We followed the crowd to the monorail to get to the baggage claim. Tessa thought it was the first official ride of the trip and shared her excitement with the other kids who shared the window seat with her.
Tim was really bothered by the fact that this thing had no operator.
We quickly found our Give Kids the World greeters and took the obligatory photo.
They were very sweet and knew the airport like the back of their hand. They took us to baggage claim, retrieved a cart, all the luggage and then took us to the Avis rental counter. The gentleman took Tim up with him and within a couple of minutes they had keys and told us to wait where we were. I was curious as to what type of vehicle we would end up with and was happy to see Tim driving a red Ford Explorer towards us. A minivan would have been easiest but I'm pretty sure they were out. We had been talking about what type of vehicle to replace my van with and "how to make the wheelchair fit" is always the bottom line requirement. I've always been a "truck" girl. I figured this would give us a good trial, and even if we had to take the chair apart every time we could see how big a pain that would be for every day living. So Tim loads up the trunk while I load up the kids and we're ready to go! The GKTW couple recommended Gatorland and gave us a few other tips and then said good bye. At this point it is about 8:00pm. I guess even with things going smoothly it takes a while to get out of the airport. I've always been an overly optimistic judge of time. I get it from my dad. He's had SO many close calls, and a few missed trains and planes as well. Oh well. No orientation tonight. But we should still have some time to relax and play around.
It was just getting dark and we used a combination of the map on the Give Kids the World sign along with the GPS we brought along. They agreed for the most part. It did take us through a less than appealing part of town though. We are just yards away from our destination when we see this sign:
It sneaks up on you and it's right on the main street. Trying to capture it while driving (at night) would have been tricky. But it meant we were here! Okay, so now it's about 8:30pm and I'm really getting anxious to have some FUN. I just want to find out which villa is going to be ours, throw some suitcases in it, change clothes and go DO something! We call from the gate and they buzz us in. We pull up to the carport by the office. (Another stock photo)
I run in by myself thinking someone is going to come back out with me and tell us to follow along to our villa but instead I'm greeted at the front desk and told to bring everyone inside. HUH? But we'll do orientation tomorrow. We all have to come in right now? To be honest I just wasn't thrilled that they were asking us to make a pit stop there in the office. I feel silly about it now but I was really irritated. I go back out and tell Tim we need to go inside. We decide to leave Phoebe's wheelchair in the truck rather than assemble it for what I thought would be a few minutes of mini-orientation. (stock photo)
Tim thought it was ceremonious, Phoebe walking in the doors for the first time, so he started taking photos.
My expression is pretty obvious in this shot. I'm actually embarrassed thinking about it now, and I really hope that the people in the office didn't notice any particular attitude from me! The guy behind the desk asked us to wait for a minute for someone to come out and talk to us. There were two other families already sitting at the tables in the room, only one of which had someone official talking to them so I figured this could take a while. It was all I could do to be patient at this point.
And then something happened. This place is magic in such a subtle, unimposing way. While we are hanging out in the office I hear music outside. Apparently we have arrived in the middle of Mayor Clayton's birthday party. Mayor Clayton is the iconic character of GKTW. Similar job description as Mickey Mouse. I started to relax. We didn't have to rush out somewhere to go find some fun. The fun was right here. Some of Mayor Clayton's friends came into the office to say hi.
Phoebe was enjoying this little guy (and boy was he little!).
Tessa wasn't a big fan of the furry guys but she quickly found some entertainment for herself. Right outside the back door of the office are a couple of these cars which she LOVED.
The guy behind the desk saw me trying to keep Tessa inside so he told us to go ahead and join the party outside if we wanted to. I could see the other families still weren't finished yet so why not? We went out the back door to find a huge patio area filled with party goers dancing and having fun. There were people up on this little stage (the grey area) leading a line dance of some sort. (stock photo)
Tessa joined in the crowd and was playing along the wall after the music ended. They had birthday cake out on one of the tables and I told Tessa she could go ahead and have a slice. Tim grabbed one too to share with Phoebe and sat down on the wall. At this point a cute, perky, strawberry blonde comes up to us and says hi. It was my online friend Ann from the Disney chatroom. They arrived the same day and were here for her daughter Elke's Wish Trip. Elke has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) but is doing well now. She turned 4 yrs old during their trip. Ann had recognized Tessa from pics and followed her over to the rest of us. Ann had just finished the evening orientation which I was still bummed about missing and having to do in the morning. I told her I wished I had known where it was so I could sneak in the back at the end and pretend all the info I've learned online was actually obtained from the orientation. Ann's reply was that I should have, because it was pretty boring. I look at Tim, holding Phoebe, and see that she is having a seizure. He holds her through it while I chat with Ann for a couple of minutes about our flights and such. Ann said they were put in the new "Fairytale" section by the playground in a white villa. She said there is one near them that doesn't have a name placard on it yet and she thinks it could be ours. I hope she's right.
Ann takes off to join her family back at the villa and I go inside to see if they are ready for us yet. Not quite but the other families are gone so I figure we're close. We go inside where Tessa finds a rocking horse to play on and then the man who is to welcome us "home" for the week comes out from the back with gifts in hand. He gives Phoebe a big ole Mickey Mouse and Tessa gets a small Shamu. He gives both girls a Tshirt which Tim promptly uses to replace Phoebe's messy one from today. The front says Panama Jack, which apparently is a big sponsor of the GKTW charity. The back has a drawing of the "Castle of Miracles" here at GKTW as well as their logo. After going over a few basics he asks us if we've eaten dinner yet to which we both quickly replied no. He leads us over to Katie's Kitchen, a take out counter restaurant run by Boston Market. The menu is limited so the choices are easy. I order a half and half dinner, half chicken half meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, mac and cheese and spiced apples plus a couple of sodas and lemonade. They offer to deliver it to our villa in about 15 mins. We love the idea of delivery but realize we don't know our villa number yet!
Back to the office to meet up with the volunteer who then goes out the front door and asks some of us to join him on the golf cart while Tim follows behind in the truck. Tessa enjoys the ride, but tried to stand up a couple of times. She's fearless at times. We drive through the lovely village and then stop right at the corner of the new section. Our guide poses us by the sign and takes a couple of photos.
Don't I look so much happier now?
I can see the playground in the distance but we definitely aren't close. Oh well. If we want to swing or see Ann's family we will just have to walk a little. The food from Katie's Kitchen arrives about the same time we do so after we unload the car and eat some (yummy!) dinner we decide to go ahead and take a walk now.
Tessa sees a little frog and insists we "pet" it.
Phoebe's not so sure.
As we passed a tree with Spanish Moss hanging from it Tim had to go investigate. None of us had ever seen this stuff in person before. It's not attached to the trees at all so we can't figure out what it is exactly. He took a small clump off of a tree and threw it at Tessa who SCREAMS! I really felt bad for her. This stuff does look kinda spider-like and she was so scared to touch it after that. He tried to show her it was soft, not alive, etc, etc but she would not touch it.
The playground was closed for the night because it was after 9 before we got to our villa (more like 9:30) but it was fun to see in person and we couldn't wait to go play on it. We went back to the villa and started settling in.
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