Well we made it back from another vacation! I kind of feel like I need a vacation from that vacation now. Something like a cruise where I just show up and lay on the beach all day and then there's a nice dinner waiting for me back at the boat. Disney World was definitely fun, but we went nonstop for about 9 straight days!
First off, to quick summarize life between Christmas and when we left for Florida on the 23rd of January, Caleb has started basketball and Gabe has started soccer. Caleb practices usually just once a week and then has games every Saturday. It's through the rec department so it's pretty low key, but it's a good thing for Caleb to do to get some exercise during these winter months! Gabe has his traveling soccer team and they just started practicing (indoors) mid-January. They practice twice a week and then will start traveling for tournaments in March. Avery is still doing dance once a week at Fuzion. She got her two costumes right before we left. One is a little baker girl costume with this pink checkered apron tutu thing and the other is a white and sparkly. She has a "showcase" coming up February 10th where she will wear those costumes and perform.
We also spent a lot of time doing homework in preparation for the trip. Avery had a ridiculous amount for a kindergartener. The kids went back to school today (Friday), though they protested hard, but then they will have the whole weekend off again.
So now for the trip details!
On Monday, the 22nd we drove down to Utah and stayed the night at Stacey and Kamrie's townhouse. Then the next morning, Stacey drove us to the airport and then took our car back to her house to park it for the time we were gone. Our flight left SLC about 9:30am and arrived in Orlando at about 3:30pm (direct flight). When we got there, my mom had already texted me and told me that she was there waiting by baggage claim. So we got to see grandma as we got off the plane! She had gotten Chick Fil A (her first time ever!) while she was waiting for us. I think that is notable because i can't believe she has never had Chick Fil A. lol Then we went and got out rental car. I have to just say that I never want to rent from Budget again. They were soooo slow!! I don't know if it was just Orlando but oh my gosh. It took forever. We finally got our white van and loaded up all our stuff and then drove to our condo to check in.
We were staying at the same Emerald Island resort that we have stayed at the last three times we have gone there. But every time we have stayed in a different unit, owned by a different person. This one was a really good size (4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms) but it was really dated and not super well kept. It just seemed like everything was really Walmart quality. I don't think I would ever stay there again. But it was fine for the little time that we were there each day. My mom had her own bedroom and bathroom suite on the main level and then we had one upstairs, plus two more kid bedrooms (the boys were in one with two twin beds and Avery was in the other one with her own double bed). We didn't have our own pool this time like we did with Devin and Charm's family, but they went down to the clubhouse which was just a short walk and used that one a few times. (I say "they" because it was just Josh and the kids. It was too cold for me! Plus I got a bad cold while we were there and didn't want to get sicker!)
So anyways, once we got all checked in we went out to dinner at Red Lobster. Then my mom and I dropped the kids and Josh off to swim while we went to Super Target and got some things for the week (cereal, milk, etc.) Then we got to bed to be ready to start off our big week at Disney World!
Wednesday morning, we woke up bright and early at 6:45 so that we could get to Hollywood Studios by 8:30 (park opened at 9:00.) Mom needed to exchange her military voucher ticket for the actual ticket so we needed time for that. It actually worked out really well because we were able to get into the park up to a certain point on the main street. Then at 9:00 when they officially opened the park, we made a beeline to the Rockin Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror rides! First me, my mom, and the boys rode Rockin Roller Coaster (we walked right on!) and then we gave the rider switch pass to Josh and he rode with the boys with no waiting. Then we all went on the Tower of Terror. We convinced Avery to go with us on this one. She was okay on the ride (she looked scared but wasn't crying or freaking out) but then afterwards she was like, "I will never ride that ride again. I hated it!!" haha So we didn't ever go on that one again. In fact, we ended up not even going back to Hollywood Studios to rest of the trip. They are doing some major construction over there and adding a new Star Wars land and Toy Story land, but for now it just seems like there isn't much to do over there. We did the Star Tours ride and the Little Mermaid show and that's about it! Then we went over to Epcot for the rest of the day.
