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From: Don Jennings on 31 Dec 2009 19:42
A Disney Adventure with Laurie, Don, and almost five-year-old Nya

Grandma and Nya are in the back of the bus this morning and I'm down in the
middle with the stroller, and they manage to get off first so I'm following
them up the street. They're walking hand-in-hand and Nya's skipping and
singing, life is good. She has apparently forgotten we even have the
stroller, at least momentarily. It's Grandma's turn to ride Dumbo today,
and when they get up on the platform and the gate opens, Nya's off like a
thoroughbred, three elephants down to the purple one. It doesn't matter if
Grandma keeps up or not, she's getting the purple elephant.

There's not much comment during our Peter Pan ride, but when we get off and
mention Small World with all its dollies, she's skipping and the arms are
waving and she's more than ready to see them again. As for me, I usually
find something on this ride to count to keep me from being bored. (Cactuses
playing guitar? One.) Nya's looking all through the ride for that guy
hanging upside down, that's her highlight. And she's the only kid we've
been with who actually turns around in her seat in the exit room so her eyes
can spend a little more time in that big finale room.

And now, out of nowhere, we're having a Day 7 meltdown. "I don't want to
try to go to the bathroom." "I want a drink." "I want to ride in my
stroller." "I want to go home today, right now." But a little time out
takes care of everything and gets us back on track and on our way to Mickey's
Philharmagic. She really loves this show. She jumps at all the appropriate
times, but isn't taking the glasses off now. And the one time I actually
close my eyes (when the champagne corks pop, because it gives me a
headache), she jumps about 6 inches out of her chair and puts her hands
right up by her glasses, but leaves them on for the rest of the corks.

Snow White is uneventful, but when we come out, Nya has to show Grandma a
ceiling she saw on the way in that has jewels in it. Never noticed that one
before. On the way to Pooh we get sidetracked in a major way when a Disney
brass band comes up from the Castle and marches single-file right past us.
They certainly look like they're a parade, so she joins in and follows them
right down to where they stop by the Tea Cups. She parks herself right on
the pavement about 20 feet from them and we watch the show. An entire Mary
Poppins medley, plus.

She's very excited about getting back to the Barnstormer, because she's just
realized how 'special' it is to be tall enough to ride. She laughs wildly
throughout again, and wants to know at the end "Is that it?" We ask her if
she wants us to try to find a longer one and she does, so we head for the
train station to go around to Big Thunder. You can tell it's Day 7, because
while we're waiting for the Toon Town train Laurie is lying on a bench in
the sun and Nya has found one in the shade, both recharging.

We get off the train in Frontierland and I go up and get fast passes for Big
Thunder. It's 12:30 and the FPs are for 1:10 and we're hungry, so this will
work out perfectly. The girls have stalled up on the bridge watching logs
come down the mountain. We're going to avoid that ride today because nobody
likes to get wet on flying day.

Pecos Bill's is extremely crowded, but Nya has found us a nice table
outside. The problem is I can't call Laurie and let her know where we are
because there's no signal inside the building. Nya tells me it's okay if
she stays at the table by herself and I should go stand in the doorway
(about 10 feet away) where I can still see her and also wave to Grandma when
she comes looking for us. It's an excellent plan, but it's crowded enough
today (and some people are dense enough) that twice I have to go over and
tell people the table's taken. Did the fact there's a child sitting there
not bring up any questions in their minds at all? But her plan works, and
Laurie and our food find us and all we have a very nice lunch.

Things are always more lively after lunch, and we're actually past the
Splash Mountain splash zone before she realizes she's not in her stroller.
As we're lined up to get on Big Thunder, I have Nya sitting up on my
shoulders so she can see the train enter the station. She's obviously very
enthused, because the instant the two people ahead of us load into their car
she's saying "Move up to the yellow line!" She giggles and screams all the
way through, to the point that after we get off the man ahead of us turns
and says "Boy, you've got quite the scream there!" Nya wants to know if we're
going to take Amelia (now 2 �) on that ride when she comes. Absolutely. "I
think she'll love it!"

