Tuesday, January 10, 2012

First Full Day: Fabulous Family Fun Day 2

Our first full day at Disneyworld was spent in Hollywood Studios.  We'd planned our trips to coincide with the early hours available at the parks we wanted to visit.  We were those crazy folks arriving onto the park grounds at about 6:30 each morning.  This was our first full day of play, and we probably stayed too long and did a bit too much because we were still learning the ropes.  However, it was a wonderful day.  It started WAY TOO EARLY with breakfast on the bed.  Alec could hardly keep his eyes open to eat his Hostess donuts and drink his milk.
Breakfast of champs.
 At the park, our first order of business was Star Tours and Padawan Training.  These two activities were the primary reasons why both boys wanted to visit this park.  Thanks to Fast Passes and an early park arrival, we were able to ride Star Tours a couple of times without waiting more than a couple of minutes in line.  I admit I love Star Wars almost as much as my boys, and the ride and the "training" were both awesome.  The boys used their gift cards to make their own lightsabors, so that was also very cool.

Star Tours

Making his own lightsabor.

The number one request for the day.

Alec with his handmade lightsabor.
 Padawan Training was great.  The boys were with a group of about 20 kids and they were given training on how to be jedi knights.  Everything was going well until...
Uh-oh...evil arrives.

Seriously freaky looking character.  Darth Maul has always given me the heebie jeebies.
 Alec was awesome.  He was the next-to-last kid who got to fight Darth Vador and when he went onstage he said in this awesome tough guy voice, "I'm not afraid of the Dark Side!"  It was priceless.  Sooooo wish I would have thought to record video. 
Alec battling Darth Vador.
 Zach was equally awesome.  He had some fancy footwork and the Jedi Knight training him actually had to pull him off of Darth Maul.  :-)
Zach battling Darth Maul.
 After the Star Wars morning of events we enjoyed the rest of the park.  These guys were a hit.
The family with Phineas and Ferb. 
 The Buzz Lightyear ride was a wonderful blessing. We didn't have fast passes for the ride because we'd spent so much time with the Star Wars stuff, but as we walked through the park a nice man came up to us and handed me his fast passes for the ride.  He had three of them and wasn't going to stay long enough to use them.  So the boys and I got to do Buzz Lightyear!  It was fun. We were all so blessed by the fast pass gifting that we did it later on in our visit at another park.
Outside of the Buzz Lightyear ride.  Loved this guy!

Starting to get a bit tired.  It was about 5 p.m. and we were waiting on our dinner reservation time of 5:30.
 We had dinner in the park at Mama Ristorante, which was really yummy, and when we finished eating it was time for the Christmas lights.  Wow is all I can really say.  They were breathtaking.
Osborne Lights.  So incredible!

This was the response from all of us.
 About twelve hours after arriving at the park (yes, I said that), we headed back to the hotel.  Before we left, I bought my two tired boys the requisite "ears."
Zach wanted Donald Duck.

Alec, naturally, chose Goofy.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Fantastic Family Fun: Disneyworld Post 1

Alec and I right before we got in the car to leave for Disneyworld.
Two super excited boys!
Fantastic Family Fun: Post #1

We began our drive to Orlando on December 17.  After about a year of planning and talking about it, I think the boys were in that place where surreal and real merge.  Alec couldn't believe that the time had FINALLY arrived.  We drove a little more than half-way and spent the night in Georgia.  On Sunday, December 18, we checked into our Coronado Springs Resort hotel in the afternoon and a few hours later we entered Magic Kingdom for the first time.  We had tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, which began when regular park hours ended.


My sweeties with me in front of the castle.
I debated on whether we should spend the extra money on those tickets, and I am SO glad that we splurged.  It was such a great first look at Disneyworld.  Crowds were not bad, plus we got to see the parade and the park all lit up at night.  It was great!
Our first Disney Activity was the Christmas Party on Dec 18th.  We arrived in the park at about 5 p.m.
This was the response when we arrived at Magic Kingdom.
My wonderful boys.
Our first show was Mickey's PhilHarmagic.  LOVED it.  Zach was trying to look tough, but he loved it too.  :)

We did the Haunted Mansion AT NIGHT, and I was a bit concerned about how Alec would handle the scariness.  He did great, and actually told me to take this picture.

This was our first ride.  Can you tell that Zach is a wee bit excited?

The parade was AMAZING.  I loved it!

Who can resist the seven little people?

Love those kiddos.

Pretty.



End of day one.  This was taken by Alec.  It is one of my favorite pictures!


Good F words

Hey! Not all F words are bad. The best words in the world are family, fun, food, and fabulous! I'm challenging myself to expand my own appreciation of the fabulous F words out there. I'm starting a list of words that I'll eventually write about. Let me know if you think of another fun one.



Family ~ Father ~ Fast ~ Fanatic ~ Fanciest ~ Festive ~ Fanciful ~ Freedom ~ Friday ~ Flower ~ Flagrant ~ Fixable ~ Forceful ~ Forbidden ~ Foray ~ Foppish ~ Fledgling ~ Frappacino ... hmmm... maybe ?