Day Seven: Magic Kingdom

Friday night, Megan was diagnosed with Strep Throat. Bummer. Everyone stayed at the hotel on Saturday except for us Gardners, who were leaving the next day and needed to fit one more day of Disney in. We decided to spend our last day at Magic Kingdom, since we missed some of the kid stuff we wanted to do with Max.

The first thing we did was ride the train.

Can you see his little mouth shaped around the word choo choo? Isn't that the cutest??

And see the arm pump? Serious train love.

I know I've said in the past that I love pictures of Max walking/running away, but I think my new favorite pictures are of Max on his Dada's shoulders.

Saturday was much busier than Tuesday was. Not just the lines, but the pathways too. We rode a few rides (including It's a Small World), but we didn't stay long. I didn't have any coffee that morning and I'll tell you what, I was definitely going through some caffeine withdrawal.

When we got back to the hotel, we went swimming. Max spent a lot of time in the pool and his Uncle Kyle even taught him to blow bubbles.

We left early the next day, and were sad to do so. Max, once again, did amazing on the plane, and on the car ride home from Phoenix. It was a long day of traveling but he was a champ. We had such a great trip that we are ready to plan our next one! We really look forward to these family vacations. And from what the other moms tell me at work, Legoland HAS to be our next stop!

Smile!

While I finish up the post about our last day at Disney World, I wanted to put up these pictures. Notice anything??

Max started pulling on his lip and pinching his mouth as soon as we got to Florida, therefore creating some wonderful photos! So when he wasn't Mr. Serious, he was covering up half his face with his hand. Thanks for nothing, kid!

Day Six: Universal Studios (Part 2)

Poor Megan woke up Friday very ill, so we left her home to get more rest, while we went to Universal one more time with Kyle and Sam.

We spent a good amount of time at Seuss Landing, and I could have spent much longer there. I loved all the little details. And their little water play area was tons of fun.

On the Caro-Seuss-el

Megan and Mom met us for lunch, and after that we headed over to Fievel's Playground.

How handsome is this kid???

Jeffry took Max on the water slide, and I think his face says it all.

Curious George Goes to Town was by far the funnest thing for kids in all the parks we went to. I don't really have one picture that encapsulates the Curious George section, but it was just too fun for words. So I'm not even going to try. Just trust me, if you go to Universal Florida, bring your suit, and you'll have a ball.

Day Five: Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom, while it didn't have a ton of stuff to do, is probably my favorite Disney park in Florida.

We got there early, as usual, only to discover we forgot to put the SD card back in the camera. Oops! So we had to buy another one at the park. And when I say another one, I mean, it was the second SD card we had bought on this trip. And if that's not just dandy enough, we discovered the original SD card in the backpack half-way through the day. Ugh.

After we got the camera sorted out, we all headed to the safari, fastpassed that, and then headed over to ride the train (which Max was excited about!). The train took us over to Rafiki's Planet Watch, where there was a petting zoo. Max loved the goats- they were pretty much the same size (and colors) as our dogs but much slower! So he was able to pet them for much longer than he can our dogs.

Max was too funny about pictures on this trip. He would be laughing, running, having the time of his life, and then we'd take a picture, and he'd be Mr. Serious. I was happy when I came upon this picture, and saw that he was smiling- even if he is with a very effeminate, slightly creepy, Jiminy Cricket.

I'm including this picture because I don't know what the hell is happening here. Megan? Sam? Comments?

Here we are on the ride Dinosaur. I have a picture from when we went on this ride ten years ago. We didn't buy any of the ride photos this time around because you wanna guess how much they cost now?? $21 for a 5x7! That's ludicrous!

When we came back from riding Expedition Everest for the second time (I LOVE this roller coaster! seriously awesome!), we found Max and my dad riding the Tricera Top Spin.

Max enjoyed the playground and really liked the Boneyard.

I love some of the group shots we got:

And wow, isn't this picture, just awesome?? I love Max on his Dada's shoulder.

Megan bought Disney shirts for everyone, isn't that cute??

Another serious Max

And I know this post is long and picture heavy, but I like this picture, so I had to include it!

Day Four: Hollywood Studios and Downtown Disney

On day 4 we left Max with Grandpa, and Jeff and I set off early for Hollywood Studios. We rode all the rides we wanted to early in the day (other than Toy Story Mania, which had a 3 hour wait at one point!), and then took the little boat to Disney's Boardwalk for lunch and then on to Epcot. Both stops were uneventful, but the boat ride was fun, and worth the time.

We did go back and ride Toy Story Mania later, and it was lots of fun. Jeff was player one, and as you can see, he beat me.

But look at the accuracy score. Accuracy counts for a lot, no?

We picked up Max and went to Downtown Disney.

