Disney Vacation Round-up

Since my last post, our family vacation to Disney World has ended, but I wanted to share some of the highlights. After a fun day at Epcot on Monday, the whole family went to Blizzard Beach, a ski-themed water park, on Tuesday. We all enjoyed the relief from the heat. Most of us rode Summit Plummet, the second tallest and fastest free fall slide in the world and clocked in between 50 and 60 mph!

Kristen and Steve had to leave on Wednesday afternoon, so while they did a little outlet shopping with Mom, Dad, and Kelly, Joey and I took the boys to the Magic Kingdom. I must say this was the worst part of our trip. It was SO crowded that even the outdated boring attractions had 45 minute waits. A big disappointment was that Space Mountain is closed for renovations. However, we got our Fast Passes for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and enjoyed those rides, along with the Buzz Lightyear ride, the Monsters Inc comedy show and the Haunted Mansion. By about 3pm we were done, and enjoyed the rest of the day at the pool. That evening, the boys went to see Transformers, and Mom, Kelly and I hung out at Downtown Disney, did some dancing and ate some amazing Ghiradelli sundaes.

I drove Joey to the airport early Thursday morning and then Kelly, Andrew, Alex and I headed to Animal Kingdom bright and early. We got to ride the newest roller coaster, Expedition Everest, several times and also did the River ride, safari, and the Bugs Life 3D show. By the late afternoon, we had covered all we wanted to see, so we headed back over to Blizzard Beach to cool off.

Friday was our last day at Disney and we started the day auditioning for the American Idol Experience at Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM). Alex and I didn't make the show, but we had lots of fun watching the other contestants. We had a full day at Hollywood Studios with multiple rides on the Rock N' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, some shows, and lunch and arcade games at Pizza Planet. We ended the day watching the finale of the American Idol Experience with the 7 winners of the shows throughout the day and then went home to get our last bit of swimming in before leaving on Saturday.

We had a really fun time with the whole family in Disney World and it was especially fun to catch up with our old friend, Andrew. We've already begun discussions on the next family trip!