A brief Disney recap

Our bags are unpacked and we have quickly adjusted back to life at home. I don't know how on earth I can paraphrase our entire vacation at Disney in one post, so I thought I'd hit on a few highlights through a bunch of pics and talk a little about each.

Below is our home away from home for the week. We stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort. It was decorated with southern charm and was located on the scenic Sassacola River. Boat rides were available and we took advantage of this on Sunday when we visited Downtown Disney for a couple hours. The resort was lovely and had so many activities on site that we were unable to enjoy due to time limitations. We did use one of their 7 pools everyday though.


After we unpacked we head out to the Magic Kingdom. This was our favorite park and we visited it three days during our stay. One of my goals for this trip was to get a family pic in front of the castle. This is my current favorite pic of the fam.

Isn't this Mickey grass portrait amazing? Had to capture this before we entered.

The food at Disney was fabulous! The meal plan we purchased included a dessert with every meal. And I'm talking eye-opening, jaw-dropping, salivating-producing desserts! I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I ate more in this week than I normally do in one month! Boy do I need to dust off my running shoes... The extra pounds I brought back with me were not exactly on my souvenir list!! This is a Rice Krispie treat with ears dipped in chocolate - one of the lowest calorie desserts I indulged in. Did I mention a dessert came with every meal?

Our kids are not thrill seekers by any stretch of the imagination and were very apprehensive to board any ride. We had to assure them that it was not too fast or scary about 100 times as we approached every boarding area. After we rode it they were thrilled with it and so proud to have ridden it. Here is Chris in front of one of his favorites, Big Thunder Mountain.

Chris and Jacob with Buzz Lightyear... He was standing outside of the Buzz Lightyear ride which was so cool! It was an interactive ride / game that kept track of points accrued as you shot at the targets in the ride. Very cool.

What trip to the Magic Kingdom would be complete without meeting the big mouse himself? Chris was especially excited to meet Mickey.

ECPOT was a very long, hot day. Usually we split up our days so we could return to our resort to swim and rest in the heat of the day, but we did not do that on this particular day. Since we spent the entire day and because everything is so spread out in this park we decided to rent a stroller for Jacob. Here are the kids standing in front of the ride Mission: Space which simulates an astronaut's ride to Mars. Thankfully we rode the less intense version, which was still pretty intense! We also enjoyed the rides Soarin' and Test Track at this park. Joe and I returned to EPCOT another day alone for a few hours when we utilized one of the children's activity centers for babysitting. They had a great time - and so did we.

I was taken by the beautiful landscaping everywhere in Disney! The kids, not so taken...

We saw lots of 3D movies in all of the parks. These are 3D glasses, not sunglasses!

We spent one day at Hollywood Studios. This park had a lot of cool things to see and do. The evening show, Fantasmic, was awesome!

Animal Kingdom was a beautiful park also. In the distance of this shot is their newest roller coaster, Expedition Everest. Joe and I would have liked to ride it, but as I mentioned the kids are not into coasters.

A shop at Downtown Disney where the kids each bought a pair of cute Crocs that have mouse ears rather than round circles on the top of them.

We were all exhausted at the end of every day. On this night we were fortunate to get a seat on the bus ride home rather than standing, and it did not take long for the little ones to fall asleep.

I am so thankful that our family was able to go on this trip. It was a tremendous blessing and I will cherish the memories in my heart forever... I'll never forget their faces as they watched the Spectromagic parade in the Magic Kingdom, their excitement after riding their first roller coaster, and their joy in going swimming late at night. I'll cherish the sweetness of Chris who wanted to hold my hand every second we were there, the delightful giggles from Jacob who laughed hysterically at "old" Disney cartoons, and the affectionate way Matt would take my arm and place it around him as we walked through the parks. The children were the perfect ages to enjoy this trip, and I am so thankful we were able to go and enjoy our stay.