Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Magic Kingdom and Sea world trip

We are back from a lovely vacation in Disney and Sea world
We spend one day in Magic Kingdom and two days in Sea WOrld ( as the second day was free)
We really had a blast and I am so glad we went. I am putting up some pictures. If we look sweaty and sticky in the pictures - its because we were.
It was India hot and that is saying something.

"Expect it to spill" is my motto while on holiday.

And really with this in mind its so much easier to enjoy the trip instead of niggling about all the little things that always seem to go wrong on our vacations

Here is what the trip was like
Day 1 : Magic Kingdom

We start out the day badly as the traffic is bad. Our hotel is 28 miles away- as it was the venue of the Floortime Speech conference that was canceled.

DH is especially pissed off when we realize that there is no real reason for the traffic on our side of the highway to be so slow. There is an accident on the other side of the highway and people on our side are slowing down to see the scene !!!
But I make him laugh by suggesting he slow down so I can look at the accident more carefully

Here are we on our way across the river by ferry into Magic Kingdom
How do I expain the bliss of R's kisses?

Its the easiest thing in the world to love him madly

As the heat hits us we are simply delighted to see the morning parade - its amazing to see Mickey and Minnie and Snow white .

Though my head knows that these are all actors in costumes, I feel tears pricking my eyes and I am glad I am wearing sunglasses and n
The Magic castle looks very magical


Our first stop was to meet the fairies.In the waiting area the attendant is asking a small girl who is dressed up like a fairy that she has to wait to become smaller and smaller before she can meet Tinkerbell.
The little girl believes it and is trying to shrink down.

Some instinct tells the attendant not to try this with R and R is happy to see that there is something to read.



The sign says "Follow the Magic "
R does not care for the fairies at all. He can not wait to get out of there!
Here you can see the fairy all grumpy because of the unexpected response.

Poor thing- she must be used to adulation.



Its interesting to me that now when R chooses to sit - he sits on the ledge instead of on the floor


From here we go to meet Mickey and Minnie. In our picture with them - you can see R feel Minni's boob. Its very funny


We go off to the rocket ride. I think this is something that R will love as it has planets and a rocket - R's great love. But while the ride is fun - it makes a grinding sound when it comes to a halt and I know R does not like it

Its too hot - while DH wants to go to the Donald Duck ship - I ask to go to a restaurant so we can cool down for a while
At this point one of my boys has a meltdown ( Hint : Its not the short one LOL )
Turns out while we talked about not trying to do everything in the park- my idea of slow is tooooo slooooooooow
Anyway after we talk it through we are all cheered up again
Like all meltdowns - autistic or Nt , child or adult - its all a cascading effect , the traffic, the heat, the crowds, the sensory overload and then my slow pace is the final thing that pushes one of my boys to meltdown mode.
I realise he does have a point and try to get my head out of la la land to make the most of the $200 this day is costing us in tickets
We increase our speed and do the Monsters show, the DOnald Ship ( u see R here in the ship )

And the train ride. I lose my hat on the train and buy a new one for 17.95 - daylight robbery !!!!

We do the Tikki show. thankfully air conditioned - R falls asleep and we go off with him in the stroller - I wait while DH does the Swiss Family Robinson house
We watch a bear show ( it seems now we are just randomly choosing any option that has airconditioning ) but its fun

R wakes up and we do dinner in the Pinnochio restaurant

We do a ship R is hot and bothered and clings to me which makes us both all the more hot and bothered - yet this really is the most touching part of being a parent. How your child beleives that you can solve all their problem . Feeling hot? Stick to mom

Then we go do the highlight of the trip the race cars
This R is TOTALLY and completely mad for ( thanks to Turbo Dogs ) and its hard to get him off . I want to get in the line again but its too long
We go off to the Magic carpet - Its late in the evening and starting to cool down and the magic carpet ride is just bliss

We make our way off to the parade . Its HORRIBLY crowded but AMAZING
As is the fireworks display - they even have an acrobat tinkerbell fly across the sky and I am entranced.
The crowds are huge and lot of pushing and jostling occurs.
But its still amazing
We take the monorail back. And then trudge home by midnight

DAY 2 Sea World
yesterday' heat has scared us and we leave the hotel at 3 in the afternoon. After having bought some of those hand held spray fans at Wal mart
I am entranced by the dolphin nursery

