One Last Disney Hoorah (for now at least)

We are back from yet another Disney trip. This will probably be our last one for awhile because our annual pass is now officially expired. We definitely made the most of our quick 3-day trip. Jeff's dad and Jane also happened to be in Orlando for a conference so we were able to spend some quality time with them which of course the kids loved! We drove up Thursday morning and drove straight to Magic Kingdom. The weather was perfect - somewhat overcast and not too hot! We decided to brave it and not bring a stroller in. Normally I borrow my friends double-stroller but she happened to be going to Disney the same weekend. In the end, the kids did great without a stroller and I actually found it to be somewhat easier because we didn't have to take time to go get the stroller when we moved to another part of the park. We could have brought in our single stroller but then the kids would have been fighting all day over who gets to sit in it.

This was also our first trip to Magic Kingdom since Daniel had reached a height of 40" which meant he was finally tall enough to ride Thunder Mountain. So the first thing we did when we got to the park was head straight there! We tried to convince Allison to go on as well but it was a no-go. She remembered the last (and only) time she had been on it and decided it scared the crap out of her. Daniel was more than excited to go on and of course Jeff was even more excited to be able to take him on! As luck would have it, they also managed to get a front row seat. Allison and I waited at the viewers spot so we could see them come whizzing by. I tried to get a picture but this was the best I could do:

As you can see, only Jeff was visible. But I did manage to capture Daniel's BIG smile when he got off the ride:

Despite having a death grip on Daniel so he didn't fall out, Jeff somehow managed to take a video of the entire ride (mostly directed at Daniel's face). I'm going to try and work on editing the video and putting together a movie of Daniel's experience and will post it when it's done.

We spent the rest of the day going on more rides. By about 3pm Daniel was pooped and actually fell asleep in Jef'f's arms. So we hopped on the railroad and took a relaxing ride around the park. We could also see the back end of the construction of the Fantasyland addition - it looks awesome - and it's huge! If you haven't heard about it, you can read about it here. When we got off the train, Daniel was still asleep but the lines to meet Mickey and the Princesses were non-existent so we decided to go say hi (I love the picture of Daniel with Mickey and Minnie).

This is my favorite...Sleeping Beauty with Sleeping Daniel:

After saying hello to them, it was about 4pm and we decided to go check into our hotel. We had reservations at the Marriott World Center. The kids and I had stayed there this past March with my mom and really liked it. When we checked in, I asked for a room upgrade since we are gold members and they gave us a suite. I hope my kids realize how spoiled they are. Here's Allison watching tv in the suite:

That night we met up with John and Jane or dinner at Copper Canyon Grill. It was a beautiful night to sit outside and enjoy time with family:

The next day we headed to EPCOT, once again without a stroller. Once again, the weather was gorgeous. It was quite crowded because the Food and Wine Festival was taking place but that made it all the more fun and festive. I'm always amazed at how every time I go to a Disney Park I manage to find something I've never done or haven't done in ages. This time, we saw the movie in the Canadian Pavilion which I really enjoyed and we walked around all of the countries, many of which has hidden walkways that we had never seen before. It really is a magical place. Here's a couple pictures of the beautiful scenery:

Our original plan was to stay until about 4 or 5 and then leave to meet John and Jane for dinner. That afternoon we remembered that we could exit out the back of EPCOT and walk (or take a short boat ride) to Disney's Boardwalk hotel and we decided that would be a great place to meet them for dinner. Then we could go back into the park and watch the fireworks show. So we survived 12 hours at a park with no stroller. Yes, we did have to carry them quite a bit by the end but they did get a second wind and Jeff and I got our fair share of exercise for the week! As always, the Illuminations fireworks show was amazing and we happened upon a great spot to watch it - we took a little alley that led to a promenade overlooking the lagoon. I didn't take any picture of the show because you can't capture it well on camera. If you haven't seen it, it's a must!

The next day we met John and Jane at Downtown Disney. We were excited to see the revamped Lego store, It's quite amazing what you can make out of Lego's:

In fact, the Legoland theme park just opened this past weekend (just southwest of Orlando) and we can't wait to go. We already bought our tickets so we'll be there sometime before the end of May, perhaps for Daniel's birthday if not before then. After playing around at the Lego store, we enjoyed lunch at Fulton's Crab House and then walked around the rest of Downtown Disney. Here's a few more pictures of our day:

And finally, my favorite shot of the weekend: