Disney World - Part 3

Day 6 - February 26: Back to Magic Kingdom. This time we turned left after entering the park and headed to Adventureland. First stop...getting a fast pass for "Jungle Cruise". Then we headed to Frontierland where Carl, Chad and Rachel rode the "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad" while I stayed back with the kiddos. Carl and Chad rode "Splash Mountain" next and then we headed back for our Jungle Cruise. Ellie loved all the "animals" especially the elephants! We went back to Fantasyland and picked up fast passes for "Peter Pan's Flight" (which we didn't get to use...they were already too late in the day). So we got in line for "It's a Small World". The wait wasn't too long...and worth it...Ellie and Carson rode in awe and both were kind of upset when it was over.




We headed back to Adventureland and got in line for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride. Again, the line wasn't too bad and it was a fun ride. Ellie didn't mind riding in the dark and even seemed pretty excited with the short drop at the start of the ride. Next stop...lunch. We thought through lunch better this time around and stopped at Subway on the way to the park and picked up $5 footlongs to take in the park for a cheaper meal. After re-energizing we took the kids on "The Magic Carpets of Aladdin". We all enjoyed it and did our best to avoid the spitting camels...our magic carpet only got it once.


We took in a quick show in "The Enchanted Tiki Room Under New Management" and decided to call it a day. We stopped at the LARGE gift shop at the entrance to the park and stocked up on Disney souvenirs. Ellie got a new sweatshirt and stuffed Donald Duck. We also got a picture frame and some post cards.
We went out to an awesome restaurant for dinner...Bahama Breeze. I had the Onion Rings and the Bahamian Grilled Chicken on Greens...it was amazing! Tomorrow would be our last day.
Here is a shot of Ellie after her evening bath



Day 7 - February 27: Ellie enjoyed playing on the computer while we were getting ready to go.

She also decided to kick back and relax with her Daddy...notice the sticker on the forehead again?

We all loaded up and headed to Hollywood Studios for ESPN weekend. The guys wanted to hang around the "ESPN Hot Set" at the "Sorcerer Hat Stage". Carson was sleeping so Rachel pushed him around in his stroller and Ellie and I headed off to meet some of her favorite Playhouse Disney characters.
Leo and Annie from "The Little Einsteins"

JoJo and Goliath from "JoJo's Circus"

Handy Manny...Ellie was a little sad he didn't have his tools with him. That was the first thing she asked me when we were standing in line to see him.

June and Quincy from "The Little Einsteins" came out next but it was also time for the "Playhouse Disney Live on Stage" show. So we skipped the character line and got in line for the show, hoping we could catch June and Quincy when we came out.
The show was in a large carpeted room and we all sat down on the floor.

It was great...plenty of room for the kids to stand and dance.

Ellie loved seeing all her favorite shows live as puppets.
"Mickey Mouse Clubhouse"

"Handy Manny" and his tools this time too!

"The Little Einsteins"

"My Friends Tigger and Pooh"


I think she was a little sad they didn't do the "Hot Dog Dance" at the end but the bubbles and falling leaves made up for it.
(During all of this Rachel ended up taking Carson to the "Muppet*Vision 3D" show. Carl and Chad went and listened to "Inside ESPN with NFL Live". Carl was able to shake hands with Roy Williams of the Dallas Cowboys too.)
After the show was over June and Quincy were going to be making their way back out to their character post in about 10 minutes...so we decided to wait. We bought a quick gift and then just walked around waiting. I took Ellie's picture in front of Rocket and then we got in line.


The rest of the group showed up while we were waiting.

After her picture with June and Quincy we all went back to the "Playhouse Disney Live on Stage" show so Carson could see it. Ellie loved it just as much the second time around.
This ended our wonderful Disney vacation. We stopped and picked up a Disney World bucket hat for Ellie on our way out and headed back "home".
Since we had such a short day at the park we had plenty of time for more swimming before bedtime.




During bath time.



Day 8 - February 28: Not typically how you want to spend your birthday...heading home to 15 degree weather after a fun vacation in a warm spot. The day started out rough as we ended up missing our flight home. Apparently AirTran requires you to be checked in 45 minutes before your flight and we didn't quite make it. After negotiating for about 30 minutes or so with the travel agent they decided to waive the difference in flight costs, and just require us to pay the $75 a person to switch flights, and handed us boarding passes to a flight into Detroit leaving about 2 hours later than our original flight...and then it was delayed twice. We did our best to entertain the kids in the airport...including Ellie's favorite...taking pictures.


Carson slept in the airport and Ellie ended up sleeping the whole flight. In fact we had to wake her up to unload the plane! Thankfully my wonderful Dad was home and willing to pick us up in Detroit (an hour plus drive for him) and drive us back to our car in Flint (another 35 minutes or so). He was such a trooper...he even brought us all snacks and new books for the kids to read in the car. We left Flint and all headed back to Lansing...including my Dad (it was on his way home from Flint). Dad stayed for dinner and let Ellie show him all her souvenirs and pictures of the trip. All in all it was a wonderful trip. I'm already looking forward to taking Ellie and her new little brother back.

Disney World - Part 2

Day 4 - February 24: We took at break from Disney action today and started our day with a photo session at Picture People. We don't have any around our neck of the woods and my cousin's pictures always turn out so cute from there so we scheduled an appointment while we were in Orlando. We got some great shots of Ellie and she seemed to have a lot of fun. As soon as she walked back to the picture area she sat down on the white backdrop and said "cheese"...she loves having her picture taken. Here are the results.

We call this one "Spider Ellie" and rotate it so she can climb walls too.

We took the kids back "home" and had lunch. Next stop Sea World! We arrived at SeaWorld later in the afternoon but did our best to take it all in that day. Our first stop was the "Dolphin Cove" where we tried to touch the dolphins...I was the only one who lucked out due to being at a different location so I could look back and take pictures of the group.

We stopped at the "Manatee Rescue" area where Ellie liked to call them dogs. She thought they were really neat!

The "Journey to Atlantis" ride appeared to be getting the passengers too wet so we skipped that ride and went to the "Jewels of the Sea Aquarium". They had an aquarium inside that you walked over. Ellie was fascinated with it but didn't like it when the fish came too close to her feet and wanted to be carried over most of it.
Carl and Chad headed off to ride the "Kraken" next while Ellie, Rachel, Carson and I hung out and relaxed.


Next stop "Penguin Encounter". There was a moving walkway in front of the penguin exhibit and Ellie just loved it! She kept pointing to them and giggling. I think that was one of her favorite stops of the day. We then headed to the "Pacific Point Preserve" and saw the Sea Lions. They were really loud and quite interactive. We didn't buy any fish to feed them but stood by those who did so we could be part of the action.


We headed over to the "Sea Lion & Otter Stadium" for the "Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island" show. We experienced what happens when you do live shows with live animals...as Clyde and Seamore had a mind of their own throughout the show. The actors did great and played right along with them and made jokes with the audience the whole time...it really was a super fun time. Ellie loved it when the Sea Otter ran across the stage.
The night was approaching quickly and so was "Believe" - the Shamu show at "Shamu Stadium". As we were walking into the stadium Ellie fell asleep. She slept though the first half of the show then Carl and I decided that we had to wake her up. We knew she would enjoy the show and her quick power nap would recharge her enough to make it through the show and get home. She quickly was drawn to the large screens showing what was happening in the pool. Then one of the Shamus dove down in the water with its trainer and as soon as they shot out of the water Ellie started flapping her arms then yelled "WOW". The words couldn't get out as quick as her brain was working...sleepy little girl. After that she was wide-awake and watched the pool non-stop, clapped, giggled and smiled. She LOVED it!


We did a quick swing through "Wild Artic" to see the Polar Bears then headed out of the park. On the way out we had to cross a "lake" by way of a bridge. As soon as Ellie saw the water she yelled "Moo" (Ellie talk for Shamu). She wanted him to jump out of the lake. This continued across the entire bridge...it was very cute! It was a JAM PACKED day...but still loads of fun!

Day 5 - February 25: After such a busy day on Tuesday we decided to take Wednesday a little bit more relaxed. We woke up and had a leisurely morning and then headed down to the pool. To say Ellie had fun would be an understatement! She went swimming at the lake at my parent's house last summer but this was her first pool experience and she LOVED it. We were out there most of the morning. Then I took Ellie in after lunch at the pool and she took a nice LONG nap.







After naps we packed up and headed to Epcot for the rest of the day. First stop "Spaceship Earth".


Then a visit with the Fab 5.





Ellie was beside herself, again, and ran to each character full force. Each visit started with a hug, a picture, then telling her that her turn was up, then she had to give each of them a kiss. It was wonderful, sweet, cute and made every penny spent on the trip worth it!
The kids were ready for another adventure so we headed to "The Seas with Nemo & Friends". Ellie loved the ride and looking at the live fish swimming with all the characters from "Finding Nemo". We even had a pleasant surprise...as we were un-boarding our "clamobile" a dolphin swam right in front of us.

We headed to "Soarin" next. Thanks to the switch passes we were able to get on rather quickly. Rachel and I went first and then sent Carl and Chad. The kids enjoyed the magic jumping fountains while we took our turns. It was quite the adventure to see and smell all the sights as we "flew" across the country.
We were pretty hungry after that and headed to "Mexico" for dinner. As we ate our Mexican food, Ellie throughly enjoyed a churro and made quite the mess. It was now dark at Epcot but we still made our way around the "World Showcase". We made a quick stop in France at the "Boulangerie Patisserie" to pick up some authentic French pastries...delicious! It was now about 8:30pm and the kids were spent so we headed home. Another long...but fun day.