I think we actually left and ate lunch at Chick Fil A that day and then drove to Epcot. Once we got to Epcot, we did the Nemo ride (no waiting), Soarin' (there was about a 30 minute wait for that), Test Track, and Spaceship Earth. We then walked around the countries, starting with Canada, and then stopped in the French bakery of course. I think that was number 1 on grandma Sue's list of things to do. We didn't really stop to look at much as we walked around the countries. The kids never seem to think the countries are all that exciting. There was a train track set in Germany that they stopped to watch for a little while. We did walk into the China building for a little bit and look around. We practiced our "meditation" for a picture. (see below)
Then we went to the Norway area and got in line for the Frozen ride. This used to be a boat ride called "Maelstrom"or something like that about trolls. But they definitely were smart to redo it into a Frozen ride. It's much better now. I had heard the line for it can get pretty crazy, but the best time to do it (without a fast pass) was at about 7:30 at night. So we did just that and we ended up waiting for about 40 minutes maybe. It was kind of a long, boring wait but I think it was worth it. There's a part where the snow man kind of blows you away and you go pretty fast down this boat hill in the dark. It's actually a legit ride.
So then once we did that, we passed through Mexico and did that little boat ride (no wait - does anyone even know there's a ride in there? lol) My mom and I were saying it probably won't be long before that ride gets transformed into a "Coco" ride.
After that we stayed for about the first 5 minutes of the Illuminations fireworks show. But then we decided to hurry and get out of there before the whole mass exodus happened. It was a very full day!
Thursday we spent the whole day at Magic Kingdom. I hadn't been able to ever get a fast pass for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train, so we never did end up riding that. I never wanted to wait two hours for it. That was like the only ride we ended up never doing the whole time we were there. We did ride it though in 2015 and it was just okay, so I didn't feel too bad about skipping it this year.
We started the day by actually eating breakfast in the Be Our Guest (Beast's) castle. I had been hoping to get us in there for dinner and had been checking for openings like crazy! But the night before, I saw one open up for breakfast at 9:00 so I snatched it up! That turned out to be one of my favorite moments, because we were able to get in the park just a little early. We got to leave behind the crowd of people who were waiting for the park to open and go right on in, past the Cinderella castle, and into the Beast castle at about 8:45. We paused to take a rare photo in front of the castle with NO other people in it! That alone is amazing. To have a photo opportunity in front of the castle with NO people in the background?! My favorite moment.
Then we had our breakfast (which let's be honest, was not worth the $25 a plate per adult or the $14 per child). It was basically eggs and bacon and sausage (what would cost you about $8 at iHop) but it's the experience of eating at the Beast's castle that you are paying for right? My mom ended up whipping out her card and paying for it all at the last minute so that was a nice surprise! It's so nice to have a grandma along. ;)
Once we were done with our overpriced breakfast, we left the castle and started off with some rides in Fantasyland. We did the Carousel, the teacups, the Ariel ride (which we had a fast pass for, but didn't really need since the line wasn't even that long). Then Avery and I did Dumbo while the rest of the group did the Barnstormer. The lines really weren't too bad at that point. Then we made our way to It's a Small World and this Philarmagic type 3D glasses show. After that we went to the Haunted Mansion. That was another one that we had to force Avery onto. She was not happy we made her do that one either. Then we went and did Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (with our fast pass - which we were happy about because the lines were picking up!). Everyone loved that ride. Even Avery, who we decided is a roller coaster girl. She won't do the scary haunted stuff, but she will do the big roller coasters. After that we went and ate lunch at Pecos Bill's, which was like taco salads and stuff. The kids had hamburgers that were actually really good. I have decided though that the best vacation for Josh would be a cruise. That way, everything is paid for in advance and he doesn't have to get all crazy about every time we spend money on a meal! Like, we are on vacation, we have saved money for this, we are going to have to eat out!! Just enjoy it!! But every time we ate a meal at the park I felt like he was all, "I just won't get anything." And I'm like, "Get something!!" It's so annoying because then I feel like I shouldn't get anything! (My mom said she used to feel this way with Jesse too but now she just says "Fine, don't get anything" and still gets what she wants and doesn't worry about it. lol I think I'm too that point as well.
