Day 6: Thursday

Disney's Typhoon Lagoon was a big hit with Jay and the girls.

I'm still not big on water parks but they love it so I must endure.

They had the biggest wave pool. It had huge waves that really could knock you down.

The video or pictures I took really doesn't do it justice.


Rebecca loved swimming with the waves.

Before we went snorkeling at one of the islands, we took a trial run at it at the Shark Reef. You donned the snorkel gear and immersed yourself with sharks and tropical fish. The water was a snappy 68 degrees. Emily had to be pulled to the end by the lifeguard. That was actually before I even made it in the water. I started to hyperventilate when I put the mask on. If you've never done it, it's not as easy as it looks. I'm not a strong swimmer either and they put me in a 8-10 ft. deep tank with sharks!

Em is always willing to try something new.

Jay took the video as I was having a difficult enough time just making it to the other side.




Above is a photo of the Shark Reef.
I spent plenty of time in the Castaway Creek while Jay took the girls to ride all the rides Emily was tall enough for.

Then I sat in the chair on the man-made beach and read while Emily played in the sand. That was when Jay and Bec hit the other rides.
It was a pretty relaxing day for me as I spent most of it in the chair reading.

Sorry there isn't more pictures.

More Pictures of Magic Kingdom

view of the castle by Splash Mountain while having the

Year of a Million Dreams Show

Rebecca refuses to ride this due to the fact that she *might* get a bit wet

Jay and Emily are in the last row

Enjoying Minnie's house

Enterance to Mickey's house

The beginning of the Haunted Mansion ride is above.

This attraction is a favorite for all of us.

So glad there wasn't any wait and we were able to ride it twice.

See ya real soon

Day 7: Friday

Since I can't upload the pictures from day 6: Typhoon Lagoon, I thought I'd skip ahead to Friday.

We are now in the habit of scheduling character dining each time we go to Florida. Out of each one we've been to, breakfast at Epcot was definitely the best.

We started the day off by seeing a bunch of hot air balloons flying in the sky. We were staying right outside of Champions Gate. If you ever visit the Champion's Gate Daily Photo (link to the right), you'll see several posts of hot air balloons. I was excited to see them up close and personal.

We headed over to the Grand Floridian for a character breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. It is an absolutely stunning resort.

Besides the normal breakfast foods, they also had a kid station set up with ice cream, gummy's, m&m's, and chocolate chips. Rebecca was in heaven having ice cream for breakfast! Emily barely ate any of the desserts, opting for the Mickey waffles and fresh fruit.

Here are the characters we were able to see and take pictures with:

Alice in Wonderland

The Mad Hatter " A very unhappy birthday to you"

A non favorite Pooh- I told Rebecca to just grin and bear it!

Another not so well liked character, Tigger.
And lastly but certainly not least, Mary Poppins.

After breakfast we wandered around the resort and then headed over to Downtown Disney. We had the girls wait until the end of the trip to purchase what they wanted. In the end, Emily got some scrapbooking hole punches where Rebecca walked away empty handed. She couldn't find anything worthwhile so instead of getting something just because, she chose nothing. This girl knows how to not waste her Daddy's well earned money.

Jay enjoyed goofing around with the hats that had hair.

The week we were there, this T-Rex place had it's grand opening.

It's a very cool knock off of The Rain Forest Cafe.

They even had a Build a Bear Dinosaur store in there. We didn't eat there as we had other things to do but it was neat to be there during the roaring/storm part. If you've ever eaten at Rainforest Cafe, you'll know what I mean.

Emily enjoyed digging up dinosaur bones.

Rebecca loves the Lego store. She could spend hours putting little creations together.

I'm thinking that might be a good birthday or Christmas present for her.
After Downtown Disney, we hit the Outlet Mall, Walmart, had dinner and then packed up for our much anticipated Disney cruise.

Vacation Pictures are Delayed

For all of those that have asked to see pictures from the cruise, please be patient as I get them uploaded onto the computer and sort through them. We used 2 different cameras while on vacation and Jay has one of the memory card readers in his laptop. His laptop is with him in Yorktown. Once I get everything uploaded and I get the girls back into the swing of things (school), I'll put the good ones up for all to see.

Day 5: Wednesday

Straight ahead: Magic Kingdom

We had the great perk of Diamond Parking, being that we are AAA members.

What does this mean? We were able to park up with the handicap section therefore forgoing the need to a tram.

I p refer taking the ferry over to MK because I enjoy the excitement of seeing the castle get closer and closer. Everyone else prefers the monorail. The girls wanted to sit in the front of the monorail with the driver and surprisingly, there wasn't a wait for that special seat.
Notice the lack of people in the background???

Rebecca couldn't wait to get started her pin trading for the day.

We got to go on a family favorite, The Haunted Mansion. Get this, we were able to ride this two times in a row with absolutely no wait at all.

Below is It's a Small World~ another ride we were able to just walk right up to and ride.

Flight of Peter Pan

the parade:

We took over 250 pictures this day. It's going to take me awhile to continue to sort though them. If I get the chance, I'll post a few more tomorrow. If not, you'll just have to wait until after the cruise. Be sure to check back later!