Last week we hopped on a plane and headed to the Magic Kingdom in Florida! We were able to spend a full week in the glorious humidity-free, bug-free, 80 degree Orlando winter, enjoying Disneyworld. And as and added bonus, Grandma came along with us! Thank goodness we had her along because I couldn't have imagined surviving the week without her help. Hopefully she had a little fun along the way too...
Scott's highlights:
Disney sure knows how to make a kid feel special on his birthday! Our last full day there was Scott's birthday, so he chose to return to the Magic Kingdom. He wore a birthday button so EVERYONE throughout the day wished him a Happy 7th Birthday! And at the very end of the day while Scott was buying a Mickey Mouse watch (that was his choice with his birthday money), one of the employees took him next door to the candy store, had the entire room sing to him, and then gave Scott and Charlotte each a giant homemade oreo! And then while we were picking up packages on our way out, the worker there picked up the phone, handed it Scott and told him is was a special phone call. On the other end of the line was Goofy singing Happy Birthday! Scott thought that was pretty hilarious...
While we were at Epcot, Drew and I took Scott to a special character dinner with Mickey and friends. He loved it! 2 years ago when we did a character breakfast, Scott wanted NOTHING to do with the characters. This trip, he was all over taking pictures with everyone and getting autographs in his little book.
As for rides, Scott could have spent all day, everyday in Tomorrow Land. He loved every ride there, with the exception of Space Mountain. He was very brave to try it, but wasn't so thrilled after. But we did go on the Buzz Lightyear ride over, and over, and over again. Outside of Tomorrow Land, Scott's other favorite ride was definitely Soarin'.
Charlotte's Highlights:
Easy. The highlight of Charlotte's entire vacation was breakfast with the Princesses. It was HUGE! She saw Belle, Sleeping Beauty (aka Supping Beauty), Ariel, Snow White and Cinderella. It was absolutely adorable. And the food was actually pretty good as a side benefit!
Charlotte's favorite rides were a toss up between Dumbo (or Gumbo, and she called it) and the Nemo ride at Epcot. We may have a future marine biologist.
Trevor's Highlights:
Seeing Mimi (Mickey) Mouse. It could not have been any cuter... He was so excited to see all the characters, Mimi Mouse especially, and was happy to give them all hugs and high-fives. A highlight for Trevor is his new Mimi Mouse hat. He wore it ALL the time! And another highlight was playing catch with his new Toy Story football for a couple of hours while the rest of the gang went on rides. That kid just wants to run and run and run...
Trevor was not so excited about the Dumbo ride, as evidenced in this photo of him burying his head in my lap. It was a BIT of a struggle to keep him in his stroller or keep him from taking off while we waited in lines, but we survived. Having 3 adults was a BIG help.
By the way, the jazz hands are what Trevor does for some reason when we ask him to say, "Cheese!" So we have lots of potos with this pose...
My Highlights:
My new favorite ride was the Toy Story Mania ride. Loved it! That was SO cool and I could have done it over and over again... I also loved the Lion King and Finding Nemo shows in Animal Kingdom. By far our favorite parade was the Pixar Pals parade in Disney Hollywood Studios. The kids were SO pumped to see the Toy Story guys especially...
We all absolutely LOVED Epcot. I wish we could have had 3 days there, and 2 of the 3 without kids. It is a HUGE park, so a nice side benefit is it didn't feel nearly as crowded as the other parks. And there was so much to see! The rides, shows and exhibits were all wonderful. There is definitely a more 'educational' feel to the park. For example, you exit the Nemo ride, and there is a huge room with aquariums and play places and an interactive show (Talking with Crush). So we literally spend a few hours just in that building. And then there was the whole World Showcase, where multiple countries are represented like little villages, including shops, rides, shows, characters, food, etc. We only had time just walk past all the countries, but we (the adults) agreed we could have spend a day or two just exploring that part of Epcot.
The grounds at Epcot were also stunning. There weren't as many flowers at the other parks, but Epcot clearly spared no expense in their landscaping.
Drew's Highlights:
We took a break from Disney one day and went out to Kennedy Space Center. It looked like such a cool place IF you are 10+. But unfortunately with 3 not-so-cooperative kids, we didn't get to fully appreciate all the neat stuff that was there. We went on Wednesday, the day before the launch, and was able to see Discovery out on the launch pad a couple of miles away. That is as close as they let you... We thought about trying to see the launch, but you basically have to camp out ALL day and hope that the launch actually happens at the scheduled time, which often changes. We figured it would be pretty hard to wait the 12 hours with the munchkins, so we didn't go. But while at Epcot, we were able to see the trail of smoke from the Shuttle through the clouds. Very cool.
This may win for longest post with the most pictures, but in case you haven't seen enough, here are a few more of my favorites!