We go to see a pet show.Pretty funny things that cats and dogs too

We go to the Killer whale show -Believe - Shamu is the star and he is MAGIC . I am mad for him. Halfway through the show they decide they have had enough and go away.The show ends abruptly

After every trick they do the trainers give them fish. Its amazing that this looks so much like ABA to me . ABA works for everyone I guess

We come back at 9 for the show called Shamu Rocks. this show is AMAZING and I feel so luck y to even be there! R has fallen asleep in my lap. Our seats say "SOAK zone" and they are not kidding as in the grand finale - Shamu throws water all over us and R is surprised out of his nap. Still he adjusts quickly as the water feels good
We go to the stadium watch an AMAZING fireworks show

Day 3 - Sea world Again

In the afternoon we have a playdate with a great friend T and C. I have found T in an ASD message board and we are so alike in the way we think that she has turned into a dear friend though I have met her but twice.
We go eat lunch at Burger King

Back in sea world and by now we are veterans - we have brought plenty of ice with us. The ice will melt all day and provide us with cool water!
We eat a heavy lunch so no one needs to stop to eat and hunt for restaurants and then hope they have something R will like twice in the day.
We watch the dolphins put up an amazing show
We go to the arctic zone - this is ice cold and a lot of fun - a whole area that Sea world maintains as the Antarctic.
Gorgeous Beluga whales, penguins, puffins and polar bears.
its great to see the dolphins and how playful they are
Perfect social referencing - I wonder if there are autistic dolphins?

I suffer many pangs at how lonely the polar bear looks.
DH consoles me by saying that they are probably happy they dont have to hunt and struggle for survival.
But neither of us are convinced.
Wild animals should be free


At the walrus enclosure - I am captivated by a walrus who keeps coming to the glass. I kiss from my side of the the glass and the walrus kisses from his side.
I am thrilled!

I and the walrus exchange many kisses to the amusement of everybody around us .
As soon as DH gets the camera out however- instead of his lips the walrus has his posterior on the wall and it looks like he is saying "kiss my ass"


We watch Shamu Rocks again!

There is something about the LOUD music that always puts R to sleep . But we are careful to wake him up with many bribes of lollipops and Sprite!

(We know a 20 minute nap in the day will cause him to delay bedtime by as much as 3 hours and today we are going home early)

Shamu Rocks is a fitting finale for this lovely vacation.
I wonder whether its decent to make a majestic creature of the wild -a killer whale do tricks.
But then again, who decides who is majestic? Why is it okay to train rats and dogs and horses but not whales?
And Shamu looks pampered and happy.


We are back home the next day and though its been fun we are all glad to be home as we always are

6 comments:

Niksmom said...

In all, it sounds likeyou had a pretty good time. Don't know if you know that you can get special passes at Disney for autistic and other special needs people; they allow you to jump to the front of lines or get special entrance. If you decide to go again, call ahead and ask about it. Then you and your boys (both tall and short) can go on the rides as often as you like! :-)

Huriya said...

Great narration! I love Orlando..we have been there 5 times before the kids were born. It is so surreal and takes you away from the real life and into this beautiful (sometime really hot) world of fantasy.

@Niksmom thanks for the tip I will also keep that in mind for my son when we go in the future.

robin said...

What fun!!!!!!! Totally exciting, even though it was incredibly hot! Loved the pics and narration! So glad you made the trip worthwhile even though your stuff was canceled. I've been to a Seaworld but in San Antonio, TX and loved it. Never been to Disney or that side of Florida. Glad you guys had a great time!

All About the Bailey's said...

Thanks for sharing your trip, sounds wonderful. We hope to go at one point. Looks so fun...cute pictures....and fun stories.

Rachel said...

Can I say that I was melted by the very first picture and it was still the best part of your post? Kisses from our little boys... nothing better!

Glad you had such a fabulous trip!

Anonymous said...

What a fun trip! I have to say, the second picture (with you at Magic Kingdom) and R is peering around you is just so sweet. Love that one! I enjoyed all the little details. It sounded like R handled everything very well! I don't know if my little guy could stand to watch so many shows, but you gave me hope that maybe someday we can do something like this. =)

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