Anyways, I digress. So after we ate our lunch, we headed towards Adventureland and rode Pirates of the Caribbean. We would've done the Jungle Cruise but the line was crazy long. So we didn't do it that day (but we went back a different day). After that we also rode Aladdin's Magic carpets (and Avery favorite - kind of like Dumbo) and then we went into Tomorrowland. Oh, we also paused for about 20 minutes right in front of the castle to watch the 3:00 parade. We got some good pictures there of the princesses on the floats. But by this time in the day there were so many people that things were becoming less enjoyable.
We left the parade and went into Tomorrowland so that we could get in line for Buzz Lightyear before all the crowds came. However, Caleb had a bathroom attack and Josh and the boys left the line (planning to hop back in with us when they got done.) However, the attack took quite a while and we ended up getting on the ride before they joined back up with us! Luckily, I was able to sweet talk to ride worker into giving us a rider switch pass, which basically enabled Josh and two other people to hop on it really quickly in the fast pass line. So they did that once we got done.
One other thing of note: When Josh and the boys were waiting for us girls to come off the Buzz ride, Josh had his opportunity to meet a pro football player. We had even talked about how the Pro Bowl was going on that weekend and how it would be so cool to see a football player at the parks. So anyways, as Josh was standing there, Drew Brees (quarterback for the Saints) strolls out of the Buzz ride with his wife and three small kids. Josh said he was about two feet from him and they even made eye contact for a brief moment, as if Drew was thinking, "Does this guy know who I am? Is he going to say something to me?" But what do you suppose Josh did? If you guessed, "said nothing and let Drew Brees walk away" then you are correct! Hahaha I can't believe it. Josh said it's his biggest regret that he didn't ask him for a picture with him and the boys. I'm sure he would've done it too. There was another guy who apparently asked him and he said yes. His wife even took the picture for them. But we all know Josh. Not the real pushy type. So now he will forever live in regret. lol
After Josh's missed connection with Drew Brees, we picked up the pieces and moved on with our day. We rode the Carousel of Progress, the People Mover, and Space Mountain (our final fast pass.) The whole Fast pass system is kind of annoying. I miss the days when you just worked your way around the park at your own pace and didn't have to worry about planning it all out. It seems like the Fast Pass system is flawed too because one time later in the week, when we went back to Space Mountain, there was a HUGE line for the "Fast pass" people and we still waited about 30 minutes! I miss the Disney World of my youth.
Anyways, I think that night we ended up eating dinner at the Cosmic Rays cafe (insert Josh's "I won't get anything" line here) and then we did a couple more rides and then took the train back to Main Street. Then we shopped for Minnie and Mickey ears for Jasmine, Brayden, and Avery and got them embroidered with their names on them. Then we went out onto the Main Street to watch the fireworks show (but just for the first five minutes) and then we hurried again to beat the crowd out of the parks for the day. Again, it was SO busy that we really just felt like we needed to escape the crowds a lot of the time. I remember going to Disney World one January with my family and it was like NO ONE was there. I really wish it could've been like that. But I guess it's just gotten busier over the years! For this reason, I don't know if we will make another family trip there! At least not for a while. I really think my tolerance of people is going way down. The times that there were low crowds were my favorite times.
Friday was my mom's last day with us at the parks. We went to Animal Kingdom from about 8:30am to 4:30pm. When we first got there, we had talked about heading to the new Avatar section of the park called "Pandora." I think this just opened within the past year. It's the area of the parks that is getting the longest lines for sure. There are two rides there, one called the Navi River Journey (which I was able to get a fast pass for) and one called "Flight of Passage" (which I was NOT able to get a fast pass for - not for lack of trying). So we thought about trying to get to Flight of Passage first thing in the morning but once we saw the hoards of people already heading over there, we decided it wasn't worth it. Instead, we went over to the Dinosaur section of the park and did the Dinosaur ride, played in the Boneyard, went on Primeval whirl (well Avery was too short for that one so she didn't), and the Triceratops spin ride (like Dumbo). It was pretty empty over there (probably because everyone else was at the Avatar stuff!) so we walked on everything pretty easily. Then we ended up going over on this train to Rafiki's planet watch where they had this little petting zoo area and some other stuff. After that we ate lunch at this "Harambe market" which will forever be in my memory as the place where I paid $6.75 for a 3 inch long corndog. I'm not even joking. I should've taken a picture. The gyros that me and Josh and my mom got were good and the kid's meal that Gabe got with BBQ ribs was good. The corn dog kids meals were a joke. Even I was grumpy about that. Luckily we had some extra snacks in Josh's backpack to help fill Caleb up.
