2nd Annual Holiday World Trip

We took our second annual trip to Holiday World in July!

It is a quick trip - we leave at six am on Wednesday morning and get home around midnight Thursday!  I am so blessed to have a husband that can drive while I sleep in the van!

We love this park. . . the free soft drinks (we fuel up on lemonade), the free sun screen, the water park!!  The park is so clean, it amazes me!

We enjoyed Holiday World rides both days before and after going to Splashin' Safari.

The old car ride is one of the kids favorites; I had a really hard time pushing the pedal down for Sarah or maybe I just wanted her to drive slower . . .not sure which, but she was getting a little frustrated with me!

Both of the kids wanted to ride the scrambler ride, but Daddy doesn't care for rides that go in circles.  You can barley see the kids in the picture, but Caleb is sitting on my left and Sarah on the right.  I was laughing so hard I was crying!  The kids loved it!  Caleb kept screaming "wahoo, wahoo" and Sarah was just screaming . . .

The kids did great at waiting in line this year - what a difference one year makes!

We went with our wonderful friends, which makes all the difference in the world!

  The kids enjoy all the rides involving water. . . the slides, the bumper boats or just standing in the water!

Darren, Caleb & I were waiting on everyone else to ride the Mammoth, so we stayed in the kiddie pool by the frog slide - the boys had a great time playing together!

They were racing each other down the Zebra slides. . .  at one point they even tried to ride the Zebras!

Brandon, Mike and the boys enjoyed the wave pool

and the carousel. . .

but I got to enjoy the eagle ride (because it goes in circles)!!

Here's the gang all ready to go. . . don't they look excited!

Good thing I got this picture in the morning and not at the end of the day!

Oops, almost forgot this beautiful picture. . . at least I was in a couple pictures this year!

It was a great adventure and we can't wait for next year!!!

Rides, rides and more rides!!!

Here is a list of rides we went on each day . . . in no particular order; I just wanted to have a record of which rides we all rode on!

Magic Kingdom (Day #1):
  Splash Mountain
  Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
  Tom Sawyer Island
  Jungle Cruise
  Country Bear Jamboree
  Pirates of the Caribbean
  Swiss Family Tree House
  Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade

Magic Kingdom (Day #2):
  Crystal Palace Breakfast with Winnie the Pooh characters
  Cosmic Rays Starlight Cafe 
  Peter Pan's Flight
  It's a Small World
  The Haunted Mansion
  The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
  Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
  Mickey's Philharmagic
  Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride
  The Tiki Room
  Goofy's Barnstormer

Epcot:
  Le Cellier Steakhouse
  Illuminations (the evening light show)
  Soarin
  Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Cabelleras
  Maelstrom
  The American Adventure Show
  O Canada! Film
  Living with the Land
  Journey into Imagination with Figment
  The Circle of Life
  The Seas with Nemo & Friends
  Turtle Talk with Crush
  Ellen's Energy Adventure

Animal Kingdom:
  Tusker House Restaurant
  Mickey's Jammin Jungle Parade
  Killimanjaro Safari Expedition
  Festival of the Lion King
  Maharajah Jungle Trek
  Kali River Rapids
  It's Tough To Be A Bug
  Finding Nemo the Musical
  The Boneyard
  Discovery Island Trails

Hollywood Studios:
  Hollywood & Vine Restaurant
  Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun Parade
  Toy Story Mania
  Voyage of the Little Mermaid
  Studio Backlot Tour
  Beauty & the Beast Live Show
  Muppet 3D
  Walt's Life Movie
  The Great Movie Ride

Disney World Favorites

After we got home, unpacked & washed all the laundry I sat down and was asking the kids about their favorite Disney rides, restaurants, etc.  Here are their answers:

Favorite Rides @ Magic Kingdom (Day 1):
     Brandon:  Splash Mountain
     Laura:  Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
     Sarah:  Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Jungle Cruise
     Caleb:  Swiss Family Tree House

Favorite Rides @ Magic Kindgom (Day 2):
     Brandon:  Mickey's Philharmagic
     Laura:  Mickey's Philharmagic
     Sarah:  Mickey's Philharmagic and Peter Pan's Flight
     Caleb:  Goofy's Barnstormer      

Favorite Rides @ Epcot (Day 3):
     Brandon:  Soarin
     Laura:  Soarin
     Sarah:  Soarin and Turtle Talk with Crush
     Caleb:  Character Greeting with the Fab Five (Mickey, Pluto, Minnie, Donald & Goofy)

Favorite Rides @ Animal Kingdom (Day 4):
     Brandon:  Killimanjaro Safari Expedition
     Laura:  Kali River Rapids
     Sarah:  Kali River Rapids and Finding Nemo the Musical
     Caleb:  Kali River Rapids

Favorite Rides @ Hollywood Studios (Day 5):
     Toy Story Mania was everyones favorite!!!
     Sarah:  Walt's Life Movie Presentation
     Caleb:  Muppet 3D

Favorite Places to Eat:
     Brandon & Laura: LeCellier Steakhouse @ Epcot
     Sarah & Caleb:  Hollywood & Vine @ Hollywood Studios

Favorite Snack:
     Brandon: Pineapple slush
     Laura:  Mickey Mouse Pretzels
     Sarah:  Mickey Mouse Ice Cream
     Caleb: EVERYTHING

Favorite Park:
     Brandon:  Epcot
     Laura:  Magic Kingdom
     Sarah:  Animal Kingdom
     Caleb:  Magic Kindgom

Cocoa Beach

Cocoa Beach!!!

