My Version of the Events

Kevin’s account of Disney was pretty accurate, but since he covered 6 days in just a dozen or so paragraphs, I thought I would fill in a few more details.
Sunday morning did indeed arrive early: and with no Dora to buffer the wake! Not just no Tivo, no Noggin or Nick, Jr. period! Luckily, Harry seems to like hotel rooms, so we were able to snooze here and there until the Mouse waffles arrived.
We lucked out with our view of the “harbor” and its boats. Harry loved them. We did take advantage of the opportunity to review colors. As noted, he seems to have a penchant for "Ooornj". “Yellyow” is cool, too.
As noted, Monday was Animal Kingdom day. Kevin brought up the fact that almost everyone we talked to recommended against Animal Kingdom. We assumed it was mostly because they thought it was boring. Many people think EPCOT is boring, too, so we risked it, if only to check out the animals on the safari.
For once, we agreed with everyone else. AK was “eh.” Yeah. Maybe a “C”. For one thing, the walk space was not nearly as wide as Epcot, so you were constantly walking into people. Nothing seemed to loop or flow. It also seemed so much less “authentic” then other parks. Yeah, it’s a theme park, but it was a little cheesy. For a new park created next to such fine examples, we expected more.
Kevin also mentioned Harry’s Simba face. This was kind of a whim. Kevin went to get a Fast Pass (or whatever) for the safari and I plopped Harry in a chair (on my lap, actually). I didn’t even have a wallet on me. Oops! Harry didn’t like it at first, so he was almost a different, less labor intensive cat (A Paka Cat, maybe?) that did not involve eye paint, but he soon gave up the way Bailey does when she gets her nails cut. Learned Helplessness we called it at the Psych building. Regardless, teh result was an adorable Simba in a blue Townsend Kids T. Even cuter with dark shades! I can’t tell you the number of people that stopped to say how cute he was. Harry was not a fan though. That is to say, when he saw himself in the mirror, he did not like it. So I moved him away from the mirror. He was none the wiser, and I was able to add a novel spin to the day's 200 photos.
Next: The African Safari Truck Tour. Harry liked the truck! He really is all about modes of transportation these days. I am sure PopPop will be pleased. He’d been concerned about Harry’s doll and tea set. Anyway, the safari was pretty cool. The scenary was scenic and there were real animals. There was the goofy poaching thing. It was just that: goofy. And they didn’t really elaborate on the problem of poaching, so why bring it up at all?
The Bug's Life 3-D movie ranks right up there with the “ice cream cone incident” as one of Harry’s most traumatic moments. I have never seen him so truly frightened. Lots of shouts of “All Done! ALL DONE! HOME!” We were in the middle of a packed row, so that wasn’t an option. I did take off his 3-D glasses. Fortunately the production was only a few minutes long. When we were done, Harry actually said he liked it.
Moving on... the search for bears… Harry DID have fun looking for bears and even waited in line at the meet & greet for Baloo and King Louie. He practiced his hugs and everything. Once it was our turn, hugging a 7 foot bear ceased to be a good idea. No trauma though. It was all good.
One thing I thought was really cool was the bat exhibit. I have never seen bats like these before. They were close to my height and wrapped up like Dracula. They were the coolest things ever! (Harry slept through those).
Not to be outdone, AK had a playground area too. It was called the Boneyard. They promised lots of fun with fossils. It was pretty cool... Harry probably could have played there all day., but it was very hot and we had to move on.
Next stop EPCOT.
The gardens were amazing as usual. I want to build Tinkerbell’s Garden in our backyard!!!
Harry eventually moved on to the water area. I brought clothes, since I expected this, but I didn’t bring shoes. Oops! Luckily, we were able to track down a new pair from the souvenir shop. $20 big boy sneakers with Stitch on the side. Kind of convenient, actually, since I had searched all over Greenwich, CT for a suitable pair and could not find them.
We then moved over to Mexico and had a not so quiet lunch next to a screaming 2 year old. “Baby cry!” Harry did not like that. He did like his sandwich though, so that was good.
After lunch we were nourished enough to make it through the boat ride in Mexico and then on to color a mask in a little side room where he was able to talk to the kind woman running the operation about Dora, and properly use “Hola.”
The Mexican ride was relatively uneventful, but Harry was not interested in Maelstom. “No boat.” He stated, matter-of-factly. Being the empathetic parents that we are, we put him on anyway. As soon as the lights went out Harry burried his head in the crook of my neck. Lesson learned.
We left EPCOT to go to the pool for a bit. Harry practiced jumping off of the side. He jumps perefectly well if it’s into water!
The sun gave me a horrible migraine but I was able to sleep it off in just a few hours. I missed the lizard run-in though, but I certainly heard all about it!
We finished up our trip with a day at Magic Kingdom. I will let Kevin fill you in on that. As Harry would say, “Daddy turn!”