Caribbean/Disney vacation

Once upon a time, we went on an amazing family vacation.

Day 1: spent the morning packing, which is always more complicated than it sounds. Especially when packing for a completely different climate (Utah: 30 degrees, Florida: 80 degrees), packing for children (who always need more than you bring) and trying to limit yourself on suitcases (we eventually gave up on that). But the real adventure began at the airport. Fortunately, the girls were remarkably well behaved and followed directions as we made our way through the airport. Especially when the airport suddenly went into lockdown, trapping my little family in a holding tank and separating us from Grandparents (not yet through security) and Uncle and Aunt (already through security and ten feet ahead of us). So we stalled, watched a movie and eating snacks until we were finally released to go to our flight. So boarded the airplane, found our seats and settled in for what became the longest flight of my life. The girls were bouncing off the walls! Tired but refusing to sleep, they tore through the books and activities with alarming speed, devoured the snacks and began to climb the walls. Literally. Somehow we survived. We made it to the Orlando airport, collected our luggage which the girls insisted on helping with (imagine them pulling suitcases bigger than themselves) and boarded the bus which delivered us to our hotel just after midnight.

Day 2: We slept in! Hurray! And then spent the day at DisneyWorld’s Animal Kingdom. Completely different from Disneyland, DisneyWorld is actually four different theme parks (plus water parks and more), each with its own style and personality. Animal Kingdom is actually a huge wildlife preserve with a few rides and other attractions mixed in. So we wandered, absorbing the ambiance and excitement, shuffling along with the crowd and watching my beautiful girls light up with each new discovery. They loved the animals and the atmosphere. We did a few rides, most notably the Safari, where we boarded a jeep and took a ride through the savannah region of the wildlife preserve. My little Butterfly loved it. Ladybug fell asleep. We watched the parade of unusually decorated, animal themed floats and Disney characters. Again, Butterfly loved it and waved enthusiastically but a very tired little Ladybug shied away from the six foot Baloo bear that tried to pat her back. They loved wandered through the animal trails, spotting monkeys and other unusual wildlife. We went to the “Finding Nemo” music which was creative, fun and entertaining. Butterfly, in her childlike innocence, got so caught up in all the magic, yelling and calling out to the characters or trying to catch the bubbles that fall from the ceiling. We ended the day early, heading back to the hotel for dinner and some time to relax.

Day 3: Slept in again! This tells me that my children truly aren’t old enough to understand yet exactly where we are. I suspect that if they knew, they would be awake at the crack of dawn. In fact, much like a little kid myself, I woke up early and couldn’t go back to sleep, eager to go enjoy the Disney magic. It’s such a special part of my childhood that I can’t help to have such anticipation. But like little angels, the girls slept and their innocence gave us opportunity for some much needed rest and relaxation. Once they woke, our adventure began as day 3 was Magic Kingdom day. Most similar to Disneyland, this is the park with the castle and many of classic Disney attractions and so much of the magic that children believe in. We dressed the girls in their princess dresses. Butterfly got to wear her beautiful Belle ballroom gown, made especially for her by her talented aunt for her birthday. She danced and twirled around the hotel room, eager to show off and enjoy her beautiful dress. Ladybug wore a Cinderella dress, looking equally delicate and beautiful. We arrived at the park just in time for a “block party parade” where favorite Disney characters marched past us and the girls waved happily and eagerly to each one. Then they stopped, got down from their floats and joined the crowd to dance and play. Butterfly got to dance and high five with one of her all time favorite characters—Woody, who she calls “my cowboy doll”. And after the party, we continued on to enjoy some rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and saw the very cute Mickey’s Philharmonic 3D show (Ladybug loved, Butterfly shied away) and rode the carousel (both the girls absolutely loved it). We shared an ice cream cone and I melted at the sight of our beautiful girls, dressed in exquisite princess gowns, happily licking ice cream and making a huge mess. Then we joined the rest of the group so Grandma and Grandpa could take little Butterfly on Splash Mountain (she clung to Grandma but was eager to see it all and squealed at the drop) before headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap. Before the trip, we had decided that while we were so excited to spend time with siblings and cousins, each family needed to be able to follow their own schedules. So throughout the trip, we played together when we could, almost always had dinner together but frequently split up during the day to better accommodate different interests and naptimes. It ended up working great, we were able to spend time together but still do what was best for our own families. So Uncle and Aunt stayed to play while my little family took a break for naps. After naps we returned to Magic Kingdom for more fun and more rides with Grandma and Grandpa. They especially loved Autotopia (Ladybug was just barely tall enough to ride) and the flying elephants. I think Daddy’s favorite was Space Mountain. We sent him on it with Grandma while Grandpa, the girls and I shared a popcorn snack. Butterfly’s favorite was the tea cups and Ladybug’s favorite was the carousel. In fact, at the end of the night, the park had emptied considerably, so we ended up riding the carousel eight times in a row, without even having to get off in between. Ladybug was thrilled. We saw the fireworks show, Ladybug cuddled against Daddy and cooed and squealed in delight while Butterfly covered her ears and watched with much less excitement. Finally, we wore them out. Or more accurately, the park closed and then they fell asleep on the bus on the way home.

Day 4: Slept in, packed up, and were joined by the girls’ Auntie before we boarded the van that drove us to the pier to find our cruise ship! We were sailing with Norwegian Cruise Line on their Western Caribbean itinerary. I had never sailed with NCL before and was overall very impressed. The service was great, the food was plentiful and outstanding, the ship’s amenities were excellent and the on board activities were fantastic (I have previously felt that Carnival’s entertainment was more appropriate to Vegas and that both Carnival and Royal Caribbean, while enjoyable, were not as family oriented). Boarding the ship went very smoothly (except when Ladybug peed on Daddy) and Butterfly was thrilled about getting on “the big boat”. After food and naps, we quickly found the kiddie pool. Situated on the side of the ship, away from much of the noise and the crowd, was a one foot deep splash pool with a slow but apparently fascinating slide (about three foot tall). We visited the pool at least once a day throughout the trip and both of our girls were thrilled. They splashed and played and made friends. Ladybug found a little boy six months older than she and followed him around, flirting and acting coy, so we dubbed him the “cruise boyfriend”. Butterfly made friends with every kid who was willing to play with her and especially enjoyed playing “shark” in the shallow water. A handful of tiny girls fawned over my hubband, loving the playful attention as he feigned fear as they attacked his feet, until Butterfly’s possessiveness would kick in and she had to declare him hers. Ladybug spent hours going up and down the stairs leading into the pool and up to the slide. Completely content with these simple steps and looking so adorable in her tiny swimming suit, she held to the railing and stepped up, one stair at a time, reached the top, turned around and began her equally slow descent.

Day 5: day at sea. Spent swimming, sleeping and eating. We decided to try out the kids club for Butterfly and she loved it. They had a Blue’s Clues activity in the morning, spongebob party in the afternoon and stories in the evening, each with facepainting, crafts, activities and more. Butterfly called the kids club “her friends” and after each meal or nap, she begged to “go play with friends”. That evening we dressed up for a formal family picture (a very tired Ladybug refused to leave Daddy’s arms and refused to smile, but other than that, it turned out pretty good) and then went to dinner at the ship’s shaskaria, a Brazilian restaurant with a unique style and superb food.

Day 6: Cozumel. We had arranged to take a trip aboard a glass bottom boat. So after some brief chaos in finding the right dock in Cozumel, we boarded our little boat and set out to find the first of three reefs we would visit. Most of the boat’s occupants donned snorkeling gear and dove in, including Grandma, Grandpa and Daddy. I had planned to keep the girls in the boat with me but after seeing Daddy in the water, Butterfly begged and ended up eagerly jumping in herself. She clung to Daddy and enjoyed the swim while Ladybug sat with me on the boat. Being a Daddy’s girl through and through, she was not happy with the separation and determined to let me know. But then the boat driver began to tear up a tortilla into tiny pieces and throw it over board. Brightly colored fished swarmed towards us in a feeding frenzy and Ladybug was thrilled calling, “Fish! Fish!” as she pointed, clapped and bounced in excitement. Once the snorkelers piled back into the boat, we headed for the second reef. Here, fewer people dove in and Ladybug became even more upset at the separation. She refused to be pacified, even by the tortilla-hungry fish and cried until she eventually fell asleep on my lap. The snorkelers swam to the third reef and eventually returned to the boat. They had seen beautiful reefs and fish and had been able to use underwater cameras to capture the images for us. Butterfly eagerly looked at the pictures and listened to the stories. Now when she is asked about the trip, she rattles off a long list of seemingly disconnected and outrageous phrases including “Uncle caught the fish and the fish bite Daddy…”, both of which seem strange but are in fact true. Her uncle had playful chased after some fish with his arms out, nearly catching them and Daddy had swam into a jellyfish hatching. Hundreds of baby jellyfish dotted the water around him and stung him. Baby jellyfish apparently feel like tiny pricks but aren’t nearly as dangerous as their parents. Once our boat excursion ended, we gathered our over tired babies and dashed back to the ship for some much needed naps. That evening, we decided to feed Butterfly early and send her to kids club, rather than drag her to the dining room with us. The plan was brilliant. The dining room meals are delectable but are mean to be savored and enjoyed at leisure—rather boring for young children. But with Butterfly at kids club and Ladybug watching a dvd, the meal was perfect. After dinner, we put Ladybug to bed and took a baby monitor with us to pick up Butterfly. The kids club had a superhero party that evening so when she met us, she declared herself a superhero and ran ahead of us. She ran down the hall, with her paper cape flowing behind her and her brand new, slightly too big shorts began a slow slide down her narrow hips. Heedless of this, she ran on. By the time we caught her, the shorts had fallen to her ankles. We corrected our superhero’s attire and took her out for a late night dessert date.

