Let me preface this posting by saying that we LOVE everything Disney. :)
We started out this month by going to Florida. We stayed at this awesome condo just a few miles from the parks. It had an incredible playground and pools. The whole place was decorated Disney. Awesome!
My brother, his girlfriend, and my two nieces came down with us. It was great for the kids to see each other. I didn't tell mine that they were coming, so it was a super surprise for them. I had to bribe them to go to sleep because they didn't want to miss a thing!
Our first park was Magic Kingdom (of course)! There's just something about seeing Cinderella's castle as you walk into the park. We used TourguideMike's suggestions to get around the park and avoid lines. After some trouble finding the lady with our tickets (long story), so we saved so much time using his touring guide. The longest ride we waited for was Splash Mountain for about 10 minutes. We were even able to ride some of the rides a couple times since we beat the crowds. Jacob was 39 1/2 inches, so I had to put some inserts inside of his shoes to hit the 40" height requirement for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. He just squeaked by. It was well worth it though. We had a blast!We didn't get any Year of a Million Dreams prizes (bummer!), but we had some special experiences with the cast members. When we went to the Winnie the Pooh ride, my kids started talking to the cast member at the beginning of the line. She made us Honarary Residents of the 100 Acre Woods for the day. Too cool! We even got an autographed picture of Pooh and his friends.
One of our last rides was Pirates of the Carribean. Here's a few pictures for mom (couldn't find Johnny Dep, so hopefully these are ok):
MK closed early that day because of the Halloween parties, so we headed over to Epcot (or Epacot as Kiara calls it). We hit the activities in Spaceship Earth and then started looking for a spot to watch Illuminations. In Mexico, one of the cast members gave the girls a special certificate for doing the Mexican Hat Toss. Illuminations was so cool! On the way back to the parking lot, we were able to ride in the front of the monorail with the driver. Another special card! Too cool!The next day, we started at Epcot with my brother, his girlfriend, and all of the kids. The truck was sputtering and jerking the whole 5 miles to the park. Wasn't sure we were going to make it or if the truck would start on the way home. More praying and prayers answered! Made it and started.
Again following TGM, we went to Soarin' first. Had to wait 20 minutes, but it was well worth it. It was a 60-minute wait by the time we got off the ride, so excellent timing. Next we did a character meet and greet with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. Waited forever, but the kids enjoyed it. Got a lot of pictures here (BTW, I am not in any of these because we don't have our photopass cd back yet. Will post some later):
Again following TGM, we went to Soarin' first. Had to wait 20 minutes, but it was well worth it. It was a 60-minute wait by the time we got off the ride, so excellent timing. Next we did a character meet and greet with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. Waited forever, but the kids enjoyed it. Got a lot of pictures here (BTW, I am not in any of these because we don't have our photopass cd back yet. Will post some later):
Ate lunch and then went over to test track. It was AWESOME! We had Fastpasses, so no waiting! Whoo hoo! (Thanks again TGM!). My brother and clan went over to Hollywood Studios, and we headed to the World Showcase. We got passports for the kids and proceeded to go "around the world". In Morocco, the girls learned how to bellydance and got another special certificate! We managed to get through all of the countries. 
We were exhausted at this point, but we really wanted to get back to Magic Kingdom to see the Spectromagic Parade and Wishes Fireworks. So we trudged over to the monorail and it felt soooo good to sit down for a few. It started raining just about that time. Keep in mind that this was the only night we could see the parade or fireworks as the next 3 nights had Halloween parties. We started praying that it would stop long enough. When we got to MK, the rain stopped for a few minutes. We made it through the gates and onto one of the covered porches where we watched it last time we went. The parade started and then the floodgates opened up. Luckily we were under cover. The parade never stopped, and we prayed again that it would stop raining so we could see the fireworks. Because of the rain, a lot of people started leaving early. By the time the parade was over, it had stopped raining. We got a decent seat for the fireworks and had a great end to a very long day.
Friday was another sleep in day. Swam some. Went to MK for the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. It was so neat. Loved the decorations and how the whole park changes for the party. There are a max of 50,000 tickets sold for these, so the crowd levels were a lot smaller. Met a guy named Addison on our Addison's birthday. He thought this was neat too and gave the kids a treat from the shop next door. Grabbed some dinner and then went to meet characters. We saw Aurora and Cinderella, but no Beauty. Brianna was crushed. Saw Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We danced with Donald. Super cool fireworks display. Check out the kids' reactions:
And to prove that Kiara is related to my mom, check out her pose with Alice's Walrus:
So, less than two weeks after we get back, the girls have a girl scout trip to see Disney on Ice. Talk about merchandising. The kids wanted more stuff, but I discouraged them seeing as we just got back from Disney World. A snow cone in a cup was $12. Times 3 is $36. For flavored ice! And I thought Disney World was expensive. It was cool getting to relive some of our recent memories. Jacob loved the huge Ursala from the Little Mermaid and the giant croc from Peter Pan.
And, unfortunately we are back in the real world. Kiara is playing basketball. Brianna is cheerleading. Gymnastics is on hold as our current place is moving to a new location. We aren't going to do Odyssey of the Mind this year. We are changing to Destination Imagination. Check it out if you get a chance. It looks so much more organized. I hope we have a great team.
Slept in on Thursday. Checked online and found a posting with a similar problem to ours with the truck. The posting had a picture of one of the vacuum hoses. Rickey checked and there was a split in the underside of the hose. We never would have found it without the picture (thank you God!). Went in search of an auto parts store to find a hose. Drove about 15 miles before we found a Pep Boys. The service sucked. Very unfriendly. But, the part was $2.00. Whoo hoo! Put some dry gas in just in case. Hit Wal-mart (did you expect any less from me?) and one of the discount shops for souveniers. Ate at Outback (love Wallabee Darned's)! Then of course had to finish the girls' costumes.
Friday was another sleep in day. Swam some. Went to MK for the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. It was so neat. Loved the decorations and how the whole park changes for the party. There are a max of 50,000 tickets sold for these, so the crowd levels were a lot smaller. Met a guy named Addison on our Addison's birthday. He thought this was neat too and gave the kids a treat from the shop next door. Grabbed some dinner and then went to meet characters. We saw Aurora and Cinderella, but no Beauty. Brianna was crushed. Saw Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We danced with Donald. Super cool fireworks display. Check out the kids' reactions:And to prove that Kiara is related to my mom, check out her pose with Alice's Walrus:So, less than two weeks after we get back, the girls have a girl scout trip to see Disney on Ice. Talk about merchandising. The kids wanted more stuff, but I discouraged them seeing as we just got back from Disney World. A snow cone in a cup was $12. Times 3 is $36. For flavored ice! And I thought Disney World was expensive. It was cool getting to relive some of our recent memories. Jacob loved the huge Ursala from the Little Mermaid and the giant croc from Peter Pan. And, unfortunately we are back in the real world. Kiara is playing basketball. Brianna is cheerleading. Gymnastics is on hold as our current place is moving to a new location. We aren't going to do Odyssey of the Mind this year. We are changing to Destination Imagination. Check it out if you get a chance. It looks so much more organized. I hope we have a great team.As for me, I am trying not to go crazy. I am still an Awana leader at Church and leading the preschool choir. We have our first performance in December. They are doing great in class, but singing in front of an audience is a whole other story.
So, done for now and back to reality...