After lunch we did the safari ride, where my mom said, "I have done that safari I don't know how many times and I have NEVER seen that many animals." It's true we did see a lot. We saw giraffes, rhinos, hippos, hyenas, cheetahs, flamingos, elephants, alligators, lions, and more. I was afraid when I set up our fast pass for that at 2:00 all the animals would be sleeping, but they were mostly awake! (Except the lions.)
Also in the afternoon, we went over to the Pandora section and did the Navi boat ride with our fast pass. It was honestly such a let down. It was a slow moving boat ride with a lot of glowing fake plants. I was glad we had a fast pass and had only waited five minutes for it. The Flight of Passage ride was a 180 minute wait by that point so we decided no way were we waiting in line for it. The last ride we did was Expedition Everest (Josh's favorite - a big roller coaster) and we had a fast pass for that too so we only waited about 10 minutes. Even Avery rode it and loved it.
After Everest, at about 4:30 we left Animal Kingdom and dropped off the kids and Josh at the condo where they went swimming. Me and my mom went in search of a present for Rachel. We thought we could easily go to the Disney Marketplace and buy something, but it turned out that the area of Downtown Disney has grown immensely in the past ten years and we ended up parking a LONG ways away and walking forever! I hope Rachel really appreciates that oven mitt and those sticky notes. We also came across a Coke store, so we of course each had to buy a large coke to get us through the long walk back to the car. When we got back to our condo, we collected the kids and Josh and went out to dinner at Joe's crab shack. I remember that being a highlight when Gini and I went back when we were teenagers. It has gone downhill. I feel like a lot of things I remember from Florida have gone downhill. I think it's time to just find some new vacation spots that are someplace tropical with hardly any people.
The next morning was Saturday and time for us to take Grandma to the airport. It was so sad dropping her off! My kids had a lot of fun with her on this trip. They whined, "It's not fair! Jasmine and Brayden get to see her every day!!!" I asked them if we should move back to Wisconsin and move in with Grandma Sue too. They said "No, she she should just move here!" haha Maybe someday I hope!
After we dropped off grandma at about 10am, it was off to the gulf coast to see "Poppy" (also known as my dad, Larry. That name is his request by the way.) It took about 2.5 hours to get to the town where he lives. We went to his and Melissa's house in North Port first and then headed to the Boca Beach. It was a really nice beach with lots of shells all over and hardly any people (FINALLY! Have I mentioned I hate people? lol) In retrospect, we probably could've spent all afternoon there just letting the kids swim and play in the sand, but I had really wanted to do this dolphin boat cruise. So my dad and Melissa had set it up and we left the beach to go over there at about 3:30. The dolphin cruise was fun and we did see some dolphins jumping in and out of the water right by the boat at the very end, but if I could've changed it I would've had us stay at the beach until about 5:00 and then done an hour long boat ride. The boat ride was loooong. It lasted from about 4:00-6:30 and we went way the heck out there into the ocean. It was also pretty windy and chilly as the sun went down. The funny thing is too, we ended up seeing the most dolphins right in the bay near the docks where we had started! The kids were pretty hungry and cranky by the time we finally ended the boat ride. We ate dinner at this place called Howard's. It was really good. Then we went back to their house and went to bed. I was pretty sick that day. I think I had run myself ragged with all the excitement at the parks and it finally caught up with me. I was carrying around a box of Klennex pretty much all day. It wasn't very easy sleeping for a couple of days either because I could hardly breathe. My dad made me some special tea to cure me. It had honey, peach juice, echinacea, and who knows what else. I don't really know that it did anything but it was easier to just drink it than argue with "Poppy."
