While Away the Toys will Play

"For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." Psalm 84:10

I interrupt the regularly scheduled Jewish Project for a story of another kind.

Each October, my family treks down to Orlando to spend time in the most Magical Place on Earth: Disney World.

This is a big to-do in our house and we start gearing up for it months in advance. Having made this trip for many years, we have come to expect a certain level of Disney magic that makes all vacations perfect and grand. However, this trip was much different. We had to fight for each moment of happiness.

For example, here’s what happened this past Saturday.

Obstacle number 1)….we spent the day at Hollywood Studios. Most of the attractions at this theme park are shows, so we had to schedule our day in regards to show times. This set us up for a very long day with two preschoolers…..but we were aware of this and had a pre-established grace flowing.

Obstacle 2) My husband and I had made reservations to have lunch at Mama Melrose’s inside the park. A restaurant I love. However, since we switched to a gluten-free diet this past summer, we had to order gluten-free food, which this restaurant does have available. And so my family dined on Tapioca rolls and gluten-free flatbread pizzas. Really….do I have to explain? Yep. I wanted a do-over.

Obstacle 3) The night before was our son’s birthday and all his unwrapped but unopened gifts were back in our cabin. Let’s see…you’re six and you can either walk around in a park all day or go back and play with your brand new toys. Uh-huh.

Obstacle 4) Finally, after a long day in the park, we took Disney transportation back to the “hub” of our resort – Fort Wilderness. Since it was late, we decided to get take out from the restaurant that was there. We ordered and waited….and waited…..and waited…..and waited. They forgot our food. But, we finally got it and off we went to catch the bus that would take us to the “sleeve” of where our cabin was located.

And, Obstacle 5) We boarded the bus that said “Settlement Orange”….the bus we needed. However, as we boarded the bus, the driver changed the sign to Wilderness Lodge. Yeah….we got on the wrong bus! But, in true Disney fashion, the driver was extremely nice and took a detour to take us home.

So, here we are. Off the bus and walking down the road towards our cabin, so very ready to sit down and relax. As we walked up our steps, we noticed that we forgot to put out the “do not disturb” sign.

Opening the door to our cabin we found this:

And this


(If you look close, Ferb is holding the TV remote and the TV which was right in front of him was turned on to the Disney channel)


And this


(This was Squeaker's bottom bunk where she found her brand new Simba plush toy nice and tucked in.)

And this

(Bug's upper bunk where Phineas is hanging out with Piglet)

And this

(Now this picture was taken in the bathroom and the elephant towels were hanging above the toilet. The irony of the scene was lost on the kids however, I'm very much aware that elephants are heffalumps in Disney's Pooh bear series and Pooh is very afraid of Heffalumps.)

And this

(Teddy sitting on the table coloring)

We laughed so hard we cried. All day long we fought for happiness, intent that we would not let little distractions or setbacks destroy our family vacation. In the end, we discovered the Lord had a surprise for us. A personalized comedy show right in our own room.

After finding puppy playing in the trash, we grabbed the camera and went on a treasure hunt to find out what the rest of the toys were doing while we were gone. Each “scene” was met with uproarious laughter that healed a portion of our day.

In the end, my husband and I had tears in our eyes as the scripture listed above came to life in both our hearts.

Why? Because a woman, who does not hold a glamorous job by any means, performed her work as if she was holding the “door open in the house of the Lord”.

The next day, we were checking out of the resort and uncharisterically decided to hang out in the cabin for the last few hours instead of going to another park. Because of this, we were in the cabin when the cleaning lady came to call.

So grateful to meet her, we took the time to thank her for the wonderful scenes she had left in our room and how much joy it brought us.

You will never guess her response….

She explained to us that she likes to create one scene per day in all the rooms she cleans. However, since we had the “do not disturb” on the day before, she didn’t get to make one for us and therefore decided to make up for lost time. Then, she reached in her bag and pulled out two more gifts. She handed our princess a tube of princess bubbles, and our little prince a toy airplane.

She did not expect to meet us. She did not expect gratitude. And yet, in a random moment of her tedious day, she was prepared to be a gift-giver.

Isn’t that all The Lord asks of us?

Shalom!

I am a self proclaimed scatter-brain. I don't take offense to it. I just know that I get scattered in the moment which causes some "not-so-thought-through" ideas to come to my mind and mouth.

Do you like the teapot?

On our last Disney excursion, we purchased a not-so typical souvenir. This teapot and spoon rest. I'd looked at it longingly for three days until finally, my husband purchased it on the last day of the trip. I love it, and use it constantly for hot tea consumed throughout the day.

