We are now back from our vacation to Disney. The kids loved it and Cam is already planning our next trip! We got lots of pictures and video but I cannot figure out how to post the video. I am still working on that. I guess I will start from the beginning and walk you through.
We left out early Saturday morning and headed to my grandparents house in Tampa. We got there around lunch time and the kids were very excited to be at GG's house. We went for lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant, where Diggy was happy to pick some leaves off the artificial tree just for his GG. We then headed back to the house to start some lizard hunting. The kids had a blast trying to catch all those lizards and actually caught three. Of course Alivia had to make sure we had a picture of all them. It was then time for dinner so we met some family friends at the Olive Garden, Diggy's FAVORITE place to eat. The next morning my uncle came to visit and brought all my little cousins. All the kids loved each other and played great together. It was good to get to see them all again. It had been about three years and they had never met Diggy before. It was then time to head out to Orlando to check in to our hotel.
Driving to Orlando was not fun with all the heavy rain we had. I think it rained the entire drive but about ten minutes. We finally got to the hotel at about 5 o'clock and it was still raining so we couldn't play at the water park like we had planned.
We decided to go to Downtown Disney and find something for dinner. It stopped raining just as we got there and worked out perfectly. Downtown Disney was great and the kids had a good time, especially the attention seeking Livi. We got some pictures with Mr. Potato Head and a few other characters. Alivia was sure to make us stop at every princess statue alond the way. About half way through you find yourself in celebration square. There were dancers, a dj, and a funny guy in a hat directing it all. We watched as he conned a few first time visiters into doing the chicken dance. It was pretty funny. As we were leaving Alivia heard him say something about birthdays. We had to stay to see what it was all about and Liv had to get in on the action. They made the birthday people stand in a line in front of the crowd and tell their name how old they were and then dance. Alivia was not shy at all (surprising huh?) and proudly spoke in his mic to tell him her name was Livia and she was going to be four then danced out in the middle of the crowd. We continued with the shops and reached the Lego store. They had lots of cool things made from legos including a family, shark, transformer and many more. We then found a cool restuarant to eat dinner. I don't remember the name but it was some kind of Cuban Grille. The food was not that hot but we were to hungry to complain. The scenery on the other hand was great. Cam told Alivia that was the closest she would get to a bar scene until she was 25 :)
Monday we were able to enjoy our day at the resort water park. The kids really enjoyed themselves and we were able to enjoy ourselves also. The park was perfect for our family. It was not to big or crowded and we were able to go back to our room whenever we needed. Liv was a little upset to learn she was to small to go on the big slides but she got over it. They had 6 smaller slides to play on and a few other things so they stayed content all day. Diggy was not really into the slides that dump you into the whole 6 inches of water, he perferred the ones that you slide on a pad at the end. They both had fun swimming around the lazy river while Cam and I floated. We even enjoyed some beer and pina coladas!
Tuesday morning we woke the kids up, sang happy birthday to Livi, and got ready to go to Disney World. The kids didn't want to go. They wanted to stay and play at the water park instead. We got to Disney around 9:30 waited in line to get Livi's free ticket and a birthday pin to wear around the park and finally stepped foot on Magic Kingdom grounds at about 10:30. Cam thought it was funny that we had to catch a train and ride a boat just to get in.
Our first stop was to Minnie's house. We looked around and Liv was impressed that her whole refridgerator was full of cheese. Next door to Minnie's house was Mickey's. We went through it and it ended us in a line. We were not sure what the line was for but heard some people talking about Mickey so we decided to wait. When we got to the end we were in a private room with Minnie and Mickey. This had to be the funniest most memorable part of our whole trip. The kids were in shock. They could not belive their eyes. Mickey and Minnie were standing right there, touching them, they were actually there. Alivia was so happy that she got a birthday kiss from Mickey. She stood by his side the whole time saying "look mommy he likes me, he gave me a birthday kiss, look he likes me!" Diggy was just beside himself. He did not know what to do. He stood in front of them, walked around them, gave kisses and hugs, held their hands and shreiked with joy. It was hilarious, The line lady and photographer were laughing with us. I'm pretty sure Minnie and Mickey were laughing in those costumes also. It was definently unforgettable. Getting Diggy to leave was a bit of a task because he wanted to take Minnie with him. If he was not so overjoyed it surely would have ended in tears.
After our visit with Minnie and Mickey we walked around, rode a few rides, and caught a few showes. We took advantage of a couple fastpass stations and one gave us gift tickets to see Mickeys Philharmonic. It was a 3-d movie and really good. The kids couldn't believe their eyes when something would come toward them and would have to take off their glasses to double check. It was so good that Diggy actually watched the whole thing, he is not a watch a movie kind of kid.
Diggy took a nap while standing in line for the small world ride. Well actually he slept through the entire ride. It was smart of him to sleep then because it was airconditioned and dark. Alivia liked the small world and looking at all the dancing dolls.
All day long people were stopping to tell Liv happy birthday. It definently made her day! She felt so special and would smile real big every time. Two memorable moments with birthday wishes were when we first got in the park we got on a carraige to ride to the castle and a man jumped on the back and started singing and the other time was when we were in one of the big reasturaunts to get lunch everyone came up from the kitchen to sing her happy birthday.
We did get to meet Donald Duck in Frontier Land and the Country Bears. We got a few more pictures but meeting Donald was nothing like meeting Mickey. Livi even did the hokie pokie with a cowboy in town square. We didn't get that part on video because our disk full but Liv was very proud because she really wanted to dance with that cowboy.
On the way out of Frontier Land Alivia spotted Thunder Mountain Railroad. She was having a fit to ride it so I checked her height and then agreed. At every check through we came to they would check her height again and ask if she was sure she wanted to ride it. She did so we rode it. She had a blast! She was smiling and laughing the entire ride. She kept telling me "See mommy I'm big now. I'm four. I get to do big girl stuff now!" It was funny and if we didn't have to wait in line we would have done it again.
It was starting to get late so we found some seats to watch the parade. The kids loved all the dancers and lights and of course getting to see all the characters one last time. Livi was fascinated with the castle changing colors. We got to watch the fireworks also while we were riding the ferry back to the parking lot. Livi told us the whole way back to the ferry that her birthday wish came true and she was so happy she got to go to Mickey Mouse house. It was beautiful and the perfect way to end a perfect day.
The kids promptly fell asleep as soon as they got in their car seats. We had not even started the car yet. We went back to our room and snuck out the next morning without the kids seeing the water park again. We meet the grandparents for lunch on the way home and that was it. That was our vacation!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
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What a fun vacation! I love the part about them meeting Mickey and Minnie -- so cute!
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