Last Minute Vacation!

OK, so if you haven't heard by now, we went to Florida last week. In fact, we just got home last night. We spent the week going to Sea World and Disney World. (Along with the rest of Brazil apparently...Wow, there were hundreds and hundreds of teenagers from Brazil!)

If you are saying to yourself..."I didn't know they were going...I can't believe they didn't tell me!" Don't feel bad. We found out about the new military deal to Disney World on Wednesday and booked our hotel on Thursday and left on Sunday after church. It was a really quick decision. We had the opportunity and we took it. It just happened that Erik had the week off last week, because he wasn't allowed to take leave during Christmas. My parents were coming into town and Erik had already asked for that week off, so we could spend some time together. Erik never gets or takes time off, so they gave it too him. We already had a trip to Charleston, SC planned, but we changed it to Florida when we found out about the deal. Man are we glad we did, We had SO MUCH FUN!

We spent Monday in Sea World and had A BLAST! It was cool enough that you didn't want to get wet, but warm enough that if you weren't wet you were fine. Hence, no splash zone for us. :(
The Shamu show was amazing, and the Sea Lion show was hilarious, and the Dolphin show was beautiful. The kids loved everything about it. They especially loved going from one ride to the other with NO WAITING! Oh, and apparently, my Monkey-girl Karlee, who is ALWAYS climbing on everything, is afraid of Heights.

Go Figure!

On Tuesday, we went to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World.

As soon as we got there we took pictures and went to the Dumbo ride. There were tons of people there and we were waiting in line for about 30 minutes. Then it started to sprinkle. We stopped to eat, and it started to rain. Within the next few hours, most of the people had LEFT!

WHOOO HOOOO!!!!!

We went from one ride to the next with little to NO WAITING! It was so stinkin awesome!



That is how to do Disney World, in the rain! Just make sure you buy a poncho before you go, they charge you an arm and a leg for them at the park. We went on every ride that we wanted. I just wish we would have met more of the characters when we had the chance, because it was packed the rest of the week. That night my parents got there. They had flown into Alabama, where they served their mission for our church. Then they drove to Orlando and met us there for the next 4 days of Disney World.

On Wednesday, we all went to the Animal Kingdom.

It was really fun, but it closes really early, so we had a hard time trying to fit everything in. Sadly, most of us had to ditch out on the parade to go to the two biggest rides, but I was glad that we did, because instead of waiting for an hour or more it was more like 20 minutes or less. Elizabeth is my little dare devil. She loved the roller coasters and went on EVERY ride that she was big enough for.

On Thursday, we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios.

This was my most frustrating park by far. It was really awesome, but unfortunately without me realizing it, Thursday was the only night that week that they were performing Fantasmic.
If you didn't get there 90 minutes before the performance you didn't get a seat. So not only did we have to cut things short to show up there at 5:30 and get our seat, we also had to fight with the thousands of people who came to that park specifically to see that show too. HOLY COW! There were so many people there!
We also had to wait in line for the Toy Story Mania ride, (which BTW, is totally awesome...we loved it) for an hour and a half. It would have been nice to Fast Pass that, but I hadn't quite figured that out yet.
I was only frustrated with that park because I didn't get to go on the two biggest rides that they have there, the Tower of Terror and the Rocking Roller coaster. I've heard that those rides are the best, so please have pity on me and don't tell me again...and again...how awesome those rides are, and how I missed out! Thanks! But at least we saw Fantasmic, which my kids LOVED!

On Friday, we went to Epcot.

By this time, I had FINALLY figured out the fast passes. We did Soarin' and Mission:Space with Fast Passes. It was SOOOOOO nice to not wait in line for 60+ minutes...with very restless, tired, cranky kids! We did all the rides we wanted and headed off to the Countries and had to cut it short, because not only was my Dad tired, but my kids were so tired and cranky. They are not used to such a busy and intense schedule. We took them home and Erik and I went back for the rest of the night. We visited a few more countries and saw the fireworks, then headed back to the hotel.

On Saturday, we went back to the Magic Kingdom...which was packed!

But luckily, as I mentioned before, I figured out the fast passes! My parents took the kids to stand in line at a popular ride, while Erik and I went to the opposite side of the park and picked up Fast Passes for another popular ride. Then Erik and I booked it back across the park and met back up with them before they got to the front of their line. It was awesome! We did that for most of the popular rides, and then kept our eye out for characters to meet.
We left a little early to get some rest before heading back for the parade, fireworks, and late night. I really needed the rest, but my kids as usual wouldn't rest, or obey, so we were a little late getting back to the park. As a result, we missed most of the parade, which bummed me out, because it was really cool. We did see the fireworks though. Then we went on 2 more rides and then we had to head home, because my family was super tired. I, however, was ready to go until 11...but oh well!

We drove home on Sunday and got in last night. Thank goodness, we have Monday off, we needed a break after our vacation!:)