After a few years of struggling through elementary school, Nicolas was on par for a very good school year as a 2nd grader. We (ok mostly me with my husband's blessing) decided to reward him and what better way to reward a child who is a Star Wars fan than with a trip to Walt Disney World for Star Wars Weekend!
I began the trip by driving to my parents' home in North Carolina, about an 8-hour drive from our home in Maryland. It was me and the three kids as my husband had to work and could not afford the time off. I spent a day or two there with them, then I left the two youngest kids with my parents and packed my oldest son into the car for what I would only tell him was a surprise.
He refused to get into the car.
Nicolas was not up for another long car ride (shouldn't have mentioned that) and he didn't want to leave. I refused to give in and tell him where we were going other than it was a special surprise. I finally forced him into the car with much protest...and called up my husband in TEARS about the whole thing.
Not the best way to start out a fun trip.
At some point I mentioned to Nicolas that our final destination was somewhere in Florida and gave him a map to help navigate. This helped a little bit and eventually he was in a little bit better spirits. About 6 hours or so later or so we crossed into Florida...and not too long later we were in a torrential downpour which lasted a good 45 minutes! I have driven in some hard rain in my life...for quick spurts but this was CRAZY! We trudged onward determined to get to our destination though.
When we arrived in the Kissimmee area and pulled into a gas station nearby Nicolas noticed the Walt Disney World front gates. I had been hopeful that he would not notice the big billboards advertising Star Wars Weekends but as I recall he did at one point mention something about seeing Star Wars stuff on signs but I passed it off. After filling up the tank we crossed into the Walt Disney World Resort area and Nicolas' excitement was obvious! He could not BELIEVE we were at Walt Disney World! Nine hours or so after hitting the road we pulled into the driveway for the Pop Century Resort and entered the building for check-in and Nicolas was over-the-moon thrilled and thanking me a million times!
He still had no idea what else was in store for him...he was in Walt Disney World and that was enough for him. He had mom all to himself (rare in our house of five) and we would get to do some fun stuff together. We checked into our room in the 50s section and he saw the bowling pin pool and LOVED it. He couldn't wait to try it out later.
After settling into the room I called a friend of mine from high school...she lives in the area but I hadn't seen her since my 1990 high school graduation. We met her and her daughter, who is just a little younger than Nicolas, for dinner at Downtown Disney. She introduced us to the Wolfgang Puck Express restaurant...and it was GREAT! Nicolas and her daughter got along well and we had a chance to catch up which was such fun. It was like we had never lost touch at all and she's now become somebody I talk to quite regularly and see more often too.
That evening I let Nicolas have some time in the pool at the resort, which he loved. It was so nice that I didn't have to get into the pool, but could just watch him safely from the side as he enjoyed an evening swim.
The next day was our solo Epcot adventure. I had a season pass and bought a 2-day ticket for Nicolas for our trip. One day for Epcot and one day for Hollywood Studios for Star Wars Weekend. It was such fun exploring Epcot with just Nicolas
and spending time doing many things we had never done before, such as Innoventions. We even got in line for the special Disney Visa character photo which I had never done before...and it was so cool to have a photo with so many characters at once!As dinnertime approached, I informed Nicolas we had another trip to make...but this one was much shorter. We drove out to the airport to pick up my husband so Nicolas would now get to spend time with both Mommy and Daddy at Walt Disney World!
(coming up next...Star Wars Weekend fun!)
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