Max is now officially into trains. Anything that moves is now a "choo choo." Monorails, shuttles, luggage carts at the airport, they're all choo choos. And the way he says it is just too cute. He purses his little lips into a perfect circle, pumps his arms, and in his high voice says "choo choo!" And he gets so excited!

In this picture, you can see his little arms in mid-pump.

And I know this picture is blurry, but it really captures how much fun Max had this night. He was running all around, dancing, and yelling.

We ate dinner at Rainforest Cafe, because we thought Max would like all the things to look at. Turns out, he didn't care for the thunderstorm that happens every thirty minutes! But he did like the mac n' cheese...

Day Three: Max's First Trip at Disney World

The Gardner three hit Epcot bright and early on Tuesday morning, while everyone else slept in a little.

Max's very first ride was the "The Seas with Nemo and friends" where we rode in a clamobile, looking for Nemo. It's a very calm ride, but it still had sections where it got very dark. Thankfully, Max did great throughout the whole thing. He was uncharacteristically quiet on all the rides. He basically just sat back and soaked it all in.

One ride Max didn't care for was "Journey into Imagination with Figment." The best way to succinctly describe the ride is that it's just too loud and stimulating. I would skip it if your kid is around 19 months like ours.

After everyone else joined us, we finished up Epcot, which included a lot of walking.

And jumping.

Before we headed over to Magic Kingdom for the afternoon, we got a group shot done.

We took the monorail over to Magic Kingdom and were pleasantly surprised by the short lines again. We went back on Saturday, and the park was much busier. No more 5 minute waits on the weekend.

Max and Dada at the Magic Kingdom

Of course, we had to go on Dumbo. That ride's a little scary when you let a baby control it!

Day Two: Universal Studios (Part 1)

On Monday we headed to Universal Studios, while my dad stayed at the hotel with Max. Of course we started out at Islands of Adventure, because that's where the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is! And that is the whole reason we made everyone trek out to Florida in the first place!

As usual, you can see all the pictures on Flickr, but here is a sample.

My favorite ride here was the Dragon Challenge roller coaster. It's a must- and it's got two different coasters inside! We didn't realize this on day one at Universal, and had to go back and do it again on day 2. Both coasters are awesome, and the line never seemed to get too long for this ride (It was 5 and 10 minutes whenever we rode it).

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is another ride in this section, and it's line seems to always be long. But I'd do the Dragon Challenge a hundred times, before I'd do the Forbidden Journey twice. It was okay, but waiting in line for it was cooler than the ride, I thought.

The Wizarding World was very cool and detail-oriented. However, it was very small. I wish they had more attractions and expanded a bit more. Still very cool though, and I enjoyed myself some butterbeer!

We did as many roller coasters and grown up rides as we could, since Max wasn't with us. Jeff, Megan, Kyle and Sam are in the second row:

The lines were essentially nonexistent, which was sooooooo nice. I'm used to Disneyland, with waits of 60 minutes just for Pirates of the Caribbean. We still missed out on a few rides, but we had a good time on the ones we hit. Some of Jeff's favorites were the Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket and the Hulk. I liked the Revenge of the Mummy and the Dragon Challenge.

Universal has water play areas EVERYWHERE and every time I walked by one, I thought about how much fun Max was going to have when we brought him later in the week! And boy did he ever! Here's a sneak peak:

Day One of our Big Adventure!

I was dreading our direct flight to Orlando after Max's behavior on our way home from Virginia in July. This flight was to be four hours long, which is a long time for a 19 month old to sit still- quietly.

But of course Max likes to prove his Mama wrong, and he did super wonderfully. He got antsy, and he kept trying to escape past Grandma (poor Grandma had to sit in the isle seat and act as a corral), but that's all normal stuff. We were able to keep him busy and distracted and most importantly, happy.

Aunt Megan, Uncle Kyle, and their friend Sam met us in Orlando, along with my dad, who drove our car out there. My parents used their time share, so we got our own little apartment- complete with two bedrooms, a living room, dining area, full kitchen, and laundry facilities. My parents had a unit and Megan and her crew had one too. The accommodations were so nice! It was great to have our own space so we could spread out at the end of the day.

And of course, before the day was over, we had to explore the hotel's pool! Well, one of the pools anyway.

Max LOVED this pool! He loved the water slide, and he is so brave in the water.

The hotel also has another pool, a splash pad area, water slide, miniature golf, an arcade, playground, and lots of activities for kids (not that we had time to do any of the activities, but they sounded fun!).

I'll be writing more vacation posts as the week goes on, stay tuned!

This Moment

Hello? Anyone home?

Don't worry, we haven't left you. We just went over there. Max will show you:

Over here, for a big ol' family vacation.

I would have liked to blog about our trip day-by-day, like I did our Virginia vacation, but there just aren't enough hours in the day. I look forward to sharing photos and stories later though. For now, here's a hint to where we are: