Day 1 - Part Deux, Fun with water

So after Maddie's nap (it ended up getting cut short when the cleaning service lady [who I may add speaks English about as well as Maddie] misunderstood the "Do Not Disturb" sign and barged in) we headed out to MGM Studios.

So the first thing we did once we arrived was to go see the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. This is a theater type show that involves lives actors, puppets on stage with black lights, and large screen animation all working together, it's one of my favorite shows at MGM. Maddie did really well for the most part, she didn't like it when it started raining inside the theater (they have misters that blow water on you) but once the bubbles started falling from the ceiling right after that she forgot she was upset and stared at the bubbles. She then got a little nervous again when Ursula showed up on stage and started being all mean and scary, but dad held her and she didn't cry, was just a bit scared.

After the success of that show, we decided to try on of the 4D animated shows. Both Shalisa and I love these shows (It's Tough to be a Bug, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Mickey's Philharmagic and Muppetvision 3D) but we knew that they might be tough on Maddie as they tend to be a bit more intense. We took her to the Muppetvision 3D show in MGM and it started off well. She loved seeing Kermit (who she is familiar with) and other muppets, but once they started shooting off fireworks and canons, having large gusts of air blown in your face, and had the water from Fonzi's flower actually soaking you (they put little squirt gun thingies in the backs of all the chairs) she decided she was done watching. She did cry just a bit in this show, although it wasn't so bad that we had to leave or anything, but sadly I think this means we will have to skip the rest of the 4D shows in WDW. I knew "It's Tough to be a Bug" was out, but had hoped she would do okay in the others... but after this I doubt it (not that we couldn't watch them, but I hate to subject her to something she doesn't like just so mom and dad can watch a movie they have both already seen 10+ times).

After MGM Studio's we headed back to our resort and grabbed dinner in the resort cafeteria. Nothing spectacular, it was typical food, Dad had a cheeseburger, Maddie had chicken nuggets, and mom had some asian Shrimp Noodle salad thingy. But after dinner came the real fun.

At our resort they have several pools (much like any hotel) but they also have this unique pop-jet water mat area. Basically it's a large foam mat the kids can run around on and water shoots up from underneath at random times from random locations. We took Maddie over to it, and for the first 5 seconds she was a bit timid. She got splashed once by a water jet, and then decided it wouldn't kill her and that this was the most fun thing in the whole wide world. She then proceeded to run around like a maniac with all the other kids (who were all AT LEAST a good 1-2 years older) for about 30-45 minutes. Maddie had an absolute blast, purposely sticking her head in jets of water, sitting on water, splashing in the water, running through the water, basically soaking herself head to toe (hey, it's 90 degrees out, who can blame her). After 45 minutes mom and dad decided to take her back to the room to go to bed, which turned into quite the ordeal. She threw one of her first temper tantrums on this trip. We literally had to drag her out of the water jets and drag her along the sidewalk as she screamed and howled wanting to go back and play some more.

While the exit left much to be desired, she obviously enjoyed herself there immensely and it will be a must do for later on. Both mom and dad laughed and laughed as Maddie ran around, and we must have taken 50 pictures and a good 10 minutes worth of video footage of her playing. That experience alone made this whole trip worth it, it was wonderful to see our child have so much joy on her face.

Maddie's First Ride

So we all woke up a bit later than usual, but by 9:00 am we were all awake and getting ready for the day. We unpacked a bit (didn't do a lot of that last night) and then headed out for Epcot.

The first thing of note is that Space Ship Earth (The Epcot globe) is once again "naked." This is actually how I remember it, as for my first 2 trips to WDW there was never anything hanging on it. Some time in 98 or 99 they erected a big "2000" over it for the millenium celebration. Then, later on they converted the 2000 into Mickey's hand holding a wand over the globe. Shalisa has never actually seen it in any other state than adorned, so for her it was the first time seeing it in it's original state.

We headed over to Le Cellier and had our first meal in WDW of this trip. Boy what a doozy! For an apetizer I had duck and Shalisa had some tomato thingy. Then for our meanl I had a Fillet Minion while Shalisa had a New York Strip steak (Maddie had a hot dog if anyone is counting, this is number 1 of what I am guessing will be about 20). Then for dessert I had chocolate "moose" (it's Canadian themed) while Shalisa had lavender (yes, as in the flower) ice cream (which really wasn't that bad and pretty interesting flavor) on top of cherry shortbread.

