Disney Magic!

Yes, I really do believe that Disney is magical. How can you go there and NOT have an amazing time? It's clean, the people are overly friendly and it rubs off on everyone!

In case you can't tell, we just returned from a surprise trip to Walt Disney World in Florida! It was AWESOME. The kids knew NOTHING about the trip whatsoever. We basically woke them up at 4am and said "we're goig to the airport" on the way there we gave them hints and finally Blaine figured it out, although I'm not sure it really sunk in until we actually went to the parks the next day.

Flying with four kids is a bit of an adventure, but went surprisingly well. Blaine and Quinten were also surprised with an early xmas present of Nintendo DS's to keep them occupied. Corlin was given an Fisher Price Kid Tough Portable DVD player and two Mickey Mouse DVD's which kept him busy, so we just had to figure out how to entertain a very wiggley 16 month old baby girl! The key - food, food food and more food! But she eventually fell asleep and all was well.

On the way there we told Corlin we were going to Mickey Mouse's house - the boy is obsessed with the mouse. So, upon landing Corlin looks around, grabs my hand and says in a very cute angry little 3 y/o voice "mommy, the airplane didn't take me to Mickey Mouse house!" SO CUTE. We had to explain to him that it took us to the city of Mickey's house, but that we'd go to his house later! LOL.

The first night was very cool because I got to meet someone who has been a very good friend of mine for over five years whom I've never actually met. Her name is Kerry and we met on an online board of mommy's who were all due to have a baby in October 2003 (Q just came a bit early!). We ate dinner with her and her beautiful family at Joe's Crab Shack. I got an entire bucket of crabs, which was interesting. I had never done that before, but it was YUMMY.

Our first real day of Disney action was spent in Animal Kingdom. The safari ride was awesome, so cool to see all those amazing animals. Everest was a blast also. The younger two didn't care so much for the Bugs Life 3D movie, but overall it was a great day. We got to meet Goofy, Pluto, Pooh Bear, Tigger, Eyore, and Donald!

Day two was spent at Disney's Hollywood Studios. There are so many fun things to do here. Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller Coaster were our first stops. Corlin didn't really enjoy Tower of Terror, but at least he went on it. Blaine and Quinten both loved it. We got to meet "fantasia Mickey" while we were here too. And the new Toy Story Mania ride was awesome! We had dinner at the 50's Prime Time Cafe, which is a favorite of ours.

Day three was Epcot - part 1! I love Epcot, it is one of my favorite parks. So many cool things to do and see. We checked out half of innoventions, and made it about half-way around the country walk today. We had an awesomely yummy dinner at Teppan Edo in Japan, where they cook the food in front of you. Very cool.

Day four of Disney Parks was Magic Kingdom, which is always a favorite for everyone. There's just something about it that makes you smile. Not to mention all the fun rides! Corlin's dream finally came true today - Mickey Mouse's House! We got to go there in the midst of a rainstorm, but I think it helped to keep the lines down a bit! Corlin was so excited to see where Mickey lives, and to give the "real" (vs. the fantasia) Mickey a big giant hug! Maveri gave the mouse a very adorable kiss as well! We also got to see the SpectroMagic parade that night, and everyone loved it - especially Maveri who was up on her daddy's shoulders dancing and clapping right along with everything!

Day five was back to Epcot - part 2. Soarin' and Mission Space were two rides we started the day off with. We also finished the rest of innoventions and the other half of the countries, and we got to see the lights/fireworks show (which neither corlin nor maveri cared much for!) Despite the fact that I was horribly sick that day, it was a very fun time!

Our last day of "parking" we decided that since it was Friday and according to the online callender the Magic Kingdom was open late we would go to breakfast with Kerry and then hit Downtown Disney for some shopping before going to the park. Little did we know that when we got to the park around 2 there was a sign saying they were closing at 7! WHAT?!?! Come to find out they were having "Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party" from 7-midnight, for an additional charge, of course. So we figured it was our last night there, why not? So we just spent the rest of that day doing the rides that we didn't get the time before, and also some that we did. I am so glad we decided to spend the extra bit and get the tickets for that night. We literally walked onto every ride in the park. There wasn't a wait for anything - we're talking Space Mountain, Buzz lightyear, Splash Mountain etc. NO LINES! They also had "dance stations" throughout the park where you could go and dance with some of the characters etc. We spent some time in there as well. We also spent a lot of time in the Toon Town Store - seeing as every time we walked into Toon Town we got rained on! That was our refuge from our Toon Town Curse! We partied all night and didn't leave until nearly midnight - rain or not! It was such a fun day/night and I am so glad we stayed and ended our trip that way.

The next day we flew home - relatively uneventful, but it is what it is!

I am HOPING that this link works and you will be able to see the pics from our trip. If not, let me know and I will post some individual highlights!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=12vtizqi.ah5ecd8q&x=0&y=gmy273&localeid=en_US&cm_mmc=site_email-_-site_share-_-core-_-view_photos_button