Walt Disney World!

For Christmas my parents gave us the gift of a trip to the most magical place on Earth!  Actually they gave my entire immediate family a trip and this past week we took the boys to the place they have been dreaming about going for, well, their entire lives (as so I've been told).

My parents requested that we keep the destination of the trip a secret so all the boys knew was that on January 9th we were going to get a place to go somewhere fun.  From the moment the boys found out they were sure, 100% confident, that we were going to Iowa.  They told everyone they saw that they were going to Iowa.  Jarrett and I had to catch ourselves several times a day and as we'd day dream and talk between us about how much fun it was going to be, how excited we were to go on certain rides and well just overall, how much we were looking forward to it.

So last Sunday morning we boarded a plane to go to Florida.  We had to laugh several times because both Gabriel and Michael announced to every single TSA agent, "Guess where we are going?"  "We're going to Iowa!"  and even at one point Michael looked at the TSA agent who was helping us gather our belongings and said, "I'm going to Iowa and you don't get to go."   I didn't even know what to say.  Usually Jarrett walked behind and explained the reason why our tickets said Orlando but our kids insisted Iowa was our final destination.  I don't know exactly what Jarrett said but when I looked back behind us the TSA agents were smiling.

Here's Gabriel the morning we were leaving our house headed for... Iowa Orlando. 

As we landed in Orlando, the boys seemed oblivious to the many many families and other children around us cheering that they were going to Disney World.  In fact, when the Southwest flight attendant welcomed us over the plane speakers to Orlando, Florida, the boys were so excited they just said, "Mom, you didn't tell me there is an Orlando Florida in Iowa?" 

I had been texting my family from the moment we landed as they wanted to meet us right outside of the security gate to share the exciting news.  I should rephrase that, they wanted to meet Gabriel and Michael outside of the security gate to see them, and share the exciting news!  I purposely sent Daddy ahead of us so he could greet them first and then get our video camera out to record the moment when the boys found out they were getting to go to Disney World.  As Gabriel, Michael and I rode the escalator down we saw my parents, my sisters, my brother and his girlfriend Kacey all standing in a row.  The boys were so excited just to see them, I don't think they had any idea what was happening nor the fact that we weren't in Iowa.  After a few minutes of greeting each other, my mom bent down and called the boys to her knee.  She asked them if they knew where they were and Michael responded, "Iowa?" to which she explained that we weren't in Iowa, we were in Florida.  Then she asked if they knew that Mickey Mouse lives in Florida and asked where he lives.  Michael responded Disney World, at which we all cheered!  It was great!

We checked into our hotel that evening and while catching up mapped out our plan for each day.  I guess the event planner in me is sometimes uncontrollable because to my family's dismay, I insisted we plan out what order we were going to ride the rides in, in order to save time and to accomplish as many things as possible.  We decided we'd get up early each morning be at the park the time it opened and race to get our fast pass right away and then meet up to go on our first ride.  oh and I guess you could say I was a tad excited because I had everyone power-walking (or in some cases jogging) to get from ride to ride. Jonas' girlfriend Kacey, who we had just met for the first time, commented more than once that she had no idea the vacation would consist of running from ride to ride and park to park from sun up until sun down. 

There are so many stories to tell of the fun we had this past week, I have decided it is probably best to share just highlights rather than my full recollection of detail by detail.  Here are some pictures from our wonderful week...

Monday, January 10: 
Park:  Magic Kingdom

The first ride we went on... Peter Pan's Flight!  Gabriel and Dad.

MaeLyn and Michael on Mary Poppins Carousel

Marry Poppins

The boys asking Peter Pan if he can really fly. 

The big boys trying to pull the sword from the stone... does this mean they will not become Kings?

Guess who was watching the big boys play?

Uncle Adam and Gabriel posing on Dumbo while MaeLyn and Michael waited in the very long line to actually ride it.

Gabriel getting to meet yet another Disney character... hint, there may be a pattern forming.

The gang waiting outside the ride the boys call the "Buz Lightyear Shooter Game"  It became one of their favorites.

Michael and Gabriel spotted Pluto or as Michael calls him "Tootle" coming out from the backlot and immediately started shouting... "Pluto, Hi Pluto"  The boys ran right up to him and gave him a big hug.  Then Michael told "Tootle" that he loved him.  It was really hard getting Michael and Tootle away from each other.  We couldn't tell who had the bigger crush.

I just had to put a picture of the thing that saved our life all week. .. the stroller.  It was used not only by the little kids but by the adults too.  Man there was a lot of walking!

