our family went on a big trip to orlando at the end of march. we differed on arrival and departure dates but there were 14 of us altogether. here are the cast of characters:
eddie my cousin
traci eddie's wife
justin traci's son
ashley traci's daughter
madi ashley's friend
hunter eddie and traci's youngest (twin of hailey)
hailey eddie and traci's youngest (twin of hunter)
bill traci's dad
lucy traci's mom
uncle ed eddie's dad, my uncle
katie my sister
mom my mom
dad my dad
me me
our timeshare condo was courtesy of eddie and traci. the military discount on our disney tickets also courtesy of eddie and traci. we only had to book our flight and rental car and we were golden. pretty sweet deal.
sunday, march 30: animal kingdom
the weather was so sunny and warm. not too humid at all. we got to the park right as they opened. hunter was so excited he kept wandering off to "look at sumpin" so traci tattoo'd their arm each morning with her name and phone number with sharpie. just in case. it was quite a task to keep everyone together but none of us wanted to miss the twin's reactions to everything. well, except the big kids, that is. justin, ashley and madi pretty much did their own thing each day but joined us for meals. we were walking through an animal exhibit in the morning and were surprised by disney personnel giving away fast pass badges as part of their "year of a million dreams" promotion. we were able to use the pass to get in the front of the line on all six major rides at the park during the day. what a blessing!
our first glimpse of disney. it still makes me as excited as the first time we saw the disneyland sign when I was ten!
hailey and hunter in full makeup
the kids were too short for a lot of the "big kid" rides but had a blast on the ones they could go on.
we stopped for potty breaks OFTEN :-)
mom, me and dadmonday, march 31: disney hollywood studios (formerly MGM studios)
now this park had some big rides that I was excited to go on. the tower of terror was awesome as was the aerosmith roller coaster. no fast pass badge on this day so we had to fight for our place in line like everyone else. it pretty much sucked. the kids had tons of fun going to all the shows and watching the high school musical parade. they each had autograph books and we stood in line for lots of character photos and autographs. there were back movie lot tours and special effects shows that were pretty cool too. katie and uncle ed flew in this night, late.
the whole gang (minus katie and uncle ed who hadn't arrived yet)
(l to r) eddie, madi, hailey, ashley, me, hunter, lucy, bill, mom, dad, justin, tracinow this park had some big rides that I was excited to go on. the tower of terror was awesome as was the aerosmith roller coaster. no fast pass badge on this day so we had to fight for our place in line like everyone else. it pretty much sucked. the kids had tons of fun going to all the shows and watching the high school musical parade. they each had autograph books and we stood in line for lots of character photos and autographs. there were back movie lot tours and special effects shows that were pretty cool too. katie and uncle ed flew in this night, late.
the whole gang (minus katie and uncle ed who hadn't arrived yet)(ignore the photo fingerprint, it was the only photo of all us together)
pretending to be audrey for a momenttuesday, april 1: magic kingdom
this day ended up being just mom, dad, katie and I because the rest of the family need to take a break and have a down day. they stayed at the resort and swam in the pool and took a breather. they still had four days and many more parks to see. since mom, dad and I were heading home the next day, we wanted to make the most of our last day. we were at the park almost an hour before they opened which turned out to be good since I screwed up katie's park pass and mom and her had to go to customer service and plead their case for almost 30 minutes. turns out, I can't handle important documents so remember to not give me anything for "safe keeping." eddie had given me katie's park pass and I inadvertently used it instead of my own to get into hollywood studios. katie was denied entrance to magic kingdom. sorry for the scare, kate! long story short, they took pity on us and let her in without me having to pay for a day pass (which I offered to do...it was my mistake). we headed directly to adventureland to my favorite ride, pirates of the carribean. we were the first people in line! we then went to thunder mountain railroad, my mom's favorite ride. after we hit the major things, we just slowly meandered through the park and drank in the magic that is disney. I had forgotten how clean everything is. and how many employees were everywhere. this day was by far the hottest and most humid so we tuckered out pretty early but we did everything we wanted so no regrets.
this day ended up being just mom, dad, katie and I because the rest of the family need to take a break and have a down day. they stayed at the resort and swam in the pool and took a breather. they still had four days and many more parks to see. since mom, dad and I were heading home the next day, we wanted to make the most of our last day. we were at the park almost an hour before they opened which turned out to be good since I screwed up katie's park pass and mom and her had to go to customer service and plead their case for almost 30 minutes. turns out, I can't handle important documents so remember to not give me anything for "safe keeping." eddie had given me katie's park pass and I inadvertently used it instead of my own to get into hollywood studios. katie was denied entrance to magic kingdom. sorry for the scare, kate! long story short, they took pity on us and let her in without me having to pay for a day pass (which I offered to do...it was my mistake). we headed directly to adventureland to my favorite ride, pirates of the carribean. we were the first people in line! we then went to thunder mountain railroad, my mom's favorite ride. after we hit the major things, we just slowly meandered through the park and drank in the magic that is disney. I had forgotten how clean everything is. and how many employees were everywhere. this day was by far the hottest and most humid so we tuckered out pretty early but we did everything we wanted so no regrets.
dad and I being silly in frontierlandmonday night: pleasure island
our first night with katie was my last night so we decided to live it up and go to pleasure island. this area of downtown disney has dance clubs and restaurants and shops. we went to an improv comedy show that was HILARIOUS, a weird club/show that had a mask room with animal sounds (?) that we promptly left, and then to the best club that played all 80's music! besides the music being great, they also had a big screen on one side of the club that played the music video of each song as well. I am not a dancer so I "held the coats" while watching the videos. I LOVED it. I had a bad sunburn and had to get up at 4:45am the next morning for our flight but it was totally worth the lack of sleep.
our first night with katie was my last night so we decided to live it up and go to pleasure island. this area of downtown disney has dance clubs and restaurants and shops. we went to an improv comedy show that was HILARIOUS, a weird club/show that had a mask room with animal sounds (?) that we promptly left, and then to the best club that played all 80's music! besides the music being great, they also had a big screen on one side of the club that played the music video of each song as well. I am not a dancer so I "held the coats" while watching the videos. I LOVED it. I had a bad sunburn and had to get up at 4:45am the next morning for our flight but it was totally worth the lack of sleep.
this trip was so much more than I expected. we spent time together. we had fun. got sunburns together. laughed together. cooked dinner together. and I played rock, paper, scissors with the twins for HOURS. I wouldn't have changed anything about the trip.
some other random trip memories:
- ashley and madi dying their hair in our bathroom until 1:00am
- katie and uncle ed getting lost on their way from the rental car lot to our resort
- my eyes puffing up and getting red due to some mystery "reaction"
- traci getting hit on at the dance club, while dancing with her husband
- justin texting his friends until all hours
- lucy going on the tower of terror and aerosmith rollercoaster even though she gets sick on rides
- hailey's sweet "when I'm seven I'll be big enough" response to not being tall enough for a ride
- churros at hollywood studios
- the "forward/reverse" sketch at the comedy show (phillips or flathead...) ha ha ha
1 comment:
What an awesome trip!!!! Looks like you had a blast.
Aerosmith rollercoaster?? I am diggin' that. When we went to D-Land last year, it was Red Hot Chili Peppers Rollercoaster and Space Mountain...but Aerosmith - I wanna go! I loved the Tower of Terror too.
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