Driving to Orlando

In Summer 1997, we were contemplating a trip to the beach to celebrate the end of Spring Quarter for J. R., who had returned to school the previous fall, as well as a chance to get away after Thomas having been born the previous August. After looking at prices at Hilton Head or Myrtle Beach, we realized a trip to Disney World would be less expensive, and not that much more driving. We told Janie's dad about our plans and he offered to take care of Thomas for the weekend so we didn't have a baby with us at Disney World. So Janie drove Thomas down to her dad's, picked up J. R. after his last final exam, and we hit the road for Orlando.

We had booked a low-priced Days Inn near Old Town using credit card discounts so we arrived, had dinner at Darryl's restaurant, which we loved, and checked into the hotel for Thursday night.

Magic Kingdom

Friday was our first tour day, which was taking Alex to the Magic Kingdom. It was the 25th birthday celebration so Cinderella's Castle was decked out in birthday cake attire, which angered a lot of traditionalists, but which we thought was fun and cute. Janie headed to what was then King Stefan's restaurant to try to get a dinner reservation while J. R. and Alex started the "Dumbo or die in a day" touring plan with, of course, the Flying Elephants.

The elephants were a big hit with Alex so we were surprised as we walked away, that he started crying. When we asked why, he told us "I wanted to go on more rides". He apparently thought we were leaving and perked up when we showed him all of the other rides we planned to go on. We did all of Fantasyland and rode all of the kid-age appropriate rides, baby-swapping Space Mountain, since he was too small.

Three o'Clock Parade

We found a prime spot on Main Street to watch the three o'clock parade.

King Stefan's Banquet Hall

We checked in for our dinner at King Stefan's Banquet Hall, which was an odd name for a restaurant in a castle named for Cinderella. Alex was pretty tired and napped as we waited for our table.

Main Street Electrical Parade

We found a spot to hang out and watch the Main Street Electrical Parade

Evening in the Magic Kingdom

We hung out to ride some more rides with the plan being to stay and watch the fireworks, but as as first boom went off, Alex started crying. So we changed plans and headed over to Birthdayland in search of a certain mouse. We were worried Alex would be scared of the characters because he had never seen them before, but as soon as he got to the front of the line, he ran up and gave Mickey Mouse a huge hug, which was so cute. We went on a few more rides before heading out to our car and back to our hotel.

Sea World

On Saturday, we went to Sea World, figuring Epcot was a little over Alex's head and Sea World offered more sitting time. They provided guests with a printed suggested itinerary, which we followed, which let us see all of the major shows, including Clyde and Seamore and the Shamu show with time left over for the kiddie play area, a visit with the Clydesdales and beer for daddy.