Again the gang waiting this time for Pirates of the Caribbean, Jarrett's favorite ride.

We ended the first day watching Disney's Electric Light Parade!  It was a wonderful first day!

The float that was a tribute to America ended the parade.

Tuesday, January 11
Park:  Animal Kingdom and Epcot

Although we ended up getting to bed around midnight Monday night we got up the next morning at 5:30 determined to be at the park when it first opened.  Given that my brother and Kacie only were able to stay until Thursday morning we had to conquer 4 parks in three days.  We decided to split Tuesday into two parks.  Animal Kingdom in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon.

The first thing we did in the morning was go on the Kilimanjaro Safari ride.  It was amazing and we were able to see so many animals up close.  It was great!

I don't know how Disney does this but the animals just seemed to roam freely.  In fact the baby giraffe and its mom came within 4 feet of our vehicle.  What an amazing experience!

Some of my favorite animals... The elephants.  Isn't the baby so cute?

The tour guide told us this lioness was trying to reach for some food.  While she was doing that her mate watched her very closely...

This beautiful Lion was perched up on a hill watching everything that was happening around him.  What an amazing animal.

The first shot of all of us in front of the Tree of Life.  You may be asking yourself who that person with the really bad sunburn is next to me.  It is actually Aaron Heying, my sister MaeLyn's boyfriend's head on a stick.  Unfortunately he wasn't able to come on the trip with us because he had just gotten out of the hospital from his accident in November.  We wanted him to know we were always thinking about him and celebrating with him.  You wouldn't believe the questions people asked us and I won't even go into the looks we got.  We didn't care though, we just wanted him to know we were always keeping him in our thoughts.

Grandma, Grandpa, Gabriel and Michael with Daffy at Epcot.

Gabriel became very protective of Aaron.  Right after I took this picture Gabriel put another sticker of Mickey Mouse on Aaron's forehead too.

The boys were very excited to meet these two characters.

We were starting to get tired... he we are walking around the world showcase.  I think at this point we were in Italy.

While we waited to enter the American Adventure in the US part of the world showcase, the boys decided they had had enough... I gave up too and just let them lay there.

Wednesday, January 12
Park: Hollywood Studios

Wednesday was Kacie and Jonas' last day in Florida and we decided to spend the entire day at Hollywood Studios.  When we woke up Wednesday morning we were greeted with a great surprise... it was a balmy 38 degrees!  Yes it was freezing, but nothing was going to stop us so we bundled up and headed out for a cold but fun day #3 at the park...

Everyone in our group liked Uncle Adam's favorite ride... Toy Story Midway Mania.  This Mr. Potato head even made jokes as the people who were waiting line.  Kacie was the lucky one who was the brunt of the joke for our group.

Everyone waiting to ride with our 3D glasses on!

Although it was cold we went on the Studio Backlot Tour and at this point we were able to see a tanker truck start on fire as thousands of gallons of water came pouring down at us. 

Gabriel was not very excited about it!

We all liked Toy Story Midway Mania so much we decided to go again.  Michael didn't want to take off his glasses.

Getting ready to begin the game!

Do you think he is concentrating?  His mouth was open like this pretty much the entire trip.  I guess it was his way of taking in as much as he could.

Trying to stay warm!

Meg and Adam waiting to see the Little Mermaid

Thanks Mom and Dad for the great trip!

All the girls!

and we couldn't forget about the guys.

One thing the boys asked if we could do was go to Playhouse Disney- Live on Stage.  Although Gabriel was convinced he would actually get to go into Mickey's play house and play... it was actually a show and even though he didn't get to play, they both really liked it.  Here's Michael showing off a leaf he got from Pooh's tree!  We even had to bring the leaf home becuase, as I was told, Winnie the Pooh wanted him to have it!

Us in front of Mickey's magical hat!

It was so cold three people had to share one scarf... okay maybe they just did this for the picture!

Our daily routine was wake up early every morning, park in the farthest spot away from the tram, race to the tram, ride the tram to the park, race through the park for 12 hours, race to the tram, ride the tram to the far parking lot, walk to our spot at the very end of the row, go home to the condo exhausted to eat dinner.  Wake up early the next morning and repeat the same thing.  It was wonderful!  (Seriously... it became a joke because everyday we  arrived at the park, it just so happened we'd be one or two cars off from being in the closest spot to the tram, but instead we'd have to drive all the way to the very end of the row to park.)



I brought our swimming suits along thinking the pool might be heated but the only swimming done was by the boys in grandma and grandpa's jacuzzi tub.

 Part 2 of our Disney World Trip coming up next...

Until next time,
Angie