Disney World 2009

We just got home last night and it was such a great time! We were given some time share points to spend by Steve's mom for Christmas, so we decided to use them up this year even though Cohen was still so little. We were supposed to go to Disneyland last December with my sister and her family, but with a bunch of crazy things going on with Steve's business, we had to cancel at the last minute and we were so sad. :( So, we decided to make up for it. There were not any places close to Disneyland where we could use these points, so Disney World it was! I was excited to go there because I hadn't been there before.

We stayed in a 3-bedroom condo there on a lake. It was so nice and roomy...
The morning after we arrived we went to the Magic Kingdom. The kids were amazed, I think. So much to do and see and they just wanted to do everything. We kept it short that day though because we were having family pictures that afternoon.
I was so excited to finally meet Courtney. She was as cute as can be and just as I thought she would be. Along with her cute little Grady, who is Kanyon's age. We had a great time with her! :)
The kids had a good time too as you can see from the picture. They were having so much fun, they wouldn't hold still for a picture. This is as good as it got. ;)
Monday morning, bright and early, we got to Magic Kingdom so we could get in line early to meet the "princesses". We heard that if you wait and don't go first thing, it could be hours. On our way to where they were, we ran into Cinderella's step mother and her step sisters. The kids got pictures with them and that started their desire (or I should say Scarlett's) to get a picture with every. single. character they saw. And that's mostly what I have photos of... just fair warning! ;)




We saw Mickey and Minne's Houses and when we went to get in line to meet Mickey at the end, we were shocked and happy to see that Minnie had joined him that day. That's not typical, so we were so glad!
Cohen slipped in this picture too. Minnie was brave enough to hold him for a picture. :)
Kanyon got to ride on this one rollercoaster that Scarlett was too little for, so while he and Steve did that, I took her and she picked something to get painted on her face. :) Why was I not surprised it was Cinderella? :) She looked cute and was as proud as punch all day long as people would comment on what a pretty princess she was.
We stayed late that night for the light parade and fireworks. The kids had such a good time. Scarlett's favorite color that the castle turned that night was pink, of course.
I took the following picture with my iPhone that night... not too bad for a little phone. :)
Here is a little video of the fireworks. One of my favorite features of my phone these days. So convenient.

We went to Hollywood Studios for a half day in the morning and didn't get much accomplished. We learned that you just have to go when it first opens if you've got little kids or you'll ride/see 2 things before you have to go home for naps. We did go back though for an evening and really enjoyed it that time. Steve and I even rode the Tower of Terror (separately of course) where you free fall in an elevator. So fun.
Kanyon's favorite was Toy Story Mania... you shot a gun at targets during the ride. He love it, but it was a LONG wait the 2 times we went on it. An hour the first and 45 minutes the second time... but you do what you have to do. ;) Luckily Mr. Potato head was there in the line to entertain. I think that was the worst our line waits got. In fact, most things were never more than a 15 minute wait and most things we walked on to. It was SO nice.
We went to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party on Tuesday night at the Magic Kingdom. But first we caught some dinner at the T-Rex Cafe in Downtown Disney. It came highly recommended by Courtney, and she was right! We ended up back there for a 2nd time before we left. The kids were mesmerized by the dinosaurs. Kanyon was actually kind of afraid at first, until we explained that they couldn't eat him. ;)
The Halloween Party was SO fun and there were no lines on any of the rides, so we did a ton of that along with trick or treating and meeting characters. The kids picked out their costumes the day before. Scarlett was Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and Kanyon was Peter Pan.
I think Scarlett did more coloring in her autograph book than anything else. We finally just had to tell the characters to sign wherever they could because she was an "artist". ;)

Peter Pan... he couldn't wait to meet Captain Hook! :)

And he got his chance! Right outside of Pirates of the Caribbean, there he stood with Mr. Smee. It was great. :) Kanyon walked away amazed that Captain Hook didn't try and "kill him" and was actually pretty nice. ;) Mr. Smee danced with Scarlett and she told me afterward that she "danced with that boy and he was funny".
Can't forget Jessie and Woody since that's what Kanyon and Scarlett were last year for Halloween.

