It's A Small World

This one is for my mom.  It's A Small World is her favorite ride.  Before we left she said "If you ride It's A Small World, think of me!  It's my favorite."  And it turned out to be a big hit with the kids.  I haven't been to Disney since I was 10 or so.  This is one of the rides that I remember very clearly.  Walking up to the boats, I had clear memories of my brothers and I waiting in line as kids, nothing seemed to have changed, the ramps leading up to the boats, the decorations on the wall...it was really weird, kind of like a trip back in time.

This ride is long, about 10 minutes and it "travels" to all parts of the world.  However, the only memory I have of being inside the ride as a young child are these two little dutch kids with their wooden shoes clicking back and forth.  That memory is probably the strongest I ever retained from Disney.  And as I turned the corner, I was happily surprised to see them still sitting there, 25 years later.  They looked a lot smaller, but there they were nonetheless.

Hope you enjoyed it Mom.

Magic Kingdom

Our second full day was our busiest.  We were off to the Magic Kingdom at 8:00 am

Waiting for the monorail.

Here we go....the lines were not that bad.  They do have a FastPass system which is free where you get a ticket telling you when to come back to ride the ride so you do not have to wait, but we didn't really use it too much, maybe on two rides.  Getting there early is key, see how empty the park looks?

We each took one kid on this racecar ride.  Lucas got to steer as I pressed on the gas.  There was a middle track that the car always stayed on, so Lucas could "drive" all he wanted and we were safe.

The Buzz Lightyear ride was one that we did ue the FastPass on.  The wait was 90 minutes, but we used the FastPass and waited 5 minutes instead.  Here's Felix and Liliana battling us...

I think we were supposed to be hitting these monsters instead....

Around 2 pm, everyone was beat, so we opted for the ferry boat back to the parking lot (instead of the monorail-much more stroller friendly)

We had lunch and a quick nap and then we were up and ready to go back for more rides, the parade and fireworks!

Cinderella's castle kept changing color at night and Liliana just LOVED that!

 Below are some of the professional pictures that the Disney Staff took of us at the park...

We stayed for the parade.  I put together a short video to music of the parade and the twins have been watching it a lot since we have been home.  For some reason it won't load here...but it was a fantastic parade.

After the parade, we rode It's A Small World one more time (tune in for the next post Nana) and then went back to Main Street for the fireworks.  Fireworks were one of the few things I chose not to video or photograph.  I made a concious decision to put down the camera, hoist Liliana up on my shoulders and enjoy the music, the fireworks and Tinkerbell flying through the air as my little girl marveled at the magic of it all.  Some things are just better as a memory.  

Animal Kingdom

The first full day there, we decided to take the kids to Animal Kingdom.  We had an app on our phone that allowed us to see what the busiest days were at each park.  Seemed crowds would be low that day and so off we went.  

The first "ride" we went on was the Safari Trek.  I was actually impressed.  After living in Africa and being on a real safari myself, I appreciated what a good job they did.  The animals were extremely close and easy to see.  The vehicle seemed very similar to a real safari vehicle.  The ride was not always smooth and we crossed bridges that you thought you might not make it over.  

Afterwards, we headed out for the Lion King show.  It was the first show of the morning, so there were not too many people there.

Unfortunately, ten minutes into the show, something happened, I am still not sure what, and withing seconds, the whole show disappeared and everyone was off the stage.  It was weird.  The lights came back on and we were told the show was over....hmmm...  The kids loved it, they thought they saw the whole show, so we just went with it. 

Off to more rides...

We went to the Nemo show, which was pretty cool.  This show did not suddenly end without notice.

We had some time to kill and saw that there was another show of the Lion King, so we decided to try it out again....it was a success and a huge hit with the kids.

This was Lucas' favorite attraction.  It was a show based on the movie "A Bug's Life" and it was a 4-D show with all types of special effects (even felt like bugs were crawling in your seat...yuck!)  But he loved it and we actually saw it twice.  

Liliana explaining to Lucas where we were on the map.

Lucas and I in Dinoland posing with Goofy and Pluto.  Liliana wanted nothing to do with the characters.

It was a long, hot day and it was nice to come home to our room nicely made...

and a nice long bubblebath.

Next up?  Magic Kingdom!!

Disney....getting there...

I have gotten numerous emails wondering where the Disney posts are....sorry for the wait...didn't know we had such a following (shout out to ynose in Japan!)  

For those of you who do not know, we drove.  After all, what is a minivan for?  We left at 5:30 am and our goal was to make it to Georgia before 10:00 pm.  We did it easily, getting there before sunset.  We really motored.  All day we only stopped three times.  Once in the morning for gas and bathroom breaks, once for a long lunch to really get out of the car, and once more for a quick break and more gas.  The kids were great, they really were...they spent a lot of the time like this... 

At one of our stops, waving to the trucks going by...and getting a lot of horn honks in return. 

Trapped in McDonalds waiting for the rain to stop its torrential downpour so we can back on the road.

After so many hours in the car the first day we only had about 5 or 6 the next in order to get to Orlando.  We arrived mid afternoon at a leisurely pace.  We stayed at the Caribe Royale Orlando resort. Thanks to my brother Pete who had stayed there previously and recommended it.  What a great place.  

Our bedroom in the room...

the living area...

Eating area...

Kitchen

Bathtub in our room...

The twins' room.  They were great on these big beds.  We were so afraid they would fall off or something, but they were so tired every night that they barely moved in their sleep.

A view from our balcony...a screened in porch!  So nice and worry free with kids up so high.

Once we had unpacked we went to Walmart to buy some groceries.  Liliana picked up this headband...think someone is happy to be in Disney?  

We have lots to post...check back regularly....we have a lot to share.

Tennis

Aside from their swim lessons, the twins also took a tennis class, which was held at the same place as the pool.  It was quite convenient as they could finish swimming, have a snack, change, play at the park and go right over to tennis.  While a lot of the class was just spent having the kids get accustomed to the raquet and ball, they spent a good amount of time each day practicing their swings.  I don't have a picture of Liliana, but here is Lucas trying his best.