A Few More Things About Our Disney Vacation

These magic bands are in a testing phase right now.  We each had our own band and by placing the Mickey on the band to another Mickey sensor, we were able to gain entry to the parks, enter our hotel room, pay for anything, and use the Fast Pass system.  We experienced a few glitches with the bands, but overall I thought they worked well.

She may be cuter than a cupcake, but yikes, she was a challenge on this vacation.  Kate is very strong willed, and while that may be a great trait later in life, it certainly is hard on everyone during the toddler stage.  She insisted that only I carry her the entire five days we were in Disney World.  If Dad  or Grandma tried to carry her, she would scream!  We tried to buckle her into strollers, but that only lasted a short time.  She enjoyed the parks though, so at least she had a good time.  I just don't plan on traveling with her again any time soon.

It was nice to have Grandma with us for another Disney adventure.  She adds a lot to the experience, and she is always so helpful.  Thanks for coming with us Grandma!

As a junior in high school, it wasn't practical for Tyler to come on this trip.  He had school, football, work, and PSATs while we were gone.  One of the challenges of parenting children of a wide age range is that it is difficult to please all of them at the same time, and sometimes that means we do things for one or a few of our children, but not all of them.  We missed Tyler while we were gone!

Papa and Grandma were a huge help while we were gone!  They stayed at our house with Tyler and Kelly the whole time; therefore, they made this trip possible!  They drove Tyler all over the place and spent some great quality time with him too!  Kelly was also thrilled to have them here!  Thank you Papa and Grandma!

I still have a mountain of laundry, so I better get to it.

Disney World 2013 - Day Five

Sunday, October 20 was our final day at Disney World for this trip.  We began by heading to the Grand Floridian hotel to find a place for breakfast.  Kate spotted Tigger and Winnie the Pooh in a restaurant, and luckily they had availability, so we were able to enjoy a character breakfast.  It was a great way to end our vacation!

After breakfast, we went back to the pool for a while and then Tom and the kids enjoyed some Dole Whip (I almost left that out, but they all enjoyed it so much!) before we left for the airport.

Disney World 2013 - Day Four

EPCOT was our first stop on the fourth day (October 19) of our Disney vacation.  We didn't spend much time there, but we did enjoy a few rides including Test Track, Mission to Mars, Soarin, and Nemo.

This picture cracks me up because you can see in all of our faces how HOT it was during this trip!  We are true New Englanders, not cut out for temperatures in the nineties in October!

The above picture was taken at the end of the Nemo ride.  I think that shark's name is Bruce, but I'm not sure.

We left EPCOT, and went to Downtown Disney for the first time ever.  We went there to eat lunch, and it worked out great because we found a dinosaur themed restaurant that is very similar to Rainforest Cafe.

 Collin and Reagan ordered these huge slushy drinks, and Kate was drinking so much of theirs that we had to order one for her.

 As I mentioned, this restaurant is similar to Rainforest Cafe.  Every fifteen minutes there is a very loud "show" of sorts.  Well, Kate was exhausted, and she fell asleep in this crazy position on her chair before her food came.

Magic Kingdom was open late that night, so Kate stayed in the hotel with Grandma, and the rest of us went to the park to go on some rides.  It was crowded, but we still had a lot of fun and went on a good number of rides.

Disney World 2013 - Day Three

 We began our third day of our Disney vacation at Hollywood Studios.

 Tom, Collin, Reagan, and I went on Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.  Tom and Collin had been on it before, but for Reagan and me it was a first.  I was SO nervous about this ride, but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit.  I think the music is a big part of the experience (I sang, ha ha), but the ride is also pretty smooth; I hate jerky coasters, so the smoothness made it very enjoyable.  Collin said that he didn't enjoy the ride this year, so Tom, Reagan, and I went on it a second time while Collin stayed with Grandma and Kate.

I took this picture of the Disney ride photo with my cell phone, so it's not great, but our expressions are funny.

 We also enjoyed the updated Star Wars ride, the backlot studio tour, the Muppets 3D show (it was funny watching Kate try to grab some of the things popping out of the screen), and probably other things I can't remember.

Kate and I went to Disney Junior Live on Stage where she got to see puppets from a few of her favorite shows on stage.  The show featured the characters from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Sofia the First, Doc McStuffins, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates (Kate makes it clear that she does "not like pirates").  The show was cute, and she really had fun watching.  She did ask for "more Doc", so I guess she would have liked that part to be longer!

Here is a short video of her enjoying the Disney Junior show:

After Hollywood Studios, we spent time in the pool and at the arcade!

Disney World 2013 - Day Two

 Our second day (October 17) at Disney World began in Animal Kingdom.  We went directly to Expedition Everest where Tom, Collin, Reagan, and I rode the coaster while Grandma stayed with Kate.

That was followed by other rides and the Jungle Trek before we headed to the safari.  The estimated wait time for the safari was forty-five minutes.  That didn't seem too bad, so we decided to wait.

Their estimate was off by a bit and Kate was tired and cranky in the line.  She ended up falling asleep in my arms shortly before we got on the ride.  I'm sure she would have loved it, but unfortunately she slept through the whole thing.  The rest of us enjoyed it.  There were a lot of animals out, and Collin served as our photographer.  He took A LOT of pictures, but I'm only posting a few here.

After the safari, we headed to DinoLand.  Kate was awake and thoroughly enjoyed this ride!

While Tom, Grandma, Collin, and Reagan went on a few big kid rides, Kate and I stood in line for pictures with Goofy and Pluto.

I love the above picture of Kate blowing kisses; it was very sweet.  She was very excited, and not scared at all.

Then Kate and I went to the dino dig area where she enjoyed the little slide,

and she played in the digging area for a VERY long time!

Below you can see that she is taking some of the "sand" and hiding it in her diaper.  Nice.  The next two diaper changes revealed a lot of extra material.

Then we met up with everyone else, and went to Rainforest Cafe for lunch.

In the evening, we had tickets for the Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom.  

I had trouble getting a decent picture of the kids in their costumes, but here they are as the grim reaper, Mulan, and Doc McStuffins.

 I rode Buzz Lightyear with Collin and Kate, and Kate insisted on driving and shooting.  Needless to say, Collin and I did not score many points!!!  But, Kate thought it was great.

 The above picture is Kate on the teacups.  Tom and I took her on, and we did not spin the teacup at all.  Collin and Reagan went in their own teacup where they did quite a bit of spinning!

 Kate really enjoyed It's A Small World!  Here is a very short video of her swaying to the music during the ride (you have to view this from the blog; it can't be seen in the email version of this post):

Above, Grandma and Reagan are enjoying It's a Small World.

The best part about this event is that the park was not as crowded and we were able to go on a lot of rides.  I didn't take pictures of many rides, but we were able to enjoy many of them that night!  Kate really liked Winnie the Pooh and Dumbo in addition to the above rides pictured!  Collin and Reagan also enjoyed the trick or treating, and they saw some of the Halloween parade (that was after Grandma, Kate and I had gone back to the room).

After Grandma, Kate and I rode the monorail back to the hotel, the Doc was out!!!