Florida Vacation

About a month ago, I decided that I wanted to start planning a Disney World trip for the family. I knew I didn't want to go during the summer months and so I figured maybe we could go in the fall. I knew I had to get planning right away, but I didn't know where to start. So, I called up Brother Brown, a avid Disney-man. The first thing out of his month was, "you've come to the right place!" Then, he offered us some of his Disney Vacation Club points, which was AWESOME, the only down side is they had to be used by July. Seeing that this DVC points meant we had three free nights at Disney's Saratoga Spings, a value of about $1400 we couldn't pass it up. We had three weeks to plan!

On Thursday, May 16th, we picked the kids up from school. They had no idea where we were going, (it was so much fun!) We actually waited until after we had got to our gate at the airport before letting them in on the secret. We purchased little items for the kids that represented everything we were going to do in Florida. Trust me, we expected a much more enthusiasm then just smiles. It wasn't until Dad started to tell them all the "cool" things we could do in Florida that we got the reaction we were hoping for.

While waiting for our plane, I told the kids about pin-trading. Brother Brown asked that we keep an eye out for some pins he is missing for his collection. He sent us off with a bag of pins that the kids had a blast looking at. They each picked a couple to put on their lanyards.

We had a long flight to Florida. We finally arrived a little after 1:00 a.m.,but that didn't stop us from taking a few pictures at the airport.

We called Mystic Dunes our home for a few days.

Bright and early Friday morning, we were off to Legoland. This was one stop I wasn't thrilled about making, but Justin talked me into it and I am so glad he did! We all loved it! Everywhere you looked things were made of legos. There was a sleeping man on a bench that was snoring, Gracie didn't dare sit next to him until the end of the day.

 Miniland USA was awesome! Las Vegas, Daytona, Washington D.C, New York, San Fransisco.

Coda loved the Star Wars section. He went from one end to the other yelling and pointing. I wanted him to be prepared for Star Wars weekend at Hollywood Studios, so I put the Star Wars shows on his Ipod. I think this fueled his excitement because he recognized the settings from the movies.  We took a Legoland safari where there were life size animals made out of legos. It was really cool!  The kids loved all the rides at Legoland.

We also went on a mini lego safari. The animals were entirely made of legos!

We signed Coda up for a lego class. I thought he would actually build the robot, but it turned out he had to work with a computer to control the robot. I think in the beginning it was over all of our heads, but he caught on quickly and did great.

Gracie and I made our way over to the Chima theater where we met Laval, Coda was jealous. I saved seats for the family while they went over to the gift shop, but I guess they lost track of time and was locked out of the theater. So, I enjoyed Chima: In the Beginning in 3-D all by myself. It was kind of lonely, but I needed a break off my feet anyway!

 On Saturday morning, we headed to the Cocoa Beach on the east cost of Florida. There was this great parked call Lori Wilson park which is owned by the county. It was clean and had lifeguards and wasn't half as crowded as we were expecting. We all loved the waves and the sand! I wish we would have planned for an extra day here, it was just too much fun for only one day. We also hit Ron Jon's Surf Shop on the way out of town where we all picked up a souvenir and a shirt.

On the way to Cocoa Beach, we passed a gator jerky stand and we decided if it was still there when we got back we would give it a shot. The guy told Justin it was the only stand in Florida that could say it was 100% gator. After tasting it, and realizing it was really fishy, we read on the back that it had sardines! Blahh!

On Sunday we headed over to the place "where dreams come true." We checked into Saratoga Springs, then went to return the rental car before hopping a bus to Disney Hollywood Studios. We were just waiting for our bus when Coda looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, "I think I'm going to throw up." What?? Justin rushed him to the bathroom where he had other stomach issues, but came out feeling a little bit better. We felt it was safe to continue on to Hollywood Studios. We grabbed a stroller then rushed back to get Fast Passes for Toy Story Mania (we heard the FP would be gone by noon), then we made our way over to Star Tours. I don't think any of us knew what to expect, which made it easier to convince Gracie to get on. Coda loved it and wanted to ride again, but we decided to hit a few other things first. We went to the Indiana Jones show, which was a little boring for the whole family. We did the Animation Studio where we were able to draw Daisy Duck with the help of a professional. After that we went to lunch at Mama Melrose (I do not recommend). I knew if we ate there we would be able to get reservations for the infamous show, Fantasmic. Little did I know as we suffered through a greasy plate of food, that it would all be for not. We battled the rain and were only able to ride Toy Story Mania before Justin made the decision to take Gracie back to the hotel. I was a bit sad and frustrated that I couldn't control my kids health on vacation. I just wanted everything to go right! But, it was a good decision he made taking her back. Coda attempted to be a trooper as we searched for trading pins, saw a few Star Wars characters including Chewy and Darth Vader (which he didn't want any pictures or autographs from) and  watched part of a stunt show before he finally caved and asked to go back to the hotel. I can't say I wasn't disappointed that we would be missing Fantasmic, but Justin was right and I couldn't push them any further than they could go.