We went to the Animal Kingdom the next day. They saw Terk, King Louis, and Baloo right away.

We rode a safari ride that the kids loved. And I took my SP for the week. ;)
Steve and I took advantage of the quick "single riders" line and each took a turn on Expedition Everest. It was a FUN rollercoaster. I caught a picture as Steve came down. He's on the right the 3rd row from the front in a red shirt. He claims he didn't know I was taking a picture, but....
Really? That's your face when you're coming down a drop on a rollercoaster??? ;) Here he is at 100% crop of the photo above.
The kids then saw Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger.


We went to the Festival of the Lion King show and Kanyon was chosen out of the audience to participate, so here are 2 videos of him. I think he was playing some kind of instrument... like a shaker or something. He looks so little... but so proud! :)


We originally weren't going to go to Epcot because we had heard that it was mostly for older kids, which I do agree... but there are some things that the kids really liked there so I'm glad we spent a half day there anyway.

The kids got to meet Mickey and Minnie again because they happened to be where you could meet Pluto, Donald Duck, and Goofy too... so we got pictures again. ;)



Goofy looks like he's flipping me off... and you know, maybe he was. I mean he's probably seen a ton of kids that day already. ;) I really think that was just his pointer finger in his mouth, but it sure doesn't look very nice!
On our last day we went back to the Magic Kingdom and spent about 40 minutes in line waiting to meet the "fairies". They were really cute!
As soon as Tinkerbell saw Cohen, she goes, "oh! and this little one is still in his cocoon!" It's so cute how they stay in character at all times. Kanyon told Tinkerbell that he saw her on TV in her movie and she asked him what a TV was. ;) He was hoping that she would sprinkle some pixie dust on him so he could fly.


And since Kanyon didn't get his face painted the day that Scarlett did, we let them do it again. Kanyon chose a "scary dragon". ;) Scarlett was a princess kitty. I think Kanyon thought he was invincible... he growled at all the skeleton pirates on the Pirates of the Caribbean and all the ghosts in the Haunted Mansion.
And, yes, the kids loved the Haunted Mansion. Kanyon wasn't so sure at first and really clung to my hand, but Scarlett was hilarious. As we were all walking into the "stretching room" she proceeded to make the biggest growling sound ever and everyone started laughing. ;) She's no scaredy-cat.

Cohen was there, promise. :) He just rode around in the baby bjorn the whole time. He was the best baby. Seriously he would just fall asleep when he was tired and enjoyed the sights when he was awake. The fireworks didn't scare him and he only fussed when he was hungry. We were so lucky because he could have made it so much harder to take this vacation. After all the packing around that I did though, I think an appointment to see the chiropractor and a massage is in order. :)
We saw Mary Poppins on Main Street.
By this time, Scarlett had sweated her face off. Literally. It was finally unrecognizable and I had to clean her up. It was hot there. 90 degrees and then humidity on top of that. Not what I really expected for late September/early October, but we didn't have rain, so I'm glad for that!
We saw a little bit of a parade and finally saw Snow White. Scarlett was in tears about not getting a picture with her though.



Luckily we saw Pinocchio and he helped Scarlett forget about Snow White. ;)
Our only family picture while there. I didn't even think about it, but a lady standing there insisted on taking the picture, so we were grateful! :)
Moments later in the car. :)
It was a fast week and the kids have just talked non-stop about it. We did everything we wanted to do, so I think it was a success. Steve and I have even talked about going back without the kids sometime. It would be a different trip for sure!

Glad to be back home now though and actually feeling like it's fall around here! :) I'm so excited for the cooler weather.

**I'm so sad about most of the pics... I didn't bring my flash because it's having issues and I need a new one... so I had to *make do* without. :P Bad time to forget the point and shoot too!