Olive Oil: Our Magical Disney Vacation

A few years ago, my dad and mom decided to take Alexandra to Disney. They promised the younger grandkids that they would take them all a few years later when they got a bit bigger. So me, trying to be helpful,offered to help them w/ this excursion..hehe.. sly I know. They thought that would be a good idea as they knew it would be a lot to handle 3 kids by themselves. I thought.. hmm.... I can never get enough of Florida. As weeks passed, Angela offered her services so Helena and her were added to the itinerary. A few weeks later, Michael and Patrick were asked to join us for a quick trip of 4 days since they weren't able to miss much work. Our trip became one BIG family vacation and what a great time we had!

(in front of the castle)

Sarah, Mom, and Angela

Isabel, Addison, YiaYia, Alexandra, Helena, & Papoo

esides the guys, we stayed in Florida for 7 days. My parents managed to find one awesome house for us all to shack up in. We all had our own bedrooms and bathrooms.. yay! Also included was one fabulous pool, a hot tub, game room equipped w/ a pool table, air hockey table, and lg flat screen tv w/ surround sound. Can't beat that! We wish we would have had more time to just lounge around the house and enjoy the amenities.. however our week was far from lounging around!

The Meraklis Clubhouse

Princess Suite

Race Car Room

Party in the Jacuzzi

Our first full day, we hit Magic Kingdom. When you think Disney World.. you think Magic Kingdom. We really had no idea what we were up against with 4 kids, no naps, 1 stroller, no plans, backpacks to carry, coolers to carry, etc. Around midday kids were whining, then crying, then screaming and kicking histarically (need I mention name... uh umm Isabel), 4 of us carrying coolers- backpacks- and kids back and forth across a massive park. Not fun! The parks at Disney are huge. You probably couldn't go to everything in even 3 days, much less 1 day w/ screaming kids and too much to carry. The one thing we did have the right idea on was packing lunch. Tickets alone for the park were $75 a day.. you could only imagine how quick you could become broke after buying $5 waters and expensive lunches! We ended our day much earlier then we had anticipated.. however we figured we'd be prepared the next day by putting kids to bed early!

The Crew

train ride to take us to the other side of the park

Princess Alexandra on the Merry Go Round

1000s of Princess pics.. i'll spare u w/ just 1!

Girls getting pumped up for the race

Thursday we decided to go to MGM Studios, the park we thought we'd like the least and thought the guys wouldn't mind missing. To our amazement, I would rate this park as being at the top of my list. We still had not understood the importance of mapping out the rides and shows we'd try to hit that day, as not all rides are kid oriented, shows were only held a few times a day, and the rides are very far apart. Kids were in much better shape. We made mad dashes from 1 side of the park to the other trying to hit shows in time.. some of the shows we did see.. Mickey's playhouse, an amazing.. can I say amazing car stunt show, a broadway grade Beauty and the Beast play, Pirate of the Carribean Adventure, a Ride through the history of movies, A Bugs Life 3-D show, and more. Every park has a parade with all of the characters.. this one was the pry the most amazing. There were acrobats on spring shoes doing CRAZY stunts singing and dancing.. fabulous!

stunt show

Honey I Shrunk the Kids Play Ground

In Front of the Set

MGM Group Shot

Beauty and the Beast Play

Beginning to get the point - 1 rented double stroller by days end

You hear the expression "A picture can say a thousand words". Words cannot even begin to give The Animal Kingdom the justice it deserves!! Every experienced Disney goer recommended The Animal Kingdom.. I now know why. This place is unbelievable! Yes, they have the usual zoo-like/ aquarium exhibits. For us who grew up going to the National Aquarium or the Baltimore Zoo several times a year, these exhibits did not even phase us. Not to worry, there was much much more!

Our daily tram ride.. no kiddos on the ends

Breathtaking views no matter where you were in the park

A normal chow time - adults ate while kids watched the parade stroll right by

Animal Kingdom Parade

Parade continued..

Parade continued..

Somebody needs to eat their Wheaties.. hehe

Cool huh? Waiting for the Mermaid 3D show

Mad dash in attempts to make it to the next show!

Finding Nemo Puppetry Musical

Yet another train to take us across the park.. hmm not smart to put the two of them together

tired..

On the Kilimanjaro Safari ride, we were able to climb aboard an open sided safari vehicle to watch animals roam freely about the savannah, rivers, and rocky hills. Let me tell you, it was a strange feeling not having a fence between us and the Lion, Rhinos, and other wild life! We even aided the park in catching a poacher!

Safari continued.. giraffe behind Helena's head

Lion King Show was the final show of the day. It consisted of singers, dancers, robotic animals, and acrobats. This show was better than any circus i've ever been too. What a way to end the day!

Acrobatic monkey from the Lion King Show

Fire breathing..

Revisiting the Magic Kingdom..

We had the opportunity to go back with the guys to one park and so we chose the Magic Kingdom. Due to our inexperience on the first day and lack of planning, we decided we needed to make good w/ the Magic Kingdom. There are only a few amusement park type rides.. the only ones you see on tv (tea cups, dumbo, and magic carpet ride) and we had not even had the chance to get on those. In case you're wondering, a majority of the rides are what I would compare to the Chocolate World in Hershey. You sit on a train type ride and ride through a story. At Disney, there are tons of robots, lights, illusions, etc.This visit was so much better. We had everything planned out and hit a ton of rides and shows!

when exiting, the castle changes colors every few seconds.. sort of like Princess Aurora's dress in Sleeping Beauty

On a mission

snow white ride

kids attempting pull out the sword from the stone - just in case ur wondering, it remained stuck in the stone even after our departure

meeting the princesses - this was Addison's favorite part - he really knew how to win them over

It's a Small World Ride

the famous tea cups.. I really thought I was gonna lose it on this spinny ride.. ehh!

Epcot was the last park we visited. We only had a few hours to spend there since we had to get the guys to the airport. It was the least interesting place for the kids. The theme covers different countries of the world and different terrains. We did take the trip into space (the ride in the big silver ball) and the kids loved it. They all really think we ventured into outerspace! They also really liked seeing the different fish in the aquariums and interacting w/ Crush, the animated turtle from Nemo.