The next morning Poppy and Melissa made us breakfast and then we spent some time driving around the neighborhood on the golf cart. Caleb and Gabe both turns driving it, which they really liked. Even Melissa's little dog rode along with them. Avery is in love with that little dog.
Then we packed up our stuff and headed to this other beach in Sarasota for a little bit. It was going to rain but Caleb insisted we go there for a little bit so he could try this boogie board thing that Poppy had bought him. It was sooo cold and Caleb was literally the only person in the water. People kept walking along on the beach and pointing and laughing at him. haha Even Gabe didn't even go in. Here is a funny picture that depicts Gabe trying not to get wet:
But we were only there for about 15 minutes when the rain started to roll in. We quickly packed up and headed out to go to this indoor trampoline place called Sky Zone. The boys had a lot of fun there playing dodgeball and fighting each other with these giant foam things. We were there until about 4:00 and then we had to say goodbye to Poppy and Melissa (and Arissa the dog). It was really starting to rain hard and we drove back to Kissimmee in pouring down rain. It wasn't very fun. But we stopped at Cracker Barrell for dinner on the way. That part was fun!
Monday was kind of rough day. It was pretty cloudy in the morning and still kind of sprinkling on and off so we didn't even leave the condo until about 11:00. We went to Epcot for a few hours from about 11:00 - 3:00. We rode Soarin, had Fish and Chips for lunch, rode Test Track, then we decided to go back to the condo and go swimming for a couple hours. We had planned on going back out to the Magic Kingdom in the evening, but the kids swam for so long that we ended up just going to dinner instead. We went to Texas Roadhouse, which did not disappoint.
Tuesday was COOOOLD. It was sunny, but it was our coldest day the whole time we were there. I think the high was about 64. But in the morning when we first got there it was about 55. There were some people riding the tram into the Magic Kingdom with us and they had on Wisconsin sweatshirts. I said, "Hey! I'm from Wisconsin too!" And he joked, "It feels like Wisconsin today!" We spent the morning at Magic Kingdom that day and then went to Animal Kingdom at night. Tuesday was actually a really fun day because when we went back to the Animal Kingdom at night, there were a lot of people leaving. I think because it was so cold! But at the Magic Kingdom first we started in Tomorrowland and did Buzz Lightyear again, the People Mover, and Space Mountain with a "fast pass" (for some reason that day the fast pass line seriously took us like 30 minutes. I think they had a glitch and handed out too many or something.) Then we did It's a Small World again and ate lunch at Pinnochio's restaurant. I did a mobile order as we were in line for Small World and our food was ready by the time we got off the ride. I would definitely recommend the mobile ordering for food. That is one technological advance at Disney World I can get behind. The other ride that I had fast passed for that day was the Jungle cruise, since we hadn't been able to ride it with my mom the other day we were there. However, the tomato basil soup that I had previously eaten at Pinnochio's (which was very good and totally worth it) decided it didn't agree with me and all I can remember about that Jungle Cruise was the feeling that I was going to poop my pants. TMI? Maybe. But I needed off that ride FAST. Once we pulled up to the little dock I literally RAN to the nearest bathroom. I had told Josh, "I'm going to run, so you just keep the kids by you okay?" But apparently the kids didn't get the memo and as I'm starting to run I look behind me and there is the trail of Caleb, then Avery, then Gabe (then Josh behind them all) chasing after me in a line like, "Moooom! Wait!!!!" I was laughing and running at the same time. All was well though once I made it to the bathroom.
