After some frantic cleaning, packing, and other put off requirements, we managed to head out of town around noon. Corwin did wait until we had left the driveway before he asked for snacks, although we had not yet finished our in town errands. Meanwhile, we had unfortunately selected a cooler for the drinks that was made of a material that strongly attracted Alice’s feet. I eventually moved it from right next to her seat to the other side but she ended up sitting slanted from the pull.
We had a long drive down to Atlanta, GA, with Corwin frequenty asking “are we there yet?” despite the evidence of the van still in motion on the high way. I was unable to convince him that “being there” implied parking and he should wait for that event before asking.
Mom fixed water bottles for all the kids, but Charles was brought to tears twice by this, the first time when he left the lid ajar during dinner and it all leaked out. The next day, he managed to lose his bottle while sitting in the van, an impressive achievement (eventually we found it).
We stopped at the Kentucky Dam on the way because Mom wanted to stretch her legs. The visitor center wasn’t open on weekends, so we walked down to the river. Corwin pointed out all the dead fish on the rocks in case we missed them.
Later in the evening, Alice peed her pants while we were on the road and Mom discovered that we had forgotten to pack any underwear for Alice. I think that distressed Alice more than having to sit on a urine soaked seat. Eventually, though, we made the hotel around midnight and crashed out.
Sunday was another hard drive, although not quite as bad. We made it to Orlando about 4 pm and checked in to the Nickelodeon Hotel. All the kids were completely thrilled. Corwin because there was a PS/2 and a TV in every room. Alice and Charles thought the bunk bed was the best part of the entire experience. Charles was able to sleep the top bunk and Alice got to sleep in a bunk bed, very life affirming experiences.
Corwin wanted to hit the pool first thing, but it was cool (70° or so) with no sun so we decided he could wait till tomorrow. We spent a slow evening hitting the arcade, watching some TV, and Corwin and I seeing one of the “4-D” movies. Charles and Alice spent a lot of time drawing and writing, with Charles producing a “Charles News” sheet which he left for Mom and I to find in the morning.
Monday dawned bright and sunny and so we hit the pool within 5 minutes of opening. It would have been a marginal experience except the pool was heated. All the kids had a truly excellent time, especially once the water slides opened an hour later. Corwin basically spent the rest of morning and afternoon there. The slides all end in basically extended bathtubs about 18” deep so that even Alice could easily ride any slide that didn’t frighten her. She spent a good hour or so trying out the smaller slides, and spent the rest of her time in the main pool which has a nice zero-depth small child area. I spent the time freezing my feet because the pool surface was wet and out of the sun and it was cold. The kids in the heated pool were fine.
Corwin was getting tired and cold by 4, but the Mass Sliming was at 4:45 so he hung on until then. Charles and Alice declined the slime, but Charles was willing to help my out by using my small camera to video record the event while I took still pictures.
Afterwards, we went to the Ripley’s Odditorium. I had to leave with Alice who became hysterical at the horrorible displays (what, precisely, was so horrible I was unable to determine). The boyen liked it though.
The next stop was the McDonald’s with the Largest McDonald’s play area in the entire world. It was a bit of a pit, very short staffed that night with the resultant long lines and difficulty in finding a clean table. The kids didn’t mind because it had a huge arcade upstairs (larger than the one at the hotel). Charles and Alice tried the play area but it was too large for them — they couldn’t figure out how to get around in it. The most interesting thing that happened while we were there was a guy who won 500 tickets off one of the gambling games and then won another 1000 tickets. The poor staff had to go out and help because he had run the dispensing machine out of tickets.
And thus passed Monday.