Disney Day 6: Epcot

First we went swimming at the pool. The kids went down the water slide at least 15 times each before heading back to Epcot for our final day at Disney. We went on Soarin' and The Seas with Nemo. We went to Turtle Talk with Crush, Journey into Imagination with Figment and Honey I shrunk the audience. We then started the Kim Possible missions. The kids were given a cell phone and told to find a clue in a country. They would go around the country and find the clues shown on the phone, when they found a clue something would light up, spin, etc. When they got to the last mission something bigger would happen, in Mexico the volcano exploded, in Germany a German girl chased the bad guy. We did four different countries before the cell phone was decommissioned (park closed). This was one of the kids' favorite activities, it also gave Mark and I a chance to stroll around the different countries while the kids were finding clues. The kids also were given masks and at each country they were given a different accessory for the mask that represented the country. In China, Japan, and Morocco they also showed the kids what their names look like in those languages. We doubt Valynn's is correct because they had never heard her name before but the Japanese lady could read Mason's name based on the Chinese spelling. It was another late night before we got back to the resort and then had to pack for home.

Disney Day 5: The Magic Kingdom Part 2

We went back to the Magic Kingdom. Valynn's hair held up through the night that she got to be a princess for a second day. This day we toured the Swiss Family treehouse, rode the Magic Carpets, went on the Jungle Cruise and rode the Pirates of the Caribbean. We did the Astro Orbiter, Tom Sawyer Island, Carousel of Progress, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (twice), Stitch's Great Escape, Monster's Inc., again and Splash Mountain (3 times), and Thunder Mountain Railroad (3 times). Can you tell what the favorite rides were?

Disney Day 4: The Magic Kingdom

The day started out with Valynn getting a new Cinderella dress and shoes and Mason getting a new Power Rangers shirt and Power Ranger sword. We then went to Downtown Disney where we looked around for awhile and then went to the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique where Valynn got her hair, nails, and make up done just like a princess and Mason was done up as a Cool Dude. We then headed to the Magic Kingdom where we road the train to Mickey's house where we got to meet Mickey and Minnie. We also went to Minnie's House and Donald's boat. We rode Goofy's Barnstormer and the kids got to drive a racecar at the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway. We also did the Mad Tea Party, Dubo, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Snow White's Scary Adventures, Cinderella's Golden Carrousel, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. We then went to Cinderella's Castle for supper at Cinderella's Royal Table. We met Cinderella, the mice, and the Fairy Godmother. The put on a little show and we had a wonderful meal. After supper we went to the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor before watching the Spectro Magic parade. What a wonderful parade of lighted floats and costumes. We had a great time watching. After the parade we did Peter Pan's flight and It's a small world before we watched the fireworks.

The kids had a great day. The whole day the Disney staff kept calling Valynn princess and other little girls would call her Cinderella.

Disney Day 3: Epcot

We started out a little later today and the first stop was the ride Soarin'. This was one of the favorites of the kids, when we were done we got fast passes to go again. After Soarin' our first stop of the afternoon was the Akerhus Castle in Norway for lunch with the Princesses. This was a great time to get to see four of the Princesses. They got their pictures taken with Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, and Sleeping Beauty. After lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon in Future World. We did Mission Space, Test track (3 times), The Seas with Nemo and Friends, Spaceship Earth and the Maelstrom. We had supper at the Nine dragons (China) and then watched the show Reflections of Earth. reflections of earth was a fireworks, laser light show which was wonderful.

Disney Day 2: Hollywood Studios and TRex cafe

We arrived at Hollywood Studios at opening time and scored Fast Passes to the Toy Story ride. We then went to Muppet Vision 3D, met Lightning McQueen and Mater, played in the Honey I shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure, and met the Power Rangers. We then went and did the Toy Story Ride (for the record I scored the most points). After lunch we watched Jedi training (Darth Vader showed up), went on the Star Towrs ride, and watched the Voyage of the Little Mermaid musical. It was then off to the TRex cafe. The TRex cafe was very cool, it had robotic dinosaurs, an ice cave that changed colors, a meteor shower every 20 minutes, and lot of fire.

Disney Day 1: Arrival and Animal Kingdom

We left our house at 3:30 in the morning on Sunday the 27th. We drove to Moline, Il to catch our flight. We had uneventful flights and arrived in Orlando around 11:30 EST. We took the Disney Express to our resort and checked in and was in the Animal Kingdom by 1:30 that afternoon. The first ride we went on was Expedition Everest and in retrospect, probably not the best idea. Valynn and Mason were fine on the ride until it stopped and started going backwards in complete darkness. After this ride Mason was hesitant to do another one, but he did. The next ride we did was the Kali River Rapids, again, not the best one to take Mason on right away. It was raining outside and we then got soaked on the ride. We then did the Maharajah Jungle Trek and Kilimanjaro Safari ride. We then rode Dinosaur, TriceraTop Spin, and watched the show It's Tough to be a Bug. We also got the watch the Jungle Parade, in the rain. The kids loved the colorful and goofy floats. We went back to the resort when the park closed, tracked down our luggage, changed out of the wet clothes and ate supper at the resort.

We're back...

I have decided to break down our trip by the days and what we did. Part of the reason is because it might be a few years before I get the scrapbooks done and want to remember what we all did. First off I have to start with a brag.

Kyra and Kyleigh were wonderful for Grandma and Grandpa (at least that's what I was told). They ate out every day, went shopping, and spent time together. One day while shopping an older lady gave the girls books and puzzles for being so well behaved. Way to go girls!

Valynn and Mason were quite the troopers on the trip. They were up early and went to bed late every night. There were a few complaints about being tired and they caught a ride on dad's shoulders whenever they could but they did very well. They waited patiently in line, were very well behaved.

We want to thank Grandma and Grandpa for taking the time to come down here and babysitting for us. It was nice to spend time with Valynn and Mason and so nice to not have to deal with nap times, diapers, tantrums, and the juggling act of dealing with different age groups. Playing man to man defense was easier than playing zone defense especially with a crowd of people.

Here is the link to all of the pictures.