Florida Trip 4

On Thursday, we ventured to Downtown Disney.  First stop:   The LEGO store!  I'm not sure who was more excited:  Micah or his Dad.  :)  Here they are in front of the LEGO Dragon.

We'd told the boys that they could each buy a toy with some $$ we'd made from our garage sale, so Micah picked out a new LEGO cabin set.

We had lunch at Planet Hollywood.  I think after the previous day at Magic Kingdom, for some reason this restaurant was a little overwhelming for the boys.  The food was just OK, but we had a gift card, so the price was just right!

After that:  Back to the Disney Store.  Eli picked out a Peter Pan figurine set and a Mickey Mouse kickball (both of these together were cheaper than Micah's legos.  Those things are so expensive!!).

We were all pretty tired/overwhelmed by this point.  So it was a quick stop at the Disney Christmas ornament store before we headed back to the hotel.  Every Christmas, I let the boys pick out an ornament at Hobby Lobby for their tree.  This year, we bought a little early.

The rest of the day was spent with Kedron at his conference, while the boys and I explored the hotel pool.  More pics to come.

Florida Trip 3

I could obviously take pictures of Cinderella's Castle all day.

By this time of our day, the on again/off again mist/sprinkle had turned into a constant light rain. We'd purchased expensive ponchos the night before, but being the cheapskates we are, decided not to use them. By the time we really needed them, we were already soaking wet, so what was the point?  Needless to say, we still enjoyed the Electrical Parade, even though the rain and the temps were dropping.

The highlight?  Peter Pan and Captain Hook, followed by Mr. Smee!

The Fireworks show followed.  Honestly, it was pretty much like any other fireworks show I've seen.  The pre-show, however, was really cool.  I don't know how they do it, but they projected different colors and images onto Cinderella's Castle.

Next up:  Downtown Disney/Legos!!

Florida Trip 2

Can you believe we've never taken the boys to a movie in the theater before?  So Mickey's Philharmagic at Disney World was their first movie theater experience.  Micah sure can rock these opera glasses.

It's a Small World - a classic ride that has absolutely nothing that would scare a preschooler (unlike most other Disney rides, sadly).

Micah didn't really like the character meet and greets, but Eli couldn't get enough of Mickey and Minnie!

Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin!!  We rode this twice in a row.  You sat in a pod and shot a lazer at the yellow "Z" targets.  Not to brag, but I totally outscored my husband.  Both times.  And the 2nd time, I spent most of the ride taking pictures.

I'm not sure if this is Chip or Dale, but Eli didn't seem to care!

I was a little disappointed by how few characters were out for people to meet.  The boys really had their hearts set on meeting Captain Hook and Mr. Smee, but we were told that those two didn't usually stroll the park to meet people.  We did get to see them in the parade. . . more pics to come :)

Florida Trip 1

All right, all right, I know I need to do some posting on our biggest family vacay to date!   On Tuesday, the 15th, the boys got to experience their first-ever plane ride, complete with photo ops in the cockpit.  They were very good on the plane overall.

Wednesday morning, we awoke very early to go to the Magic Kingdom!

While we were waiting at the entrance, a "cast member" (as Disney staff are known) came out and said he needed some volunteers; a family of around 4 or 5 with "big smiles and nice teeth", and with a camera.  Kedron shot his hand up, and we were chosen as the "stroller family of the day!"  We got to enter Main Street before the park opened for anyone else, and the cast member took lots of family pictures of us!  How cool is that?

Then, immediately as the park opened, it was off to Fantasyland to ride Dumbo and the Great Goofini! We got to ride the first 1 or 2 cycles of the day on both.

If you're planning to visit Disney World, I can't overemphasize how important it is to go in with a plan.  We did our research, went in with a plan, got there early for the opening "drop line," and rode 10 rides in the first 3 hours.  We didn't wait longer than 20 minutes for a ride all day long.

More pics to come!

Guess where we were this week?