This is gonna be a BIG one- Just a warning! We were so blessed to be able to go on a family vacation to DISNEYWORLD!
Thanks Mom and Dad and Grandma for coming with us. How awesome to go to Florida and hang out in the sunshine while back home everyone was freezing? It was pretty cool. This is just a short version of our vacation, if you want all the details just call me:)
MAGIC KINGDOM:
We got to visit the happiest place on Earth on Christmas Day AND New Year's day. I will say it was pretty packed, but we really didn't have a lot of trouble. Well, it was hard to get out that first night because we left at such a bad time. All during the day we got to go on lots of rides, some of our favorites were Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain and a few more. We didn't even wait in line for longer than 45 minutes- THANK YOU FAST PASS!
We also got to meet and take pictures with several characters. The girls got to pose with their favorite princess; Siera with Rapunzel and Savana with Jasmine (I think Aladdin was a little heart broken ha ha) then they all got to pose with Mickey. Tommy was taller than him, see how big he is! Then Savana got to have a staring contest with Peter Pan- she almost won, but he cheated!
EPCOT CENTER- This is a pretty neat place. There are a lot of science things- one ride you can even create your own roller coaster which was super fun. One of our favorite things was talking with Crush from "Finding Nemo"- we learned how to speak turtle... "Duude"!! It was a little rainy and windy, but it didn't last for very long. After all the rides we toured the world. We went to Germany, France, Mexico, Norway and Italy and had a blast at each place. Grandma's favorite ride was Mission to Mars, and the rest of us liked the Test Track- very cool.
ANIMAL KINGDOM- Oh, this was a cold day. We were all pretty chilly- thankfully it warmed up, but not until we were ready to leave. Best ride of the day was Mt. Everest! We rode that one twice. We all loved the Safari, all these cool animals and none in cages. We even had the giraffes right along side our cars. One of the rides- Kali River Rapids- was a FUN ride, but poor Timothy got soaked. There wasn't a dry spot on him. I felt bad for the poor bugger because it was still pretty chilly out. We didn't last much longer after that. He was a trooper though.
SEAWORLD- Josh and I were so excited to take the kids here. We went a few years ago for our anniversary and loved it and knew the kids would like it too. Sure enough, they did. All of the shows were great, even better than a few years ago. There weren't a ton of rides and they were too big for the little ones and Grandma so only a few of us went- really cool. Tommy loved it!
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS- I don't have a ton of pictures because of course I kept forgetting to charge the camera, then my phone would die so I didn't have that either. It was way fun. Dad's favorite ride was the TOWER OF TERROR! Savana loved the ROCKIN ROLLERCOASTER! We all loved the FANTASMIC show- there were fireworks, video played on water, all the princesses and princes- even some villains came out to play. Way worth the wait to get in!
DISCOVERY COVE- After a day of rest (and the kids played in the pool) we got up early and went to Discovery Cove. There we got to swim with this awesome dolphin named Coral. She is one of the first dolphins born at the Cove and she was 12 years old. We learned some hand signals, got to feed her, pet her, KISS her and then ride her for a few seconds. After that was done we got to hang out and swim. They had a salt water reef (70 degrees) that had tons of stingrays, and all kinds of tropical fish. I think Dad could have stayed in there forever. We all had so much fun- I wasn't a huge fan of feeling fish swim through my legs, but it was soooooo beautiful. We all learned how to snorkel, even Timbo figured it out. There was also an aviary- yep I fed some birds- and then a lazy river (85 degrees) Oh that was nice. Even though we didn't walk a bunch, we sure got our exercise by swimming for 8+ hours. I think other than the dolphin experience the kids loved the free food! Part of the package included all your meals and snacks while there- the kids would grab a drink or pretzel or chips anytime they got out of the water, which to be honest wasn't very often. Thank goodness it wasn't cold that day, but it wasn't super hot either- it was PERFECT!
After we got home we celebrated New Year's Eve early and went to bed, we were pooped!
CLEARWATER BEACH- Have you ever seen the movie "A Dolphin Tale"? Well we went to go see the dophin Winter at her home in Clearwater, FL. It was really neat to see her and learn more about her and the movie. After our short tour of the aquarium we decided to visit the beach. A perfect day, 80 degrees, and a light breeze. The water however was NOT warm, only about 60degrees! That didn't stop the kids from getting in and having a blast. We didn't bring swim gear, so we just rolled up our jeans and played in the water. We collected a whole bunch of seashells and brought them home:)
This was one trip we will NEVER forget. We had so much fun, and we walked sooooo much (42 miles in 10 days or something like that- my grandma kept track), and we wore ourselves out. We would do it again in a heartbeat. Thank you again Mom and Dad for giving us the trip of a lifetime- LOVE YOU!!!