After that we decided to leave the Magic Kingdom and head to the condo for a little while, in case I had another "episode." We swam for a little bit and ate some food that we had there, since we were going to have to throw away anything we didn't have gone by tomorrow. Then at about 6:00 we headed over to the Animal Kingdom again with our main goal being to ride the Pandora "Flight of Passage" ride. Someone had told Josh that the best time to to get in line for it was at about 7:30 at night. The park officially closes at 8:00, but they can't tell you to get out of line as long as you are in line before 8:00. So they basically end up staying open until the last person in line has ridden in. So when we got there, first we did the Dinosaur ride again, then we did Expedition Everest in the dark (that was fun and a little scary), and then at about 7:30 we got in line for Flight of Passage. I was hoping the line would only take about 30-40 minutes, but we did end up waiting about an hour and 20 minutes still. The lady working the ride once we got to the very front told us that was "really good" and that most people wait 2-3 hours. It was the longest we waited to ride ANY ride the whole time we were there. But I think everyone in our family would tell you that it was worth it. It was a ride that was actually a "simulation" ride, kind of similar to Soarin' at Epcot. But instead of just sitting in a chair the whole time, each person actually had their own little motorcycle type thing they sit on. The premise behind the ride is that you are actually riding on this fictional creature called a "banshee" that is from the world of Pandora (from the movie "Avatar"). They are kind of like these pterodactyl type flying creatures. So you sit on this bike type thing and you wear these 3D glasses and there's this HUGE screen in front of you. Your bike thing actually does move around a little bit (side to side and plunges down and back up) so that you really feel like you are flying around on the back of this creature. I wish I would've gotten a better picture but here is the little thing you sit on to give you an idea. And here is also a picture of Caleb waiting in line in front of the Avatar guy. I haven't even seen that movie, but the boys have so they thought it was all really cool. As we left the park, it was about 9:00 and it was pretty empty. It was amazing. That night was one of the highlights of the trip I would say.
We decided to go to Magic Kingdom first again and then Animal Kingdom second. We ended up spending the most time in those two parks over our trip. At Magic Kingdom, we split up and me and Avery did a few things that she had wanted to do but hadn't gotten to, including the Winnie the Pooh ride, Ariel again, and the tea cups. We even got a little Mickey pretzel snack.
The last thing we did at Magic Kingdom was meet Merida (from the movie "Brave.") That was the only princess we took the time to meet on this whole trip. Last time we spent a lot of time doing that because Avery couldn't ride a lot of the rides and we were often looking for things to do while the boys rode rides. This time Avery went on just about everything though! Rockin Roller coaster was the only thing she didn't do!
After we met Merida, we left the Magic Kingdom and went to the Animal Kingdom. We rode the Dinosaur ride (for like the millionth time lol) played in the Boneyard (basically Gabe chased Avery around while I sat), saw the Finding Nemo Musical (that was on mom's list.... no one else seemed to excited about that) and finally rode Expedition Everest (for the millionth time as well) and that was our last ride at Disney World! I think it was safe to say that we were officially Disney'ed out. We left Animal Kingdom at about 4:00 and went to dinner that night at Culver's. I am happy to say that Culver's was not a disappointment. It was nice and clean and the food was good. Good job managers of Culver's in Kissimmee. You didn't mess it up.
Then that evening, we stopped at a cheap gift shop and bought a few tshirts for the kids (and a magnet for me) and headed to the new hotel that we stayed at for just one night. It was definitely not very fancy, but good enough for one night, especially since we had to wake up at 3:45am. Our flight left at 7am and we had to get the rental car returned, etc. We arrived back in SLC at about 10am (2 hour time difference) and we were pretty much like walking zombies we were so tired. Then Josh had to stop in SLC to pick up his new police car and so I had to drive our Buick home. We finally make it back to Rexburg at about 3:30 pm. It was a very long 15 hours. But 8:30 that night all five of us were asleep in our beds. But of course then at about 5am we were all kind of starting to wake up! I refused to let anyone get out of bed until 6:30. I did make the kids all go to school today though! (I'm so mean, but they were awake! Why not!?) I spent today getting groceries, doing laundry, paying bills, and going through all the pictures from the trip! And of course writing this blog post! Phew! I am finally done!
This weekend we will be relaxing here at home. Caleb has a basketball game tomorrow and then it's Super Bowl Sunday. Then Josh will be leaving us for Utah!! Seriously this next month is going to stink. He will be down there from Monday through Friday every week training with his new dog. Wish me luck! Vacation hangover and then my husband leaves me alone with three kids!!
Hopefully this next month goes fast!
