Vacation

As night fell across the Magic Kingdom, I watched my oldest son of 10 run ahead of me adorned with requisite Mickey ears atop his ever-growing head. Time paused for a moment as the universe seemed to tell me that this was a point in time that I'd never have back. It sounds magical, but in truth, my son was running ahead as he was about to shit himself, and I was grumpy that we had to backtrack 5 minutes to find the nearest bathroom. But the image of him in that park with that silly hat made me take pause and remember why we were here. I get precious few moments with my two oldest boys, and this was a beautiful one. I'm thankful that it reset my mood so we could enjoy our last few hours in the park.

Sometime around January of 2015, we announced to the boys that we were going to start saving our money for a trip to Disney World and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. For two years, they along with us, scrimped and saved up for the trip. They should be quite proud that they managed to come up with the money for their tickets and some extra for nifty gifties.

Waking everyone up at 3:30a to catch our 6a flight out of Columbus was easier than I thought. I wasn't alone in my excitement, and Grandma Vicki's Honda Element Express arrived promptly at 4a to whisk us away to CMH. As we taxied to the runway, Ray was glued to the window as Sam slowly shrunk into my lap. The take-off really got to him, but once we were airborne he had a lot of fun. Arriving in a warm weather climate after leaving cold weather is so nice. I picked our flights to give us some bonus time on travel days, and we spent the first one getting pizzas from a place called Flippers. Really good stuff, made to order, and I'll never turn down a Peroni in an Italian restaurant. The boys went nuts for a few hours at the resort pool as Eliz and I drank our alcohol from buckets. The Floridays resort had lost a bit of its luster, but that evening was as good as any I've spent relaxing.

Our first day at Island of Adventure was an interesting one. Each mishap seemed to be followed by a high point. We forgot the effing tickets to the park, and Eliz scrambled to get on her phone and they got us in. We rushed back to Hogsmeade and the boys were in awe of the snow-capped rooftops and Hogwarts Castle, that is until we learned that the Castle ride was out of order. So off we went to Ollivander's to save the experience, and the boys were chosen for the wand ceremony! Sam's wand wilted the flowers, and Ray's made the bells go crazy. I fought back the tears and gripped Eliz' shoulder so tight I thought I'd left bruises. And when it came time to make purchase of the wands, Sam for reasons unknown, turned down the offer. You're killing me smalls. Some things I'll never understand about my kids.

I dragged my reluctant children through the line for the Dragons roller coaster because I'm a dad. While Sam seemed sheepish, he quietly boarded the coaster. Meanwhile Ray proceeded to flip out and repeatedly scream from the top of his lungs, "I don't want to die"! Eliz and I were seriously second guessing the whole trip at this point. His screaming turned to laughing during the actual ride, and after we finished he couldn't shut up about how awesome it was. Some things I'll never understand about my kids.

We had a blast over the three days we spent at Universal. Diagon Alley was a wonder. You really get the sense that you're in a hidden section of streets in London. The boys had a blast with all the simulator rides, but Spider-man seemed to be the hit. I may have preferred Gringotts though, I'm a sucker for magic (and that dragon is fantastic). The most memorable moment may have been when Sam cast the Aguamenti charm at an interactive fountain at the park and a sizable shot of water landed square on Eliz' head. It was a bulls-eye for the ages. I bought her firewhiskey as a consolation prize.

We spent 3 of our 4 park days at Universal since the kids were more well versed in Marvel and Harry Potter. But much like our Honeymoon, Disney rose up and simply stole the show. The Magic Kingdom has less thrilling rides, no simulators, and nowhere near the comprehensive plan for immersing visitors into a world. Somehow, by sheer charm and old school marvels, they manage to make you love them more. Eliz and I always felt this way, and much to our surprise, after just a few hours the boys agreed.

We planned to open and close the park, which allotted us 16 human hours in Mickey's playhouse, and we did just that. From ride #1, Peter Pan, the boys were hooked. Yes, they upped the ante with the line going through the house in London, replete with Tink flittering about the children's toys and dressers. But the true magic happens on the god-knows-how-many-decades-old ride when you fly over a model of London, and through haphazardly painted dioramas of the Peter Pan tale. It just grips me. I don't even know if I've seen the movie all the way through, and it's my favorite ride in the park.

In less than 90 minutes, we hit Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Buzz Lightyear. Getting there early pays off. Next time, I'm staying on location to get another early hour. I literally beat Eliz by a factor of 100 on the Buzz Lightyear ride. I giggled for about 10 minutes. The longest wait we had was for Space Mountain. The boys were getting a little nervous before this one as well, but they had a great time. I enjoyed it much more at 10:30a than I did at 8a first thing during our honeymoon.

We had the day mapped out much better this time. Restaurant reservations are a must, and even though the Liberty Tree Tavern was a bust, dinner at Tony's more than made up for it. Don't get me wrong, you spend Cameron Mitchell prices for Applebee's food, but when the alternative is cafeteria hot dogs, sitting down for 30 mins at Tony's is a win. After dinner was our mad dash to the finish. Crowds had died down, and we had until midnight to hit the rest of the rides on our list. Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo, Seven Dwarfs, Speedway cars under the fireworks, Haunted Mansion again, and closed the day out the way we started: Peter Pan.

The ride had some malfunctions, and we waited in line for a long time. The boys were falling asleep at our feet. Exhausted, we asked the boys if they wanted to leave and the both said they wanted to stay and ride one more time, bless their hearts. We toured London and Neverland in our little ships, and soaked up every last ounce of bad paint and magic. After the ride, we walked back thru Main St. USA and turned around to get a last view of Cinderella's Castle. Damn, that thing is majestic. The silhouettes of the boys' Mickey ears against the backdrop of the lit castle gave me the perfect punctuation to our vacation. It's a moment in time of our boys being boys before they grow into men. We took them at the perfect age, and I'm thankful for the stories that we'll get to wear out on unwilling listeners for decades to come.