Day 7: Guatemala. For this port, we took out little girls ashore and found someone to take us to the popular Las Escobas Waterfalls. (I had found that booking an excursion through the cruise ship was much more expensive than finding a local company online.) Our driver was friendly and considerate, taking a group of approximately 16 people to the falls where he gave some minimal instructions and we split up. Our driver stayed close to our little family, the only ones with children, and was helpful in making sure we didn’t get lost as we hiked the short trail to the falls. The waterfalls, while not as large as I had expected, were beautiful and the water was clear, cool and inviting. We tested the water and the girls plunged right in. I managed to wrestle Butterfly into her swimming suit first but Ladybug unexpectedly plunged in, still fully clothed. So we played in the water, content to wade and throw rocks. We discovered beautiful shells, some with tiny animals still in them and learned to collect carefully. When our allotted time was up, we returned to the bus, stopping briefly to purchase a plate of food. I love trying local food in the places we visit and was not disappointed. The small corn tortillas were smeared with guacamole and then piled with rice, dribbled with juice from the stewed chicken. Not quite as delectable as the similar fare we’ve had in Belize but very tasty. Butterfly loved and devoured the chicken as we drove back to the ship. At the ship, we surrendered to naps (the abundant amount of sleep on this trip was truly one of the best parts of the whole vacation). Butterfly and I continued to sleep while Daddy and Ladybug went back to the pier for some of our traditional shopping. We have a magnet from every place we have visited together and being as spoiled as I am, I have a pair of earrings from nearly every trip we’ve taken. Guatemala is famous for its jade so my amazing hubband went in search of a magnet and jade earrings and ended up meeting Grandma, Grandpa and auntie as they also wandered the market. He returned with not only my beautiful earrings but a handful of fun trinkets for the girls, such as hair scrunchies that they think are bracelets and a woven backpack that looks like a bear. That night at kids club, Butterfly attended an “un-birthday” party and again came home full of excitement stories.

Day 8: Belize. This day didn’t go quite as planned. The girls had a rough night (I struggled with the rocking of the boat throughout the evening, Butterfly had leg cramps and Ladybug was kept awake by our discomfort) so we slept in, had a lazy morning and then took a long nap. After lunch, we got ready to head ashore, thinking we would have a short amount of time to wander and get a snack, but due to the necessity of waiting for a tender (Belize has thick reefs that make it impossible for a cruise ship to dock at the pier itself so the ships have to use small boats to shuttle people to the shore) and a misunderstanding of what time the ship would leave, we realized we didn’t have enough time to make it worth going ashore. Whoops. So we went swimming instead. That evening, we got to go to the evening entertainment, which turned out to be a professional juggler. Sounds silly but he had great showmanship and was really entertaining as he showed off his skills and explained his career as an eighth generation circus performer.

