Kiara has an obession with inserting a room key into the door and insisted she be the one to do it, so Grumpy let her and then turned the knob and pushed the door open. I stood back as I knew Peter Pan and Kiara would have knocked me down getting into the room, and after the path was cleared, I filed in behind them and Grumpy. The three of them had already spotted something waiting for us in the room and were eyeballing it with great curiosity by the time I saw it.
There on the credenza, was a beautifully wrapped package that I recognized as a Mickey candy bar cake. While Grumpy, Kiara and Peter Pan spun it around to check it out, I grabbed the attached card to see who it was from. There was a lovely greeting on the card, but there was no name on it and as I read it, I was 99.9% sure of who it was from. But, I would have to wait a few days to have my assumption confirmed.
Also on the credenza was an envelope with my name on it and I knew what it contained. A very dear friend had generously offered me three one day park hopper passes for Peter Pan to use and I opened the envelope to discover them inside. As I held the passes in my hand and looked at the Mickey candy bar cake, I couldn’t help the tears from falling. I was truly blessed to have two such wonderful, kind and thoughtful friends in my life.
The really amazing thing about having the two of them in my life, is that both of them came along on the same trip we had taken to WDW one week short of a year ago.
Unfortunaly, my moment of weeping openly with joy was cut short, as my attention was diverted to Kiara, who was on the floor and wildly throwing things out of her Ariel suitcase in a mad quest for something. I didn’t even have to ask what it was she was so desperate to find and a few seconds later, she found what she was looking for. Her swimsuit. She jumped up off the floor, held her swimsuit over her head and loudly said
“Let’s go swimming!” 
While all of this was going on, Grumpy, who was starving, had found the room service menu, had flipped through it and in total disgust, stated room service stopped almost an hour before.
I knew a rant was soon to follow, so I quickly grabbed the menu, found the section of offerings available from 10 PM to 6 AM, and handed it off to Grumpy and told him to pick something out. I then helped Kiara put her swim suit on and promised her a swim if she would quiet down. (our poor neighbors) I then turned my attention to Peter Pan, who in the madness, had already located his swim suit, and decided what he wanted from the late night menu and asked him what he wanted to do and if he wanted anything to eat. His response was “I’ll go for a swim and would like a bowl of chicken noodle soup, please”. I couldn’t help but smile at him, as having a calm, low maintenance individual joining the pride, was a breath of fresh air in the middle of the insanity of trying to appease both Grumpy and Kiara.
After I had everyone attended to, I finally had a moment to check out our view. I pulled back the curtains, opened the slider and stepped out on the balcony to discover we had a lovely garden view. But as I looked around, I also noticed that looking to the right, we also had a view of the Boardwalk. As much as I enjoyed the view as I saw it at that moment, I had no idea that the following night it would be even more magical.
With both the kids suited up, we headed down to the quiet pool and once there I emphased to Kiara that it was late and we had to be
QUIET! She actually did pretty well grasping this concept and Kiara and Peter Pan played around in the pool without making too much noise. When the kids had a good soaking and hunger took them over, we headed back to the room and called room service to place our order.
Grumpy decided to step out of the room to visit a DSA while I waited for room service to arrive. A soft knock soon came on the door and I opened it to find our food and a very nice CM ready to serve us. I figured I would hold the door open for her while she carried the tray in and dropped it on the table, but it was a bit more involved than that. Much to my delight and amazement, she pulled out the little nesting table under the desk and drapped it with a white table cloth. She then brought in a tray with the food, pulled the lids off of all of it and arranged it on the table. At this late hour (it was getting close to 1 AM) I was very impressed with the attention to detail and level of service. The CM was very sweet and personable and asked where we were from. When I told her, she stated she had attended a rather large fall festival in our area of the country many times and we chatted about that. And even though I knew the bill included a gratuity, I felt the need to give her an additional cash tip. Even at this late hour, she was so very sweet and attentive and so Disney like.
