Disney World

"It's Tough to be a Bug" Show at Animal Kingdom.
On the streets at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Front entrance of Magic Kingdom.

Downtown Disney

At the airport Disney store.

Jason and I just got back from Walt Disney. We went with my in-laws Tommy, Nancy, sister-in-law Jennifer and niece and nephew, McKinley and Brennan. We had such a good time. We left for Orlando Monday, June 22 and met everyone at the airport. So here is what we did:

Monday: Not much went on. We settled into our rooms, which were awesome and headed to Downtown Disney. We all ate a restaurant called T-Rex, which was similar to the Rainforest Cafe. It was themed with an underwater bar scene, an ice cave, and dinosaurs on every wall. We then headed back to our rooms for an early morning.

Tuesday: We went to Magic Kingdom first. I will never forget McKinley's face when we cleared the trees and she saw the castle for the first time in real life. Priceless. Her face was aglow the entire day. We had reservations at Crystal Palace for lunch and got to take pictures with Pooh and the gang. Brennan was not too thrilled about the characters. He was terrified. Some of our favorite rides were "It's A Small World", "Haunted Mansion", "Splash Mountain", and "Big Thunder Mountain". I was soooo disappointed that "Space Mountain" was closed for renovations. It is one of my favorite rides. We really enjoyed the "Jungle Cruise", Minnie's house, "Pirates of the Caribbean", and "The Mad Tea Party". McKinley was so funny when we did "Stitch's Great Escape". This was the first ride of the day and it terrified her. She kept saying "What is happening to me?" and "I don't know about this". It was pitiful but adorable at the same time. We were at the park from 10am to 12am. It was definitely a long day, but well worth it. We ended the day with an amazing firework show which neither kids liked because of the loud sounds.

Wednesday: We then went to Disney's Hollywood Studios. This was a great place because there were lots of shows to see that everyone could do together. We got to experience the American Idol stage with real people competing for a golden ticket to move to the front of the line in the "ACTUAL" American Idol tryouts. This was really cool and all three of the contestants we saw were good. We got to see the Muppet 3-D show, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Fantasmic!, and the Lights, Motors, Action! stunt show. The stunt show was incredible and pretty amazing. Each car goes through a set of four tires after every show. After the stunt show we sprinted to see the Studio Backlot Tour. Of all the times I have been to Disney, this was the first time I have ever been on this ride. It takes you behind the scenes of how they make the costumes and props. Their was so much going on while walking down the streets of Hollywood Studios; bands, acts, and character greetings. We got to take pictures with Monsters Inc. characters and even got to see the long lost Power Rangers. I have to say that I was really disappointed with the Rangers. I waited in line to get my picture taken with the Pink Ranger and she took off when I was third in line. If she only knew I use to want to be her when I was kid............... We all have dreams that will never be fulfilled!!! Hahahahaha. Anyway, the Rockin' Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror made up for it. I love these two rides. Jason and Jennifer had never ridden either so I was pretty excited when they agreed to ride with me. Me, Nancy, and Jennifer rode Rockin' Roller Coaster and the picture is worth a thousand words. Then me, Jason, and Jennifer rode Tower of Terror and Jason was so nervous. He does not do roller coasters because he gets severe motion sickness, not that he is afraid, he just did not want to spend the rest of the evening sick. I am proud of you babe. You did so good and he even like it. For lunch we ate at the 50's Prime Time Cafe and this was an experience. They talk to you like back in the day. There were three rules: No elbows on the table, use your manners, and eat your veggies. Jason ask our waiter for more Sprite because we had been in the heat for quite some time and the waiter returned with 10 Sprites and a load of straws. We were all laughing because Jason was speechless which does not happen too often. Then the waiter came back with a map of the park and he had circled all the bathrooms and made Jason a bed wetters guide. Too funny! Then Tommy did not eat the green beans on his plate and wanted dessert. Our waiter told him he could not have dessert because he failed to eat his veggies. Instead the waiter brought him a plate of green beans, with whipped cream on top and sprinkles.

Thursday: My in-laws were only with us in Florida for three days so we spent our last day with them at the water park; Typhoon Lagoon. I love this park because it is set on a ship wreck with trees everywhere. When Disney does decorations, they do not miss a step. Everything is done to a tee. We rode everything over and over and over again, swam with the sharks and sting rays twice, and battled the outrageous wave pool. I was so proud of McKinley. She rode all by herself in the big kid tubes and just came bebop pen down those water slides. She is growing up too fast. We were all water logged, but enjoyed the sun-filled day. Later that night Jason and I went down and walked around Downtown Disney. It was nice to slow down and enjoy the night life.

Friday: This was our first day, just Jason and I. We went to Animal Kingdom and had the best time. We saw some of the most amazing shows and experienced some pretty cool rides for the first time. We saw "It's tough to be a Bug", "Festival of the Lion King", and the best of all "Finding Nemo-The Musical". The Musical was phenomenal and known to be the best show running right now in the United States. We went on The Kilimanjaro Safari, rode "Dinosaur", and even braved "Expedition Everest" (Yet another roller coaster that Jason rode). There was a water rapids ride that I avoided all day, but Jason really wanted to ride it. Then I thought, "Hey, if we wear our rain ponchos we will not get wet" and we were only ones that walked away afterwards dry. I know; brilliant. We spent another night at Downtown Disney doing our shopping and ate at Planet Hollywood Cafe. We got VIP sitting right in front by the DJ. It was a wonderful evening with my husband.

Saturday: It was our last day, but our flight did not leave till 5:55 pm from Orlando. So we got up and went swimming. While we were in the pool, we saw the coolest thing. A plane was spelling out "TRUST JESUS" in the sky. We took it as a sign for various things in our life and it was strange because no one else around was making a big deal about it. We cleaned up and went back to Downtown Disney to eat lunch before the cab was picking us up at the hotel. Downtown Disney was only two blocks from where we were staying so it made it nice; granted we walked way too much. My feet were killing me every night. Once we arrived at the airport we had to fly to New Orleans, switch planes, then onto Dallas Love. When we were in New Orleans, our flight was delayed due to "Operation Delays" in Tampa where our plane was coming from. It was the same day the plane carrying TV man, Billy Mays, tire busted and left debris all over the runway in Tampa. In the end, we made it home safe and headed to Houston early Monday morning.

*********Lots of things had changed since the last time I was there. You can make your own anything. There is make your own Mr. Potato Head, make your own My Little Pony, make your own Light Saber, and make your own Treasure Trunk from Pirates of the Caribbean. We bought tons of the Mr. Potato Head parts. Also, there are people virtually on every corner "trading pins". They spend tons of money for these pins and then walk around and camp out in Downtown Disney to trade pins. Crazy, I know. However, the employees of Disney are given 'special' pins with little Mickey heads on them that you can only get by trading with an employee. I saw this lady wearing a 'special' pin with three triangles on it and yes, you guessed it. I traded. :) I am a Tri Delt and the three triangles are representational of our sorority. The pin was ugly, but it is so neat because it had triangles on it.