The Surprise

We left St. Augustine in rain and 52 degrees. The trip to Orlando took a few hours and it finally quit raining near Daytona Beach. Rick asked me to check the Disney World reservation sheet for directions into the campground. I couldn’t find the directions but noticed that the reservations were for an entire week and that it had a group number. He explained that he made the reservations so long ago he reserved extra days and we could cancel the days we didn’t need. We made our way to Fort Wilderness Campground, stopped at the gate and Rick got out of the truck. I really didn’t think too much but I heard something about arrivals and departures but still didn’t think much of it. My only thought was that our friends might be stopping to meet us here. (wrong.)
We parked, setup the camper and made sandwiches for lunch. Out of character, Rick didn’t have anything planned for us in the afternoon so I decided to take a little nap. I woke up and Grandma Creech and I sat out under the awning because it began raining again. Not sure where Rick was, but I figured he went to the men’s room. My phone rang and it was Michele. She said the kids wanted to sing happy birthday to me but her phone was going dead and she would call me right back. Just then I heard 13 voices singing happy birthday as they walked around the truck! My mind could not figure out what was happening! My wonderful hubby arranged for the family to help me celebrate my 50th birthday at Disney World. It was a HUGE project getting 9 kids and 4 adults to Orlando without me knowing or even suspecting! He’d been planning this since the fall and everyone knew it but me. Matt saw me tearing up and said, “Don’t do it! Don’t you do it!!” I think if I had started crying, everyone else would too.
After I caught my breath, the ‘kids’ returned to their cabins here at Fort Wilderness. After dark we took the boat from the Marina to the Magic Kingdom for the SpectraMagic Parade. All the floats in the parade and the performers were covered with colorful lights. It was so beautiful standing there watching with the kids and grandkids that I shed a couple of tears.
We walked back through the park on our way to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (one of our favorites). We rode it twice because the crowds were clearing and we could get right on. The fireworks began to go off while we were riding. We rode the Magic Carpets and the Merry-Go-Round. When we rode “It’s a Small World” it was nostalgic for me, reminding me of when we brought Michele, Missy, Matt & Janel here in 1987. That was a memory-filled trip just as this one will be. Last we went to Mickey’s Philharmagic, a 3D movie with really good special effects. Hailey, Adrienne and Addison fell asleep on the boat ride back.