Martins dream was realized, 6 days of park hopping at Walt Disney World. We managed to hit up every park and the water park doing at least two parks per day for the duration of the trip. Believe it or not there were really no major meltdowns or disasters and we didn't end up putting up one of our children for adoption or divorcing, both of which I thought were plausible outcomes from that long of a trip with such little kids in such heat and with so little nutrition and so many chicken nuggets.
Martin had a strategy in mind, go to the water park early, wear the kids out, then go to one of the theme parks. The first couple days that worked like a charm. The beauty of Disney is that even at the water park there is toddler section. Ben was all about the water inner tube ride.
I LOVED the lazy river.
Jimmy LOVED the water spouts.
Martin LOVED the shark reef, even though we didn't get to snorkel through it this time.
Overall it was quite relaxing. We were generally able to stay in the shade and there weren't crazy lines for things.
There were life vests everywhere so we didn't need to worry about hauling around floaties and things too, which THANK YOU DISNEY for always thinking of these things.
Since it was Vacation we stayed late at the parks and the first night we saw the Electrical Parade. Jimmy was mostly unconsious for it, Ben was entranced by all the light and the sound.
We made it to Hollywood Studios on the last day of the Jedi Training Camp, it was the evening so we had missed the sign up, but luckily Ben was so overwhelmed and stimulated by everything else he didn't really even know that was a thing so we didn't have to deal with the messy clean up of tears and emotions learning he couldn't do it. But I guess we do have our next trip tenatively scheduled when the Star Wars renovation area opens up.
Ben did get to build a light saber though, and to this day it is his prized possession. It is really neat how they do it, the kids literally put every piece on and can make their own or copy one of the characters. Ben went full Darth Vader with his design.
We had the park hopper tickets so managed to get a little bit of everyhing in.
Ben was rather hit or miss with the 3D shows, Jimmy was petrified and would grab onto your shirt with a strength I didn't know he had upon walking into any theater. Most of the shows are not just 3D but add other senses to it like puffs of wind or smells, Jimmy was NOT a fan.
We did the test track, that was surprisingly hard. Jimmy and I were about on par with our driving abilities.
All along Martin's brother Diego was planning on bringing his family, we convened at the Animal Kingdom
Went on the Safari ride several times
Then went home to the hotel, we were in the room when there was a knock at the door and Monica and Carlos were there! They surprised Martin for his birthday. They had planned a celebratory trip to London, and since you can't go direct from Buenos Aires to London, they went via Florida to see him. Martin was so incredibly surprised and happy to see them. I was utterly shocked. I had no clue they were coming, Deigo and Mariela did a great job coordinating that
The kids really liked meeting the characters, which isn't a super casual event. They have stick appearance times and locations and you have to be in the right place at the right time, since they liked it we trudged around an tried to meet who we could.
We didn't have anything too major planned for Martins actual birthday as you never know how the kids are going to be after a long day in the sun and in the parks, but now with a family reunion on our hands we needed to do something, we managed to get a reservation at the German restaurant in Epcott, we got a primo seat right next to the show and it was great.
It was an exhausting trip all in all, but amazing. Everyone held themselves together amazingly well, even this was not a dramatic scene, just resting.