As we round the corner into Adventureland, Pirates is a definite no and the
Tiki Room is a definite yes. This is a music trip, after all. We ride
Aladdin first, with Nya at the controls, and she's quite pleased with
herself that she manages to get the camel to spit on me twice. She's also
the second of our grandbabies who have noticed (and spent some time with)
the jewels in the floor by the ride exit. She feels the need to correct me
here, because all this time I've been calling it Aladdin and she informs me
"It's Aladdin's Magic Carpet."

After another fun visit to the Tiki Room, we all acknowledge that the time
has come for us to begin making our way to the airport. Laurie suggests
some ice cream from Aloha Isle on our way out, partially because she's had a
hankering for a root beer float and I think partially because they don't
allow ice cream in the Main Street shops. (I told you she was magic.) Nya's
forgotten all about the stroller; perhaps she's mentally going over the last
few exciting days the same way we are.

We already have a trip planned for next year with Haley, Caitlin, and Gavin
when they're all ten, and we know we'll all have an awesome time. But it
will be a couple years before our next truly magical trip with a
five-year-old. As always, we have no idea what that trip will be like. We
thought this one would be about Princesses, and it was, but it was even more
about music. Which is kind of awesome. We had a little more crying than we
expected, but we also had a lot more laughter than we expected. Nya got to
know us, and we got to know her, and like Aurora, we're becoming great
friends.

And now, as we walk down the middle of Main Street, Nya says "I want to be
home, but I'm going to miss Disney too." We couldn't have said it better
ourselves.

