The perfect Saturday

Yesterday when I woke up Chris asked me what I wanted to do that day. I mentioned my usual list of Saturday adventures like skating at Upper Tampa Bay Trail, doing laundry, and maybe taking Bogart for a car ride since he can never get enough of those. Chris seemed satisfied with my answer until he asked again after breakfast. The second time, I asked him what his answer was since my was apparently unsatisfactory, and he said the one thing that I had forgotten to say before, "I wanted to go to Disney World," he said with a childish grin. I just grinned back. By this point it was ten in the morning so it was clear that we weren't going to be doing our usual 14 hour day at Disney, and that was fine by me. Chris had to get his hair cut so while he was gone I got us ready to leave. When he got back we made turkey pastrami sandwiches that we could eat in the car in the parking lot before heading in to the park. We left our apartment about and 11:30 and headed to our favorite place.

We didn't have anything planned like we usually do, and since I've now ridden just about every ride in the park we didn't have a must do Jennifer list like usual. However, I have never ridden the Peter Pan ride and everyone I know who's been to Disney keeps telling me that I should. Chris also suggested the Snow White ride since well, my name is Snow, and neither one of us have ever seen the movie all the way through. So, between Peter Pan and Snow White, the Magic Kingdom was added to the plan. On the way to Orlando we started talking about the Yeti ride and how awesome it had been last time. We just went to Animal Kingdom and there isn't much else there, but we figured that since we didn't have to pay for parking then why not go all the way to Animal Kingdom for one ride, so we did.

We went straight to Animal Kingdom and headed for the Yeti. We grabbed fast passes that were good for an hour later, and then we stood in line to ride the Yeti. We rode it, had thirty minutes before our passes were good, so we off it, ran around, and rode it again. When we got off it the second time our fast passes were ready and we ran ahead of everyone and rode it for a third time. It was awesome!! After an hour or more of Yeti we figured that we should at least do something else at Animal Kingdom, so we headed over to Dino Land and rode Dinosaur. Then we headed back to our car.

We drove over to the Magic Kingdom from there and took the monorail from the parking lot into the park. After we got into the park we headed straight for Thunder Mountain Railroad, grabbed fast passes that weren't good for another two hours, and then we headed over to Splash Mountain. You read that right, I rode it again! The line was about an hour long and there was a screaming four year old in front of us for the entire wait, but then our log pulled up and we were put in the front row. For anyone who may be reading this who has never been terrified of 50 ft drops, the front row is the last place you want to be. But, it's where I was and there wasn't anything I could do about it. We got really wet when we passed the drop on our way to the top right as another boat plunged to the bottom soaking us as it went. The ride is air conditioned inside the building and I absolutely froze! I did fine on the first two little drops, and then came the big mamajama. I thought I was going to die as the clickity-clack carried us out of the darkness and into the light. I missed the darkness as we careened down a 50 ft. slip n' slide. I was prepared to panic the whole way down, but after about 10 feet I realized that I wasn't scared. The Yeti ride has a pretty big drop in it too, and after riding that sucker six times in two weeks, it made Splash Mountain a walk in the park. After Splash Mountain, we were soaked but we continued and did other things like ride Snow White, decide to hold off until our next trip to ride Peter Pan, we rode the Haunted Mansion, and finally, at six as the sun began to set, we rode Thunder Mountain Railroad with a full moon lighting up Cinderella's Castle in the distance.

When we finished Thunder Mountain it was time for the parade through Main Street USA, but we decided to leave for Downtown Disney. We got really lost trying to find it, but we got there eventually and had no plans as we parked in the farthest spot from the entrance. We walked around for about twenty minutes and then decided that since Chris's birthday is next weekend, but on a Sunday, we would celebrate his birthday last night. So we headed over to one of our favorite places, the Rainforest Cafe. We both love that place but we haven't been there since we started dating so we went. Dinner with the gorillas and elephants was great, and we left for Tampa when it was over.

We were only at Disney from one to about ten, but we fit a lot in and had a great time. Downtown Disney is just like I remember it, and the Rainforest Cafe is still as fun as I remember it being when I ate there for my eleventh or twelfth birthday. I've now ridden Splash Mountain twice and the Yeti six times. It seems I've turned into one of those people who I thought were crazy for riding the same terrifying rides over and over again, and that's okay by me. Oh yeah, we also rode Pirates of the Caribbean of course and other than the animatronic crab that moves, it was great. As I said, we missed the parade through Main Street, but, as silly as it may seem, I'd like to see it. The Castle is gorgeous at night and with a full moon rising over it, Disney World seemed more magical than ever, if that's possible. Okay well, I've written more than enough so I'll shove off now. One last thought though, as you climb Mt. Everest on the Yeti ride you can see the Tower of Terror way off in the distance looming over the park. On my last trip up the Yeti I hated being able to see it because I hadn't ridden it yet, and I was supposed to ride it that afternoon. On this trip up the Yeti though I saw it again, and I just thought, "Been there, done that." I went to Disney World yesterday, and for once I really didn't have a care in the world, and that's how it should be. Here's to the next time we go to Hollywood Studios when I can be that person running to the Tower of Terror the moment I enter the park. That's what Disney is to me.