Disney Whirled - Part II

Whew...I think we are on Day 4.  The plan was to spend a half day at Hollywood Studios and then go home to take a nap!  The plan was also to sign Matt up for the Jedi Training Academy.  We were so lucky that he was able to do it, but the show wasn't until 4:40 so we spent the entire day at the park!!  We saw everything there was to see!  Matt and Dad went on the Rock Your World Roller Coaster several more times.  Marlie and I watched Beauty and the Beast again too (we are still singing the songs).  Doug took the kids on the Tower of Terror against the wishes of a woman in line near them who thought he was insane for taking Marlie.  She even offered to watch Marlie while he and Matt rode.  HA!  We did Star Tours a few times and of course the Toy Story ride again where we got to take a picture with these guys. 

This was Matt and Doug's favorite park for sure.  We promised the kids they could have their faces painted so we did that too! They LOVED it!

But the coolest part of the day was Jedi Training.  Matt loved it! He got to fight the "real" Darth Vader.  Marlie didn't want to do it but still talks about it today!

From here we went straight to Whispering Canyon cafe and had another great and fun meal.  At one point it looked like Marlie was about to fall asleep sitting straight up in her chair.  Poor thing, Doug and I laughed so hard!  We watched the fireworks at Magic Kingdom from the top of our hotel.  It was pretty awesome. 

Day 5 - back to Magic Kingdom to conquer the other side of the park.  We got smart and got a stroller for the kids which was so helpful! We all were excited about Pirates of the Caribbean and Capt Jack Sparrow!!  We had fun in the gift shop too!! We had lunch with the characters from Winnie the Pooh.

The boys went to ride more rides and Marlie and I went to see Tinkerbell and her "boyfriend".  What a super cute setup they had for Tink.  Marlie was so shy and excited. 

We met up with the boys again, climbed the treehouse and then went on the Peter Pan ride one last time.

Great time for a nap huh? Nope...off to Epcot! Seriously? Yes...which worked out nice because we rode on all the cool rides a few times.  We loved Test Track and Soarin and loved, loved Turtle Talk with Crush! 

Day 6 - I think we actually slept in a bit and then headed back to Epcot.  We ran into a few characters on the way in. 

The boys got to ride Mission Space and then we had a wonderful lunch at the Biergarten!!  German food just like my Grandmother used to make.  It was wonderful and the kids danced to a polka band! We wandered in the countries, had a crepe in France (of course) and then headed home.  The kids loved the giant bath tub in our room and had fun taking a bubble bath! We got into our pjs and headed to the top floor again to watch the fireworks. 

Departure Day - We had breakfast with Mickey and friends before we departed for the airport.  We ate so much on this trip!  

It was a wonderful trip!  It will take me a few years to get my energy back to do it again but we will sometime in the future!  Doug ended up having a great time and I did too.  It was definitely nice to all be together for a week.  Now I'm ready for a real vacation where I can sit and do nothing!!!! There are some other cute pics in the slideshow!

Disney Whirled - Part I

I think Doug and I have recovered from our Disney hangover and I'm finally getting to this blog posting!!!

For Christmas the kid's got a trip to Disney World!  They were a bit clueless as to what that meant.  I was excited...Doug...well...not so much.  I spent a lot of time planning with the help of lots of friends.  It's amazing how much people know about Disney!  We stayed at Bay Lake Towers at the Contemporary Resort and it was awesome.  Matt apparently is a hotel reviewer...he couldn't wait to see the room.  He walked in and was very impressed.  I guess it passed the test! 

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and decided to see what Downtown Disney was all about.  We found the pin trading store and got all set for pin trading.  Matt wanted to start trading as soon as we walked out the door! We had a great dinner at the T-Rex restaurant.  Marlie was terrified initially because the dinosaurs looked so real.  She said "this is not a good place for me".

At this point we were all excited so we got a good night's sleep.  Our first stop was Hollywood Studios.  The morning was really centered around Marlie.  She loves "Jake & The Neverland Pirates" so we headed straight to the Disney Junior Stage.  She was SO excited she got to see Jake!  Matt was excited for his first pin trading experience!! And then we saw Minnie Mouse too!  Here is where Marlie recognized the "autograph" books and so we had to get one of those too! Matt was too busy pin trading to notice that. 

