Vacation Part 1

It already seems like a long time ago since our vacation (it has been 2 weeks)! I know that people question why we go to Disney so often....but it's just our thing. We really enjoy it and it feels like "home" to us! Which is why we bought into Disney Vacation Club timeshare- to ensure we can continue to go for years to come!! Since our first trip in 2000, we have gone during October every year. Once I got pregnant with Daniel, I started squeaking in other trips here and there. Since 2004, we have gone twice a year- once in October and the other time has varied from February to May and June. Somehow we lucked out in 2005 and Tony was sent to a conference in Orlando- that was great! We both would love to make it back out to Disneyland in California...if only airfare would cooperate (cuz driving ain't happening!).
For the first part of our trip, we went to Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. Our timeshare "home resort" is Saratoga Springs and it is absolutely beautiful!! For the last few years, we have found it much easier to rent a car and once we are in the car, it just feels like home- we know our way around there (well for the most part).
We got a few comments on how well behaved the kids were on the flight. I told one couple that while we are blessed with well behaved kids, I know there limitations and plan accordingly. Even with a layover, the flight over was uneventful. We got our rental car and were on our way. The kids quickly fell asleep which wasn't a bad thing! We made it to the resort about 2pm and got all checked in and headed to the Boardwalk for the Disney Vacation Club reception.

We then headed to "The Hat" also known as Disney Hollywood Studios (or still MGM to us). I prefer for the first park experience to be Magic Kingdom, but my guys like MGM so what can I say?? From then on, it was a whirlwind trip! We were constantly on the go! On our past trips (even pre kids), we have always taken mid day breaks back at the resort to recoup. That seemed to be thrown to the wayside this trip and while we had a lot of fun, we were tired!! Since we have park hoppers, we kind of jumped back and forth between parks and went to 2 and even 3 parks in a day. So, I'll just give some highlights of each park with those pictures! At the parks, we averaged walking about 10 miles a day....

Disney Hollywood Studios (I still like "MGM" better!)...

Favorite rides:

1)Toy Story Mania- this is by far my favorite ride right now! It is so fun!! The first time I took Arianna with me and Daniel rode with Tony. I think the other two times, Daniel and I rode together and Tony had Arianna. It's such a fun ride! I think Arianna just got mesmerized by all of the lights and action!
2)Star Tours- this was a first for Daniel and he LOVED it...loved it so much I think that over the course of the trip, they rode it at least 5 times! It is a simulation based ride which is not my thing, but luckily Tony loves them!!

Favorite shows:

1) Playhouse Disney- just a fun show with all of his favorite characters! He also finally got to meet Handy Manny outside the show.

2) Indiana Jones- he loves this one! I gave Tony my tip from May of going in right before it starts and not being crammed in the middle of the rows- worked great!

3) Muppet Show 3D- we didn't do this one in May, but he talked about it a lot..so we made sure to do this one and actually watched it twice! It's funny watching him duck and move when the 3D stuff is coming at him!

Of course there were some favorite meet and greets with our Toy Story and Monsters Inc favorites and a stop at Pizza Planet!

Next up we have Magic Kingdom- my favorite! They opened early on Thursday so we headed there before our breakfast at Chef Mickey's. We also spent the evening there for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

Favorite Ride:

Buzz Lightyear Spin- we rode this one at least twice and one time, we were given "Year of a Million Dreams Fastpasses" which meant we could go straight to the front of the line for some of the more crowded rides!!

Favorite Shows:

1) Mickey's Philharmagic 3D- Daniel hated this one on a previous trip, but loved it this time so we saw it twice! It's a really cute show!

2) Monsters Inc Laugh Floor- another favorite of Daniel's

We also did some trick or treating, saw some characters, watched the Boo to You parade and fireworks and I'm sure we ate something somewhere along the way!


Epcot is another favorite of Daniel's (hmmm... I'm starting to think they are all favorites!). We always have to do the character meet and greet and character corner for Mom! We love the Living with the Seas with Nemo and Friends- very cute ride...although I have to cover his eyes at the "scary part". Turtle talk with Crush is fun- maybe next time he'll get to ask a question. We enjoyed walking through the World Showcase a bit and seeing the different countries. It was the Food and Wine Festival which was very nice, but VERY crowded since there are a lot of locals that come.

The last park was Animal Kingdom. Now since this park is animal based, it closes earlier than the other parks. In the past, this has always been a half day at the most for us...well, not this time. We were there from 8 until about 5! We finally got to see the Jungle Parade though so that was great!! One of our favorites is the Kilamanjaro Safari and it did not disappoint! We headed over the Camp Minnie Mickey for some character pictures. We had planned to get the scrumptious breakfast pizza at Pizzafari, but wouldn't you know it, we missed breakfast by about 5 minutes! So, it was pizza again...looking back, we had a lot of pizza (Tony's favorite?). We headed out to Rafiki's Planet watch to the petting zoo, which Daniel loved. We tried to see Nemo the Musical, but the line was very long. We did try the new Yak & Yeti Asian counter service and it was pretty good. After the parade we called it a day!

Sunday morning, we were all packed up and ready to go! We loaded up the car and headed to Epcot/ MGM and Downtown Disney before getting on our way to Port Canaveral for our Disney Cruise. We were exhausted and ready for some relaxation on the cruise!!