I realize that it's been quite some time since I've written a Nate's 9 blog, and I could blame it on a few things. A little bit has been laziness, a little bit of it is due to a wonderful college, NFL and soccer season (think about this - Penn State only lost one game after Halloween, Green Bay has won 7 in a row, and Manchester United has run off 9 consecutive wins and is unbeaten in 15? 16? games, heck, even the Timberwolves are beating the Rockets right now), my kids activities have been many in the fall and winter season (soccer, swimming, karate and now basketball), and my writers block has kicked up a notch. I have come up with some beautiful Nate's 9's: Influential Wars, Sports Dynasties, Presidents, Star Wars films (although there is only 8, but whatever), yet I couldn't get anything interesting down when I started to type. Then, it came in a flash - the vacation. Of course.
Honorable Mention:
Daytona Beach: Not bad. It wasn't the Mediterranean, but I still had fun.
Space Mountain: Either I had never ridden it, or I had forgotten, but that sucker was a blast. First thing I'll fast pass next time we go to the Kingdom.
Thinking our Stroller was Stolen: Only sad part, but that was scary. So we, along with about a dozen others had lined up our strollers right outside the "It's a Small World" ride. When we got back out, all the strollers were gone. And replaced with other strollers. So, of course I'm thinking, crap there goes a ton of water bottles, Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, other miscellaneous snacks, and Oh Shit! My prescription sunglasses! We kick it into high gear, running all around the area, only to realize an employee had moved all of them to a more specific "stroller parking" area since it was getting dark out. Not cool.
Animal Kingdom Africa: Better than I remember. Lion King was fantastic. The Safari was fun, and the animals out there gave us a good show. A zebra was about 6 inches from our jeep, just throwing his rear end in the air. Food was good. No complaints.
Magic Kingdom: When I was 21, I thought it was kind of lame. Some of that was misfortune: the NFL had parked themselves at Hollywood Studios the week we went there with Aiden in 2011. It was always going to be an uphill battle when you're matched up against: Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, Tim Tebow, DeAngelo Williams and Jason Taylor among others. This time around though, I can appreciate the Magic. The photographers in front of the famous landmarks was a nice touch. Ariel was way nicer than the last time I remember. Dumbo didn't suck. Way to go Magic Kingdom, you're moving up.
#9 - The Minivan Experience: So, once we decided that my mother was going to come with us on the trip, which was awesome for many reasons including but not limited to: equal riding partners, adult time, quiet-ish bedtimes, and for the love of it; we had to trade out any idea of driving an SUV for the week, into a mini-van. I was a little disappointed; not going to lie, they don't look nor sound very exciting. Well, I was wrong. With the push of a button, side doors and the back door opened right up. There was enough room to seat 6 people, place a stroller and go shopping at Target and Costco, and still have room to spare. It drove okay, but I can't say that it was bad. It gets twice the amount of gas mileage that the Yukon gets. Seats go into floors. 3 different layers of speaker fade (For all you backseat headphone listeners… I will never, ever have one enter my garage, but I will say that for 7 days on any future family vacations, I'll be the first to sign up to drive another.
#8 - Boys Differences Shining Through: One of the things that I hoped for, but didn’t necessarily expect, was that each one of my kids could appreciate a different park based on their personality. So what happened? They each loved a different one, and it didn't correlate to the park that I had expected of them. Which in my opinion was pretty awesome. Aiden loved Magic Kingdom and that makes sense because he's a big rider guy. I thought he'd appreciate Epcot a little more, because he's already so interested in other cultures at 6, but what I didn't expect was his excitement for Space Mountain, the Future Race Cars, The Jungle Cruise and the Monsters Laugh House. Those were just his favorites. He also for awhile (we overloaded them), enjoyed taking pictures with the Princes and princesses, but that wore a little thin. Lucas, who I thought would be the Hollywood Studios guy, because he's a little engineer/strategist, had really enjoyed Epcot. Loved seeing all the countries -especially France, and after we walked through the World Showcase, he wanted to do it again. Just like his father in that respect. And Logan, who is so "go with the flow" that I didn't really expect any passion out of him either way, said that Animal Kingdom was his favorite. Another surprise in my book, especially when he said that the rapids were his favorite ride. We got soaked, and he wanted more. I'm pleased to know that even though they're still brothers and considerably best friends, that they each have their own interests that they can grow and learn with.
#7 - Autographs with the Princesses: They really do a good job, and those are some long days. All those gross and germy children (and adults), and they just keep going through with a smile on their face for every kid and hugs when so required. Some of those lines we waited 45+ minutes for them (especially Jasmine which probably pushed 60), and they made my kids feel like the only people around. It must have really gotten to Lucas though, because he was never super shy around girls before we went on the trip; even considered a classmate his girlfriend. Then after all the princesses were fawning all over him, he hasn't said a word to a girl since. But Kudos to the ladies (and the rare instances of boys). My boys loved you.
