Friday, June 25, 2010

DISNEY WORLD...

About a week and a half ago...we hopped on a plane and flew down to Orlando Florida where we spent a lovely, 6 super fun filled days! But I must mention this trip has been on our minds for MONTHS! Way back in December we were already thinking about what we would do with our 'tax return' money and we both thought that going to Disney World for Brody's 1st birthday would be awesome. So when February rolled around and we had our 'return' we planned our trip, bought our tickets and got a super sweet deal on a time share resort off of Orbitz and then we only had to wait 5 months to go. But time flew by and now I can't even believe we are already back. We had such a fabulous time and Brody LOVED our trip as much as we did.

We flew in on a Friday and just hung out and played, we went swimming and hit up Downtown Disney...Downtown Disney is full of restaurants and tons of different Disney themed shops. And then we spent 4 days at Disney World. For those who don't know, Disney World is made up of 4 different Parks - The Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, MGM, and EPCOT. For this trip we spent most of our time at the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. And then for our last day we slept in and went back to Downtown Disney to shop and eat before we headed back to Airport to fly home.

It was super hot while we were there, but that didn't stop us from having a blast! We tried to keep as cool as possible, but it seems like in every picture we are some what shinny from sweating. ha. and pretty sure in some pictures you can tell we were 'hot'. but it was all still so enjoyable.

I took A LOT of pictures. It was super hard to narrow things down. I am not even going to blog about each day. This is just one honker huge post of our entire trip and more of a record to remember this awesome family trip we took. and even more, i think i read my own blog more than anyone - and i love getting on and re-reading my post and looking at pictures. plus, when i finally make this blog into 'books' yes 'bookS' there were will be more than one. I like to think that in the future, my grand kids and even other family members will look at all the memories and adventures we took. this blog is like an adventure journal and i love knowing that we are living life and more importantly we are living life as a family. we are 'go'ers and 'do'ers. that's just what we do - and i love that we do it together.

So this is my *'disclaimer'...there are lots of pictures, that's just how i roll. you may need to take a potty break, strech, eat a snack and repeat...but here we go...

So without further a'do...here is our latest adventure...

DISNEY WORLD...

Florida or Bust! At the airport...

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need to "surf" the web? no worries, Southwest has a perfect area to "Surf" ...

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killing time by giving brody rides on the suit case...he loved it. ha. i think we are hilarious! and seriously, how cool is our kid? only the coolest!!

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hanging out on the plane...

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Downtown Disney...

(the Huge) World of Disney store = amazing

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outside the World of Disney it was all Pirates of the Caribbean theme...

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Inside there was an entire area of 'Pirate' stuff...pretty sure Brody makes one super cute 'Pirate'....aaarrrrrrhhh!

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Disney's ESPN World of Sports Store...they have EVERYTHING...GO BUCKEYES!

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Other pictures we took around Downtown Disney...

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the sunset one evening from the Board Walk at Downtown Disney was beauitful!

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Onto Animal Kingdom...

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Excited for Animal Kingdom...

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Waiting to go and eat breakfast..

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we started the Morning off at Animal Kingdom by eating Breakfast with Mickey and Friends. It was 1. sooo yummy and 2. so fun to have the characters come up to our table and say hi and get a picture with them. Brody LOVED all the characters!!!

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after breakfast we went outside and took some pictures outside the resturant, it had an awesome 'african market' theme.

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after breakfast we went in to some shops and bought Brody this nifty drum thing. he loved it and amazingly, still does. he carried it with him all day.

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then we went and got in line for the African Safari ride...and brody was starting to get tired...

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and then our Safari truck pulled up and we were off on a Safari ride...

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we saw lots of different animals and they took us out into the African "savannah"...

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i have to note...here are the Alligators...did you know, when it's hot out they keep their mouths open to stay cool?? i learned that, and thought it was a cool fact.

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you can't really tell...but there's a lion laying up on the rock...

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and another closer shot...but you still can't really tell...but i saw it with my own eyes and it was cool...

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Yes, i am aware that I already posted a picture of an Elephant and a Giraffe, but i really liked these...so what's a couple more...

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and of course Brody did this...