It was a wonderful meal, and then we decided to take Maddie on her very first Disney ride ever. I decided that I thought Journey Into Imagination with Figment would be a good trial run ride. It's dark at times, has some loud bangs and puffs of air, and is definitely not the most tame ride in the world, while still being what most would consider still a kiddie ride. Maddie passed with flying colors! She got a little worried when it went pitch black, but recovered pretty quick when Figment showed up (she really seemed to like following him around) and then she did scream for a second when there was a loud bang, flash of light, and puff of air at the end when Figment transforms the set. But again, it is meant to be shocking/surprising, and as soon as they got 5 seconds into the song she was smiling and clapping along, so she did GREAT.

This really eases a lot of my concerns, I know there will be rides I will be surprised she has a tough time, and I know there will be rides that will scare her, but I think they will be few and far between. If she can handle this ride she will love 99% of the other rides we plan on taking her on.

We are back in the room now for nap time, which is another interesting chore, trying to get her to sleep while we are in the same room. I will ask for prayer on our sleeping arrangements, both nap time and night time. Maddie seems to get really interested when other people are in the room, so it could be a challenge getting her to sleep, we will see.

Alrighty, so while uploading the images above, Maddie finally fell asleep. It took about 20 minutes to get her to sleep, but thats not horrible. Hopefully in the coming days we can trim that down, but overall things are going great. After Maddie wakes up we are going to head over to MGM I think.

Sitting on the Bus, headed to WDW!

So we have made it to Orlando! Maddie is as wide awake as can be (which doesn't bode well for tomorrow morning) but she has been a great little traveler.

The flight from Salt Lake City to Orlando was pretty uneventful, since they don't offer meal service Shalisa had purchased these freeze dried meals that you just add hot water to. I was skeptical (to say the least) but they turned out GREAT. The stewardesses even thought they smelled good and wanted more info on them, as they are always looking for food they can have on the plane.
There probably won't be another post until mid day tomorrow when we are back from Epcot and Maddie is going down for her nap. I think tomorrow might be a tough day for her as we will be working on getting her on the right timezone (as well as ourselves) but overall I am not too worried. Worst case scenario our little girl sleeps in a bit in the mornings... since that NEVER happens at home, maybe this will feel like a vacation.

Edit to add: Bonus video of Maddie grooving to the music on the bus. Not sure if this will work, but hopefully...

We've made it to Salt Lake City

So I am now sitting in the Salt Lake City Airport. We made it no problem, our stroller wasn't damaged (which was Shalisa's MAJOR concern for this trip, that the stroller would be damaged by baggage handlers), and Maddie had her own seat for the flight. We have been really blessed by the Delta flight attendants as the lady here in Salt Lake City who we talked to about gate checking our stroller checked to see if the seat between us was filled, and then said she would do everything that she could to keep it empty (which is great!).

We are trying to see if Maddie will take another nap in the stroller (I doubt it... but we can hope) as we sit and wait at the gate here. We have another 40 minutes or so before we take off so hopefully Maddie can grab a quick 30 minute catnap to hold her over.

The flight from Portland to Salt Lake went well for Maddie, towards the end she started to get restless (which could be problematic, as our next flight is almost exact twice as long) but overall she had her coloring crayons, her stickers, and the life saver: her portable DVD player.

Sitting in PDX

So Shalisa, Maddie, and myself are all sitting at gate D5 in PDX waiting to board out plane. The first leg of our flight is from PDX to Salt Lake City, we have a 1 hour plane change there, and then we continue on from there to Orlando. So far our little plan of having Shalisa book a window, and Ryan book an isle is working out. There is no one sitting between us, which means Maddie will get her own seat, nothing is guaranteed until we take off, but that would be a great blessing from God if she wasn't in our laps the whole time.

Going through security with my cast was... interesting. First of all we are the Smith's, so we have 47 different electronic devices to check through security, and then because of my cast they want to do a whole bomb/explosive sniffer thing. So I got pulled off to the side to get treated like a terrorist while Shalisa is left with Maddie, 2 pieces of carry on luggage, a stroller, and 47 different electronic devices she has to hurry and stuff back into their bags. Luckily we arrived early so we weren't in any rush, but I think it flustered her a little bit anyway.

I made it through the security check (FOOLED THEM! :p) and now we are sitting at our gate waiting to board. We took Maddie for a stroll and she fell asleep in about 5 minutes, which is another great blessing, as even if it is only a short catnap, any sort of sleep for Maddie will pay off later.