Softball Trip Report June 23-29, 2004
Wednesday Jun 23,
I hitched the team trailer and off we go!.
Drove the drooling 8 hours from Atlanta to Orlando with the kids saying every 5 minutes "Are we there yet?!?!?".
Checked in at Pop Century to make sure final team arrangements were fine. Everyone checked in OK! Thats always a plus.
Pop was very clean, courteous and everything we expected and more.
Went to Downtown Disney with the team and ate at the Rainforest Cafe. The service for half of us (30) was great but the others weren't so lucky. Our team manager could not make the trip because of her mother having an emergency surgery. So I had the honor of handing out the new team jersey's and also a special gift from her to each of the players with a special note and $25 spending cash from a generous donation to our team. After the tears aside and call to her thanking her and get well wishes to her mother. The team went shopping for a bit and then back to the hotel for some sleep.
Thursady Jun 24,
Got up around 6am and had reservations for the Whispering Canyon Cafe. What a hoot the staff is there. The parents and kids had a great time. They even made my wife walk around the room holding a big It's my Birthday sign which was hilarious.
Then we all set off to our first game of the day at the Wide World of Sports complex. The site was magnificent, it was like being called up to the majors from minor leagues. The grass was green and finely manicured. The chalk laid out perfectly around the diamond. Even the pitching circle had Mickey's ears on it. Water fountains in everydugout!. Every time the batter stepped into the batters box her name was announced. Heck we even had a phone to the bullpen in which one game I had asked to get John Smoltz warmed up jokingly. We had a great time there and will go back again.
After game, we drove to hotel to shower and change. So about 3pm we headed to the Magic Kingdom. The girls were excited and couldn't wait to jump off the bus. PotC was our first stop, then Space, Splash, Thunder, Haunted, Tea Cups(of which I am not a fan of spinning) and back to Space. Whew what a day!. Was disappointed Small World was shut down for repairs.
Back to Pop for some rest.
Friday Jun 25,
Game day had 2 games that day so no time for a park just R&R at Pop Century. BTW we won both of those games
Ate off-site at the Wendy's for very cheap .99cent items.
Saturday June 26,
Since we were the #1 seed in our division by winning our first 3 games we didn't have to play until 3pm. So we headed off to MGM for the morning and boy it would bite us good later that day. We got there @ 8am for the early hour and headed to the ToT. Mad house even with the early hour but was great. Then to the RnR w/ the greatest band on earth(IMHO). Boy did some parents not expect that 0-60mph take-off and the snapshots at the end of the ride to prove it. I then volunteered to take the boys to Star Tours and the girls went to the Great American Movie Ride. In which I believe the girls fell asleep riding. They must be to cool for that stuff(12yr olds). We now call that ride a white knuckler ride for how intense it was. But I had the siblings of the team and they had a blast on Star Tours! No Wait, we rode about 3 times and they still wanted more. heh guess they liked it as much as I did. Then we headed to the muppets and they LOVED it, with all the bubbles and reaching for things. Then last thing we did was head for Indiana Jones Stunt Show. The kids really loved the whole show.
Before we knew it we were back at the ballfields playing in the dirt again. It was elimination day and we came out of a losing battle. But we enjoyed ourselves and no one was injured. But we did hear of an older division of girls(14U) earlier had a bad collision which left a child unconscious and a broken nose. Both were taken by ambulance to nearby Hospital.
The other child had broke her collar bone in 3 places. Our thoughts and prayers our still with them and wish them a speedy recovery.
More later.
Wednesday Jun 23,
I hitched the team trailer and off we go!.
Drove the drooling 8 hours from Atlanta to Orlando with the kids saying every 5 minutes "Are we there yet?!?!?".
Checked in at Pop Century to make sure final team arrangements were fine. Everyone checked in OK! Thats always a plus.
Pop was very clean, courteous and everything we expected and more.
Went to Downtown Disney with the team and ate at the Rainforest Cafe. The service for half of us (30) was great but the others weren't so lucky. Our team manager could not make the trip because of her mother having an emergency surgery. So I had the honor of handing out the new team jersey's and also a special gift from her to each of the players with a special note and $25 spending cash from a generous donation to our team. After the tears aside and call to her thanking her and get well wishes to her mother. The team went shopping for a bit and then back to the hotel for some sleep.
Thursady Jun 24,
Got up around 6am and had reservations for the Whispering Canyon Cafe. What a hoot the staff is there. The parents and kids had a great time. They even made my wife walk around the room holding a big It's my Birthday sign which was hilarious.
Then we all set off to our first game of the day at the Wide World of Sports complex. The site was magnificent, it was like being called up to the majors from minor leagues. The grass was green and finely manicured. The chalk laid out perfectly around the diamond. Even the pitching circle had Mickey's ears on it. Water fountains in everydugout!. Every time the batter stepped into the batters box her name was announced. Heck we even had a phone to the bullpen in which one game I had asked to get John Smoltz warmed up jokingly. We had a great time there and will go back again.
After game, we drove to hotel to shower and change. So about 3pm we headed to the Magic Kingdom. The girls were excited and couldn't wait to jump off the bus. PotC was our first stop, then Space, Splash, Thunder, Haunted, Tea Cups(of which I am not a fan of spinning) and back to Space. Whew what a day!. Was disappointed Small World was shut down for repairs.
Back to Pop for some rest.
Friday Jun 25,
Game day had 2 games that day so no time for a park just R&R at Pop Century. BTW we won both of those games
Ate off-site at the Wendy's for very cheap .99cent items.
Saturday June 26,
Since we were the #1 seed in our division by winning our first 3 games we didn't have to play until 3pm. So we headed off to MGM for the morning and boy it would bite us good later that day. We got there @ 8am for the early hour and headed to the ToT. Mad house even with the early hour but was great. Then to the RnR w/ the greatest band on earth(IMHO). Boy did some parents not expect that 0-60mph take-off and the snapshots at the end of the ride to prove it. I then volunteered to take the boys to Star Tours and the girls went to the Great American Movie Ride. In which I believe the girls fell asleep riding. They must be to cool for that stuff(12yr olds). We now call that ride a white knuckler ride for how intense it was. But I had the siblings of the team and they had a blast on Star Tours! No Wait, we rode about 3 times and they still wanted more. heh guess they liked it as much as I did. Then we headed to the muppets and they LOVED it, with all the bubbles and reaching for things. Then last thing we did was head for Indiana Jones Stunt Show. The kids really loved the whole show.
Before we knew it we were back at the ballfields playing in the dirt again. It was elimination day and we came out of a losing battle. But we enjoyed ourselves and no one was injured. But we did hear of an older division of girls(14U) earlier had a bad collision which left a child unconscious and a broken nose. Both were taken by ambulance to nearby Hospital.
The other child had broke her collar bone in 3 places. Our thoughts and prayers our still with them and wish them a speedy recovery.
More later.