This was the perfect way to end a Disney World Vacation!

The kids loved the beach and the waves;

Brandon and I loved relaxing with the family!

We ate a Coconuts on the Beach;

the shrimp was awesome . . . Sarah loves shrimp and I found out the next day that Caleb loves Mahi-mahi!

This is how we enjoyed spending time at the beach:

(above is one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip)

The kids wanted to "surf" like Daddy & Uncle Jason, so

Brandon took them out and let them ride on some small waves.

They loved it!  They were naturals!!

They also enjoyed sitting on the boards waiting for the waves to crash into them.

This activity made me a little nervous because they were laughing so hard they could barely stand back up after getting knocked over!

My surfers. . .

Love this family. . .

Sarah's perfect sand castle; she made this one all by herself!

We took a quick shopping trip at Ron Jon's;

the kids were practicing their "real surfing."

We also spent some time at Jetty Park and saw a lot of sea turtles.

After a few attempts, Brandon got the perfect picture!

A path walking to the beach at Jetty Park.

Enjoying the pier, talking to the fishermen, looking for sea turtles and

enjoying the sun!

Overall this was one of the best favmily vacations!

The kids loved Disney, meeting the characters, the beach, the waves . . .

but most importantly we loved having our family with us.

This is a wonderful memory we can all share for many years to come!

always

Hollywood Studios - Day 5

Our final day at Disney World was spent at Hollywood Studios.

The weather was overcast which cooled the temperature a little;

this is the only day it rained, but only for a little while.

And like a good boyscout, we were prepared!  Well, everyone except Grandpa Ken . . he gave away his rain poncho to someone after riding the Kali River Rapid yesterday.  He took Caleb's poncho and we made a quick dash back to the hotel just in time to catch the bus to the airport after a quick bite to eat at the resort.

My favorite ride was the Toy Story ride!  It was in 3D and it was so fun!

Caleb just loved the glasses!

You sit in these bench type seats with a cannon in front of you and you shoot balls at your targets; everything is in 3D and your seat is moving the entire time, so your targets are always changing, but all themed to the Toy Story movie!  It was so much fun!

We also saw Beauty & the Beast on stage - it was really good!  However, Sarah said her favorite was watching a movie about Walt's Life!  We also enjoyed The Great Movie Ride - I think Caleb loved all the close up action!  Speaking of action, the Behind the Scene tour was really cool - we especially like Catastrophe Canyon.  It is unbelievable all the cool special effects that are put into movies!

We had lunch at Hollywood & Vine, which was a character lunch.

We met Special Agent Oso, June from Little Einsteins, Jake from Jake & the Neverland Pirates,

and of course. . . . Handy Many!

We got a quick picture right before leaving of all our Handymen!!

Next stop. . . Cocoa Beach!!!

Animal Kingdom - Day 4

Animal Kingdom was scheduled for Day #4 and we were up early to get there just as the park was opening!  I was so glad we made the extra effort because we were one of the first groups of people to go on the Kilimanjaro Safari!

We were all on the lookout for the animals!

We saw tigers, rhinos, an ostrich, giraffe and a lot more that I cannot remember right now!

The ostrich was in the middle of the road and we had to wait for it to ever so slowly move out of the road so our jeep could pass!  I couldn't believe how big it was!

We not only saw animals, but this really cool tree.

I don't remember the type, but I thought it was beautiful.

This giraffe was so cool - - he was just standing there beside our jeep - - he was close enough to touch!

We took a train ride out to the conservation station which housed the vet clinic for all the animals.

While we were there, the vet was operating on a bird and it was being broad casted outside the operating room on a tv.  The vet was explaining what he was doing and you could see through the glass walls and watch everything!  Sarah loved it - - she was mesmerized!  I think she stood there for more than 20 minutes!

Sarah couldn't even be torn away to meet Rafiki!

Caleb got to meet him though!  So cool!

 We also got to see a really neat parade with all our favorite characters!  They were all dressed in jungle attire too!  The park closed at 8 pm, so we spent the evening back at the hotel swimming with the kids.  Uncle Jason even taught Sarah how to swim using strokes! 

Then we went and looked around the new Art of Animation resort, which was stunning!

The two sections we saw were themed for Cars and Finding Nemo.  Cars is definitely one of our family favorite movies!  On a ski trip we took when Sarah was 3 years old I think she watched the movie about tem times!! 

It was a great way to end a busy day! The kids were so tired they fell right asleep!!!