The Hoop Dee Doo Reviewwas a major high of our trip. I had been to the show twice before — once as a kid, and once when Braydon, my parents, and I went to Disney with Maria (she was 8 then, which means that was about 15 years ago! whoa!). It is super fun. But this time around took it to another level. This was Kyle and Owen’s first experience with live slap-stick comedy, and it would be a major understatement to say that they enjoyed it. They absolutely LOVED it. They thought everything was so totally over-the-top hilarious, and they laughed so hard that they had everyone around them laughing at them laughing. I swear, I spent more time watching my boys watch the show (and laugh ’till they almost peed their pants), than I did watching the show on the stage (and I wasn’t the only one– K & O kept every table around us, plus our waitstaff, entertained for the whole night). The meal was really good too– we were hungry that night, and the bbq ribs, fried chicken, and all the fixings seemed to really hit the spot! (The huge pitcher of beer for Braydon and me, and the endless soda and chocolate milk for the boys and Meera, helped too!) This is the best part of Disney: the focus on having a genuinely really good time together. As soon as the show ended, one of the cast members got off the stage and made a bee-line to the back of the room straight to our table. I couldn’t imagine what she was doing, but when she got to us it turned out that she simply just wanted to meet our kids. She hugged them and chatted it up with them, then asked if we wanted a photo with her (who would say “no”?). The kids were thrilled (Meera had adored her throughout the show, and K & O had little boy crushes on her). I was once again pretty blown away by the special attention. We left on Cloud 9. And then — thrill of thrills for the boys!!! — we rode a Disney ferry, across the lake, in the pitch dark, to get back to our room for the night. That Hoop Dee Doo Review night was magical.
Other highlights:
The jumping fountains at Epcot.The bambinos could have spent a whole day just playing at those jumping fountains. Braydon and I sat on a bench and watched them play for almost an hour. It is one of my best memories of the trip. And luckily I knew enough to have brought an extra set of clothes for them everywhere we went (oh, I know these three waaay toooo welllll).
Haitian friends everywhere we went. At Disney all of the employes (“Cast Members”) wear name tags that identify where they are from. Kyle and Owen quickly caught onto this, and also quickly realized how many Haitians work at Walt Disney World. Every time they spotted someone from Haiti they stopped to talk with them. “We’re from Haiti too!” Some of these stops lasted just a few seconds, many of them turned into lengthy full-blown conversations, and some of them became whole-life-story and profound-words-given-and-received. (One of them resulted in the Cast Member giving us 10 Fast Pass tickets to any rides of our choice, and then personally escorting us straight into the very front of the line for Peter Pan’s Flight). The Haitians were all eager to give Kyle and Owen lots of words of wisdom. They also were apt to drill one specific piece of advice/admonition into Kyle and Owen over and over and over — “RESPECT YOUR MOTHER!” This thrilled me to no end– In part because any mother would love to hear this advice given to her son (obvi!), and in part because I felt so honored to have these Haitians honor me simply by calling (and not questioning) me as their boys’ (yes, their boys) mother. The Haitian connection that Kyle and Owen have with others from Haiti is so deep and strong. Braydon, Meera, and I are outside of it. But I love watching my boys connect through it with others. It was a major highlight of our trip.
Everest.The boys’ favorite ride. They rode it many times. Braydon and I have a hard time stomaching it. And Meera was too short to ride it. We finally let K & O ride it on their own– dropping them off at the end of the line, and picking them up where the ride let out.
Big Thunder Mountain. Meera’s favorite ride (she takes after her two parents). We rode it many times as a family of five. Fun!!!
Presents. There is so much stuff to buy at Disney. People go crazy there, just buying stuff. We are so lucky that our kids don’t ask for much and are super appreciative when we do buy them something. On the last day, when K & O were riding Space Mountain (again!) with their Papi, I took Meera into a toy store and told her she could pick out anything she wanted. She picked two princesses and I bought them for her on the spot. She acted like I had just given her a trip to Disney (!!)… đŸ˜‰ …the staff working in the store were so blown away by Meera’s appreciativeness that they pulled her aside and gave her all sorts of extras for free– a hand-printed princess pin, a bunch of stickers, etc. It was all very sweet. As soon as we got out of the store, Meera asked me to take a picture of her with the new dolls. She set them on the sidewalk just so, and posed with them, making sure I took the photo exactly as she wanted. It was really precious. We then found a bench where we were able to sit and unpackage the dolls. Meera set them on the bench and asked to take a picture with my camera. The photo she took of her princesses on the bench is below. For about 30 minutes, right there, in the center of the Magic Kingdom, Meera was lost in her own world with those two dolls. It is random, but the whole scene was such a memorable highlight for me of Meera, at age 4, at Disney.
Basketball in the Magic Kingdom. Kyle and Owen, on the other hand, want for nothing. Seriously, they virtually never ask for anything. They are probably the only two kids in Disney World who go for days without ever asking for a thing. Even if offered to them, they’ll usually turn it down. Crazy kids. They did, however, one day spot small Disney World basketballs for sale. And that was something they couldn’t pass up! They proceeded to dribble those balls all over the Magic Kingdom like little basketball loving maniacs. It gave me such a chuckle… you can take the boys out of basketball, but you can’t take the basketball out of the boys…
Living It. There are so many spaces to just be and enjoy at Disney. If you let yourself not rush to try to get to everything (which is a challenge for us, but we were really conscientiously trying to give ourselves the luxury of living it and not rushing through it)… it is just so pleasant and charming and enjoyable. Our kids are so good at taking time to smell the roses… we are learning from them. A major high was just living it.
Next up: Family Bonding (a Post of Pics)