Not sure about this man!
Decorating a Gingerbread House
Monday was the Magic Kingdom with the Huttons. We were the first visitors in the parking lot at 6:30 a.m.! With the low temperatures that morning, the park did not get too crowded until lunchtime, so we got to ride a good many rides before the lines got overly long. Of course, we had to stay for the grand finale fireworks show at 10, so we were exhausted when we left that first day.
Watching the sunrise on the tram into Magic Kingdom
Waiting for the gates to open
Headed to the Pooh ride
It's a Small World -- one of our favorites!
Anna Christine and Meredith on the carousel.
Meredith LOVES carousels!
Maggie at Minnie's House
Meeting the princesses -- we waited for only 15 minutes!!
Swiss Family Robinson Tree House
Loving the cousins!!
Oo-whooo! Big Thunder Mountain!
Sweet Chanin and Aunt Emmie got to be friends.
Christmas Parade
Pre-Barn Stormer -- Maggie was not happy!
Our exhausted little princess. Meredith took a nap every day in her stroller.
Full Moon
Tuesday was our day at Epcot. Our hotel offered a free shuttle service, and we decided to use it that day. It didn't leave for Epcot until noon, but that gave us a leisurely morning to have breakfast and run to the grocery store to restock our lunch/snack supplies. Epcot was not crowded too badly, and it was a slower day for us, which we needed for sure!
Disney shirts from Ava
Will found a good place for practicing his cartwheels and handstands.
Morocco
Mexico
Wednesday we headed to Animal Kingdom -- our favorite park after Magic Kingdom. The only downside was that it was extremely packed! Ryan and I were paranoid that we would get separated from one of the kids. The good thing was that they were just as paranoid and stayed right with us! The first ride we went on was the Jungle River Rapids. Will got the wettest of all, but he went on it twice. We had to wring water out of his socks at lunch. Thankfully, it was a warmer day, so he didn't get too cold. Maggie was also very wet, but her coat kept her shirt dry, so she wasn't too bad off. Our other favorite was the Safari Ride which took us into a section that was landscaped like the African savannah where we saw elephants, rhinos, lions, cheetahs, giraffes and other safari animals. Very cool.
On the way in, Will wanted to take my picture while I made a funny face.
In the background is Disney's Mt. Everest roller coaster. Ryan was the only one to brave that one.
The first rapids ride
The second ride -- can't see Will but he's to my left.
They are that wet all the way down!
Bats
Tigers
Petting zoo
Baby alligator
Meredith's daily nap
Kangaroo
The huge tree!
Trying out Meredith's preferred mode of transportation -- this is how Ryan rode her around if she wasn't in the stroller.
Thursday we went back to Magic Kingdom. Although we weren't the first people in the parking lot, we still got there at 7:30, and made it straight back with no major human traffic. The kids had each named 3 things that they wanted to do again, and we were done with all of them by lunchtime. All 3 crossed huge thrill-riding milestones. Will finally went on Splash Mountain with Ryan and loved it so much that he rode it four more times (once with Mama). Maggie ended up loving Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and rode it 5 times. Of course, Mama rode it about that many times, as well, and Will finally rode the last time and loved it. Meredith rode on a mini-coaster called Barn Stormer -- totally shocked Mama when she asked to go on it while Daddy took Maggie and Will -- but she did it and loved it and rode 2 more times that day. The two negatives for Maggie were Splash Mountain, which she hated after getting totally soaked, and Space Mountain, which scared her to the point of closing her eyes and crying the whole ride. Mama and Daddy can be blamed for that one. Either our memory of Space Mountain is very bad or Disney has updated it, making it faster, darker, louder and scarier -- even for us! All in all, though, the day was wonderful, and the kids got to do all they had wanted plus more.
Last carousel rides . . .
Heading into one of Maggie's favorites -- the 3D movie "Mickey's Philharmagic"
Dumbo
Meredith's 2nd ride on Barn Stormer -- she was so proud of herself!
Will's awesome experience on Splash Mountain.
Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride
Headed into It's a Small World again -- Will wanted to take my picture again. I let him take pictures during the ride as well, so we have about 20 photos of the little puppets.
Good-bye to Disney World
After leaving the Magic Kingdom behind, we headed to Gainesville, then on to Tchula for Christmas. We were so tired, but our Christmas was very relaxing at Nana's and Papa's house. It was nice to be able to rest after our long journey. That night we went to my grandmother Jan Jan's house where we filled our stomachs with good food and visited with our family that we don't see very often.
We were very sad to leave Tampa and Disney and our family! Our trip is over and a wonderful memory now, and I look forward to making scrapbook pages of this never-to-be-forgotten week. As Maggie says, we look forward to something for so long, but then it passes by so quickly! (My little philosopher)
As the year draws to a close, it is always hard for me not to become nostalgic. So before I go off on a long tangent -- HAPPY NEW YEAR!
