Belated Disney post

It used to be that, during a Disney trip, I would sit down every other night or so and write in my LJ. This time, I just had enough time ot post my pics to FB before crashing. (And, to check Tumblr, let's not lie.)

Tonight I realized that I hadn't even written anything about Callum's first Disney trip, and that it was already, like, three weeks in the past. I'm doing NaNoWriMo for the first time this year, so that's pretty much all the writing I've been doing, and it eats up almost all of my free time, which is the two hours when Callum naps in the afternoon.

But it's 10:40 PM right now and he's in bed, so let me just do a little catch-up, and mention the things about Disney that I want to always remember.

Callum was terrific on the airplane. He was only 17 months old at the time, so it might be harder next year. But he was great. It was me, him, my Mom and Jo-Chan (Meg,) on the plane. We got there super early, to check the carseat and stroller, and then he and Meg played in the airport till it was time to board. He slept for almost the entire flight, only to wake during the landing to point to his ears and say “pop pop pop!” But I'd told him to expect that, so he wasn't scared or anything.

Our first night there, we went to Chef Mickey's for dinner. The first character Callum “met” there was Mickey. My Dad would have approved of that. It was also the only character he wasn't afraid of (until Stitch, a few days later.) Callum tasted his first apple juice and cheese sauce. OMG, we ate so badly there, but of course, it's vacation, so.

So it was Chrissie and Timmy, their two boys, SB and his adorable GF Nat, and my uncle and his GF, and of course, the four of us. We went to the Kingdom on the monorail right from dinner, and went right to the Haunted Mansion. I had already been reciting the whole thing to Callum since just about when he was born, so when he heard it in real life, he just looked at me like, “Mom, wtf is this?!” He wasn't scared at all.

I really thought I was going to bust out crying while watching the Main Street Electrical Parade. That was one of the first things I saw in Disney when my parents took me when I was ten. And my Dad loved it, and so did my Gran. But I had “practiced” watching it on youtube, so I was all right. Also, this little, older, British lady was talking to me and to Callum, and she was sweet, so I was distracted and handled it just fine. Callum liked it, as much as he was able to, but fell asleep right at the end.

As for me, the next day I got to spend my hour (and maybe more?!) at Mitsukoshi. We also ate there this time, which is something I always wanted to do. Callum had fun with his cousin Mason, who sat across from each other, as we waited for food.

Actually, Callum had fun with Mason pretty much every day. The two of them were like mind-twins during the whole trip. Mason is 11 months older than Callum, but they're close in height, and apparently they like a lot of the same things, like: Mickey Mouse, lightsabers, sippy cups, snacks, and escaping the hotel room to run down the hall together. O_o It was really a joy to watch them play together every morning before breakfast.

Oh, we stayed at Timmy's Dad's timeshare, which was really beautiful. It had its own kitchen, two bathrooms and everything.

The Halloween party was probably my favorite night, apart from Epcot and Mitsukoshi. Callum and I were Pubert and Morticia again. Chrissie looked absolutely beautiful as a witch. But the best, I think, were Spencer and Nat, who went as post-Hulk Bruce Banner, and Lady!Thor. We stayed for the (truly epic) Halloween parade, went on Big Thunder Mountain railroad (Mom stayed with Callum while I went on, and I stayed with him and took him to the little playground by Splash Mountain while she went on.) Then, while I went on Space Mountain, Callum had a huge meltdown as my Mom was minding him. She calmed him down by showing him the Peoplemover and saying, “THERE IT IS!” every time it went by. This led to him mimicking a high-pitched voice every time he saw any train-like thing go by, especially the monorail. It devolved into him just squealing each time he saw a monorail, whether it went overhead, or he saw it from the car, or from the line to get on one, or anything. It makes me a little blue that, by the time we go again next year, he'll probably be able to say “monorail,” and I won't get to hear him do that again.

Oh, I should mention, too, that he got his first haircut at the Magic Kingdom barber shop. I was so nervous, because I liked his long hair and I thought I wouldn't even recognize him with short hair. But it turned out really adorable, and he was excellent through the whole thing. (Of course, they gave him a toy to play with. And when he got bored with that, I gave him my phone to play with.)

Also, we got to see Auntie Kau'i. I thought I was going to cry when I saw her pretty face. And she met Callum and said how handsome he was. Pretty much all he said to her was, “Et?” which is how he asks who, or what, anyone or anything is. “Look at that gorgeous face,” she said. Usually, I get to spend a lot more time with her, and take her Hula class, and go up and dance at Tambu and all of that. But it's different when you have a kid, you know? Maybe when he's older. And when there's more time, like an extra day or something.

