So today…very different morning than we had originally planned. Look at us. At Disney. And being spontaneous. Whoever thunk of suchathing?
The original plan was to go to Blizzard Beach, spend a couple hours, and then come back for lunch with Steph and Mikey when they arrive. But for one, Blizzard Beach actually closed two slides – one being Summit Plummet (HULLO?) and for two, we figured we could have more time somewhere if we stayed on the monorail loop. So we decided to go to the Magic Kingdom. The Nerdlers, however, trekked over to Blizzard Beach…so it was just the four of us.
Quick story how we got here. Last night, we came to this conclusion and Nickie called the concierge around 10:45. They said they thought adding another day to our package would be about 15 bucks a ticket so we figured that seemed like a pretty good bargain. Myles and I walked down to the concierge desk to get our tickets. But, the woman said because of the type of package we had, she couldn’t get us those tickets here and we would have to go to Guest Relations in the morning. But she was sure they would honor that $15.
I mentioned to her that I was a little worried about getting fastpasses and she brought her manager out, who gave us three fastpasses we could use on any ride PLUS still have three fastpasses we could make in the morning. SO that was amazetown. Obvs squad.
But in the morning (and I just had a feeling things were gonna go wrong) we get up, grab a quick breakfast at the Kona coffee place (mmmm…cheese Danish) and head over to guest services at the Magic Kingdom via boat. At guest services, the guy tells us that he can’t add such a ticket to our package and we would have to pay 50 bucks a person. A stern talking to from Nickie, however, straightened everything out. And off the four of us were to the Magic Kingdom. UGH…EXCITE.
And honestly, we NEEDED this. We always have to do the Magic Kingdom first. We rode Big Thunder, Pirates of the Caribbean, Aladdin’s Magic Carpets, Winnie-the-Pooh, Little Mermaid, The Barnstormer, Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain. Plus, we played some Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom AND met the Fairy Godmother. All of this? Before lunch. Pics….
Then lunch…and I mean, this wasn’t just lunch. It was lunch with STEPH AND MIKEY!!! We went to the resort and made it just in time to meet them as they got off Magical Express. So exciting…We were really happy they were here. Fo Sho.
We met them, they did their thing at the front desk and then we had lunch at Kona Café. I got the volcano roll (again) and chicken Pan Asian noodles And the pot stickers and Island Chicken Sandwich Nickie are what Nickie ordered. And well….all the food. And yes, there were Kona Kones.
After lunch, we all went down to the pool. And it was SO HOT out. It was really nice. Had some drinks, did some swimming and hot tubbing. And then….MORE PEOPLE. Tony and Larissa came with ugh so adorable Mia and met us at the pool. Again….sooooo exciting. I love having all of us together. The Nerdys came back as well and spent some time down at the pool as well. So just to be clear, there was at this point me, Nickie, Myles, Owen, Matt, Laura, Will, Jack, Steph, Mikey, Tony, Larissa and Mia. Worlds were colliding. And it was awesome.
We then went up and got dressed for dinner. Dinner tonight was at O’hana so we all got dressed up in Hawaiian shirts and met at the pool for some pre-dinner champagne that Nickie brought. While we waited for everyone else we and Steph and Mikey played some Left Center Right and had some beers.
As everyone started coming down to the pool, I really realized how lucky I am. To have all these people I love (and more to come) in the place I love most? It was starting to feel like something pretty incredible. So…we all get there. Except Nerdy. Where was he? What could he be doing?
He shows up at about 7:30. Nickie pours the champagne and makes a quick toast to how happy she is everyone has come. We all cheers and then Nerdler says he prepared something. Man. So, on his 40th, I was asked along with two other of his close friends to roast him. Come his birthday party, I was the only one who had actually gone through with preparing something and stood up in front of everyone (including many people I didn’t know) by myself and made a lot of jokes at Nerdy’s expense. Well….he paid me back tonight.
And it was awesome. Seriously. His stories (all true BTW) were awesome. I could tell he worked really hard on it and feel like this must have been some sort of release for him. Lot of pent up stuff there. And I’m glad he got it out. Heh, nah. It was awesome. He made fun of a lot of my…erm…idiosyncrasies? But, in the end, it was a really nice thing he did. It meant a lot to me. And it was just one more thing to make me think – I am insanely lucky. Even if it was “Pick On Wayne Day.” I wish I had video of it here…but I don’t. Nickie took some and Laura did too so maybe I can put something together to get up here. It was really great.
We then all headed up to O’hana for dinner.
And it was obvs amazeface. I tried to take pics of the food here too but they didn’t come out great (such a lack of food porn again…I am slipping). But there was beef, chicken, shrimp, pot stickers, sticky wings, noodles…all brought out family style with the meat on giant skewers. Come on…everyone knows O’hana. And obvs….bread pudding.
As I was sitting at the head of the table, I kept looking out at my friends and family laughing and eating and I thought…this is it. This is why we did this.
So dinner ends….and my brother Jeff and my nephew John start texting me that they are here and want to meet up. So we all go up, put on our suits and meet them down at the pool for some drinks and cigars. And down there we met up with Jeff, Sheila, Shannon, John, Kelly and Connor (who was super psyched to swim….and really wanted to ride in the elevator J) Seriously….the love is too much. Stop it. I might explode from the love.
We swam for a while. And then AND THEN…we get another text. My mom is in the lobby. So now she comes to the pool. I know…I feel like this is like one of those parts of the bible where it’s just names for pages. This dude begat this dude. This one begat this one. But seriously. ALL THESE PEOPLE WERE HERE. And of course, soooo happy to have my mom. She is so excited for this trip and we are so happy to have her here.
So my mom is now crashing in my room as I write this before she heads over to Wilderness Lodge tomorrow. And I am the happiest I have been yet on this trip. And that’s saying a lot. Since I have been happy like for days. I love Disney. We all know this. But Disney with all these guys is overwhelmingly awesome to me. It’s just gonna get better and better from here on out.
WeHeartDisney 