We had lunch with all the Disney Junior characters.  Marlie LOVED it of course because we saw Jake again.  She told June from The Little Einsteins that she was saving the first page in her autograph book for Jake.  I hope June was not offended!  Marlie loved dancing with Jake.  Check out her smile in the last picture...that's what Disney World is all about!!!

After lunch we watched the Indiana Jones Stunt show and saw the Cars Stunt Show too.  M&M loved the cars show.  We took pictures with Lightening McQueen and Mater.  I told everyone to make the same face Mater was making and look at Marlie...it's right on...the gap in the teeth and everything!  Hilarious!

It was finally time to use our FastPass for the Toy Story ride which was AWESOME!!! One of our favorites.  The boys ran off to do the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (I called it the Rock Your World Roller Coaster).  Matt LOVED it!  Marlie and I went to see Beauty and the Beast and we both loved it!  

We ended a great day with dinner at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater which was so cool. The food was good and I had the best Oreo shake!  

We were exhausted but up early for our next day at Animal Kingdom! Although we spent the least amount of time at this park, I think it was my favorite!  We headed straight for the Safari trip which was great.  We got to see so many animals up close. 

Matt was anxious to find another roller coaster so we headed to Expedition Everest. He loved that too.  Marlie was too short so I stayed with her but Matt insisted that I go so we were off again.  He was so excited to take me!  We saw the Nemo Musical which was great and then headed off to DinoLand.  We went on another roller coaster and played carnival games.  Both kids won prizes so we were so "lucky" to get to carry these around the park!!  We all got to ride the Dinosaur ride which neither M&M or were excited about.  It was dark and kind of scary. 

After lunch we went to the Bug show.  Oh my...when the spiders came down from the top Marlie screamed so loud and after all the silly things that happen in the show (don't want to spoil the surprise) we walked out laughing hysterically...well Marlie wasn't.  If you ask her today about the bug show she will likely start crying! 

We ended the day with the Lion King show which was amazing too!  While we were on that side of the park we got to see Mickey (and some other characters I don't even know) and a man playing the guitar sang a song for M&M.  They thought that was awesome!

We could barely stand up at this point so we headed back to the hotel for a short nap.  Then it was off to the Hoop-Dee-Doo review.  This was a small dinner show that had us laughing the entire time.  Doug loved the unlimited beer and I enjoyed my wine out of a mason jar.  The kids got to sing and dance and play music!

Day 3 was finally Magic Kingdom!  Marlie was so excited to get to see the castle and not only did we see it...we ate breakfast with the princesses IN the castle!!

You would have thought this was some sort of Chinese torture for Matt.  I don't think he disliked meeting the princesses as much as he led on.  I had to have one of those "Disney moments" that I think every parent might have on this crazy trip.  "Matt this is important to Marlie so you WILL put a smile on your face and you WILL have fun!".  Marlie loved it although she was more shy than I thought.  She told someone after we got home that the princesses were REAL and had real skin and real bones!!  I guess she was comparing them to Jake who as Matt pointed out "had a zipper in the back of him".  Oh my! 

Since we had our Rapunzel dress on we had to go see her.  This was by far the longest line we waited in the whole trip. 45 minutes, but it was worth it (look at Marlie's face)! I think even Matt might have liked it!

We went on several rides in Fantasyland.  Marlie loved the Peter Pan ride.  We also went on the rides in Tomorrowland.  Matt was excited to ride Space Mountain but ended up not liking it to much.  We watched the show at the castle and stayed for the parade.  Since Marlie was still in her princess dress I think every character in that parade acknowledged her.  It was awesome!

After another quick nap we headed over to Epcot.  The lines were so long for the good rides so we had fish and chips in "London" and listened to a British band.  M&M loved the music and danced like crazy.  It was hilarious.  Then we stayed to watch the fireworks show!

At this point we were completely exhausted.  And some how that didn't stop us.  We kept going full speed!