We're back! by Kaycee Velazquez
September 2001

Hello everyone,
First I want to say thanks for encouraging us to go and for all the advice...it was definitely the best idea. We had a great time, however the tragedy was not far from anyone's mind.

We left late Tues and arrived at All Star Music around 1pm Wednesday. They gave us our room even though check in was 3 hours away...so we went to our room and got settled and then went swimming. It was cloudy but very humid so the swim was great. While we were there, 3 Apache helicopters flew over, but because of the clouds...you could hear them well before you could see them. Man, people emptied from the hotel and just stared at the sky. You could see fear in everyone. When we saw that it was our guys everyone was waving. We had dinner in the room (pb&j's for the girls, ham/cheese for me and dh) and went to bed early.

Thurs: we went to Magic Kingdom very early and it was so empty we managed to do everything before 2pm. Yes...everything. And we have 2 little ones, so that was with us stopping for bathroom breaks, changing diapers, stopping to eat snacks, and riding some rides twice. Some rides that are normally fastpass rides...we just stayed on for a second time around. Just as we started to leave, it started sprinkling. We napped and ate lunch in the room and then went to Epcot for Illuminations. It sprinkled all night. I got a cold and bad cough. Still have the cough. LOL

Fri: We had a message from the staff that we were going to be under tropical storm conditions in the afternoon - and we had planned to attend the non denominational prayer service being held at Cirque du Soleil at 10am, but the local news people were asking people to stay indoors because the tropical storm was spawning tornadoes in the area. So, we just hung out in the room for a while goofing off and then roamed around the hotel, ate lunch in the food court and played in the arcade. We didn't get anything more than some wind and rain...and went on to Downtown Disney that night. (Still sprinkling and windy)

Sat: we got up early and went to Animal Kingdom and LOVED it. It sprinkled and was windy early in the day, but the sun came out later and the wind kept it cool. Thought we might have to buy dd a sweatshirt that night to keep her warm!!! We went back to Magic Kingdom that night after lunch at the Rainforest Cafe (our one luxury meal) /nap in the room, to see Spectromagic and the fireworks. The park actually stayed open until 10 that night and had two parades! My dd's loved it. It was dry the rest of the trip. We kind of started missing those lovely yellow ponchos! ; )

Sun: After the baby kept us up all night, we slept a little later than planned, which really messed up our plans for the whole day. We went to Epcot future world (my 3 1/2 yr old rode test track twice in a row and LOVED it!!!!!!!!) in the am (hated the changes to Journey into Imagination) and then napped/lunched in the room and returned too late to explore World Showcase like I wanted to. That is my favorite part of Epcot - but alas...Disney with kids is always unpredictable...LOL...we did Mexico and then it was time to get a spot for Illuminations. My 3yr old loved the fireworks but hated the big fireball because she said it scared her. She has never expressed a fear of fire before, but since the attacks on Tues and what she saw on the tv as it unfolded - she was frightened by fire throughout WDW. (The burning buildings in Pirates of the Carribean, Great Movie Ride, etc.) Anyway...

Mon: We went to MGM, and it was so HOT!!! The sun was blazing and it was just unbelievably hot. (We were spoiled by the cool weather all week) The crowds were still non-existant. I walked right up to ToT and RnR coaster and got right on. No wait - not even 5 minutes. We went back to the hotel at lunchtime, ate and then went swimming all afternoon. That night we drove out of the Disney complex and found a Golden Corral restaurant and ate veggies!!!!!!!!!! Lots of them!!!! LOL. (We were craving veggies...even my girls were...after eating sandwiches/cereal, etc. in the room LOL) Next time I will take some raw veggies in the cooler for snacks, lunch, etc. We were due to leave on Monday, but since the tropical storm surprised us, we still had that extra day we had not used...so the desk said I could certainly add a day at the same $49 rate - so we did. YAY!

Tues: we loaded the car, checked out...boo hoo...then went to Magic Kingdom until around 3pm when we all left in tears. (Okay, it was only me that got a little misty...LOL I do every time) This was the only day that there was any crowd to speak of...and even that was not much. There were waits of about 15 minutes on most rides at Magic Kingdom. I don't know about the other parks. Our hotel seemed a little busier than it had been before also.

All in all we had a wonderful time - I watched CNN when the girls napped, I would mute the tv and select the option to have the captions appear and sit directly in front of the tv so that if they woke up they wouldn't see anything. I was misty when we left because it was so nice to not have to deal with "reality", and the thought of paying bills, cooking dinner, and war were not things I was excited to return to. But then I decided I would just start planning my next trip when I got home, and that would help! However that all hinges on dh's job status - he works for Delta Airlines and they just announced yesterday that they will in fact lay off 15 - 20% of their workforce. :

And just a side note...the other night my 3yr old said at bedtime "mommy, let's pray for those people in that 'splosion - let's pray that angels were there and that they took care of them." Then she paused and got really excited and said "mommy! the angels were there!!! They were there before we even knew about the 'splosion! They caught people in their arms and carried them up to heaven!" At this point she started laughing and said "and mommy, do you know that some of the angels dressed up in yellow suits and hats and some sprayed water so that some people could leave, and some just went inside to stay with the people so that they wouldn't be scared." My daughter has been having bad dreams since she saw it unfold on tv with the rest of the nation Tuesday (I know, bad mommy...I tried to shield her and have done really well since then...but that day I couldn't turn it off) and she hasn't wanted to sleep alone. Not a problem in the hotel, but became one once we got home. However, after that little exchange about the angels, she then dismissed me and said that she could sleep now, because the angels were going to stay with her and that I could go finish washing dishes. She turned over and went to sleep. sigh. I think the **magic** followed us home.

Hugs!
Kaycee

Kaycee Velazquez proud American citizen