My other favorite night was actual Halloween. That day, we went to Animal Kingdom (ehh, not a favorite of mine,) and Callum and Mason played in the Boneyard while we waited for the others to ride one of the rides that I don't like. We had lunch, then SB and I waited while Callum napped and everyone else went on Kali River Rapids (we both hate to get wet and be miserable for the rest of the day!) SB and I drank mango margaritas and I bought a skirt. (It is insane, to me, that I went here with SB when he was Callum's age. And now we're drinking margaritas together outside of the rides. What even is that?) Then, we went on Expedition Everest, which was more awesome than I remembered. Then we took the kids on the safari, which they liked. Right after that, AK closed (they close really early,) so it was off to dinner, and then an early night as we all had a party at the timeshare.

The party was one of the best parts. All the kids were playing together, while SB and Timmy barbecued some stuff downstairs. Callum and I had some baked potatoes. Later, when the kids went to bed, we broke out the wine. Earlier that day, Meg had been hiding in the laundry closet to jump out and yell “BOO!” to Callum and Mason. But instead, Timmy went by, and about jumped out of his skin when he saw her there. So that night we were talking about that, and we had also been on the subject of how everyone was freaking out about Ebola, but in reality it was really hard to catch etc. and I somehow ended up commenting that if Meg had been Ebola, Timmy would have it by now. For some reason, this made my Mom, Meg, and Chrissie and I about piss ourselves laughing. Maybe it was the wine, but we were practically falling off our chairs with cracking up. Then, later, Timmy asked me if I'd like some more cheese and crackers, and I told him, “no thanks, I'm potatoed out.” And Meg replied that he hadn't even asked me about potatoes, and then she got started laughing.

Much later than that, SB, Meg, and Nat and I were talking about Sephiroth, and One-Winged Angel and all of that, and we started theorizing about how a person with one wing would even fly. I demonstrated how I thought that would go, and SB recorded it. I have not seen that recording, but I can guarantee that going to haunt me someday.

Oh, of course, we also went to MGM. Callum wasn't too fond of the Movie Ride, and there's really not much for him to go on, there. He did enjoy running around the “Frozen” store and playground thingie. (And this was even before he saw his beloved Elsa in the movie and became obsessed with everything Frozen. Yes, we are in that vortex right now.) And he loved the Honey I Shrunk The Kids playground, too. Me, I got to go on Tower of Terror, and eat a candy apple – but I missed Rock N Roller Coaster. :/ I spent a lot of that day talking to Nat, actually, about movies that we liked, music, and life in general. I have to say, she is pretty special.

The best part, for me, was seeing Callum see everything for the first time. I had expected him to be off his game, get grouchy and overtired and maybe even upset. But he only had one real meltdown to speak of. It was on the monorail, and it was because I put him to sit on the seatback to look out the window. WTF. That set him off for about five minutes. LOL IDEK. But he was fine right after that, and, even though he missed about half of each nap, and was in bed about an hour later than usual, he still had so much fun.

When we wake up in the morning, sometimes he'll grab my shirt and say, “Diz-din?” As if it's just so easy to go back there anytime. And he must think, why not? We go back to Atlantis all the time. We go to the park all the time, and to the store, and all those other places. Why not juts get back on the Great Big Airplane Way High Up In The Sky, take a two-hour nap, and be in Diz-din with everyone?

On the way home, our flight got delayed for four hours. The airline gave us each a $100 voucher to fly within the year. Which, the plane tickets were about $120 to begin with. And Mom and I already have annual Disney passes. I mean, it's almost like we have to go back. But, it looks like the next time it might just be Callum, me, my Mom, and Meg. Everyone else has different things going on this year. It's really hard to get that many people off work and out of school and with enough money all at once. Which also makes me sad. A big part of the fun, for me, is to be with the whole family. But, Callum loves anything having to do with Meghan, and he'll pretty much go along with anything as long as she's there (and Mom-mom, and Gram-gram.)

Of note: The actual most expensive part of the whole trip was boarding the dogs. I might split them up next time, as much as I hate to do that, and put Sano in non-med-boarding, just to save some of the money. Like, it kills me that you can get a hotel room in actual Disneyworld, for four people, for about a hundred bucks a night. And a 5'X8' run with two dogs crammed into it together costs the same exact effing thing. WTF even is with that?

Well, anyway. The point of this entry is to talk about the little things that went on in Callum's first trip to Disney. The thing to take away from this is that he loved it, more than I thought he would. And he wants to go back; he remembers it, more than I thought he would. And, my Dad and Gran would have totally approved of this trip. I knew it was going to be super emotional, and really tough in some places (it was: they played my Dad's favorite, When You Wish Upon A Star, as we were leaving MK for the last time,) but I think everyone handled it way, way better than I expected.

Shoot, I wanted to upload the video of everyone laughing their face off that night, but it's on my laptop. Dang it. And so are most of the pics, too. They're all on my FB, but that's private. Okay, have this one pic, then, of Callum playing in the water fountains at Epcot (his other favorite thing!) Because I think this pretty sums up the whole trip for me: