Disney!

We had a wonderful, fabulous, awesome, fantastic time at Disney.  The trip didn't start out great - we stopped in Ocala Friday night and pricelined a hotel that ended up being only a king size bed available (had hoped for two queens or doubles).  While trying to get to sleep I noticed that Katie was scratching her head a lot in her sleep.  The following morning we woke super early to try to get to the Magic Kingdom by opening and Tyler and Lance went down to get some breakfast.  I, for some reason, decided to check Katie's head to try to figure out why she was scratching so much and found...lice!  Beyond the ick factor being off the charts, I also hated that our morning was about to be spent shampooing, etc. rather than traveling to the parks.  We spent a couple of hours trying to get Katie's hair in visiting with cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles shape, and didn't arrive at the parks until 11:00 or so (Eastern time).  Once there, though, we had so much fun that the lice issue was a forgotten hassle (until the multiple re-checks throughout the week). 

On Saturday we went to Magic Kingdom before meeting up with Grandma and B-Bo (featuring a delicious seafood feast), and checking-in to the house we shared with my sister and her family.  On Saturday we really made a dent in Fantasyland and hit up Splash Mountain which proved to be an enduring favorite for everyone.  The kids were blown away by the spectacle of Disney and really had a great first day and we were pleasantly surprised to discover that the kids were indeed 40" which opened up a lot more ride options. 

Dumbo was a big hit, and Lance and I really liked the waiting area that was a play area for the kids, in the air-conditioning, with a pager for when your turn comes up to enjoy the ride. 

Day 2 was spent with all of us at the waterpark.  My mom and B-Bob went with us and it was so great to get to enjoy some of the slides and true waterpark rides while the kids were in their capable, and very fun for the kids care.  My sister and her husband and Lance and I went to a wonderful dinner without children that night and then went to Downtown Disney for a bit.  It was great to spend time with them, AND to have a night out!  

Day 3 meant Hollywood Studios in the morning and Epcot late afternoon and evening.  Their favorite at Hollywood Studios was probably the Disney Junior Live on Stage show, but they really liked a lot of the things there including Star Tours, "meeting" Lightning McQueen, the Muppets show, and even The Great Movie Ride despite it being a bit "scary."  

Epcot that evening was great too - Nemo was on the schedule in addition to a brief tour of the countries.  

On Tuesday we went to Animal Kingdom and as expected it was Tyler's favorite.  The safari was a stand-out and our little daredevils absolutely loved the river rapids ride.  Dinosaur was kind of scary, but the kids mostly liked it.  Tyler was a bit disappointed that we didn't see "every" animal in the guidebook - but ultimately was just super happy that he finally got to see a rhino, hippo, and gorilla. 

On Wednesday we were back to Magic Kingdom and we had a really wonderful day.  We rode the Buzz Lightyear ride early, and lots in between our last ride - Big Thunder Mountain railroad.  It started pouring (and we didn't yet have ponchos although we broke down and got some on Thursday), and we called it a day and went to dinner with Brandon and Lori and fam and had a lot of fun.  The kids loved the teacups, their first ever roller coaster, and were amazed at the parade.  

 On Thursday we had plans to go to Epcot early and Hollywood Studios late, but it was truly tropical storm weather and way beyond the afternoon showers we expected so we just made it to Epcot.  We did see lots of characters (so fun for the kids), rode all of our favorite ride of the whole trip (Soarin'), and had a great lunch in "France."

We finished up in Downtown Disney (with one of the best cookies I have ever eaten from Ghirardelli)  and then ended the vacation swimming with family.  Already when we were home for less than an hour the kids were saying they missed their cousins, and wanted to go back to "Grandma's World" as it was dubbed because we were in Florida! 

The trip was just awesome - and the kids were exceptionally well-behaved.  Disney is a lot of walking, and pure exhaustion for everyone, but especially little ones.  They had minimal meltdowns and really were troopers not complaining about traipsing across the parks, waiting in lines, or even (much) about the super lengthy car rides there and back.  The things they talk about enjoying the most are surprising - the clown show, going to Chuy's with everyone (a restaurant we have here), running barefoot in Epcot because we couldn't keep flip flops on with all the rain, and some rides that we didn't think would have as big of an impact, but I am not surprised at all that ice cream breaks are often mentioned as one of the best things about Disney!