Summer Vacation - Really Dad?!

I was reminded the other day about one of our family trips we took when the kids were little. I promised to write more about some of the experiences so they would forever be ingrained in our memory and not forgotten.  Some of the recounts may be slightly eschewed due to failure of memory and the names have been changed to protect the innocent.....are you kidding? There are no innocent victims here except our poor children who had to suffer through the events of their childhood with a diabolical father like me. Sometimes I have been known to over do things just a bit.

We had decided to finally take a real vacation with the family in the summer of 1999.  We never could really afford much but knew that we really needed to do something special with the kids.  The company I had been working with at the time was providing some signage and graphics for a new theme park in Orlando called "Islands of Adventure".  It looked to be an exciting place and we thought it would be a great vacation.  Problem was, we had never gone to Disney World either so we really wanted to see the other parks as well.  Which one to choose from?.....we couldn't so we (maybe it was actually just me) chose to do them all. Oh yeah, another problem....I only had a week of vacation so it was going to be within our short vacation window. Next problem, we couldn't.....ok...I couldn't just stop at IOA and Disney....the other parks had to be added in as well.....same short vacation window!

Money was limited with four kids but we wanted to make sure that we made the most of the trip.  We chose to go see 5 Parks (I chose to go see 5 parks); Islands of Adventure, Disney World, Epcot, Universal Studios and.....I cannot even remember the other one. Wow, old age is starting to hit. Oh well. Problem was we were going to hit 5 parks in 6 short days.....Yes, I said that correctly. With vacation time limited we were not able to get more than a week of time away and of course wanted to make the most of each day.

I cannot remember which park we went and saw first and in what order but I am sure the kids had their favorites and probably can add their most traumatic event during this trip. This was one of those well planned events.....the kind that makes you think I must have been related to the Griswold's. I had planned and mapped and figured out the best strategy for obtaining the most on our tight budget.  There were calendars and diagrams and maps with directions and main events for each park, locations for each, top rated rides, worst rated rides and everything else you could image like it was a secret mission being planned by the CIA! I am surprised I didn't have a giant wall covered with all the images and diagrams. (Now there is an idea)

The first order of business was finding a place where we were going to stay.  The fancy hotels were out of the question.  The camping experience was often done by our family but sleeping in a few tents for over a week would be difficult.  There are many camping stories of our family outings too. So we were lucky to find a nearby campground....and no not one of the fancy resort ones either....couldn't afford those either.  This campground had a small cabin that we could rent affordably and was perfect as it had a small air conditioner inside to knock off the Florida muggy heat. I am making it sounds a bit too luxurious because it was a very very small cabin and we packed 6 people inside. It worked is all I can say.

With that solved, it was also decided that we would drive down and not fly....who could afford all those plane tickets.  Anyway we were going to have some camping stuff....sleeping bags, pillows and cooking stuff.....yes cooking gear! The food was going to be an issue.  I knew that eating out with four kids would break the bank so we planned to prepare much of the food as possible. So I would begin the day by waking up around 5:30AM ....Revelry was played over the loud speaker...not really....and start cooking on an electric grill out on the front porch of the cabin.....very small porch! We had bought all the breakfast fixings including bacon, eggs, french toast and/or pancakes depending on the day.  Typically camp food that we had always done...except on an electric grill.....I was wise enough to know that we were not going to be able to quickly cook on a campfire.....not sure the campground even allowed open fires?

In order to properly understand the day's mission you must read this next paragraph as fast and furious as possible to properly get the feeling of this insurmountable task. Ok, so the plan was enacted.....we would get up early begin breakfast, get the kids fed, they had already taken their showers the night before but we needed ours, pack a lunch...because we were not going to be able to afford to buy food at the park remember, load up our fanny packs with whatever the kids may need, drive to the park... without getting lost....and yes we were only 4 miles away....still trying not to get lost, find a parking spot....actually was really easy because we had planned to be there early....when the gates opened....did I say early....I meant most likely the first ones in line to buy the tickets....remember...maximize our time and money, pay something like $12 to park, then get in line to get the park tickets....we weren't always first but there were less than 30 people usually there, then stand at the gate waiting until they opened, gates would open then rush to the nearest locker.....Using all the handy dandy maps I created and research just for this day's mission so I knew decidedly where all the amenities were in this park and knew exactly where the lockers were so we could quickly drop off the lunch bag and then head to the rides, make our way WITHOUT DELAY (just short of running) to the rides that were notoriously long wait lines so we could get them first and then move on....remember we couldn't afford to wait in long lines and eat up our valuable vacation time.....besides, who can wait in a line for 50 minutes with four young children!

This was what we did everyday!

Except one day....after about 2 or 3 parks at the end of a long day our youngest son wasn't feeling so well. As a matter of fact, he got sick near the Dudley Do Right ride that evening....so that was the end of that day...no problem, we hit just about everything we needed that day.  He would be fine in the morning....Walk it off son, you will be okay! Wrong, we got up as usual and headed for the park, paid the $12 parking and went up to the park gate....and then I heard, "Dad, I don't feel so well." What's wrong? After a little talking, I was concerned that if I buy the tickets and got in the park an he got sick again, we would be out of all that money.....Such a compassionate father...huh?  So in a few minutes he did in fact get sick again Good save dad! so we headed back to the campgrounds and spent the rest of the day there and the kids played in the pool most of the day. After about a two hour long nap. A much needed rest from the ever relentless Dad inspired Griswold Vacation.

My children are more than welcome to comment on their memories of the torture from their perspectives!