What a Day!

So, we had no plans to go to Disney World anytime soon, after all we had already been there twice this year and took a Disney Cruise. But, how can you resist when they offer it free on your birthday?!?!?!? So let's put two and two together... free Disney on your birthday. Nikki and Scotty who are married have the same exact day birthday. Paul lives in Orlando and let's us visit and play. Enough said. We started our journey a few weeks ago, at least I did, Nikki didn't have a clue. When we were goign to bed the night before we were supposed to leave, we were going over all the things that would be happening the following day... meetings, a trip to WCU, dinner and then I threw in packing. Packing? Oh yea, did I forget to mention we are going to Disney World for our brithdays? And so we were off. We hung out a bit, went to a mall, had a few (drumrolls) chic-fil-a sandwiches along the way and then got up bright and early Saturday morning to head to the Animal Kingdom. Paul had school Saturday, so Nikki and I went to the parks to play. Before the end of the day when we met Paul at Planet Hollywood for dinner, we had done the Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Lines were low, crowds were small and we've been there so much we knew what we wanted to do and not what to do... we got it all in.

The next morning, January 25, a day that will forever be in history as one of the greatest days ever and will always be Nikki, Paul and I got to the Magic Kingdom as the gate opened to celebrate our big day. We got our free tickets and our special buttons that said it was our birthday. What they don't tell you when they give you those buttons is it gives ever person who works at the Magic Kingdom permission to tell you happy birthday over and over. That's ok- I'll take it.
We first headed over and flew with Peter Pan- for some reason that kiddie ride always gets backed up. The nover to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. As you may know, Splash Mountain is right next door. As cazy as we were, we decided to go ahead and take the plunge- ha! get it- plunge! We walked straight on this ride- unheard of! After we had gotten to the bottom of the big drop our log boat stopped in a line of about ten. We sat there for about fifteen to twenty minutes and then a SM worker came around and said they were going to "evacuate" the ride. We all got out of our boats and walked along the edge of the river we had been floating on past the robots of Brer Bear, Fox and Rabbit and then lead to a door. The lady leading us said "no cameras beyond this point. Turn your cameras off." Yes, we went "backstage" at Splash Mountain! What a great birthday gift... but wait it gets better. As we were being lead back to the street of the kingdom, workers were giving each person a fast pass for any ride in the park- if you don't know, a fast pass is a card that allows you to skip the line and go straight on the ride. The lady saw Nikki's brithday button and said, "Happy Birthday- here is for your party." and we got a whole stack of fast passes! Great fun! Lines were small anyway, but now they didn't exist at all! We rode Splash Mountain (after it was repaired) three times, Big Thunder Four times, Space Mountain (twice) and everything else in the kingdom at least once.

After a full day, we went for a great dinner at Tony's Italian Restaurant. Paul, Nikki and I had a great little party complete with mickey confetti and some streamer tape. Little party? The whole restaurant got into it...

...by flinging their napkins and shouting...

...and Nikki and I had a special little birthday cake.

After a wonderful day of food, happy brithdays, free cookies (because we were wearing those wonderful pins) and lots of riding, not to mention dodging the segulls swooping in to grab a snack and get rid of it... if you know what I mean, we settled into our spots to watch the fireworks. Nikki and I decided that everyone else was allowed to watch, but the whole explosive display was for us. We went back to Paul's place and had leftover cake. Cake at 11pm is the best... second to cake for breakfast. I didn't really take a lot of pictures- we've been there so much why take so more pictures. Just a special few to share with the loyal and devoted fans of the rehearsal chronicles... ok, all this for three of you.

Oh yea, one more thing. For those of you that have been to the Magic Kingdom, you know that right at the beginning of the fireworks Tinkerbell (an actress on a wire- sorry to destroy the magic) flys across the crowd from the top of Cinderella castle and beyond the edge of the park. As we were getting into place to watch the spectacle, Paul sees the wire and says "Hey guy, look! We can see the galaxy (he meant milky way) from here!" Yes, it was night and yes, there were a few stars, but the galaxy? We looked and he pointed in excitement. After a time of searching, we realized he was talking about Tinker Bell's wire. We had a good laugh. To his benefit, it was dark. Ha! I love that kid! Never dull.

Now, after a whirlwind of a weekend... back to real life, back to cold (when we left Orlando, we were wearing shorts and tshirts at a beautiful and sunny 73 degrees- when we pulled into our drive way were wearing long sleeves, pants and jackets at a painful 44 degrees) but ah, what a great fun time! I wonder what we can celebrate next? "It's the time of your life..." That's the theme song for the year at Disney- I'm singing it to you right now... Close your eyes and imagine as if you were there too... "It's the time of your life..." Ok, so that's the only line I know... just keep imagining...