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After the Safari ride, the Brody Bear snoozed, so we walked around for a while. we cheked out the "Tree of Life" and we got a picture with Baloo and King Louie and so did brody, as you can see. And we also, walked around the "city of Expedition Everest", where there is an awesome roller coaster ride that we took turns riding. good times! oh and of course I had to throw in a picture of a garbage can, just to show how themed out everything is. i love it.

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once our little Bear woke up, we headed over to another section of the park and watched a "Lion King" show, which is amazing and also air conditioned :) . We had to wait a few minutes before we got to enter the theater and it was HOT outside...pretty sure brody was calling in for some cooler weather. ;)

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after the Lion King show, we decided to head back to our hotel for a nap and pool time...

by the way, our resort was fabulous, but the pool was even better...we had our very own pirate ship....boo-yah!

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the other days were filled with the MAGIC KINGDOM...

come this way...

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to get to the Magic (Magical, as tyson likes to call it) Kingdom, you first park your car, ride a tram and then ride the Monorail aka the over the ground, lovely air conditioned train...which takes you to the front enterance of the park...

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Awe...so...

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the MAGIC KINGOM welcomed US...

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*note, i took quite a few pictures of Cinderella's Castle...I KNOW, I am posting more than one picture of the Castle, and even though it may look like the exact same picture, it's not. same castle. different day.

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Brody LOVED all the charcters, "STUFFED" and "ALIVE"...

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Brody was totally flirting with Alice...he leaped forward to try and have her hold him, but Characters are not allowed to hold anyone. DUH! he didn't like that. but he still loved them.

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*note, the picture with the Queen...i even debated posting this picture. i look like i am either gonna go to the bathroom or look like i am in pain. um, neither. sweat had just dipped into my eyes and it was stinging. lovely. i have to laugh at it, though.

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the magical tea cups...

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Wendy and Peter Pan...Brody's very FIRST encounter with "Live" characters... not "Stuffed" ones. it took me like 10 shots, just to get brody to look at me...he was totally fixed on Peter. it was really cute.

OH and by the way...because you care...all the Characters EVERYWHERE in ALL the Parks, have little care takers...and that's who takes our pictures for us when you see group ones. We got really good at asking people to take our picture. anywhos...

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Pinocchio...

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Tigger and Pooh...

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pictures from one of the Parades...

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On our first day at Magic Kindgom we ate lunch with Pooh and Friends. This meal was to celebrate brody's birthday. He got a super cute birthday card signed by all the characters and they gave him a yummy cupcake with a candle and of course we saw all the characters. Brody LOVED LOVED LOVED Pooh! It was AWESOME! Pretty much I have play by plays of how Brody reacted to each character. PRICELESS!

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some random pictures and rides we love...

the haunted masion

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Dumbo

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Entrance into Peter Pan

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Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride with a spitting Camal



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We ate yummy Dole Whip in Adventureland...yum!

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we watched the firworks show one night...

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Brody LOVED the Winne the Pooh ride...

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Details that I love...

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The rest are just SOME of my Favorite pictures...

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my boys

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Like Father...Like Son...Love It!

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And there you have it! Our super wonderful fabulous amazing family trip! We loved every minute of it - and Yes, we'd do it again!

Until next time...

the end

the end.

6 comments:

The Lenz Family said...

How fun! We're excited to take Chloe to one of the parks someday. I’m such a sucker for the Disney stuffed animals and princess dolls. I’m always buying them for Chloe. The characters are just so cute.

Jennifer said...

Wow, what a post! And what a trip!! So fun! I love that Brody loves the characters. Ellen is still scared of getting too close to them. Next time you should do Disney on the west coast... :)

heather said...

Totally read the entire post and loved every word! So glad that you had a great time - Brody is by far the cutest little boy in Mickey Mouse ears I've ever seen!! How fun!!

Naomi said...

Brody is definitely your kid - loving all the characters just like you! He is soooo stinkin cute in all the pics but especially love the mickey ears in so many shots. Such a happy boy! Glad you guys had such a great time!!! Maybe next year we can all do a fun trip together! Or someday - whenevs:) Love you guys tons!!!

jswomack said...

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! How fun!! I totally loved all the pictures and will look at them again and again, I am sure. I loved how cute Brody was with Pooh! Ssssoooo CUTE!! Can't wait to see you guys in a few days...YaY!!!

Jaclyn said...

We were there at the same time! It would have been so fun to run into you! Looks like you had a great time. Brody is adorable. :) xoxo