That night Gracie ended up running a fever. At 2 o'clock in the morning, Justin made the trek to the front desk to get some medicine for Gracie. After she took it, she slept great!

On Monday, Gracie woke up happy and excited to be going to the Animal Kingdom. We headed straight back to the African Safari. It was really cool to see the different animals without bars or fences. There was also this cool tree, the "upside down" tree. It was just awesome to see the funny looking thing.

After the safari,we headed over to Kali River Rapids, where Dad had sprinted for Fast Passes. We saw a few soaked passengers, but decided to test our luck. It was a fun, but short ride, and dry for the most part. We hit the Nemo Show, which was an awesome musical with large fish puppets. We also tried "It's Tough to  be a Bug" show. It is a 3-D show with other special effects. The bugs spit on us at one point and Coda didn't quite know what to do. There was also a stink bug that managed to fill the entire room with its stink. Gracie didn't like the part where the bees stung us (poked us in the back) or when black widows dropped from the ceiling. But it was hilarious when all the bugs excited the theater first, and it felt like a ball rolled under your bum. The theater was filled with so many screams and laughter, but not from Gracie, she was mostly in tears.

However, we some how convinced her to ride Dinosaur. It was a roller coaster with robotic dinosaurs along the way. She didn't like that much at all.

Our last show was the Lion King. It was wonderful and a good chance to get out of the rain, yes, more rain. After our show we questioned whether we wanted to make our dinner reservation which was Downtown Disney at Wolf Gang Puck. I really didn't want to take Gracie out in the rain any more, but on our way back to our hotel the weather seemed to clear up and we jumped a bus to go eat. We were so glad we did! I think the kids were just thrilled to have food that was prepared for them and not the other thousands of people in the parks! We were so tired of soggy sandwiches and food that was prepared in bulk. The food there was absolutely delicious and a must for next time! We definitely could have used an extra day to explore Downtown Disney with its various shops and side shows.

Although Gracie battled another fever that night, she woke up the next morning ready to hunt down Angel. While at Hollywood Studios, she fell in love with Stitch, even though she has never seen the movie before. During the night Dad bribed her to take her medicine by promising to buy her Angel, the girl alien from Stitch. Trust me, she didn't not let us forget once we got to the Magical Kingdom.

Once at Magical Kingdom, we hussled back to Fantasyland so we could get on the Little Mermaid Adventure. I think Gracie didn't quite trust us after riding the Dinosaur ride. She was really nervous about the Little Mermaid, but afterwards she loved it. I decided to stand in line for lunch at the Beast Castle while the Dad and the kids went on the torturous It's a Small World. Lunch in the West Wing was pretty cool. We saw the shredded picture of the prince and the rose with the falling pedals, but we didn't see the Beast, which was disappointing. I did get a picture of the kids and the chandelier in the ballroom of the castle, which was cool. 

He headed over to Stitches Great Escape, but Gracie was too scared to go, so Coda and I went. It was terrible! Without warning, Stitch spit in Coda's eye! I thought Coda was going to cry. Then the whole room went black and you could feel and smell Stitch farting on you. It was awful! The lights would flicker on and off and you could see families leaving. When it was black Coda kept saying "I want to get off!" He suffered through it, and then we heard about how bad it was the rest of the day! I think the Buzz Lightyear ride may have made up for it. We all had a blast defeating Zerg!

 Dad and I begged the kids to go on Splash Mountain with us, but it took a bribe before they agreed. We got our Fast Passes, but when we returned at the appointed time, we realized our FP was actually for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We let the kids believe we were going on the actual train that circles the kingdom, but as we got closer I think you could sense their apprehension. It was so fun listening to Coda scream on the ride. Afterwards Gracie said she liked it and that it was her favorite ride of the day. He also did Pirates of the Carribean to escape the rain, yes, again with the rain. We later returned to Splash Moutain, but Gracie had backed out by this point and Coda and I ended up riding it with our rain ponchos on. We all loved the Peter Pan ride where we sailed in a boat above London and Neverland! Monster's Inc. Laugh Factory was the last thing we did before dinner, and it was by far my favorite show. It was an impromptu comedy show. Hilarious! I wish we would have had time to hit it again.

 We got to have dinner at the Crystal Palace where we met all of the Pooh gang. This was our first close encounter with characters, since the kids didn't want to wait in line to meet anyone else. I think they actually enjoyed it! Maybe next time they will be more apt to taking pictures. Because of our early morning the next day, we didn't feel like it would be a good idea to stay for the events after dark. However, we did get a glimpse of the Electrical Parade and I wish we could have stayed for that and the fireworks. I guess we have a lot more left to see for our next trip!

I am so grateful that we were blessed enough to make this trip. It was so much fun and so memorable. We will definitely make it back someday. In fact, we are already saving!