Once she left the room, I took a good look at the bill and busted out laughing. Peter Pan asked me what was so funny and I told him that I was lauging about how much we had just paid for a bowl of chicken noodle soup, a bowl of chili and chips and a glass of milk and a plate of cookies. But, it was a small price to pay to curb the hunger pains of my pride and keep everyone happy until morning. Grumpy returned to the room, the three of them dove into the food and I joked with Grumpy about the fact that he needed to really enjoy that $33 bowl of chili.
(OK, so the bill was $33 dollars for all of it, but it became the standing joke of the trip that it was the chili alone that cost that.) With everyone happy (and quiet) I stepped out of the room to make my way to a DSA.
I found one of my favorte spots, out the backdoor of the BC and at the entrance of the beach, and it was there I enjoyed a quiet moment to look out across the lake at the Boardwalk. It was wonderful to have this moment alone to just be grateful that I was standing in this spot at this moment. As I was enjoying my moment of quiet reflection, something, or someone, caught my attention. There on two lounge chairs, laying on and covered up with towels from the pool, was the couple I had seen at the front desk inquiring as to if a room was available for the night! I guess they decided their best option was to bunk down on the beach for the night.
I really felt sorry for them, as I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes, but I really wondered why anyone would take such a chance and fly by the seat of their pants like that. I guess I lack the adventurous spirit they must have had.
I headed back to the room to find the pride at the tail end of their feast and Grumpy decided to make one final trip to a DSA before turning in for the night. As he was heading out, I shared with him who I had seen on the beach and he just shook his head and laughed.
I was then faced with getting Peter Pan and Kiara settled down for the night. Peter Pan was more than willing to do so, and put his pillow at the foot of the bed to watch a little TV before moving back to the head of the bed to call it a night. Both of us were hoping that after a long evening of travel, a belly full of chili and milk and cookies, and a late night swim, Kiara would stop for a second and fall fast asleep. But it was not to be. My kid was wound up tight! She was screaming, squealing, jumping on her cousin and in general, doing everything she could to annoy the both of us. (Oh, the poor guests on either side of us! I’m sorry, we really did try to keep her quiet)
I finally got her to settle down and watch TV with Peter Pan, and all was good until Grumpy came back in the room and the madness began all over again. After a few minutes, the three of us were able to convince Kiara to lay her head down for the night, and we turned the lights out over her bed. Peter Pan was more than ready to call it a night so he too turned in.
After a bit of cousin bickering and a bunch of giggles from both Kiara and Peter Pan, they both fell silent. Grumpy and I sat in bed and discussed our plans for the next day and soon he turned the light over his side of the bed off and drifted off to sleep too. It was shortly past 2 AM and finally all of my pride had all fallen asleep.
I too turned the light out over my side of the bed, but it was an hour or so before sleep would find me.
While I tried my best to fall asleep, my mind was racing with the fact that that very morning I had been sitting at my desk and now was laying my head on a pillow in a bed at our beloved BC. I found myself grinning about our turbulent, screaming, kicking, snoring, flatulent flight, then the not so pleasant, trying moment of Motherhood in the bathroom. I then found myself thinking about the wonderful dose of magic we had received at check in and the gifts of friendship that had greeted us in our room. Magic had already touched us, and we had just barley begun our adventure.
And while the thoughts of this day filled my mind, it was the thought of rather than spending my Saturday gardening in our backyard, I was going to spend it in my favorite of all Disney parks, the AK, that I drifted off to sleep thinking about. The sun was going to come up, and I was not only going to get to experience the next day with Grumpy and Kiara next to me, I was going to get to share it with Peter Pan too. Mercifully, sleep found me shortly after 3 AM and while I can’t confirm it, I am sure I spent my few hours sleeping dreaming about being in the AK.
Up next: “Oh no she didn’t” …….wake up at 5:30 AM and start begging for a swim.