!

My trip will be wrapped up with my next post, and I will let you know how I fared on the scale after a week at the fatteningest place on earth. 😉

(Note: Click here for a direct link to the third part of my Disney Trip report.)

Thanks for reading!