When you wish upon a free hotel suite, dreams DO come true!

While we have received countless blessings of benevolence at every turn of this trip, perhaps the biggest display of philanthropy came during our stay in Orlando this March. We were gonna do the Disney thing anyway, but a couple of months prior to our visit, Bregitte got a call from one of our friends in Anchorage. Wes Yenter was hatching an elaborate, yet secret, plan for his wife Gladwyn’s 40th birthday. He secured an elite suite at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek (within the confines of Disney) for an entire week, flew both her parents and his mother into Orlando, and invited us to celebrate the week with them. For nothing! We just had to promise to be awesome, and boy did we deliver!!!

But my goodness what a resort. Mini-golf, several top-notch restaurants, half a dozen pools (some with park-worthy slides), TWO lazy rivers, and from our ninth story balcony that was maybe 100 feet long, you could see Epcot. The Yenter’s two kids Lea and Eli are best buds in Anchorage with Rosemary and Caroline, so OF COURSE that worked out. They did a lot of stuff together and really seemed to have a swell time. Disney and pirate themed swimming pools will do that to you.

First up with the Yenters was a special birthday request of mine (a little early, but who’s counting these days?). THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE!!!! Dreamed about this one for years, and I unequivocally had the best time.

We spent two days at Typhoon Lagoon, one of the state’s premier water parks. In an unprecedented move, the Lanes were the first family at a place. This place was Typhoon Lagoon, and as a result, Rosemary was named “Big Kahuna” for the day, was given a medal, a pre-opening tour of the park, and the best seat in the house in front of the wave pool. It was pretty sweet. We went two days later, and had a blast both visits.

Then came the Magic Kingdom. The place really does have a way of disarming you and drawing you out a bit. Because the Yenters had 3 crowns, we sort of left them to it, and did Disney World on our own. The Fast Pass is a great idea (I won’t get into it), but short lines sure made the day a lot more tolerable than it would have been in years past. We rode as much as we could, and had trouble deciding if Goofy’s “Barnstormer” or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was the best ride. We spent roughly 13 hours at the park (again arriving before opening, only this time to find out that THOUSANDS had beaten us), and because we took the bus to and from the hotel, ‘ol Dad didn’t have to fight traffic after leaving the park. I highly recommend this. But I highly recommend getting there any way you can, if you have kids. The park really is fun for them and the whole event is something special that they won’t (hopefully) forget any time soon.