Day 2 - Magic Kingdom & Epcot

Our first day started at The Magic Kingdom! We had matching shirts for each day and on this day, we wore red shirts with Mikey/Minnie heads and the castle on them. The red made it really easy to find each other. We rode the bus to the park. 

We got there before the gates opened and had to wait. Then once we were in the park, we had to wait again before they dropped the cords. Grandad thought we should have just slept in longer. 

Main Street USA - Happiest Place on Earth! 

I was surprised at how happy I was to be back!

Jalen reenacted his first trip to the happiest place on Earth.

One of the few rides we could get to that early was It's a Small World. What a perfect way to start!! 

Then we went to the Jungle Cruise - another iconic ride and Grammy's favorite.

Jalen wanted to ride The Magic Carpets of Aladdin.

I was so excited to get to Pirates of the Caribbean!! I cried a little! Unfortunately, I hit record at the wrong time!

Funny sign in line at Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Apparently, we were at Disney at a time known as a "charmed weekend." It means the crowds were at record lows. We didn't have to wait in any lines and got to ride all the rides we wanted to. We were able to use Lightening Lanes all day long. Other favorites were Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Haunted Mansion, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Space Mountain, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Splash Mountain.

Grammy taking a snooze on her scooter.

Jalen loved the giant Buzz.

Grandad had memories of his mission days where the Carousel of Progress was first presented at the New York World's Fair.

I finally got to eat my frozen banana!

Iconic castle picture.

Seven years later.

Mickey & Friends

We decided to head over to Epcot and see if we could catch Guardians of the Galaxy. We rode the Monorail between the parks.

I was able to get us a spot in the virtual queue for Guardians and then we headed to Soarin' Around the World. Jalen loved it so much, we rode it twice!

I loved watching Jalen's face.

And apparently Baylie was struggling to stay awake.

Jalen looking for Nemo on The Seas with Nemo & Friends.

We rode the Ratatouille Adventure 4-D, which was fun, but a little nauseating.

Next we went to a French restaurant next door for crepes. We all decided to order off the kids' menu, which was a good idea because it was still a TON of food. I can't imagine how big the adult meals would have been.

Ham and cheese buckwheat crepe. It was AMAZING! It was like a party for the tongue. So much flavor.

The kids' meal also included a dessert crepe. Incredible!

We rushed to catch Guardian’s of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind which lived up to all the hype. It was waaaay more intense than we had been lead to believe. It's a reverse launching roller coaster that has 360 degree spins. Jalen was trembling when we got off, David's face was ghostly pale, my eyes were watering, and Baylie thought it was the best thing ever. I'm glad we did it, but I'll never do it again!

By then it was dark. We had thought of going back to Magic Kingdom again, but decided to head back to the hotel. We saw a little of the fireworks show. It was too late to ride the Skyliner back so we took the bus. It was the right call because we were all so tired (and sweaty and stinky - it was very humid).

It was a perfect first day!

Day 1 - Driving to Orlando

We had not been to Disney World for seven years. The last time we went, the kids were 5 and 7 and David had just graduated with his doctorate. I have wanted to go back for awhile, but we were just never in a financial position to go. So we've been saving up and then my parents gave us some money at Christmas time and we had the trip budgeted. We questioned whether or not we should go after David lost his job, but since we had already made deposits and we had the money budgeted, we went for it.

It's about 6 1/2 hours from our house to Disney World. We left early in the morning so we could get there in time to pick up Grammy & Granddad. (They were with us on our previous visit as well.)

It was a long drive. Baylie watched some movies while the rest of us listened to Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians. There was also some snoozing for everyone but David - who drove the whole way.

We saw signs for Buc-ee's, which we had discovered back in June on our way to DC. We decided to hold on for bathroom and gas breaks until we could get there. It's worth the wait! 

Who knew they had such amazing drink flavors?!

We continued on and finally made it to Walt Disney World!

We stayed at Pop Century Resort. It's a budget Disney hotel. It is small, but it was just perfect for us. We got connecting rooms with two double beds each. One of the beds was a Murphy bed that folded up, giving us a lot more space. (Note the Rubik's cube and 8-track tape.) We got checked in, picked up Grammy's scooter, and then headed to the airport to pick them up, which took much longer than expected.

We were super excited to see them and they were patient to wait for us. We went to a Disney warehouse to shop, but were disappointed in the selection. We grabbed some dinner and headed back to the hotel. We were all together and super excited to start our Disney adventure.

Reptile Show

My friend and coaching mentor, Tianna Johnson, is also a reptile expert. She sometimes works traveling reptile shows and in August, she came to Columbia for a show. We took advantage of the opportunity to get together. I had never been to a reptile show and wanted to check it out. What an adventure! (This is out of order, but if you look at the pictures of the BYU game in Florida, we met up with Tianna there as well.)

Me and Tianna

The show was held at the Kiwanis building not far from our home. It was packed with all kinds of reptiles and gear. David came with me and we had never seen anything like it.

I can't remember the names of all the different kinds of reptiles.

Mole rats

S

Facing

It was a fascinating place!