Day by Day at Disney World - Warning - Long Post!

Well, I've tried to convince Travis to post about our Disney World trip, but I think I'm pushing my luck. The Christmas letter is upon us and since this is his job, I guess I'll post about our trip. Just so you know, this would be much more interesting if Travis were to write it!

We left on Wednesday the 19th very early in the morning. We got up at 4:30 AM so we could get to Florida at 6:30 PM and get to our resort at a normal time. Well, due to delays in Denver, we didn't arrive at our resort until 9:30 that evening. It was a long day, but the kids made some new friends in the Denver airport. They were having quite the chat on their DS's. It was fun to watch them communicate with new people as the kids slowly moved closer and closer to us while we waited in the terminal. Good news, they got the plane fixed and we didn't crash. Important stuff! Our resort was beautiful! We felt very spoiled as we checked in and got settled for the night. Once we made it to our spacious 2 bedroom home we decided to try and find our way back to the restaurant at the main building for dinner at 10:00. After running around in the cold (it was colder in Florida than California) for 15 minutes, Travis finally stopped us all, looked at the map and we made it there laughing in under 5 minutes. All the buildings look the same and they all have lakes with fountains in between. After that first night, we did much better and never got lost again!

Thursday the 20th we went to Animal Kingdom after sleeping in. We went to bed at 11:30 (we thought it was 12:30) the night before and woke up at 9:00 AM (really 8 AM). The kids were still sleeping and Travis and I were in the kitchen. I happened to look at the clock and couldn't figure out why it said 8:20. Then, we went into the kids room and their clock said 8:20. Then, we went into our room and the clock said 9:20. Oops! Our clock was wrong. Travis and I gained an hour! Animal Kingdom was a lot of fun. We went on the Dino Ride, (I didn't like that one!) saw Finding Nemo the Musical, went on the Kilimanjaro Safari (so cool with real animals!). Calissa decided that she had a stomach ache so we decided to head back to our resort to get some rest before our dinner show that night. On the way out Calissa spotted some hula hoops. She had to stop and show off. She hula hooped for about 20 minutes and loved the attention as the employees walked past. The employee with the hula hoops made Calissa feel so special. She ended up getting a Tinkerbell pin (that you can't buy) for her impressive talent! Parker got a birthday pin too. Calissa fell asleep almost immediately after we got back and slept until it was time for dinner. (All that talking - 6 hours worth on the plane to mom must have worn her out!) That night we went to the hoop de doo musical revue at the Campground. It was a dinner show and lots of fun! They served us family style with buckets of fried chicken and ribs, mashed potatoes, yummy corn bread and strawberry shortcake. The entertainment was fun and we laughed a lot!

Friday the 21st we went to the Magic Kingdom. Thursday and Friday were so nice at the parks! The longest we had to wait for a ride was 10 minutes. If only it was like that the next week! We had a full day at the park. We went on Space Mountain, (Parker went on it with me ... not sure he really wants to do that again!)Buzz Lightyear, The Laugh Factory, the Cars (got to go twice since the car in front of us broke down!), Pirates of the Caribbean (California's is better), the Jungle Cruise (where Calissa thought the animals were real), Aladdin, Pooh, The Tiki Room and Splash Mountain. Calissa's favorite ride was Splash Mountain. Conner's favorite was Buzz Lightyear, Parker's was anything but Space Mountain! We went back to our resort and the kids swam in the gigantic swimming pool. It had a 120 foot long water slide and could hold 180 people. And ... it was heated which is good since it was cold outside!

Saturday, we went to Hollywood Studios. As we arrived we were just in time for the HSM3 show. We had fun singing along with the songs and they came down the street and did a 20 minute show. While we were waiting for it to start, Parker and Travis went to get us some fast passes for Toy Story Mania. The wait was already 70 minutes and our return time for our fast pass was for 4:30 in the afternoon! Then, we went to the Indiana Jones stunt show. This was one of our favorite things. It was action packed and funny. We also went to the Lights, Motors, Action show, Star Tours, Muppet Vision 3-D and the Studio Back Lot Tour. When 4:30 finally rolled around, we went to Toy Story Mania and had a ton of fun. Too bad the wait is so long or we would have done it more! We had dinner at a 50's restaurant at the park and came home exhausted after a very long day!

