July 2007 - Orlando, Florida

Choose from the menu below to view some of the photos from our trip.  I didn't include all the photos...mainly just the ones with the kids.  There are many more photos of characters, parades, shows, etc... that you'll have to come to our house for a visit to see them all :p

Read some of the details from our trip :

We took our first official family vacation this year.  This was the first time all six of us traveled by airplane and went on a vacation.  We spent 9 days in Orlando, Florida and every day we were doing some sort of activity.  We needed a vacation after the vacation!  One thing I know for sure, we will never go to Florida in July again! At least not when we plan to go to any theme parks.  It was so hot and humid!  We had planned the vacation back when Ken was working and he had vacation time in July.  Otherwise we would have gone earlier or later in the year.  My parents went along which allowed us to enjoy some of the bigger rides with Blake and Andrew.  Every thing went smoothly and there were no problems with anything.  We stayed World Quest Resort which just opened in the Fall of 2006 and was gorgeous.  I had read tons of reviews on the actual Disney resorts and found a lot of negative feedback on many of the hotels and I couldn't see paying top dollar to stay at one of the more expensive places especially because we would have needed 2 rooms.  Instead I found World Quest which was only 5 minutes away from Disney's main gate and the rooms were actually condos. We had a full kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms... 1500 square feet.  The pool wasn't over crowded and there weren't a lot of noisy kids running around.  It was quiet and clean and perfect! 

Flying went well.  It was the first time on an airplane for Chase and Karli and actually Blake was only 2 the last time we flew with the kids.  All the kids did just fine and the flights were pretty smooth.  On the way there Chase and Karli kept talking the entire time, but at least they weren't loud or crabby.  On the way back they slept the entire way, which was nice.  My dad was the only one nervous about flying, he hates it.  I was more nervous when Ken and I flew to Mexico last Spring.  I liked it better knowing that the kids were with us and if anything happened at least we would all be together. 

We arrived in Florida in the late afternoon and by the time we got our rental car, ate dinner, and got to our hotel room everyone was tired.  We got the kids situated and my mom and I went to the grocery store.  We bought tons of water and Gatorade, which we froze a bunch of them the night before and took them to the parks with us each day which I highly recommend.  Of course we had the sit and stand stroller with us so we didn't have to carry the soft pack cooler though, I suppose it would be a pain to bring your own water if you had to carry it.  Food was so expensive at the parks! We typically ate a bigger lunch and then lighter dinners. Several nights we didn't eat dinner until after we left where ever we were, which was sometimes 9pm at night.  It's not like you feel like eating all that much when it is that hot outside anyways. 

We got so lucky when we bought our Disney passes.  We bought them at our hotel and we we wanted a 1 day pass to Universal Studios and a 3 day pass to Disney with the water park add on.  They were out of the 3 day passes so they sold us a 5 day pass for the price of a 3 day!  We went to Universal Studios the first day and towards the end of the day we went to Island of Adventure which is included in the price of the Universal ticket.  We did very little there though because everyone was so tired from the day.  At Universal Studios, Chase was so excited about seeing E.T.  It was a ride where you sat on a bike and went through an E.T. adventure.  He was sort of scared during the ride because it was dark inside the building, but afterwards we wouldn't stop talking about it.  The Revenge of the Mummy Roller Coaster was so cool and was one of our favorite rides the entire trip.  There were a lot of neat shows that the kids enjoyed; Fear Factor, Shrek 4-D, Jimmy Neutron, and more!  There were several rides that we never even went on, the lines were so long and we didn't want to keep sticking my parents with Chase and Karli.  Same thing with Island of Adventure, if we didn't have Chase and Karli with us we probably could have stayed until they closed and rode all the attractions.  Once all the kids are older it would be worth coming here again someday. I didn't take very many photos here, I learned very quickly that I should have bought a smaller camera that would have been easier to lug around with us all day.

