Family Trip Part 3: Last 3 Days at Disney

Day 4:

Well the first couple of days at Disney went great so we were feeling pretty optimistic going into Wednesday. We got up relatively early and headed to Animal Kingdom. The first stop was to get fast passes for the Kilimanjaro Safari. The kids did enjoy this ride but even with the fast passes the wait was still too long.

Here are the boys in the jeep.

Next up was the Kali River Rapids. It was kind of cool compared to the other days, probably high 60s in the morning, so there was not a line for this ride. There are big warning signs saying "You will get soaked" on this ride, but Nathan and I decided to go for it anyway. I had brought a change of clothes for us, but we didn't get wet at all!

Then Charles decided he wanted to go on it too. Now, he didn't bring a change of clothes but since we made it through unscathed I guess he assumed he would too. I told him to make sure he wasn't facing backwards during the drop and he would be fine. Sammy decided he wanted to go this time as well.

I snapped this picture on the bridge at the end of the ride.

As you can see they got soaked! The rest of the day at Animal Kingdom was downhill from here. Charles was wet, cold, and miserable. The boys were scared to death of the "It's Tough to Be A Bug" show. Nathan whined about having to see the Lion King, even though he enjoyed it in the end. The only other ride that Nathan was brave enough to go on was the TriceraTop Spin. They played in the Boneyard but everyone was so crabby that we decided to go back to the hotel and take a nap.

Feeling refreshed we hit the free dinner at our hotel and then headed to Epcot, since it was the only park open late. Not all the rides were open, but we were still able to do Nemo, Turtle Talk with Crush, Spaceship Earth, Test Track and Mission Space. Then we stayed for the IllumiNations fireworks display. The kids loved it!

Here's a pick of us leaving the park that night, exhausted but happy. Notice that Sammy is still small and light enough to fit in the sling?

Day 5:

Thursday was our last full day in Florida so we decided to make the most of it. As crazy as this sounds we went to Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, and Epcot all in the same day!

We had to go back to Hollywood Studios because we missed the Toy Story ride. Everyone says this is the best ride at Disney so we couldn't miss it. We got our fast pass 20 minutes after the park opened and still weren't able to get on the ride until 1:20 pm! So we ended up spending more time at Hollywood then we intended to. While we waited we went on the Backlot Tour.

Then the kids played in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Playground.

We also visited Mater and Lightning McQueen.

Finally, it was time for Toy Story. I have to say they were right. This ride was amazing. After, we decided to go to the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show, which the kids also loved. On the way out Nathan just had to go on Star Tours one more time.

Then it was off to the Magic Kingdom. Since we were ending our day at Epcot we decided to leave our car there and ride the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. We went back to Tomorrowland and Mickey's Toontown.


Sammy just had to meet Mickey and Minnie one more time.

We ended our time at Magic Kingdom by watching the lighting of the castle.

Here is the castle unlit.

And lit.

Then it was off to Epcot, Nathan's favorite park. He got to go on his favorite ride, Mission Space, with Daddy and then with Mommy.

We grabbed a quick dinner in "China" and then watched the IllumiNations again from a different vantage point.

Two happy and tired boys waiting for the fireworks to start.Day 6:

We started our last day off at Magic Kingdom with a little bit of drizzle. Overall we were lucky as far as the weather was concerned. We had a short period of drizzle on Thursday and a little off and on Friday.

Here are the boys going into the park for the last time. We headed straight for Tomorrowland Speedway so Sammy could finally have a chance to drive a car. Then Daddy and Nathan went to ride Buzz Lightyear I don't know how many times, while Sammy played in Pooh's Playful Playspot.

Here's the Sam man, being the Sam man. Look at those hops!

Fantasyland was empty because of the rain so the kids were able to go on all the rides quickly. Nathan liked them all, but Sammy was scared on Snow White and Pooh.

The boys trying to remove the Sword from the stone.

Boys on the carousel.

After Fantasyland we had lunch and headed over to Frontierland. We watched Tianna's River Showboat again and then took the kids over to Tom Sawyer's Island so they could run off some energy before the car ride home. While we were there Steve called us to let us know that we were getting a huge snow storm at home on Saturday. We weren't too worried though because we are from Upstate NY after all! Boy were we wrong!