Sunday, we went back to the Animal Kingdom early and hit our favorite rides again and did some more of the things we didn't get to do on Thursday. Travis and I went on the huge roller coaster Expedition Everest. We actually got to do it twice because we were there at the park nice and early. The kids stood in line with us and then waited in the shop at the exit till we were done. It's so nice to have a kid old enough to leave them for 10 minutes! We also saw Festival of the Lion King. It was in a round theater and was very good. We got ice cream cones and went on the Safari again. We learned that the animals all respond to a different noise to be put in their pens at night. Even the alligators respond to a sound. That was very cool! After a short 4 hours at the park we headed back to write in our journals, and went to rent a surrey bike to ride around the resort. On our way to rent it we heard them announce at the pool that they were about to start a hula hooping contest. Calissa got there just in time and won and princess puzzle! At the end when the boys and I were trying our hand at it, Calissa was showing off by doing four hula hoops at the same time! We had a ton of fun on the surrey bikes. Calissa sat in the basket on the front and rang the bell. Travis was in charge of steering us and I swear he was trying to roll the thing as we took corners at top speed. They told us we could go around the path 2 or 3 times in our 30 minutes. We decided we were not normal and could do it 4 times. Our thighs were burning and there was a lot of laughter and groaning, but we made it. A new record at the resort! The kids did a little swimming and I did a little shopping at the resort and read my book. That night we went to dinner at Planet Hollywood. That was a fun experience! Noisy, but fun and was one of our best meals of the trip!

Monday, we got up early to go to Hollywood Studios again as it opened. We got our fast passes for Toy Story Mania and we dropped all three kids off at the Playhouse Disney show while Travis and I went on the Rockin Roller Coaster Staring Aerosmith. That was so much fun. It goes 0-60 in 2 seconds. Good thing Travis had his Dramamine! The kids got out right as we were getting to the theater. We went to the Beauty and the Beast show, Star Tours, Toy Story Mania and then had lunch and went back to the resort for swimming and football. That night we went back to Hollywood Studios for the Fantastmic Light and Fireworks Show. It was really cool. They project laser images into big sheets of water. Unfortunately the wind was blowing our direction, so we got a little cold, but it was a cool show! We also got to go on Tower of Terror. The kids wouldn't go on it, but they stood in line with us until it was time to get on. Calissa was convinced as she was going down to the store in an elevator that she was on the ride. We told the kids they were going to go on it when we go to Disneyland in two years. Calissa said she's not coming with us!

Tuesday, we finally went to Epcot. We got there early (they had magic hours and opened at 8 AM) and it was a good thing. We got fast passes for Soarin Over California and then went on Test Track. I personally can't believe we got our kids on it, but you can't see the ride before you get on (which is good for our kids). That was a lot of fun and we were able to go on that again later in the day. We also went on Mission Space. Conner, Calissa and Travis went on the mild ride and Parker and I went on the more intense one. This was a fun ride, but they scare you to death before getting on both of them. You are sitting with four people and get enclosed in this capsule. Each person has a job. You are blasting off for a mission to Mars. You had a video screen in front of you so you can experience all that is happening. Parker and mine spun around to make you feel the effects of gravity. Parker could hardly lift his arms to press his buttons because of the force holding him back! The other ride was the same, just no spinning. I think you'd miss out without that feeling. It was very cool and didn't make you dizzy! We all went on Soarin and loved it. We went around the world at Epcot in about 2 hours. It is an amazing place! We visited some of the cool interactive things in Tomorrowland and then rode a boat to the Disney Boardwalk Resort to go to lunch/dinner at the ESPN Club. My family was in heaven. Parker's hot dog was over 18 inches long! After lunch we went back to our resort for more swimming in the pool and an early night at home. The kids were actually to sleep before 9 PM!

Wednesday was our last day at the park! We checked out of our home away from home and left our bags with the bell service for the day. We spent our last day at the Magic Kingdom. We got there early in the day so we got to go on our favorites on more time (Buzz Lightyear, Cars, Pirates, & Splash Mt.). Then, we went to Downtown Disney to do our final shopping, picked up our bags and caught our bus to the airport. We were sad to say good-bye, but had a wonderful trip and made lots of fun memories together as a family. We stayed the night at the Hyatt hotel in the Orlando Airport. We got up early the next morning (Thanksgiving)and caught our flight back to California. No flight delays this time, but we got on a very small plane in Utah! We actually had to go out on the tarmac and climb stairs to get on the plane. Conner and Parker sat in row 2 and Travis, Calissa and I sat in row 3. About the time for take off Conner said he's never sat in first class before. We had a little chuckle and told him that this wasn't first class, just a small plane! We made it home safely and enjoyed a great Thanksgiving dinner at my parents home. We just picked up our pies and got to enjoy a yummy Thanksgiving and left overs the next day.

It's always nice to go on vacation, but it's always wonderful to come home as well. Now, we look forward to our Disney Cruise next year (337 days, 7 hours, 33 minutes and 22 seconds ... but who's counting!