Walt Disney World!
Really, our year started off kinda slow. The boys got back into the swing of things at school. Mom turned 40. The Steelers didn't get beyond the 2nd round of playoffs.
But then things perked up in February when we went to DISNEY WORLD! Josh had his company's winter conference in Orlando, so the boys and I took the opportunity to join him. Nana & PopPop drove down from PA, Kurt & Linds flew in from CO as well as the Weagraffs - the whole clan came in the end!! We stayed at the Polynesian and the Weagraffs & Irwins had a tree house suite at the Saratoga Springs Resort just a few minutes down the road.
Schedules and flights being as they were Josh, Kurt & Linds and Nana & PopPop got in a day ahead of us, so they used that time wisely and headed into Disney's Hollywood Studios. From the few pictures we saw it looks like they had an amazing time! Everyone was smiling - even Kurt!
They rode the Hollywood Tower of Terror and Aerosmith's Rock-n-Rolla Coaster - both of which sounded super cool! They all even got to meet a few characters - who says that's just for kids?!!
Side note: After a LOT of research I opted to pay for the Disney Photo Pass. This was such a great deal for us! All of our Magic Band accounts were linked as "Friends" so when I purchased the Photo Pass everyone could use it! That's right: all 11 of us could put our park pictures on one account. All ride pictures, videos, character meet-n-greet pictures and locale pictures (castle, etc) were taken as we liked, together or apart, and added to our central account for all of us to see. And they showed up pretty immediately - we could see them instantly on our phone's Disney World app. It was really wonderful feature, and I'm still so cheezed we did it. Highly recommended!!
When the boys and I arrived at the Polynesian Josh was just getting back himself from Hollywood Studios. It was perfect timing! The hotel was gorgeous... and huge! The whole place really did make me feel like I was in Hawaii or Tahiti (aside from the breezy, 60 degree weather). Their signature characters were Lilo & Stitch (two of my fav's). After checking out our awesome digs we headed to the main part of the hotel to grab some dinner, via a really fantastic bar that made me something called a Back Scratcher - this thing was enormous. It actually had a bamboo back scratcher sticking out of it, along with a large piece of pineapple and a tiny umbrella. It was two types of rum, a splash of passion fruit juice and then topped with whiskey. After a long day of travel this was just what I needed!
Well, after a great night's sleep we got up bright-eyed and bushy tailed to head to our first day in the parks together. The Monorail picked us up right at our hotel and zipped us straight to the front gate of the Magic Kingdom. Our hotel gave us a Magic Hour, allowing us to enter the park an hour before regular opening time. We took the time to get a great picture in front of the castle on Main Street, to see Mickey with virtually no wait time and to get on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin with no waiting, again! Oh, and then we got straight in line for a classic: Astro Blasters. That hour was so worth it! It was about this time we met up with Nana, PopPop and the family. They'd been using their Magic Hour wisely, too!
Van and Wes were just overjoyed to see their family! They ran straight to Nana & PopPop's arms. I have to admit, I was pretty siked, too, but thought it'd look a little funny to run to my parents for hugs 'n all. I was cool. Waited for the kids to give 'em up. *wink* PopPop and Kurt took the boys on Space Ranger Spin - double ride, score!
From here we all ventured out together for a while around Fantasy Land - Peter Pan's Flight, It's a Small World (thank you Nana for taking the kids on this one!), Haunted Mansion, and a few branched off and met up later. Throughout the day we would break off and meet up - it worked out really well, everyone got to do what they wanted! By the end of the day we'd become pros at the Fast Pass system, too! It's kind of an art.
For dinner that night we headed to Disney Springs to Dinosaur! The boys loved it. There were (animatronic) dinosaurs from different eras all over that moved and roared as the environment changed. Oh yeah - the ceiling would occasionally darken and fill with flaming asteroids, thunder would rumble, the lights dimmed and flashed and the animals would move and roar - it was crazy cool! The food was okay, but that's really not what this was about.
The next day was all about animals! We went to Animal Kingdom. Not gonna lie, the boys were movin' a little slow, but they were still pretty siked when we got there. The family all arrived at the same time and we made our way to the back of the park to get on the Safari through the African Plains. Here we saw tons of cool animals, of which I though the ankoli with their enormous horn were most impressive. I think the kids liked the lions, giraffes and elephants best though.
From here walked back to the Tree of Life for the "It's Tough to be a Bug" show and met Flik along the way! Short show but interactive and a ton of fun. Afterwards we all kinda split off again for a while, until it was time for the Lion King around lunch time. This was so much cooler than I thought it'd be. Amazing costumes, acrobatics, animatronics and musical numbers - it did not disappoint! Afterwards we split up again, grabbed a snack and the boys got to meet Baloo & King Louie! They were awesome. We watched gibbons swing in their habitat, and met up with the gang again for a late lunch at Tusker House, then on to the Finding Nemo show.
Lunch was delicious! It was a buffet with African and Mediterranean flavors. A highlight of lunch was that because we were late in eating the place only had a few other families in it... so we had the characters that visited all to ourselves! Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Daisy each visited twice and even did a parade with all the kids. They were just tickled, especially Ainsley!