Needless to say, I've owned teapots before. I know to well the high-pitched shrill sound that screams "I'm boiling get me off the eye NOW!" Therefore,
I expected no less from this teapot.

Well, see the two steam holes?

It's a little hard to tell in the picture, but one is bigger than the other.

The first day I used the teapot, I placed it on the burner and then promptly forgot I'd turned it on. It's a teapot. It lets you know when it's ready.

Anyway, we live very near to the intracoastal waterway where large cargo ships bring import/export items all day long. On a clear day, you can hear the boat horns from our back porch.

Well, when this little teapot blew, it sounded like a boat horn. A ver loud one. I was in my office when I heard it and kept thinking, "Great day that boat's horn is loud. I wonder what's going on."

I finally walked out of my office with the intention of going on the back porch to listen for the boat when I passed the kitchen and realized it was the teapot!

The teapot sounded like a cargo ship.

After I laughed at myself a good while, I stared at the pot trying to figure out why it would sound like a ship when the irony hit me.

Steam pot Willie.

Get it? I guess you would have to like old school Disney to get the joke. Steam boat Willie was the debut film for Mickey Mouse.

So, now Steam Pot Willie resides in our kitchen and hot tea is all the more fun!

Delivered

After years of Disney travel, I think we finally got it right.

Usually, we would take our four day vacation and try to cram five days worth of park time into it. I mean you could spend three days at Magic Kingdom and still not do everything in the park.

However, this time was different. Instead of waking up at o’dark thirty in order to drive to Orlando and get in line before the park opens, we slept in a little, packed, took our time getting down there, checked into the hotel and strolled around Downtown Disney.

Speaking of Downtown Disney, here is a picture of the new hot air balloon ride they have. It takes you up about 30 stories (I think that’s right), hangs out a little bit and then brings you down. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to try it out. The two times we were thinking about it, the wind was too strong and the balloon was grounded. Between you and me, I wasn’t that upset. Not a big lover of heights!


After discovering the hidden treasure of our room upgrade, parks rarely entered our mind. Instead of killing ourselves trying to get every ounce of “fun” out of the parks, we squeezed every ounce of fun out of relaxing, strolling, swimming, eating as a family in the quiet of our room.

For once, we slowed down on vacation. Life is too busy as it is, vacation shouldn’t be as well. Hopefully, the stress-free joy we felt on this trip will be imbedded in our hearts enough to repeat in the future.

Saratoga Springs

Back from Disney!

We had the absolute best vacation. And, although there were many wonderful moments, the best surprise was the room.

We were under the impression that our reservation was for a 1 bedroom studio at Saratoga Springs resort in Orlando. However, when we inserted the key and opened the door, we were stunned to find a 1 bedroom suite. Either we misunderstood the reservation or we were suprisingly upgraded. Either way....it was awesome. Check out the pics!

This is the Congress Park building in which we stayed.

When you opened the door to our suite, you entered a foryer. Here, is the door and foryer.

This is the furniture in the foryer. Okay, I don't even have furniture in our foryer in our house!

Here's a long shot of the living room, full kitchen and dining room.

Dining room:

This is the view from our balcony. Although the camera makes it look far away, we could see Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney and it only took five minutes to walk there via a wooded path behind our building.

The balcony:

The bathroom which I still can't get over. It had three rooms. I won't post the pics cause it's hard to tell in the photos. But, this room had a jacuzzi tub. By the way, never put bubble bath in a jacuzzi tub. Enough said.

Full kitchen. I still can't get over how nice it was to have a kitchen. Especially with kids!!

And, last but definitely not least. The washer/dryer. Have you ever stayed in a hotel room with a washer/dryer? I haven't. I didn't even know you could. Needless to say, this was grand living for me and I thouroughly enjoyed it. Oh, that's my goofy husband who gremlined into my shot.




What an awesome resort and what an awesome room. We are spoiled for life I think. :-)

More Disney Fun

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Recently, my family went on vacation to our favorite recreational spot. Disney World!

Last week, I shared pics of the golden chariot that carried me around the park. (For those who are just stopping by I have a disability. You can read about it by clicking here.)

This week, I have to give Disney major kudos for their new ride Toy Story Mania inside their Hollywood Studios park.

This ride is so much fun. It's a 3D virtual reality tour de force of carnival games.

(Sorry I don't have better pictures. We were so taken by the decor, we forgot to snap more pics)

The cart sits four people (two on each side) and each person has their own popper gun. The cart twists and turns along a track, stopping in front of wall size TV screens that flash up differnt carnival games such as shoot the swimming ducks, or hit the plates with arrows. And, it's all in 3D thanks to the beautiful yellow glasses they make you wear. Your goal....to get a high score. Of course, my husband won. But, there's always next time.