Day 9: day at sea. Butterfly was eager to go to kids club in the morning so we dropped her off and took Ladybug swimming. The kids club was having a pirate day, complete with a treasure hunt and a pirate parade. We watched for our tiny pirate during the parade and cheered for her. When she returned to us for lunch and naptime, she saw my swimming suit and accusingly declared “you went to the pool!” So after naps we went swimming again and enjoyed watching our little fish babies as they played (and climbed stairs) with such delight. They especially loved seeing the rest of the family, who often found us at the pool. They could convince Auntie to come swimming and go down the slide with them and took turns splashing Grandma. Their favorite was when Uncle and Aunt joined us at the kiddie pool, bringing their tiny and beautiful baby to play in the water. Butterfly and Ladybug were eager to play with her and getting to see these cousins together was truly one of the best parts of the whole trip. That night, Butterfly went to kids club again and Grandma and Grandpa offered to watch Ladybug and her cousin while the “adults” went out. So we got to go to dinner with his siblings and thoroughly enjoyed the evening as we caught up with each other and relax through the delectable meal, without the charming, but typically distracting and demanding needs of our young children. Okay, mostly my young children. Uncle and Aunt’s baby is remarkably well behaved.

Day 10: Key West. Butterfly had spent the night with a raging fever so we were a tired and anxious family that showed up for the early morning customs check (Key West is part of Florida and therefore needed to “go through customs” upon our arrival.) Keeping her fever at bay with Motrin (works like magic on her), we went ashore and met the rest of the family for some time at the aquarium. Ladybug loved the touch tank and eagerly pet the creatures that Grandpa wanted to show her. Butterfly was quiet and clung to Daddy as we wandered around. We split up from the group and stopped for a snack before continuing onto the Shipwreck museum. The tour guide/actors cleverly used role playing to introduce us to the museum and the history of salvaging before leaving us to wander among their treasures. The girls loved climbing the lookout tower (a billion stairs which Ladybug insisted on climbing by herself) and took turns ringing the bell at the top. We finished at the museum and returned to the ship for naps and quiet time. Butterfly’s fever turned out to be an unknown 24 hour virus that was gone by the next morning but made her very cranky and made me very anxious in the meantime. This was our last evening on the ship so we enjoyed dinner together and Grandma and Grandpa spoiled us with gifts—carved wooden serving spoons from Belize’s lucky “monkey wood” and for the girls, necklaces. For Butterfly and Ladybug, the necklaces were shells, cleverly cut to look like fish and the necklace I was given is absolutely striking. The necklace is strung with small beads of jade and pearl with a large jade pendant as the focal piece. After dinner, we spent the evening packing (which as my sister once pointed out, always seems to feel like defeat. It’s rather depressing.) But fortunately, our vacation was not over yet…

Day 11: We woke up, collected our things, grabbed breakfast and reluctantly left the ship. Our van took us back to the hotel. Both before the cruise and after, we stayed at the DisneyWorld Pop Century Resort. The ambiance is fun and very family friendly but the service we had was less than impressive. Nevertheless, it was a clean room, cafeteria style dining and transportation to the parks. After an unnecessarily long check in process, our group split up. The others were ready to go play but me and the girls needed lunch and naps before we could play (Daddy stayed with us to supervise). So after a restful afternoon, we arrived at Epcot. We rode the Three Caballeros boat ride and played in the Tinkerbell gardens. We went to a “character spot” where after a surprisingly reasonable amount of time (the lines at Magic Kingdom had been so long, we simply couldn’t do it), the girls got to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy! Butterfly was ecstatic and we nearly had to hold her back until the previous family was finished with each character. Then when her time came, she launched herself at each of them, full of smiles and hugs for these dear friends. Ladybug was much more timid and remained in Daddy’s arms. She loves Mickey and calls it out whenever she spots him, but actually seeing the four foot tall version had her rather nervous. So she offered shy smiles and gave each a high five but lacked her sister’s exuberance. We went on the Finding Nemo ride and wandered around the attached aquarium. We skipped Soaring California due to the prohibitively long line but managed to ride everything else that appealed to us. Then we made our way toward the “lands”. Epcot, originally a showcase for new technology and advancements, remains very different from Disneyland as well. The front half of the park is rides and attractions, generally based on environmental or cultural themes. The back half of the park forms a circle around the lake and is divided into lands—a section of the park each themed for a different country. Here they showcase the architecture and personality of each culture and all of the stores and restaurants feature the traditional fare and flair of that country. So we wandered past each of these lands, delighted to see the topiaries (beautifully and artistically created garden sculptures) of the characters from each of those lands. For example, Belle and the Beast were in France, Alice was in England and some characters dotted the pathways in between, such as Peter Pan and Cinderella. We made our way to Morocco (Aladdin and Jasmine) for one of the best meals of the trip—lamb kebabs. We sent Daddy on Test Track and stayed long enough for a beautiful fireworks show before returning to our hotel with our happy and tired little girls.