Nemo was amazing. It's hard to compare it to Lion King because they are so different, but equally cool. We'd seen animals, shows and characters, it was time for some rides! Dinoland was our next destination. The kids rode rides and dug for bones in the Bone Yard with Nana & PopPop while the big kids took our fast passes and hit Dinosaur and Everest. So much fun!
The sun was starting to set and the kids were absolutely wiped. Adults were showing signs of wear as well - not gonna lie. We schmoozed our way by the Fast Pass guard at the Safari once again, but it wasn't as impressive at the morning tour. I found the Dole Whip stand that served it with rum and was a happy camper as we made our way to the front gate.
It was an amazing, whirl-wind weekend of Disney fun! The boys are still talking about it, and are just dying to go to Universal Studios to visit Harry Potter World like the rest of the family did after we left. But that will be another trip...
But then things perked up in February when we went to DISNEY WORLD! Josh had his company's winter conference in Orlando, so the boys and I took the opportunity to join him. Nana & PopPop drove down from PA, Kurt & Linds flew in from CO as well as the Weagraffs - the whole clan came in the end!! We stayed at the Polynesian and the Weagraffs & Irwins had a tree house suite at the Saratoga Springs Resort just a few minutes down the road.
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| Hollywood Studios |
They rode the Hollywood Tower of Terror and Aerosmith's Rock-n-Rolla Coaster - both of which sounded super cool! They all even got to meet a few characters - who says that's just for kids?!!
Side note: After a LOT of research I opted to pay for the Disney Photo Pass. This was such a great deal for us! All of our Magic Band accounts were linked as "Friends" so when I purchased the Photo Pass everyone could use it! That's right: all 11 of us could put our park pictures on one account. All ride pictures, videos, character meet-n-greet pictures and locale pictures (castle, etc) were taken as we liked, together or apart, and added to our central account for all of us to see. And they showed up pretty immediately - we could see them instantly on our phone's Disney World app. It was really wonderful feature, and I'm still so cheezed we did it. Highly recommended!!
 |
| Polynesian Hotel & Resort |
Well, after a great night's sleep we got up bright-eyed and bushy tailed to head to our first day in the parks together. The Monorail picked us up right at our hotel and zipped us straight to the front gate of the Magic Kingdom. Our hotel gave us a Magic Hour, allowing us to enter the park an hour before regular opening time. We took the time to get a great picture in front of the castle on Main Street, to see Mickey with virtually no wait time and to get on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin with no waiting, again! Oh, and then we got straight in line for a classic: Astro Blasters. That hour was so worth it! It was about this time we met up with Nana, PopPop and the family. They'd been using their Magic Hour wisely, too!
Van and Wes were just overjoyed to see their family! They ran straight to Nana & PopPop's arms. I have to admit, I was pretty siked, too, but thought it'd look a little funny to run to my parents for hugs 'n all. I was cool. Waited for the kids to give 'em up. *wink* PopPop and Kurt took the boys on Space Ranger Spin - double ride, score!
 |
| Magic Kingdom |
For dinner that night we headed to Disney Springs to Dinosaur! The boys loved it. There were (animatronic) dinosaurs from different eras all over that moved and roared as the environment changed. Oh yeah - the ceiling would occasionally darken and fill with flaming asteroids, thunder would rumble, the lights dimmed and flashed and the animals would move and roar - it was crazy cool! The food was okay, but that's really not what this was about.
The next day was all about animals! We went to Animal Kingdom. Not gonna lie, the boys were movin' a little slow, but they were still pretty siked when we got there. The family all arrived at the same time and we made our way to the back of the park to get on the Safari through the African Plains. Here we saw tons of cool animals, of which I though the ankoli with their enormous horn were most impressive. I think the kids liked the lions, giraffes and elephants best though.
From here walked back to the Tree of Life for the "It's Tough to be a Bug" show and met Flik along the way! Short show but interactive and a ton of fun. Afterwards we all kinda split off again for a while, until it was time for the Lion King around lunch time. This was so much cooler than I thought it'd be. Amazing costumes, acrobatics, animatronics and musical numbers - it did not disappoint! Afterwards we split up again, grabbed a snack and the boys got to meet Baloo & King Louie! They were awesome. We watched gibbons swing in their habitat, and met up with the gang again for a late lunch at Tusker House, then on to the Finding Nemo show.
 |
| Animal Kingdom |
Lunch was delicious! It was a buffet with African and Mediterranean flavors. A highlight of lunch was that because we were late in eating the place only had a few other families in it... so we had the characters that visited all to ourselves! Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Daisy each visited twice and even did a parade with all the kids. They were just tickled, especially Ainsley!
Nemo was amazing. It's hard to compare it to Lion King because they are so different, but equally cool. We'd seen animals, shows and characters, it was time for some rides! Dinoland was our next destination. The kids rode rides and dug for bones in the Bone Yard with Nana & PopPop while the big kids took our fast passes and hit Dinosaur and Everest. So much fun!
The sun was starting to set and the kids were absolutely wiped. Adults were showing signs of wear as well - not gonna lie. We schmoozed our way by the Fast Pass guard at the Safari once again, but it wasn't as impressive at the morning tour. I found the Dole Whip stand that served it with rum and was a happy camper as we made our way to the front gate.
It was an amazing, whirl-wind weekend of Disney fun! The boys are still talking about it, and are just dying to go to Universal Studios to visit Harry Potter World like the rest of the family did after we left. But that will be another trip...
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