Disney Trip 2007

So a couple of weeks ago we took a family vacation to Disney. We decided to go about a month before that so you could say it was a last second trip. This was especially hard since most people spend 9 months planning their trip. And as we soon found out Disney is now a machine with so many parts to it and so many decisions to make that we were lucky to get their with our sanity in tact. It was worth it to do all the planning ahead though because when we got there we just got to enjoy every day without making any decisions. Most of you already got the album of pics thru email but I thought I'd give a little cliff notes version of each day.

Day 1, Tuesday:

We drove to Maitland, FL the first day and stayed with Jay's aunt Mickey. We had a nice dinner waiting on us and cousins too. Mickey's daughter Anna was there with her husband, David, and children, Austin and Ashlyn. We had a great visit with them, as well as, Mickey's son Ben. The kids had such fun playing together and by the time they left Katie Jo was wired for sound.

Day 2, Wednesday:

We got up early and headed out. We checked into the Animal Kingdom Lodge resort and made our way to the bus headed to the Magic Kingdom. When we arrived at Magic Kingdom there was a show in front of the castle and this was Katie Jo's first exposure to the "magic" of Disney. She sat atop Jay's shoulders and watched with awe. We had a great time riding the carousel, tea cups, small world, and snow white's scary adventure. Our lesson learned the first day is that Snow White's Scary Adventure lives up to the name and is not the ride to take a two year old on! We didn't get back until 4 that afternoon and finally got in our room, quickly laid her down for a nap, and went out on the balcony to enjoy the site of zebras, giraffes, and other Savannah animals roaming around. We had dinner that nite at Boma, the African buffet, and learned our second lesson for the day: Disney food is GREAT!

Day 3, Thursday:
We had a character breakfast at another resort with Pooh, Tigger, Alice in Wonderland, Mad Hatter, and Mary Poppins. They came around to the table as we ate and made pictures with us as well as signed autographs. Katie Jo was wary at first but then by the time pooh and tigger came around a second time she was reaching out to touch them. And once again we all ate like fattening hogs. After that we went back to our resort, napped and hopped the bus to Magic Kingdom again. We spent the afternoon in the other parts of the park and rode the magic carpets and pirates of the Caribbean. We saw lots of shows in the street and basically just enjoyed roaming around and enjoying the sites. We had dinner at a place that was futuristic with a alien lounge singer in the front that resembled Alf from the old TV sitcom. I know this all must sound like craziness but the point is Katie Jo loved it and we were able to sit and eat together while enjoying some alien lounge tunes. We made our way over to main street and shopped a little. At 9:00 they turned all the lights off and the electric parade began. Katie Jo was truly mesmerized by the floats, music, and characters. She waved to everything that passed by and it was one of the best things ever! We didn't get back to the resort until 10 ish and we all went to bed at the same time.

Day 4, Friday:

On this day we got up and left in time to make it to Magic Kingdom by the time it opened. We took our time and enjoyed just riding what we wanted to with no agenda. We finally got to ride Dumbo, which always had the longest line, and it was worth it. We rode the carousel for probably the fourth time, which always had the shortest line and Katie Jo loved it! We made another passage thru small world since it was the coolest ride and you got to sit for a fairly long period of time! Then we headed over to Toon town to enjoy walking thru Minnie and Mickey's house. They live separately of course. And then Katie Jo played on Mickey's playground for a while. We ate lunch and headed back to the resort. We got back just as Jay's Dad and wife Sarah arrived for a visit. They had driven over from Tampa for the day. We hung out for a while and then went to put Katie Jo down for a nap since it was almost 2:30. Later, we hung by the pool and played on the resort playground. Around 6 we had to get ready to head to dinner and said goodbye to Grandaddy and Mema. We hopped the bus back to Magic Kingdom for our dinner at the Crystal Palace off of Main Street. There we got to see all the Pooh characters while we chowed down on another spectacular buffet. Every 30 minutes they do a parade thru the restaurant and Katie Jo especially loved that. After dinner we walked out to watch the fireworks over the castle. Once again Katie Jo was in awe and speechless. It was just such a great end to the day.
Day 5, Saturday:

Today we had no agenda which was much needed. We had a leisurely breakfast and took the bus to Downtown Disney. We shopped and bought some nifty souvenirs and Katie Jo played on the Lego playground. We stopped for a ornament in the Disney Christmas store and made our way back to the resort. After naps we got ready for our dinner which was the first early one at 5:30. All the other dinner reservations we got were at 7:30 or later so it was nice to finally eat at a reasonable time. We trekked over to the Coronodo resort and ate at the Mayan Grill. It was good but by now we were all so worn out we just wanted to get back to the room and relax. By the time we got back we spent a little time on the balcony watching the animals and then put Katie Jo to bed. Jay and I had all intentions of packing to leave but ended up watching a movie instead.

Day 6, Sunday (and Mother's Day):

We got up and at 'em to get the heck out and we were in our van headed north by 9 am. We got home early afternoon and as I write this two weeks later there are still things that have not been put away from our trip!

Overall, it sounds like we exhausted ourselves, but to live what I just wrote about was nothing but pure fun. Katie Jo had such a great time and I never expected her to enjoy it to the extent that she did. We really did relax and took our time doing everything. I was 31 weeks pregnant for Pete's sake! The weather was beautiful and we were blessed to visit the park at one of the lower attendance times. Jay can't wait to get back and I can honestly say I don't think it'll be long before we're planning our next trip there.