Tuesday, April 21, 2015

DisneyWorld: Parents' Highlights

*ANDREW'S HIGHLIGHTS*
*Watching Caroline meet Ariel, Cinderella, and Rapunzel.
Andrew's back surgeon said he could not ride any
roller coasters that would be "jarring."
And Caroline had no interest in riding those types of rides.
They made a great pair!






Disney sure knows how to make moments like these magical!

*Character Meal
We try to do everything as budget as we can,
but we sure enjoyed splurging on this one meal.

*Teacups with Caroline
These are the types of rides that make me sick,
so I was thrilled that Andrew could take her...
and enjoy it, too.

*Car stunt show


 He liked the stunts...

but he LOVED watching C's reactions even more.

*Primeval Whirl
The view from the top.
Wheeee!

*Tower of Terror with Brandon and Whitney:
Not realizing it bounced back up and screaming, "NO!" every time.
The view from 13 floors up.
Aaaaagggghhhh!

*Getting my sore hips massaged by Andrea at night.
(Not pictured.) :)

*Having so much one-on-one time with Care Bear
She is such a fun buddy!

*Pineapple floats
We had never tried these.
Oh my gosh.
Best cold treat ever!

*MY HIGHLIGHTS*
*Kilimanjaro Safari
This might be my favorite ride out of all the parks!
We rode it twice and I would have gone one more
time if B would have agreed to come with me.
 Animals are amazing.
 And you get right up close to them.
 Look at this rhino posing for a pic with Care Bear!
 I did not even bring my camera with the zoom lens.
 So cute to see the elephants frolicking in the water.
Seriously, I'm blown away every time.
Who needs to go to Africa?

*Not waiting in line longer than 30 minutes THE WHOLE WEEK.

I am a super-planner when it comes to Disney vacations. I bought the newest version of the Unofficial Guide, which is my favorite guidebook. I downloaded a couple of apps on my phone. I stayed up until midnight on five different nights to reserve our fastpasses online. (Not a fan of the new fastpass+ system.) I spend hours and hours in the previous weeks planning out everything. And, it pays off! The parks were CROWDED, but we were able to work the system and choose our rides and shows wisely to minimize wait times. Loved it.

*Riding all the big rides with my kids!
I've been waiting YEARS for this!
I'm so glad that B would ride everything with me
and Whit joined us for a lot of the big ones, too.
 Tower of Terror

 Space Mountain

Big Thunder Mountain.
Woo hoo!

*Animation Academy
I was a fan of this art class, too.
B and I went once by ourselves.
Then we came back with the girls.
We drew Eeyore.
Caroline's

Whit's

Mine.

It's fun to learn some tricks of the trade.

*World Showcase

With the different ages and interests of our kids, we split up at the parks most of the days, but I told the kids that I wanted one day where we spent the whole day together. And that day was Epcot. I warned them that we might end up doing things that weren't their favorites, but to just humor me. They did! And all of us ended up loving it. Next time (if there is a next time...) I would love two days at Epcot. There is just too much to see in one!

 The girls loved the Kidcot stations,
where they could color and get their
craft stamped from each country.

A pretty waterfall in Norway (I think...)

Italy

 USA

China

*Shows and rides that add smells.

What a fun feature! The three that we tried were Philharmagic, It's Tough to Be a Bug, and
Soarin',
where we could smell the orange blossoms as we soared over
the citrus orchards in California.

*Having our own room to come home to at night.

We stayed in a 3-bedroom condo off property this time. It was a steal! We stayed six nights and it was only $500 total. Isn't that awesome? It took 15 minutes or less to drive to the parks, was quiet and clean. But definitely dated--old bathroom and kitchen fixtures. But I would totally stay there again. It was so nice to come home after a LONG day at the parks and have some space to ourselves.


We spent two days at Magic Kingdom.
On the second day, we left around 2 pm.
Andrew got to take a long nap.
Brandon got to catch up on his video games.

And I took the girls to the pool for a swim.
Everyone was happy!

*Pineapple floats
We still believe that Disney is a great 
place to practice sharing. :)

And we are now trying to recreate pineapple floats at home.
So far, it's just not the same.

1 comment:

  1. Oh my - so fun to read about your favorite things. And now I want a pineapple float! And there has to be a "next time!"
    xo
    Mom S

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