Vacation Trip Report #3

Back to Magic Kingdom! This was our longest day by far, so there is a lot to report.

Okay, so after the parade we headed to the ancient Hall of Presidents for the kids and the grandparents. Rick and Aidan and I hung out in the air conditioning in the lobby of the "Hall." We were not really interested in seeing the crusty old show! I know, shame on us!

We were quick to get over to Frontier Land so we could ride Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Oh, and Mom, Grandpa Saint and Mimi wanted to see the
Country Bear Jamboree. So, they took Aidan to see the bears and Rick & I took Liv to the thrill rides!

It was a pretty cool area - log cabin buildings, a river with log raft for riding over to Tom Sawyer island, pretty neat.

Okay, so we practically RUN to Splash Mountain, and of course, the damn thing has shut down. Ugh! That was the only ride that Rick really wanted to ride. Poo! So we were a bit flustered and didn't think to get fast passes for later, instead we just headed back to where Mom and the rest of the gang were.

One of the highlights of the trip was what happened next. While hanging out, deciding what to do about Splash Mountain, these banjo pickers showed up and noticed Olivia's birthday pin. They started chatting her up and pretty soon, they were asking her what her favorite song was so they could play it for her. Well, she didn't have an answer so they played Zippity Doo Dah. Low and behold - Olivia starts dancing in the middle of Frontier Land!!! She was getting down, it was so great. And that song was LONG, I swear it was never ending. But, she just kept going! At the end she jumped up and went down into the splits!! She is so amazing. Just love that kid.

I don't know how we could top that performance, so we decided to bypass Adventure Land and head straight for Tomorrow Land. I wanted to ride Space Mountain and everyone wanted to ride the Indy Speedway cars.

Mission Completed! Rick rode Space Mountain with me which was so generous because he NEVER rides roller coasters. He and I had SO much fun! It was a great ride. All in the dark with flashes of light and sounds, twisty turny - SO FUN!

We found out that while we were riding in space, that the rest of the crew was meeting Buzz Lightyear and riding the people mover. Apparently it was real hit because it takes you all over Tomorrow Land. And, you know Aidan, he loves ANY kind of car ride!

Olivia got to drive her own car on the Indy Speedway, Saint drove on his own, and Aidan and I picked up the rear. He kept trying to push me out of the way so he could drive - what a goofball! It was so funny to watch Olivia drive out ahead of me. She would stop and start, figuring out how to steer. Too cute!

We were all just about pooped but wanted to squeeze in Pirates of the Caribbean. Oh, and it was about to rain on us! The sky was getting very dark, but at least it cooled down a bit.

Pirates of the Caribbean was a hoot! Aidan loved the boat and all the scenes to look at. He had fun! We all did. It was great that there were so many rides that we could all ride together.

So, that was it for the family outing. We said goodbye to Grandpa Saint, Mimi, Rick and Aidan, and then us girls stayed for more!! We really wanted to see the park at night. It seemed like it would be so magical and just didn't want to miss it.

The first thing we did was head to the "make your own Mouse ears" store. It was right up near the entrance on Main Street USA. Very cute shop with a very cute idea, custom ears. How can you go wrong? Livi chose the beanie she liked and then picked out ears and patches that they sew on for you. She also decided to get her name on the back of the ears. She did a really good job and her ears turned out super cute!

After the ear making, we went to Casey's Corner - it's a hot dog place. REALLY yummy, but no place to sit. Kinda weird.

Almost 90% of the people in the park were lining the streets to watch the parade that was about to start. We had fast passes to see Mickey's Philharmagic (4D Movie) back in Fantasy Land. We made our way to the theatre, enjoying the park again on our way back. We were happy to see that we were just a few of only about 45 people who were also there to see the show. It was adorable. We had the best time and we were so glad that we made time to go back and use the fast passes.

When we stepped out of the theatre, the Fireworks had started. It was BEAUTIFUL!! And it went on forever! Olivia was especially excited. Since we were behind the castle, the fireworks were right over our heads. It was up close and personal!


When the fireworks were over we, and everyone else, made our way out of the park. It was such a great ending to a really magical day. Ah, awesome.

Vacation Trip Report #2

Day number two and it was off to the Magic Kingdom. We were very excited about this day for a number of reasons. Number one, the magic of this particular theme park seemed to be off the charts. Number two, it was the first full day we would spend with Grandpa Saint and Mimi. And number three, we were having breakfast with Pooh and the Gang!! So exciting!

As soon as we arrived inside the gate, we ooed and awed over the sweet little Main Street environment, and then PINOCCHIO appeared out of the blue! I told Livi to go get a hug and an autograph but she was a little slow. I was worried that she would miss her chance so I gave her a little shove! She got a hug, an autograph AND a picture. Our day was starting off with a bang! As soon as we took some other must have pics, we made for Fantasy Land. This is where the Dumbo ride is, as well as other rides like the Tea Cups, Pooh Bear, Small World, etc. My research had strongly suggested that we get to this area of the park early to beat the crowds that didn't know better.

What great advice! We practically walked onto Dumbo and only waited 25 minutes to meet Ariel - yes, the real Ariel! She was so sweet and beautiful. Aidan was coy and decided after sitting next to her for 20 seconds, that he couldn't handle the pressure of her beauty! Olivia, however, got hugs and some conversation before we had to give up Ariel to the other guests in line. What fun!

Once we met Ariel, we had to haul our butts back to the front of the park for our breakfast ressy at Crystal Palace. I had made the ressy for 10:30 so that we could experience some of the park for an hour or so, eat without it being too crowded in the restaurant, and eat late enough that we wouldn't need lunch. I have to say, that my plan worked like a charm!

