Disney World-Day 2

 

Friday, January 18th was our first full day at Disney World.  We were up early, got ready and took the bus to Disney's Hollywood Studios.  I think this is everyone's second favorite of the four Disney theme parks.  As soon as the park opened, we headed for the most popular ride in this park-Toy Story Midway Mania. 

 

Toy Story Midway Mania

After Toy Story, we headed for the two biggest rides in the park-Rock N' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror.  Riley was too small for Rock N' Roller Coaster but surprised us all by agreeing to go on Tower of Terror.  She ended riding everything she was tall enough for the entire trip.  She would sometimes be scared during the ride (even cried a couple of times) but would get off and want to ride again.  Ha!  She names the big rides as some of her favorite things in Disney World.



Rock n' Roller Coaster



Tower of Terror



Tower of Terror
 

 

We headed back and rode Toy Story Midway Mania again and then met the stars of Toy Story-Buzz and Woody.

Buzz and Woody

I doubt that I can remember everything from here on in the right order but some of the highlights from the rest of the day included meeting The Wreck it Ralph, The Incredibles, and Monsters Inc. characters, taking a couple of rides on Star Tours, watching the Little Mermaid show, seeing Muppet Vision 3D, riding Studio Backlot Tours and the Great Movie Ride, watching American Idol and taking an animation class.

Wreck It Ralph and Vanelope

Mike and Sully from Monsters, Inc.

Frozone and Mr. Incredible from the Incredibles




Pluto drawings from animation class

We ended our day by watching "Fantasmic"-the evening show that involves characters, lasers and fireworks.  The show ended at park closing time.  We had eaten lunch and had a snack at the park but were now very hungry for dinner.  We took the bus back to the resort, ate in the food court and called it a night.  It was a great first park day, and we were looking forward to visiting Animal Kingdom the next morning.

Disney World-Day 1

We left for Disney World on Thursday, January 17th.  The younger three stayed home from school that day.  Cole had two semester exams to take.  We picked him up from school at 11:00 a.m. and headed straight for the Dayton airport.  



Riley's first airplane ride

  Unfortunately, we couldn't get a direct flight.  We flew to Atlanta, had an hour layover there and then on to Orlando.  Once we arrived in Orlando, we collected our luggage and headed for the Magical Express (the Disney bus that takes you to the resort).  We were all so excited. 



on the Magical Express

  We were staying at Disney's Art of Animation resort.  This resort had only opened a few months before our arrival.  We had seen many pictures online and were looking forward to seeing it in person.  It did not disappoint.



our resort

 

 After checking in, we were off to see our room.  We were staying in the Cars section of the resort.  The buildings in our section were themed like the Cars movie inside and out.  In fact, the outside was so well themed that you actually felt like you had been plopped down right in the middle of the movie.

 

Cars section

view from our room

the pool in the Cars section

Luigi

Lightning McQueen and Sally

Tow Mater

 

our room

our room



our room

our room

our room
 

 

 

We were all starving and went to the food court at the resort for dinner.  We were lucky enough to get a special for free dining during our trip which included two meals and a snack per person each day.  After dinner, we looked around the three other sections of the resort.  There is a Finding Nemo section with the main pool, a Lion King section and a Little Mermaid section.  The resort is huge.  So huge, in fact, that we never made it back to the Little Mermaid section again after that first night.  After seeing it all, we were very happy with the section we chose and the location we were in.  We were close to the cafeteria and the Disney bus stop. (The buses take you to and from the parks each day.)

Finding Nemo section

Pool in the Finding Nemo section

Pool in the Finding Nemo section

Finding Nemo section

 

Finding Nemo section
 

Lion King section



Little Mermaid section

 

After all the walking around, it was late.  We were tired from a long day of traveling.  We made it back to our room, unpacked and went to bed looking forward to our first full day at Disney World.

Oh Dear, Another Year

My birthday came and went without any big bang this year. It fell on a Monday. Between working late and Riley's ballet, I knew there wouldn't be much time for celebration. We had birthday brownies (and ice cream) the night before. 41! I don't think I will ever get used to being in my 40s. I try to keep it all in perspective and remember it isn't this world we are living for anyway. Just trying to make every day count.


    

Frosty Fun

We got a couple more inches of snow the morning of December 30th.  The kids had been under the weather the last few days with the flu.  They were feeling better today and wanted to go back outside to play.  Our original plan was to make a snow family with one snow man to represent each of us. We quickly discovered that our plan would have to change.  The snow was light and fluffy and would not pack.  We had to get some water and make the snow wet just to pack enough together for one small snowman. After multiple costume changes later, we were able to represent our family in snow!

Steve-"The Window Cleaner"

Jana-"The Beach Lover"

Cole-"The Drummer"

Trent-"The UD Fan"

Reed-"The Baseball Player"

Riley-"The Princess"

I guess it really wasn't a "Once in a Lifetime Experience"

I entered the contest again this year for courtside tickets at a UD basketball game.  The entire reason for entering was so I could take Cole this time.  I didn't think it was possible, but I won again!  We were really excited.  Unfortunately, the game was the same day as the Suchland Christmas party.  We decided that we had time to go for the first half before heading to New Bremen.  We got to the arena early and enjoyed watching them warm up.  The Flyers were playing Murray State-a team that has had a lot of success already this season as well as the last couple of years.  The Flyers hung tough though.  They were down by a couple of points when we left.  We were glad to be able to pass our tickets off to one of Alex's friends and his wife so they could enjoy the seats for the second half.  We listened to the rest of the game on the drive home and to New Bremen.  The Flyers won!  Go UD! 

 

 

Snow Much Fun!

Well, we didn't have a white Christmas, but the day after Christmas brought a blizzard to the area. We roughly received about 8 inches of snow over the course of the day. With wind gusts up to 40 mph and white out conditions, I made the decision to stay home. When the snow was winding down, Riley began to ask to go out and play. Reed was napping, so we bundled up and headed out. Because it was SO cold, we were only out about a half hour, but we had a blast.  We even made Riley's first snow man.  Ha!  I got her inside with promises to come back out after Reed was awake.

Several hours later, Reed was begging to go out but Riley was fast asleep.  Steve and I took Reed out for a while.  It wasn't long before we saw Riley looking out the back window pouting.  We bundled her back up and enjoyed the snow for a while together.  Steve even built them a snow fort.  After a mild winter last year with no snow, it was great that the kids got to experience it again.