From: Tracy Cherry on 31 Dec 2009 21:34
On Dec 31, 7:42 pm, "Don Jennings" <don...(a)almost-ptd.net> wrote:
> A Disney Adventure with Laurie, Don, and almost five-year-old Nya
>
> Grandma and Nya are in the back of the bus this morning and I'm down in the
> middle with the stroller, and they manage to get off first so I'm following
> them up the street.  They're walking hand-in-hand and Nya's skipping and
> singing, life is good.  She has apparently forgotten we even have the
> stroller, at least momentarily.  It's Grandma's turn to ride Dumbo today,
> and when they get up on the platform and the gate opens, Nya's off like a
> thoroughbred, three elephants down to the purple one.  It doesn't matter if
> Grandma keeps up or not, she's getting the purple elephant.
>
> There's not much comment during our Peter Pan ride, but when we get off and
> mention Small World with all its dollies, she's skipping and the arms are
> waving and she's more than ready to see them again.  As for me, I usually
> find something on this ride to count to keep me from being bored.  (Cactuses
> playing guitar?  One.)  Nya's looking all through the ride for that guy
> hanging upside down, that's her highlight.  And she's the only kid we've
> been with who actually turns around in her seat in the exit room so her eyes
> can spend a little more time in that big finale room.
>
> And now, out of nowhere, we're having a Day 7 meltdown.  "I don't want to
> try to go to the bathroom."  "I want a drink."  "I want to ride in my
> stroller."  "I want to go home today, right now."  But a little time out
> takes care of everything and gets us back on track and on our way to Mickey's
> Philharmagic.  She really loves this show.  She jumps at all the appropriate
> times, but isn't taking the glasses off now.  And the one time I actually
> close my eyes (when the champagne corks pop, because it gives me a
> headache), she jumps about 6 inches out of her chair and puts her hands
> right up by her glasses, but leaves them on for the rest of the corks.
>
> Snow White is uneventful, but when we come out, Nya has to show Grandma a
> ceiling she saw on the way in that has jewels in it.  Never noticed that one
> before.  On the way to Pooh we get sidetracked in a major way when a Disney
> brass band comes up from the Castle and marches single-file right past us..
> They certainly look like they're a parade, so she joins in and follows them
> right down to where they stop by the Tea Cups.  She parks herself right on
> the pavement about 20 feet from them and we watch the show.  An entire Mary
> Poppins medley, plus.
>
> She's very excited about getting back to the Barnstormer, because she's just
> realized how 'special' it is to be tall enough to ride.  She laughs wildly
> throughout again, and wants to know at the end "Is that it?"  We ask her if
> she wants us to try to find a longer one and she does, so we head for the
> train station to go around to Big Thunder.  You can tell it's Day 7, because
> while we're waiting for the Toon Town train Laurie is lying on a bench in
> the sun and Nya has found one in the shade, both recharging.
>
> We get off the train in Frontierland and I go up and get fast passes for Big
> Thunder.  It's 12:30 and the FPs are for 1:10 and we're hungry, so this will
> work out perfectly.  The girls have stalled up on the bridge watching logs
> come down the mountain.  We're going to avoid that ride today because nobody
> likes to get wet on flying day.
>
> Pecos Bill's is extremely crowded, but Nya has found us a nice table
> outside.  The problem is I can't call Laurie and let her know where we are
> because there's no signal inside the building.  Nya tells me it's okay if
> she stays at the table by herself and I should go stand in the doorway
> (about 10 feet away) where I can still see her and also wave to Grandma when
> she comes looking for us.  It's an excellent plan, but it's crowded enough
> today (and some people are dense enough) that twice I have to go over and
> tell people the table's taken.  Did the fact there's a child sitting there
> not bring up any questions in their minds at all?  But her plan works, and
> Laurie and our food find us and all we have a very nice lunch.
>
> Things are always more lively after lunch, and we're actually past the
> Splash Mountain splash zone before she realizes she's not in her stroller..
> As we're lined up to get on Big Thunder, I have Nya sitting up on my
> shoulders so she can see the train enter the station.  She's obviously very
> enthused, because the instant the two people ahead of us load into their car
> she's saying "Move up to the yellow line!"  She giggles and screams all the
> way through, to the point that after we get off the man ahead of us turns
> and says "Boy, you've got quite the scream there!"  Nya wants to know if we're
> going to take Amelia (now 2 ½) on that ride when she comes.  Absolutely.  "I
> think she'll love it!"
>
> As we round the corner into Adventureland, Pirates is a definite no and the
> Tiki Room is a definite yes.  This is a music trip, after all.  We ride
> Aladdin first, with Nya at the controls, and she's quite pleased with
> herself that she manages to get the camel to spit on me twice.  She's also
> the second of our grandbabies who have noticed (and spent some time with)
> the jewels in the floor by the ride exit.  She feels the need to correct me
> here, because all this time I've been calling it Aladdin and she informs me
> "It's Aladdin's Magic Carpet."
>
> After another fun visit to the Tiki Room, we all acknowledge that the time
> has come for us to begin making our way to the airport.  Laurie suggests
> some ice cream from Aloha Isle on our way out, partially because she's had a
> hankering for a root beer float and I think partially because they don't
> allow ice cream in the Main Street shops.  (I told you she was magic.)  Nya's
> forgotten all about the stroller; perhaps she's mentally going over the last
> few exciting days the same way we are.
>
> We already have a trip planned for next year with Haley, Caitlin, and Gavin
> when they're all ten, and we know we'll all have an awesome time.  But it
> will be a couple years before our next truly magical trip with a
> five-year-old.  As always, we have no idea what that trip will be like.  We
> thought this one would be about Princesses, and it was, but it was even more
> about music.  Which is kind of awesome.  We had a little more crying than we
> expected, but we also had a lot more laughter than we expected.  Nya got to
> know us, and we got to know her, and like Aurora, we're becoming great
> friends.
>
> And now, as we walk down the middle of Main Street, Nya says "I want to be
> home, but I'm going to miss Disney too."  We couldn't have said it better
> ourselves.

Another great trip report!!!!! Thanks Don
From: Lisa Cubbon on 1 Jan 2010 09:36
Don Jennings wrote:
> A Disney Adventure with Laurie, Don, and almost five-year-old Nya
>
snip of a most excellent trip report

Thanks sooo much. We have a 10.5 month old grandson and I want to
do this with him. And Five is perfect. I suspect he will
be at Disney way before them with us and his parents.

Lisa
From: Blossom on 1 Jan 2010 11:19
Thank you Don & Laurie,
We don't have kids, but you make me wish we could have grandkids :)
Blossom
From: Bashful on 1 Jan 2010 13:44
Don Jennings wrote:

> And now, as we walk down the middle of Main Street, Nya says "I want to
> be home, but I'm going to miss Disney too." We couldn't have said it
> better ourselves.

Awww... this was just the sweetest trip report ever! I loved it! Thanks!

--
Kitty (TDC Bashful)
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