Then it was one more ride on Big Thunder Railroad and one last parade and it was time to go.

Just as we were leaving we snapped these photos. Notice the rainbow to the right of the castle. Again, the magic of Disney!

The family.
We thought we were on our way, but of course the boys reminded us that we promised them ice cream! So, we loaded them up on sugar and strapped them into the car!

Nathan with his Mickey ice cream.

We made it as far as Savannah, Georgia the first day. We planned on going the rest of the way home the next day, but that didn't happen. Just North of Richmond (only 70 miles from home). We hit snow that was so bad that traffic came to a standstill. It took us 3 hours to go 4 miles! We ended getting off the first exit we could and going back towards Richmond. We spent the night in a hotel and tried it the next morning. Wouldn't you know we got stuck in the same spot again! This time it only took us an hour to go the same 4 miles! It took us most of the day to get back home.

We arrived home to this! One of the worst storms in DC history (until this week!) At least we ended up having a white Christmas!

Our neighbors were nice enough to shovel our driveway for us so we could get in. The road was so bad that we still needed help getting our car into the driveway!

Here's Daddy and Nathan shoveling the sidewalk.

We had an amazing trip. It was nice to go on a real vacation instead of a PCS vacation. We were also proud that we did a relatively good job of resisting the crazy merchandising that comes with a trip to Disney. Beside a few meals and a couple snacks the only merchandise purchased by us were 4 t-shirts, mouse ears for the boys, and an astronaut helmet (for Christmas)! Considering that most of the rides funnel you out through a gift shop at the end and we have two young kids, this is probably the greatest accomplishment of our trip! The boys did get Christmas giftcards from there Aunt and Uncle so they also were able to buy one small toy a piece. Sammy picked a spinning, light-up Buzz Lightyear. Nathan spent all week looking and finally settled on a replica of the Mission Space spaceship. While Nathan still talks daily about Disney World, one of the things that as parents we are happpiest about is that he still says that Yellowstone was his favorite vacation! The magic of nature still trumps the magic of merchandising! Yeah!

Family Trip Part 2: First 3 Days at Disney

We were lucky to spend our first 3 days in Florida with Tracy, Sean, and Jenna.

Day 1:

We arrived Sunday afternoon and it was in the 80's so we went swimming.
Jenna and Sammy in the Kiddie Pool.
Charles and Tracy with the kids.

Nathan loved the water slide.

Jenna and Charles.

We wanted to get a little taste of Disney before we went to the parks so we went to dinner at Disney's Boardwalk. Here the kids are acting crazy.

Here is Daddy/Uncle acting crazy.

Then we went back to our hotel to have an early Christmas.

Here's a great pick of the cousins.

Here they are playing with their new toys. Notice that our room has a door? How awesome is that? The boys also had their own room with twin beds and an underwater mural. We stayed at a Marriott Residence Inn so we also had a kitchen. It was great because we could buy lots of drinks and snacks to bring to the park everyday. Definitely worth it considering the price of food and drinks there.

Day 2:
All the books and people we talked to said to save Magic Kingdom for the end of the trip.
Unfortunately the Bartons could only stay until Tuesday and we wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom with them, so we only had one day to work with. We decided to go to Epcot in the morning and then Hollywood Studies in the afternoon so we could see Fantasmic at night. We figured we could always go back to either park if there were things that they wanted to see. It seemed like a lot but we thought that because of their excitement the kids could handle it.

We went first thing in the morning to maximize our time there. Here the boys are not so patiently waiting to go into the park.
We went to get fast passes for Soarin' and on the way we noticed that there was almost no line for the Character Spot so we decided to stop. This had to be one of the smartest things that we did. The kids got to meet all of the major Disney characters at one time and then we didn't have to track them down and stand in a bunch of lines at the other parks. The first character that they met was Mickey Mouse of course!The cousins with Donald Duck.

And with Goofy.

We took Nathan on Soarin' and he went on Test Track twice. We also went on the Living with the Land Tour and then had lunch at the British Pub in "England."

Here the kids are being knights in the gift shop near the pub.

We did a quick walk around The World and then headed to Hollywood Studios.

Nathan with the mask that he made in Germany.

Sammy and Jenna fell asleep on the way between the parks so Nathan went on Star Tours while they napped.

