The Dream Vacation We’d Trade Away in a Minute

So. Now that I’m settled back into reality and I’ve gotten the whole my-dad-has-a-rare-and-aggressive-form-of-lymphoma thing off my chest (and thank you, truly, for your kind words and thoughts on that front) it’s time to post some vacation pictures!

Quick note on the title of this post: At one point during our trip Clio said, “Aren’t you glad I wished for this trip?” which then led to her and Elsa cheering (half joking), “Yay for Clio! Yay for Clio getting cancer!” (Kids. They say the darnedest things.) We had to sternly intercede and say that while the trip is fab, it would be much much better if Clio didn’t have cancer.

“But then we wouldn’t have taken this trip, would we?” they asked.

Well, er, um, no, I mean — hey! Look! Is that Donald Duck over there? I think it is! Hey! Donald, over here!

You can’t explain to a couple of six year olds that not having cancer is better than getting to go to Disney World. So at some point, you just stop trying.

And — if you’re me — you try to stop thinking too much about why you’re on the trip and just sit back and enjoy it.

It’s hard to get excited about much of anything at 6:30 am, but we were all pretty damned excited about the car that showed up to take us to the airport the morning we left. You don’t see many of these in our neighborhood. (No champagne in the car, but there were Peppermint Patties — York, not off-brand.)

 

We got superstar treatment at the airport, too — and got our first taste of line-jumping. Two JetBlue employees met us as we arrived, checked our bags, and ushered us through the Fast-Pass version of security. I still got stopped for a random scan, though. (Even Make-a-Wish can’t get you out of that.)

We got to board before everyone else, and the girls got to check out the cockpit, too. I should note that this was the first time the girls had ever been on a plane. (“This isn’t what flying is usually like,” we told them, repeatedly. “Trust us!”)

 

It was a nice, quick flight. Clio slept, Elsa was entranced by the nifty little screen on the back of the seat in front of her, and when we arrived in Orlando, we were met at the airport by someone from Give Kids The World, the resort “village” where we stayed. GKTW is a non-profit entity in and of itself, which hosts kids with illnesses / disabilities sent on “wish” trips from all over the world. It’s a pretty sweet place. And I mean ‘sweet’ in all three senses of the word: Flavor, sentiment, and Dude-speak for awesome.

We got our own little “villa” to stay in for the week. Here is a goofy picture of us standing in front of it, Alastair and I looking sort of shell-shocked and bemused, and the girls looking like they’ve just scarfed mass quantities of all-you-can-eat ice cream, which they have:

 

Here’s a better shot of the villa itself, complete with ominous lighting — nice contrast with the fairy tale innocence of the facade, hm? — and our sweet rental car out front:

 

This was the village cafeteria, where we ate breakfast every day and dinner a few times. There are something like forty-thousand dolls and fourteen million peppermint candies decorating the place. (Those numbers may be slightly high). There are also lovely volunteers who barely let you lift a finger. Honestly, I’ve never met so many kind, helpful, cheerful people in one place. Then again, I don’t get out of New England much…

 

 

There was also a really nice pool area at the village, where we hung out a few times, and where the girls drove us mad by toggling within a matter of seconds between wrestling like puppies and wrestling like puppies hell bent on killing each other. (See how, in the picture below, Clio’s expression walks the line between pleasure and fury? Elsa’s is pleasure no matter what.)

 

Another great thing about the village was that various trademarked characters from Disney, Nickelodeon, etc. came to visit. The girls had fun with their ole pal Goofy:

 

And then, of course, there was this guy — the one who started it all. Back when Clio was first in the hospital, we asked her if there was anyone special she really wanted to meet. Her reply? Novak Djokovic. (Wimbledon was on, and we were watching a lot of tennis in her room.) No, no, no, we said. Someone more fun.

 

 But wait, wait, wait, you’re saying. What about Disney World? Did you just stay in this damned village the whole time or did you go to freakin’ Disney World for God’s sake?

Yes. Yes, we did. (And I’ll thank you to watch your tone.)

We spent our first day a the Magic Kingdom, natch. Checked out some of the tried and true favorites (Winnie the Pooh! Space Mountain! ) and some of the newer ones (Buzz Lightyear! The Little Mermaid!) Contrary to what one would predict, given their personalities and overall demeanor, Clio is our thrill seeker when it comes to rides — the crazier the better — and Elsa is…well, Elsa liked “It’s a Small World.”

