[Singermom]

Day 3, Part 1 - A Day of Rest

Cast Members:

Me – age 38, WDW planner – 6th trip to WDW
MIL – age 62 – many trips to WDW
DS7 – older ds, age 7 and ¾, 3rd trip to WDW
DS4 – younger ds, age 4, 3rd trip to WDW

After a brief but exhausted and deep slumber, I awoke a little after eight. DS4 was also stirring and I felt apprehensive again that he would be sick. Within a few moments, he popped up and proceeded to give us a ‘scientific’ explanation as to why he had gotten sick…..’a bone in his stomach popped up and the muscles fell on top of it so it had to push up and that’s why I ‘blahhed’ (his word for vomiting)’. He also announced that he was hungry. Unfortunately, it was too early to start him on solids so I suggested a tsp of flat coke to which he was agreeable. MIL and DS7 were already up so got ready to go down to Mara for some breakfast and other supplies. Although ds7 had requested pancakes they didn’t have any so I selected a Mickey waffle with fresh strawberries for him. For MIL, I got a bagel and for me a croissant. DS4 had to settle with Gatorade and jello for the time being until I was sure his stomach had settled. I think I mentioned before that Mara’s condiment bar was fairly generous – I picked up several packets of cream cheese, peanut butter and various jellies. I had been lamenting the fact that due to the brevity of our trip, we wouldn’t be able to schedule in a ‘resort’ day to just enjoy this fabulous resort – well, I guess you should be careful what you wish for. I was feeling very light-headed from the tension and lack of sleep and knew we would have to take it very easy today.

While we were enjoying our breakfasts, and DS4 his liquid one, he announced that he was very, very hungry. I felt so bad but knew it would be tempting fate to introduce solids too quickly. I tried to tempt him with the jello but he was not interested. He claimed he wanted rice. Well, it was on the BRAT (bread, rice, apple sauce , toast?) diet recommended by the paramedics and he had done fine so far with all the liquids. I called room service and they immediately inquired about his health even before I could place an order! AKL was impressing me at every turn! Since there is a flat charge for every room service request, they asked if I would like to add anything else to the order. MIL asked for some tea. Then I left her with the kids to do a load of laundry. I never thought I would every be one of those people who does laundry on vacation – never say never! After a few inquiries and misguided directions I finally found the laundry facility – it was actually quite convenient – on the first floor right next to our elevator. There is one other facility besides this one. I think I paid $1 for the detergent and $2.50 or $2 for the washer and then for the dryer. I stayed in the laundry room during the wash but left after putting my clothes in the dryer. When I got back up, everyone was ready to take a stroll around the resort.

We went to the lobby level and then out to Arusha Savanah. An AKL guide had just started a kids activity (tracking) so I had my kids join in. There was about eight other kids in the group. They enjoyed the activity and then we watched the animals for a bit. DS7 spotted the stairwell and wanted to ascend to the very top. Though he was disappointed, I persuaded him to stop at the next level because it would tire out ds4. This level has a lovely covered terrace with several rocking chairs that overlook the savannah. I needed to check on the laundry now so I parked MIL and the kids by the t.v. in the lobby while I went to gather the laundry. When I got back, I could see that ds4 looked really wiped out so I told MIL that I would go back to the room, order room service and then would call her to come up with the kids. She was really disappointed that we couldn’t eat in one of the restaurants and I would have to say that this is AKL’s weak point. Neither Boma nor Jiko is open for lunch and Boma only has a breakfast buffet. While Mara is fine for counter-service, I think every deluxe should have at least one sit-down place open for every meal.

At any rate, I ordered off the intriguing but expensive room-service menu. DS4 got chicken noodle soup (just the broth and noodles) and plain bread. I ordered a Flatbread topped with shredded beef, caramelized onions and blue cheese for ds7, a spicy barbecue chicken sandwich with fries for MIL, and a grapefruit and papaya salad for myself. It all arrived in a timely manner with all the condiments you could ask for and the food was all extremely tasty and served at the right temperature – even the fries were hot and crispy! After lunch we relaxed in the room – I was hoping DS4 would nod off to sleep early so we could potentially visit a park in the late afternoon. Despite his short night of sleep it took quite a while for him to nod off. I decided to nap with him and MIL took ds7 downstairs to the gift shop for some shopping. By the time I woke up two hours had passed and it was already late afternoon so now we had to decide what we would do next.