Disney World, Part II

On our last (and only) trip to Disney, we decided to wedge a more relaxed day of non-park activities in between the two park days. It went well the first time around, so we opted to repeat this format on this trip. Therefore, on Friday, we slept in and then went to the pool at our hotel. We spent the better part of the afternoon in the pool area, which had a large pool, a kiddie pool and a playground.

While at the pool, my younger son entertained us with his newly-found vocabulary word.

Earlier that week, he had asked me, “You know what this is called?” He pointed to his derrière, which he was sticking way out in front of us.

“Your booty?” my daughter asked, using the word we somehow picked up along the way for all the many, many times we feel the need to converse about our glutes.

“No, it’s your rare end!” proclaimed my son, falling into a fit of laughter. His brother and sister stared at him and then laughed. I pointed out that I thought he meant his rear end, but he shook his head, and said, “No, it’s your rare end.” I thought this was hilarious, so I left it alone for a while, figuring he could potentially provide laughter to countless individuals with this profundity. Besides, he is in fact He Who Has Probably Never Felt A Lick Of Embarrassment His Entire Life.

However, at the pool on Friday, LCB heard him say this, and after approximately six minutes of continual laughing interrupted only by deep gasps for air, he corrected our son, and this time, the child conceded that maybe it was in fact a “rear” end after all. But it became a joke of sorts among us, one which naturally lent itself to many other jokes. Fortunately, there were few other people at the pool to be perplexed by our continual “rare end” comments.

Then, at dinnertime, we headed out to Downtown Disney. We decided to give each of the small people $20.00 to spend on souvenirs from their trip.

The boys made a beeline right for the Lego store, where we all spent a good deal of time marveling at the latest Lego wonders. Last time we went, over a year ago, the boys were all about Lego Star Wars. This time, their fascination centered around Lego Ninjago. I still don’t really know what this is, other than that they are apparently small Lego people who have mastered the art of Spinjitzu, whatever that is. However, it looked about as innocuous as a highly masculine fighting toy can look, so we let them have at it.

My middle child was confident of his choice early on, and spent the full $20.00 on a Lego Ninjago Blacksmith Shop. My older child, however, deliberated all throughout dinner and beyond. Eventually, after some soul-searching, he decided to spend $5.00 on a small Lego Ninjago Ninja Training Outpost and to put the rest of his money in savings.

My daughter walked through the giant Disney stores, wide-eyed, wanting to touch everything, pulling me along with her hand in mine. I encouraged her to look at a bunch of things before choosing anything, because I wanted her to be sure of her purchase. Had I let her, we would have driven home followed by a semi-truck filled with Disney merchandise.

When we got to this castle in the center of one of the stores, baby-girl promptly declared that this castle was what she wanted to buy with her money. I explained to her that it was likely not for sale, thinking that even if it was, it would be well beyond her $20.00 budget. In the end, she chose a Minnie Mouse dress up set and a hair band with colored Minnie Mouse shapes hanging from it.

By the way, Disney’s stores are an experience of their own, in my opinion.

I got a kick out of looking at some of the ceilings in one of the stores we visited. They’re not up to par with the Sistine Chapel or anything, but they are fun to note.

We ate dinner in the T-REX Café, which I highly recommend if you are there with kids or just like dinosaurs roaring in your general direction during the dining experience.

There are indeed dinosaurs throughout the restaurant, as expected, and each section of the restaurant has a different theme in its décor.

Our section had an ice age theme to it, with a glacier-like look to the walls and ceilings, and a dinosaur popping out at us occasionally as we ate.

There were several nice little touches as well with little things like food presentation, like these fish tacos I ordered.

It was a tad chilly, however, so my oldest spent the last 20 minutes of our dinner huddled under my jacket, missing the prehistoric ambiance. I think the fact that we were in the ice age section didn’t help psychologically, either.

When we got back to the hotel, the kids begged to be able to open their toys, despite the intrinsic danger of lost pieces in toys this small.

It being, after all, a Disney vacation, we acquiesced, although I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked up little pieces since then, in bed sheets, under tables, and even, once, in the next parking spot over from us at a rest stop on the way home. We’ve likely left our Hansel and Gretel crumbs trailing all the way from Disney to our house, but, well, there’s only that first moment’s rush once.

Eventually, the small people crashed, the younger two with toys in hand.

It was a rare ending to another day at Disney.