The breakfast was really great. We got to have some one on one time with Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore. This included autographs and pictures. Olivia was about to bust she was so excited! The breakfast food was good too. Lots of variety and very fresh. Yum!

After we ate, we made our way back to Fantasy Land. We rode the Tea Cups (only waited 5 minutes!), got fast passes for the Pooh Bear ride and headed over to Toon Town Fair. I was looking forward to this part because of Mickey and Minnie's house tours and, this was a part of the park where you could meet the characters and get more autographs.

Toon Town Fair was adorable! Minnie and Mickey's houses were darling. Rick wanted to know why after all these years, these two still weren't living together! Geez. We didn't have time to go on Goofy's Barnstormer ride, but Aidan got to go on Donald Duck's boat while Mom, Liv and I went to meet some characters. We waited for about 35 minutes before we got up to the front of the line. When it was our turn, Pluto came out and collected Olivia. The two of them skipped all the way to the meet and greet room - too cute! We got some great pics of Donald, Pluto and Goofy.

Small World and Pooh Bear were waiting for us when we got back to Fantasy Land. Since we had fast passes for Pooh Bear, we just walked right on. Small World didn't have a long wait either, maybe 5 minutes at the most. Both rides were very cute and something that we could all enjoy together.

The Haunted Mansion was next - yes, we were making great time but not at all rushing which was so nice! The wait for HM was only 15 minutes - amazing for the first week of July - and was fun because of the theming while in line. There was a hearse carriage pulled by a ghost horse, tombstones with funny epitaphs and a really cool look of the house. The ride itself was fun and not too scary. Even Aidan liked it!

It was almost 2:30 by this point and we knew we needed to get a spot for the parade. So we ended up in Liberty Square right next to the parade rope. Prime spot! When the parade started, the kids were up in front and saw everything. They even got some interaction with some of the characters. Grumpy and Aladdin interacted with Livi and Captain Hook came over to Aidan. It was very magical! Oh, except for the part where I almost decked some woman for nearly injuring my babies. She was trying to weasel her way up to the front and she nearly pushed over our stroller with the kids inside. I said something to her about backing up and Rick did too. She finally got the message and backed off. It got a little dicey there for a minute!

Okay, my fingers are cramping - more to come later!

Vacation Trip Report #1

We are back! Let me tell ya, I don't think we expected to have nearly as much fun as we did. All that magic that Disney boasts - it's the real deal. Oh yeah, I said "Disney!" Didn't I mention that's where we went? Well, we did! We packed up the kids, and went to visit Mickey Mouse.

Okay, so the report. I will try to break it into manageable chunks, but I might get caught up in the memories so you will have to forgive me.

With my mom in tow, we headed out to Disney on July 1st. It was about a 12 hour drive, so we knew we would have to stop along the way to rest for the night. For the most part, the drive went well. The kids really did a great job of minding their P's and Q's. Once we past Savannah, we started to scope out a place to stay. No, we didn't plan ahead on were to stay, okay! That was one part of my planning (for three months!) that slipped through the cracks. But, it all worked out because we found a lovely Comfort Inn right across the FLA border. If we could get our butts in gear the next day, it would only be about 3 hours to Disney. Yay!

We slept, we ate, we drove - Disney World was in sight. Oh yeah, FLA does a great job getting you there, lots of signs saying "you're almost there!"

Our destination is Coronado Springs Resort. We find it no problem (again, great signage) and, it turns out that our rooms are ready right then and there. At 9:30am! Yippee! No leaving our bags and coming back after a stint in the park - just waltz right in, thank you very much! Another "yay!" for the books.

The resort is LOVELY. Very "Hispanic Paradise." Our rooms, also lovely. Nice theming. So, we dump our stuff and head to the bus stop and Disney Hollywood Studios. By the way, our bus stop is a hop, skip and a jump from our room. Off we go!

We get to Hollywood Studios and immediately purchase a stroller. Double stroller, multi day rental - poof! $80 has just gone bye bye. It was TOTALLY worth it! My son and my nine year old daughter would not have survived without it.






Hollywood Studios was a blur. It was our first day, and even though I had planned it all out, it was still kinda chaotic. I just didn't know where anything was, even with the map in hand. The layout of the place seemed really confusing. Anyway, it was still WAY fun. We didn't have time to do all the things we wanted to - Playhouse Disney, Ariel, Toy Story Mania, Rock N Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror BUT we did get to see the Indy show, go on the Great Movie Ride, see Fantasmic, play on the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground and, the best of all, watch Olivia fight the Dark Side of the Force as she trained to be a padawon (Rick will kill me when he sees I don't know how to spell that!!). She was awesome and she even got to use the Force against some storm troopers! So cool!






At about 3pm or so, Rick and Olivia headed to Typhoon Lagoon and Mom, Aidan and I went back to the hotel. We were wiped out! It was nice to just relax, put Aidan down for a nap and reflect on the day so far. I am sitting there reflecting, when I get a phone call. It's Rick, they were there for 15 minutes when the sky opened up and starting pouring on them! Ugh! But, they got a rain check for another day. Yay!







We finished up the day with some good food at the hotel, and a trip back to Hollywood Studios for "Fantasmic." It was a very cool show with lots of lighting and water effects.

So, that was our first day really. LOTS of fun and so much packed in. I definitely had my mind fixed on how to slow it down for the rest of the trip. See the next trip report for more . . .