A sleeping Sam.
When Sammy woke up we went to see the Muppets 3D Show (the kids were not too interested in this). Then Jenna woke up and it was time for the Playhouse Disney Show (a hit with Sammy and Jenna).

We had just enough time for a quick dinner and we were off to Fantasmic. We thought the kids might be scared and Sammy was a little, but overall they both enjoyed it. After we saw the Christmas Light Show twice. The lights were amazing but it was still hard to get in the Christmas spirit when it is in the 80s.

The tired but happy family.Jenna and Sammy trying to catch faux snow on their tongues.All of us.Day 3:

We went to Magic Kingdom on Tuesday. First stop was Fantasyland where we hit all the classics- Carousel, Dumbo, Small World, and Peter Pan. We picked a great week to go, we really didn't have to wait for most of the rides.

Sammy on Dumbo. Notice his nose? He pinched it in the door of the hotel room.

On It's a Small World.

Then it was off to Tomorrowland and the Buzz Lightyear Ride. I can't even begin to count how many times Nathan went on this ride during our trip. Nathan also went on the Tomorrowland Speedway with Daddy and Tracy.

Probably one of the favorite memories is below. I think it just illustrates the magic of Disney. There was a talking trashcan that moved around in Tomorrowland. Sammy was just fascinated by it. He followed it everywhere and kept looking inside it. Even Nathan couldn't figure out how it worked. He figured it was some remote control but he didn't see the man with the microphone and remote control nearby. Right after this we had lunch and Sammy walked up to the trashcan by our table and said "Hi talking trashcan." He just assumed that all trashcans talked at Disney World. He was really confused when it didn't talk back to him

We went on a few more rides after lunch. Then Nathan, Daddy, and Tracy went on Big Thunder Railroad and the Bartons left to return home. Daddy thought it would be fun to take Nathan on Splash Mountain. Since Nathan was not too fond of Big Thunder Railroad Mommy didn't think it would be the best idea but he took him anyway. Here is the aftermath:

Needless to say, he DID NOT LIKE Splash Mountain. The only upside was that he decided that Big Thunder Railroad wasn't so bad after all. In fact it became one of his favorite rides. We did Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jungle Cruise next. Nathan loved Pirates of the Caribbean and had to go on it twice. Sammy didn't much care for it so he stayed with Daddy and played in the gift shop.

Our little pirate.
Sammy also was picked to pilot the boat on the Jungle Cruise.
We finished the day in Tomorrowland, catching the rides that we missed earlier in the day. Nathan particularly loved the Carousel of Progress for some strange reason. He did not, however, like the Astro Orbiter but Sammy loved it. Go figure! On the way out we got this cool pic of the castle lit for the holidays.

Family Trip Part 1: South Carolina

We broke down and decided to take a trip to Disney World in the beginning of December. We are not the biggest fans of Orlando. The whole city seems to exist solely to separate you from your money and Disney is probably the worst offender. But, they had a special offer for military. We got 4- 5 day, park hopper tickets for a little more than it would have cost for one adult! That combined with the fact that we had so many points that all of our hotel rooms were free; it just seemed like too good of a deal to pass up.

We decided to drive and added a stop to Papa's and Eileen's new home in Myrtle Beach. We stayed at the Dunes Village Resort because it had two indoor water parks. I'm glad we did, because it was freezing outside and the boys had a lot of energy to work off after being in the car all day.

Here are Papa and Eileen with the boys in our hotel room. We had a great view but it was really too cold to spend much time on the beach.
Sammy getting a little help from Dad at one of the water parks.

The next day we went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Aquarium. Even though we read the reviews that said it was good we were a bit skeptical. But their military rate was 75% off so we figured we'd give it a shot. It was not huge but they packed a lot into a small space. If you are in Myrtle Beach and the weather is crummy it is definitely worth checking out. Here's a picture of the boys fooling around.
Petting the rays.
Nathan checking out the ray.
We went to a state park near their house. Here's Nathan, Papa, and Eileen at the nature center.

And even though it was cold we still had to take the boys to the beach. Here's Nathan with one of his finds. The boys and Papa on the beach.

We had fun visiting Papa and Eileen but next time we'll go back when it's warmer!