Day 12: Hollywood Studios. Grandma joined us as we headed to Hollywood Studios for the day (the rest of the group wasn’t ready to go yet). This park is designed as if it really is a Hollywood set, with many stage and stunt shows. We grabbed fast passes for the Toy Story ride (knowing that the lines would be prohibitively long the entire day) before taking the girls to the short but delightful Little Mermaid stage show. Both the girls loved it, cheering for Ariel, trying to catch falling bubbles and clapping at the end. We tried out the Backlot Tour (more fun for adults than kids but nevertheless entertaining) and went to the Muppets 3D show. Again, Ladybug loved the 3D fun but Butterfly shied away, seeming overwhelmed. We dashed over to the “Lights, Motors, Action!” car stunt show where Ladybug spent most of the show climbing over the bleacher seats but the rest of us enjoyed it. The show is presented as a Hollywood set, where scenes are being acted out and filmed for a movie clip that is presented at the end. They would perform each scene and then explain the equipment and talent required for each stunt. Butterfly watched with enthusiasm as the noisy cars sped around and did impressive jumps and tricks. But at the end, when one actor slides through a burning oil spill and catches on fire, she became agitated and we had to console and explain to my tender-hearted, magic-believing princess that he was okay. (This too joined her report of the trip “fish bite Daddy and man get fire on his back”.) Then Butterfly got to meet Woody while Ladybug napped in the stroller and together we watched the Pixar parade. We sent Daddy to go ride the Rockin Rollercoaster (one of our all-time favorites) while the girls and I shared a Mickey shaped ice cream sandwich and then met up with by Grandma and Auntie for the Beauty and the Beast stage show. Being her favorite princess, Butterfly’s excitement and expressions to see Belle made me melt. At the end of the show, she clapped and cheered and then begged to go dance with Belle. Daddy took the girls to the “honey I shrunk the kids” playground while I went with Grandma and Auntie to the Indiana Jones stunt stage show and then together, we went to the toy story ride (another favorite from the past). Butterfly snuggled into the car between me and Auntie (while Ladybug rode with Grandma and Daddy) and cheered as our car spun and whirled through the 3D arcade-style shooting game. Then we went to drop Daddy, Grandma and Auntie off at Tower of Terror while me and the girls grabbed a snack but much to my surprise, Butterfly begged to go! I tried to convince her it was scary but she bravely insisted she wanted to ride so Daddy decided to take her, assuming she would see all the scary stuff as they waited in line and would chicken out. Instead, my brave little one-day-shy-of-3-years-old daughter became one of the youngest riders ever and went on the ride! I met them in the gift shop as they exited and she told me it scary but she liked it. Who knew. Our last adventure of the evening was attending the lights, lasers and fireworks show of Fantasmic! The show began with Mickey, who lit fireworks from his hands and Butterfly loved it…until the bad guys appeared. Projecting villain after villain onto the water fountain screen, Butterfly panicked so I took her from the theater. But we listened as the plot went on and Mickey triumphed. Mimicking him, she declared “no bad guys! You can’t scare me!” and asked to go back, just in time to catch the big finale. Once ready to leave, I put her in the stroller, we headed for the exit and she was asleep in five minutes. She slept through some brief souvenir shopping, where Ladybug picked up an armful of Mickey dolls, hugging them and giving them kisses and then we all returned home together.

Day 13: We awoke to pounding rain, accompanied by intense lightning and thunder, so we scrapped our plans to go swimming and packed out things. When the rain began to lessen, we went to Downtown Disney where we spent a frustrating afternoon trying to find more medicine for the girls before taking Butterfly to the sweet shop for a birthday cupcake. We asked her what she would like to eat for her birthday and she sweetly answered a “pink cupcake”. So we found her cupcake and she giggled and smiled through a few bites before we had to hurry back to the bus and her poor cupcake, held in her lap became a soggy puddle of rain. Eventually we said a reluctant goodbye to Daddy (who would now be staying in Orlando for a work conference) while the girls and I went with the rest of the family back to the airport. I was near terrified at the prospect of enduring this five hour flight yet again but the girls were amazing! We had a picnic lunch and a brief nap before diving into my supply of movies (too bad the dvd battery died in twenty minutes), books, games, snacks and coloring supplies. Due to some unfriendly seatmates, I wasn’t able to trade off with Grandma but the girls played and somehow, we survived the flight. We arrived, collected our luggage, braved the cold and made our way home, eager for our own beds and thoroughly worn out from a long and absolutely wonderful vacation.