#6 - Epcot Day: It started out with 15 MPH winds and a temperature of 47 degrees. I thought I was back in Minnesota, and worse, thought that the boys would be unenthusiastic for my favorite park. And in the morning it was rough. We ran around from facility to facility trying to stay out of the cold. I decided to ride the Spaceship Earth ride; not because of any enjoyment for something I've seen twice before, but to get out of the damn cold. In future world we encountered some pretty great rides, and there may be more on them later. The boys also got in a relatively short line for Goofy, Daisy and Minnie and that was nice, considering some of their other waits. It really got lit though, once we got to England in the world showcase. They probably played soccer in the English Department Store for about 20 minutes, got to see Christmas Lights with Santa on the shopping main street, and even took a picture with a phone booth (What's that, Dad?) We also enjoyed France, Germany, Japan, China, Norway and Italy. When I ordered my beer in Germany, my bartender was from a town in Germany that was literally like the Plymouth to our Maple Grove as to where I stayed when I was an exchange student. They had the German Grapefruit beer, which you may or may not know is the only one that matters. Our only disappointment was that we didn't get to have a nice dinner, because it was a Friday night and all the restaurants were booked (who knew?). Cold pizza wasn't great, but the beer and wine were plenty enough.
#5 - Soarin': Wasn't quite sure why a ride that I wasn't familiar with from my 2011 experience would be so low on fast passes when we signed up a month before the trip, but I was curious to find out. I certainly wasn't disappointed. I don't want to offer any spoilers on here, just in case you get the chance to do it someday, but it really is a thrill seeker of a ride. All 3 kids loved it, and it's still the only ride that all 6 of us really enjoyed. I'll throw in a youTube for all you fun seekers.
#4 - Tower of Terror: While we were in line, I was a little nervous for the twins, because they still don't do well with Haunted Houses, scary clowns, things like that. The size requirement said they could ride, but I thought maybe we'd regret it by the end. Lucas was starting to get his anxiety when we got close, and I had to explain that everything was pretend, and they are just actors that are doing it just for fun. So imagine my surprise when we did the playback at the airport and we ask the kids what their favorite rides were. Logan said the water rapids, Aiden says the Himalayan roller coaster ride, and Lucas says the Tower of Terror. Overcoming his fear was one of my favorite moments.
#3 - The Great Train Robbery: So I don't remember riding the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad when I was there in past visits. It always looked great, but the first time I was there, we didn't know what fastpass was, and the line was 90 minutes if I remember correctly (that was 13 years ago). The second time, I don't think our party was interested in going on it, as Aiden was 1, and Sara's dad was riding around in a scooter. No harm, no foul. This time, we walked past the entrance to the "train ride", and it said it was only 20 minutes. Crazy! For one of Disney's most popular rides, that wasn't bad at all. We parked the stroller and away we went. And then we got on, and it was one really long train. That was the moment I didn't think all was well. I realized we got on the "Disneyworld" train, and we were going to be whisked away to another end of Magic Kingdom. The ride time to get back to pick up the stroller? Almost a half hour. Well, that wasn't bad, but we had a fast pass due for Mickey in 30 minutes. So, while the family got off at Main Street to make it on time, I got to ride around the park twice in that damn, slow train, and made the undeniable decision that I will never ride a train at Magic Kingdom ever again.
#2 - Sheraton Vistana Villages in Orlando, Florida: Costco had dreamed up our vacation, and I decided to put all of my trust into them, as I've heard that they can plan quite the beautiful getaway experience. Lots of options to consider like staying on property or nearby; dinner plans or Target runs; Character meet and greets or run like hell. In any case, the villages didn't let us down at all. (Except for the security encounter at the end of the trip in trying to deal with Lucas's stitches. That was brutal). Our room was beautiful with a Jacuzzi tub just off the side of the bed, our own private deck that was attached to the room so we could have some quiet time away from the boys. The boys (and grandma's) room had 2 queen size beds, and a rather nice bathroom size with 2 dressers and a closet. Kitchen, dishwasher pantry, washer and dryer, 3 televisions made for some nice living space. But that wasn't even the best part. They also had 3 different pool areas, and each offered unique experiences so you weren't just getting the same thing wherever you went. One had a pirate ship, another had volleyball matches. One also had an adult pool, where no kids under 13 could partake in swimming (For the boozers, I'm guessing). They had a full court basketball court that we turned into our very own indoor soccer match, 2 fitness centers and a grocery store. It was 2 miles from Disney, and half the price of staying on the property. Hats off to you, Costco.
#1 - Himalayan Expedition Everest Roller Coaster: Oh my! So most of you know by now, that we love us some rides. Valleyfair, Mall of America, wherever, we'll do it. Roller coasters especially, and this year was special because Aiden was finally tall enough to ride all the big coasters at the parks. Another pleasure that I didn't get the benefit of experiencing was this ride at Animal Kingdom during the last visits to Florida. I'm a bit of a roller coaster snob, so if it's been done before, I don't really care. That's why Renegade and Steel Venom get so much of my love from Valleyfair, they're both really unique. Well, take a back seat fellas, this ride was no joke. No spoilers again, but if you have to know, please click on this youTube video that I would like to extend as an offering. Unique was its middle name.
