Bein' All Laid Back

by NicoleMarie

I’m pretty sure it takes a great amount of skill to be as slack about this trip report as I’ve been. As always, after the first few installments, the real world comes storming into the picture – busier than ever and determined to derail my efforts to finish this trip report.

But I am back in the conductor’s seat, blowing the whistle and rollin’ full force down the track.

For today, anyway.

Because it’s a nasty, rainy Monday morning in Macon, Georgia.

And what else to do I have to do but sit at my computer and write about a hot summer vacation in Walt Disney World?

Don’t answer that. Especially if you’re my husband.

So as has become custom when the trip report installments are about two months apart, let me get you up to speed.

We’ve driven down to Orlando without a clue as to where we’ll stay on the first night of the vacay. We ended up choosing the Hilton at Bonnet Creek and loved it. The next morning, we rolled into WDW and went directly to the IG gateway entrance at Epcot, where I met my smokin’ hot friend, LaLa, and her family, for the first time. It was a trip highlight FO SHO. After meeting the LaLas and gettin’ our inagural ride on Soarin’, we drove over to Kidani Village and checked into our 2BR villa. We “oohed” and “aahed” just like a redneck family from Macon, Georgia should. We took in Illuminations that night, said goodbye to ToonTown in MK the next day, and in my last installment, I told you about how the NMs prepared for summer by participating in the Disney Give A Day program.

So.

Now you’re up to speed.

And where do we go from here? The topic for today is “Bein’ All Laid Back”. At Disney World. Even though there’s so much to do with four parks and two water parks and putt putt golf and resorts to explore and Downtown Disney and you could never do it all despite the fact that you’re there for ten days and eleven nights so you want to stay moving the whole time so you can get everything in.

Take a breath. Yes, that was meant to be a run-on sentence.

Because much like that sentence had no commas or semi-colons, or anything else that means “slow down a minute”, neither have most of our prior Disney vacations. And you know what? We TOTALLY wanted it to be that way. That’s how we roll. That’s what the NMs like. A fun vacation with lots to do.

But when you have 50 years worth of DVC points in your future, something just all of a sudden feels different about your Disney trip. You kinda get a “if we don’t see it this time, we’ll see it next time” mentality. Because you know there's a next time, (Lord willing) and it’s coming soon. So the next thing you know, sleeping in and missing a rope drop, or renting bicycles at Ft. Wilderness, or bailing on the evening plans for a night in the villa and a “free” movie from the DVC movie library, sounds as much fun as stockpiling FastPasses and dining with characters and standing with the crowds to watch Illuminations.

OK. I lie.

There is NEVER a time that riding a bike or sleeping or watching a movie will be better than watching Illuminations.

But you get the point.

We had been in the World for only a day and a half when we came upon our first “no plan” day in the itinerary. The first opportunity to “be all laid back.” And just like a typical NM, my DH woke up, brought me some coffee from Jahori Treasures, and immediately asked, “What’s the plan for the day?”

Dangit! We’ve failed at being laid back already, and it’s not even 8 o’clock!

Hmmmmm…that’s a great question. What IS the plan? That question becomes a little hard to answer when the goal is NOT to have a plan. But as we always do, we had several things in our back pocket that we wanted to try. We wanted to do some resort exploring – particularly the food courts because we’re rednecks like that. We wanted to rent bikes and ride around somewhere. We wanted to rent some boats. The possibilities are endless outside of the parks, but still within the Arches. (God forbid a million times we travel outside the Arches.)

So while the kids lazied around in their bedroom - watching TV, playing on their electronics and generally enjoying the fact that they weren’t being told to be dressed and out the door in record time – I logged onto my free internet connection and did some Disney research.

I love doing Disney research ANYTIME. But usually when I research a Disney vacation, I’m sitting at home, sipping coffee from a Disney mug, and wishing I was in the World.

Not today, my friends. Not today.

Today I was logged on from my villa at Kidani Village, and whatever activity my research led us to, was going to happen within hours. It was a dadgum good way to start the day.

Several possibilities were tossed around as we hung out, sipped coffee, watched TV, and I read my research aloud to anyone who would listen. But riding bikes at Ft. Wilderness was deemed the favorite option.

And thus, the plan for the day was born.

We would get dressed, take our car to one of the moderate resorts to try out the food court, (again she waves the redneck flag!) and after lunch, we’d drive over to Ft. Wilderness to rent some bikes.

Did we enjoy it? Did we feel like we’d missed out on the park action by taking a day off? Or did that set the tone for the rest of the vacation, and prove to us that we’d FINALLY entered a new phase in Disney vacations?

Stay tuned. Details at 11…