Now, I must digress.

The ride was fun, yes. But, there were two other things about this ride that made it a memorable experience.

One, Disney pulled out all the stops in designing this ride where the handicapped are concerned. The thing that stood out the most....No one had to wait on disabled guests to load into a cart. We were on a completely separate loading dock. A cart would leave the main drag, enter our loading dock and could be disassembled to accomodate even the bulkiest of wheelchairs. Once the person is loaded, the cart finds its way back to the main track and off it goes. For me, this is awesome. I hate making people wait just because I move slower than everyone else. Man, that stresses me out! However, on Toy Story, I could be as slow as I needed to be, and no one was put out. Loved it!!

Two, Zach. This begs explanation. You see, the Toy Story ride is new. Therefore, the line was LONG. My kids and waiting do not go very well together and if they have to stand in line for more than five minutes they get bored, which leads to straight out goofiness.

Regan, being a climber, decided it was a good idea to scale the metal poles. She continued to do this even after the Disney worker asked her not to climb. Yes, that's our girl. Inevitably, she fell and hit her mouth on the pole. Crying ensued, Mommy consoled and Zach entered the picture.

Oblivious to me there was another family behind us. However, it wasn't Mommy or Daddy that had the disability; it was there son, Zach. He was maybe two years older than Regan and he had Down Syndrome.

As I sat in my scooter with Regan in my lap, her head buried in my chest, Zach moved around and stood in front of us. With compassion in his eyes, he began stroking the back of Regan's hair. When she turned her head towards him, he leaned in and gave her a big bear hug and asked if she was okay.

Immediately, Regan's tears dried and we spent the next fifteen minutes getting to know Zach.

I was almost sad when we loaded into the cart and said bye only to find that Zach and his Mom loaded into the cart behind us and (due to the logistics of the carts) Regan and Zach faced each other for most of the ride. So, instead of these two preschoolers shooting the wall sized TV screens, they instead shot each other and when the popguns didn't seem to work, they made faces and laughed.

After the ride was over, Zach came and hugged Regan and kissed her on the cheek. We said goodbye and never saw him again.

Long lines are not always fun and can bring about many frustrations, but this line held a gift and I was happy they we were the family that unwrapped it.


Stay tuned as this Friday we will have another Love Letter and Monday will hold the next installment in Mary's Journal. And, next Wednesday, I may have to share the vacation inside the vacation....carrot cake cookies. Hmmmmm.

Disney and all things Scooterized

I saw a woman wearing stiletto heels in the middle of Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Fl. (If you have ever been to one of the Disney parks then you know that the parks span multiple acres and require a crazy amount of walking.)

The shoes looked nice but the only thing I could think is “we are in the back of the park. That means you walked from the parking lot to here in those shoes and what’s worse…..you have to walk back.” Bless you young lady. Bless you.

Now, I admire anyone who can wear “fashion before comfort” type shoes. Why? Because I can’t. I would love to wear some styling killing-my-feet-while-I’m walking-but-who-cares-cause-I-am-strutting-my-stuff kind of shoes. But, if you have read any of my previous Wednesday posts, then you know that I have a completely fused spine and walk with a cane. It would be impracticality and an impossibility to don those type of shoes so I vicariously live through other’s hurt feet.

So, when and why did I notice this woman’s shoes? I noticed them this past weekend during our impromptu family get-a-way to Disney World in Orlando. Our favorite place to vacation. And, even though we have been too many times to count, this trip was distinctly different.

My husband, who was tired of me being in pain due to hobbling around the parks, decided it was time to embrace my disability and rent a scooter. Yes, I am now a scooter-riding Disney chic. I wonder if there is a club I can join…..

Anyway, here I am atop my golden, I mean white metal, chariot. We’ve decided that the next time we go to Disney, I am going to wear a special ordered T-shirt while riding my scooter that says “BEWARE FAULTY WANDS…..my fairy godmother zapped a pumpkin and this is what I got”

I must admit though, if you’re kicking it handicap style, Disney is the place to do it. Check out the Disney bus that transports guests from the resorts to the parks.

Riding a scooter? No problem, the bus is fully equipped to take you and your noble steed to the park. And, you get first dibs on the seats.

Notice my husband driving the scooter onto the bus elevator thingy? I am a bad enough driver on the road. You do not want me backing up a scooter in a crowd, on a bus or anywhere else!

And here it is parked on the bus. Nestled into its transportation spot, we sit back and enjoy the ride to whichever park we are heading too. Very nice Disney. Thank you for making it easy.

Stay tuned. Friday will host a new Love Letter to the King, Monday features the latest Mary’s Journal and next Wednesday will be more Disney adventures.