On the third day, the 4th of July, we went to the Magic Kingdom. Talk about a long day! We stayed there until the fireworks show, which made for a 12 hour day. WITH 4 KIDS. Enough said.  The park was so crowded and many of the lines so long that we only made it through half the park.  We didn't get to take Karli to see any of the princesses which really bummed me out.  Then we missed the parade! The big parade! The one thing that is a must see when you are at the Magic Kingdom.  Thankfully this is where our 5 day pass paid off.  We went back to Magic Kingdom several days later. A day that was suppose to be left for relaxation and shopping, but oh well.  Karli was able to see Ariel the Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Belle.  She loved it so much.  She wasn't too thrilled with characters like Mickey Mouse and such, I think their costumes scared her.  Where the princesses are actual girls, so she is a little less shy.  The videos we have are way more touching to watch Karli, like when she gave Belle a big hug and then sat their on her bench and didn't want to leave.  It was worth standing in line for her to have those special moments.  We seen the parade the second visit and rode a few more family type rides.  Chase went on his first real roller coaster and wanted to keep going back to the same ride. 

The following day we went to Blizzard Beach, one of the waterparks.  It was fun and hot, but rained off and on throughout the day. Actually it rained every day for a little bit.  Just enough to make it more humid.  The next day we went to MGM, which was probably the worst day we had.  The morning started out nicely, my parents sat with Chase and Karli while we took Andrew and Blake on the Tower of Terror. It is a 13 story elevator plunge that shoots you up and then you drop and then back up and some more drops.  It takes your breath away and is insane but tons of fun.  Blake was scared because of it being dark.  Andrew loved it and would have rode it all day long.  Next we had to drop Blake off with my parents so we could go on the Rockin' Roller Coaster, which was probably the fastest, most thrilling, roller coaster in all of Disney.  Andrew loved it, but Ken and I thought it was okay.  We are so spoiled here, being within an hour or so of Cedar Point.  They have roller coasters there that are unlike any that you will see at a Disney park. We are going to take Andrew there next month so he can go on some REAL roller coasters.  After the Rockin' Roller Coaster we went to go eat and then only went to a few shows, like PlayHouse Disney and Beauty and the Beast.  We found a place along the street to watch the parade and right when the parade started at 3pm, the rain came.  It was a light rain until the parade was over and then it poured.  We stood there and waited for the rain to stop for over an hour and walked over to stand in line for the Lights, Motor, Action show.  We waited for almost an hour if you include the time we sat in our seats waiting for the show to start.  It had started sprinkling again and they were waiting for the rain to stop to start the show.  Next thing you know they cancel the show and they won't be doing another one that day.  It then starts pouring again.  There wasn't much more that we wanted to see and we were going to get soaked if we left the stadium, so we just went back to our hotel.  The things that we seen there were nice and worth it, but with all there is to do in Disney the day was cut short. 

We were blessed with a perfect day the next day though, which was spent at Epcot.  We had the most fun there.  Everything was family oriented and it wasn't overly crowded so there we no long lines.  The few things that the little ones couldn't go on, like the Test Track and Soarin', we just took turns and Andrew and Blake got to ride twice.  Most people think that Epcot is all educational and in many ways it is, but they include rides and neat shows in the learning presented which makes it fun for everyone. Here we also seen Mickey and Minnie and several other characters.  The lines are so long at the Magic Kingdom to see the characters, so we were thrilled when we seen that we could see them at Epcot.  No one was thrilled about walking through the World Showcase except for Ken who insisted we walk through it.  This is where you walk through a section of the park that has all the different countries, with educational type stuff about their cultures and food and such.  Just not my thing and the kids could have cared less...but we did it for Daddy :p  It takes a couple of hours if you stop and browse a bit through each country. 

The next day we went back to Magic Kingdom like I mentioned.  The last full day we went to Typhoon Lagoon, which is the other water park.  The wave pool that they have there is so different than any we have seen.  It makes actual surfing type waves.  The kids had a blast.  Luckily all of our kids are little fish so we didn't have any of the crying and whining that some parents get at waterparks because they are scared.   That evening we had to pack up everything and get ready to go home the next day.  We arrived back in Michigan around 9pm at night.  It was a long day considering we had to be out of our room by noon and have our car back by 1pm, but our flight didn't leave until 5pm.  It wasn't as bad as it sounds, but a lot of waiting and entertaining the kids were simply worn out from the long week. 

We have so many memories from the trip that made me so happy that we went to Disney.  We debated like most families do, about whether Karli was old enough to enjoy the parks and whether all the expense would be worth it rather than going to a white sandy beach somewhere and relaxing the whole time.  It was definitely worth it.  I don't think we will go back to Disney for many years.  Maybe once Karli and Chase are old and tall enough to enjoy everything they have to offer...which with how tiny they are, will be years and years from now!