Our first night, we also spent the evening in the park for Mickey’s Not so Scary Halloween Party. The girls dressed up for real, but Alastair and I kind of half-assed it. (He’s a Slytherin dropout. I’m a devil in a black dress.) Some of the costumes we saw were amazing. We couldn’t always tell who worked at the park — I mean, ahem, who was a cast member — and who was just a guest. No mistaking with us:

 

 

One of the big highlights of the night was the parade. And one of the worst parts of our whole experience was these twenty-something a**holes watching the parade who refused to sit down. Every single other person right up front along the parade route was either a.) Sitting down or b.) A very small child or baby. But these people refused to sit down, even when multiple people (including Alastair and me) asked, first nicely and then not so nicely. And even when they saw small children standing behind them. Nope; they’d been waiting for a long time. They bought their tickets, and they had every right to stand. (“Oh, right, I see. Because it’s all about you,” I said at one point. Oooh! Snap!)

Eventually they all sat down, except for one guy, who stood defiantly the whole time. What a hero.

What was almost more disturbing, though, was how insanely enthusiastic these ADULTS were about a parade of people dressed up as Disney characters. They were screaming and grinning and waving and like a bunch of eleven-year-old girls at a One Direction concert. And I’m pretty sure they weren’t drunk or high or being paid or anything.

Orange shirt kids, I don’t care if you outgrow your Disney obsession or not, but I do hope that you grow up.

 

But let’s move on from all this unpleasantness. It makes me angry just thinking about it. Here are some happier theme park shots!

We spent our next day at Universal Studios. The first character we met there was Woody Woodpecker. The girls had no idea who he was. They’ve never seen a Woody Woodpecker cartoon in their lives. But if there was a character to be seen, he had to be met, and his autograph gotten.

 

They were actually familiar with the Lorax. (This picture cracks me up. He’s so little!)

The highlight of the day, by far, was checking out the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was incredibly detailed and beautifully done. Harry Potter Superfan #1 (Elsa) was in heaven, and Clio loved it, too. It was really cool seeing them recognize things from the books and movies.

The girls were too little (Clio) / scared (Elsa) for it, but Alastair and I took turns going on the new Harry Potter ride in Hogwarts and it was amazing. I’m kind of a thrill ride junkie, and it was honestly the best ride I’ve ever been on.

Speaking of thrill rides — that night, the Red Sox won the World Series. Embarrassingly, neither of us stayed awake for the whole game. We were so exhausted after a day of pounding the pavement. But we celebrated the next morning with the official beverage of Red Sox Nation:

 

 

We did some more stuff at the Magic Kingdom, and then we had some post-lunch downtime at The Wish Lounge — one of the loveliest perks of all for Make-a-Wish Families at Disney.

 

And then we had a very brief visit to Epcot. I tried to take a picture where it looked like Elsa was holding up the ball:

And then she took one of me:

They’re both good, in their own way, I think.

Amazingly, we managed to muster enough energy to visit Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios the next day. Animal Kingdom was sort of  a breath of fresh (lush, shady, slightly exotic) air after the wide open, hyper-man-made feel of the other parks.  I mean, they actually left some of the trees in at Animal Kingdom.

We loved the two shows there — the Finding Nemo musical (songs co-written by my amazing college a capella pal Kristen Anderson-Lopez!), and the Festival of The Lion King. We got to sit way up front at that one, and participate in a couple of things. Clio turned down a spot in the finale parade, but Elsa was more than happy to take her place:

 

The weather was gorgeous throughout our trip, except for our last full day, when it rained. We were planning to go to one of the water parks, but through a series of panicked decisions and rash highway maneuvers, we ended up at Sea World, where we reasoned (correctly) there would be some things to do indoors until it stopped raining — which it did.

Elsa got a kick out of the pearl divers, who could hold their breaths and look graceful underwater for sustained periods of time. (There’s something about this photo — the diver’s pose, and Elsa’s pose, the blue of her bathing suit and Elsa’s poncho — that I like.)

 

And then, before we knew it, it was time to go home. The return leg of our journey was much more normal — complete with a long waits to check bags, go through security, and wait at the baggage claim.

And the girls were, to put it mildly, completely wiped out:

(I love how little kids get to do exactly what the rest of us totally wish we could do.)

The car that brought us home was a humble SUV — no stretch limo. We were back in reality. It was dark, and about 40 degrees out. Nary a palm tree in sight. But a lot of lovely, lovely memories.

Thank you, Make-a-Wish, Give Kids the World, Commonwealth Financial Networks, and all other relevant entities (void in Nebraska) for giving our family this priceless gift of time, fun, ease and nothing but pleasant surprises. It was amazing — unforgettable — to feel so relaxed and so completely in the moment, from start to finish.

 

Sweet dreams!