Whew! We had two long but wonderful weeks at Disney World. The kids had a blast. For the first time ever, Jeremy took en entire week off work so we could all go to the parks together. It was so wonderful to have him with us all day instead of just in the evenings.
The kids loved the rides. At first some of the quick movements made Rinnah nervous, but she overcame that fear. And Ian gradually got more and more adventurous as the trip went on. They both loved the Fantasyland rides-It's a Small World, Winnie-the-Pooh, and the carousel. Ian loved Dumbo; Rinnah didn't like the choppy movements but by the end of the trip was asking to ride similar rides at other parks. Rinnah's favorite was the "Donald boat ride" as she called it; there's a boat ride in Mexico in Epcot where Donald's pals are looking for him all over Mexico to play in the band that night. All through the rides the kids loved "finding" Donald in the various video clips. The Speedway (where they can drive the race cars) was also a favorite with both kids.
Ian's favorite was the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Similar to Dumbo, but the carpets can tilt forward or back and there's a camel that occasionally "spits" on you as you go around.
They both loved the teacups too. Ian figured out how to make them spin and Rinnah couldn't stop giggling as we went around.
On the new Toy Story ride
There were also a lot of interactive exhibits and play areas that they really enjoyed. The Turtle Talk with Crush show, where Crush the turtle from Nemo comes and interacts with the humans, was a huge hit. They also liked watching all the fish in the huge aquarium right outside there.
almost a picture with Nemo
Ian pushing a garbage truck in an exhibit about recycling
Playing with controls on a fire truck
"Driving" a car in the showroom at Test Track
In the play area by Finding Nemo
Rinnah LOVED the splash pad by Donald's boat
Peering out the back of the Riverboat ride
One day we had lunch at the restaurant in Germany with my mom and brothers. A band started playing some traditional German music. The kids went down to dance and had a ball! We've got video from this too that I'm trying to get uploaded.
jumping (look carefully, his feet are off the ground!)
Playing in a splash area
Ian singing "Deep and Wide" as he came down the slide
And then there were the characters. We didn't make many plans around the characters since we weren't sure how they would react. Turns out, they LOVED them. We stopped at many, many character spots for pictures, especially with Rinnah. She wasn't afraid at all-when it was her turn she'd usually run right at them and give them a huge hug.
At Minnie's house
And then there was Donald. Rinnah, for some inexplicable reason, picked Donald as her clear favorite. She was spotting tiny little photos of Donald in a group in the park map, his face on the back of the Fastpass-she could spot Donald from a mile away. She was always asking to see Donald. And we did, quite a few times.
We saw Donald
Donald and Daisy
Frontier Donald
Donald again
And again
Safari Donald
And another visit to Frontier Donald
She could have spent all day following Donald around and been perfectly happy. So as an early birthday present, Grandma Fox got her her very own Donald. She loves it and brings him everywhere.
Of course, we didn't spend all our time at the parks. We went swimming several times which the kids loved. Here they are playing on the beach.
He'd been waiting for months to find sand again for his front loader
Different beach another day
Looking at our hotel across the lake
We swam in the regular pool too
....with the ducks
In the last few days of the trip Ian really found his confidence and started being more daring. This is a pretty good-sized waterslide, probably about 30 feet at the top. It winds its way down so it's not too fast, but it was still a big slide for Ian. He was so proud of himself when he finally tried it alone, and from that point on we couldn't keep him off the slide. He must have gone down it at least 40 times that morning while Jeremy and I took turns catching him at the bottom.
He also rode the small roller coaster in Mickey's Toontown. Sadly I didn't get a picture of that but he had a blast.
Rinnah was too short to go on the roller coaster, so she had to make her own. She is always yelling "Go fast!" in the stroller. Here Jeremy's pushing them pretty fast, running down a hill. Could she be any happier? Looks like a ride photo to me!
One of their favorite things was the huge tub in the hotel. It opened up to the bedroom (Jeremy & I loved not having to sit in the bathroom while they were in the tub) and even had jets.
They loved spending time with their Uncle Mike. He came with us to the parks a few times and came swimming with us. The kids adore him.
And of course Grandma-the kids love her.
The uncles
Some other favorite pics:
spinning on the teacups
Riding his new Thomas bike
Rainbow just outside Magic Kingdom
On the monorail
The whole gang
And my favorite shot at DIsney
We really had a fantastic time. It was a whole new experience for us to take an actual "vacation"-usually we just work family visits and fun places into our regular lives with traveling. This was kind of nice, although it did wear us out. The kids had a wonderful, wonderful time and it was so much fun to see them enjoy all the magic Disney has to offer. This turned out to be a really fun age to take them, because they were interested in absolutely everything and took such delight in the smaller things, like the monorail rides, the characters, and the hidden little gems through the parks like the splash areas.
Now we are back at Turkey Lake park. The RV is fixed and we're just enjoying a more relaxing week this week. Then next week we'll be visiting Aunt Katy. The kids are looking forward to that.
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