Florida - Day 9 - For Real!

Today was our last full day in Florida! It's kinda bittersweet. We headed to Disney's Animal Kingdom first.



Montana took Mason to It's a Bug's Life while I took Peyton and Tanner on the Triceratops ride. Then we headed over to see Eeyore, Pooh, and Tigger. After that, we had to rush over to Camp Minnie and Mickey to see The Festival of The Lion King! That was the most amazing show ever! Since we had our Guest Assistance Pass, we got to sit on the second row in the handicapped seating. We decided that we weren't going to try to video or take pictures during the show...we were just gonna enjoy the show. Well, towards the end of the show, one of the performers came up to Montana and Peyton and wanted their help. Peyton cried through most of it but Montana took him up anyway. I grabbed the video camera and videoed a little bit and then took a few pictures. Montana and Peyton were given a shaker and then they walked around the circle with the performers.



It was so neat! And the show was more amazing then we thought possible. We were so glad that we had taken the time to go see it! It was like a Broadway Show! Then we headed to Kilimanjaro Safaris. We boarded a safari truck and headed into the safari.




It reminded me of South Africa and made me miss it! We saw lots and lots of animals. The boys loved it and it was nice to just sit and ride for a little bit.







Then we rode a train to Rafiki's Planet Watch. It wasn't anything too special. They did have a petting zoo but we passed on that. So we rode the train back towards the park and headed to our next adventure. We went on the Rapid ride in Asia and, again, got soaked. After that we headed to Mount Everest to ride the roller coaster. I went first with Mason and he thought it was a little scary but he was so brave. It even went backwards and that was Mason's favorite part! Then Montana took a turn on that one and we headed to a roller coaster/spinning ride in DinoLand. Montana took Mason and I watched, knowing that it would make me sick if I went on it! Then we purchased some jumbo turkey legs! They were huge and so deliciously yummy. We left the park and headed back to Magic Kingdom to finish off our wonderful trip.



We still had Frontier Land and Fantasy Land to finish up. When we got to this park, the parade was about to start so we decided to watch it (We really didn't have a choice cause we couldn't make it down Main Street). The Disney Theme this year is Celebrate Life - What a great theme! It was really neat and we got to see all the characters! Then we bought the boys their Mickey Ears, had their names stitched on them, and got a couple more souvenirs.




We headed to Splash Mountain where we got just a little wet.




Then on to Big Thunder Mountain. Mason loved that ride too! We took a break from the heat and rode the boats on It's a Small World. Peyton and Tanner LOVED this ride! Mason got off of it and said, "Yeah, Dad, that's the most annoying song ever!" Then we rode Peter Pan...twice! Then on to Dumbo and the Winnie the Pooh ride. We were quite rushed towards the end to make sure we made it back to the village to eat at the Gingerbread House one more time. We did stop for one final picture in front of the castle.



Then we caught the monorail back to the parking lot and loaded up. We said farewell to the Disney Parks and the magic and fun we experienced there.




We returned to the village in time to catch dinner. But when we got up to the Gingerbread House, they weren't serving dinner cause there was a BBQ/Pool Party going on instead. We didn't really want that for dinner so we went to the Ice Cream Parlor for ice cream and headed to the villa to order pizza. We checked out our present for the day - 3 DVD's and our final check-out paperwork.



We were so tired that after dinner, we put the boys to bed, cleaned up dinner, and headed to bed. Tomorrow is check-out day and we have a little bit of time to finish everything up at the village and purchase a duffle bag to get all of our presents and souvenirs home!

Florida - Day 5

First and foremost - HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA THAYNE AND AUNT ASHLEY!

Of course, today was another wonderful day.



We started out with breakfast in the Gingerbread House. Then we went to meet Curious George.



He was the character visiting today from Universal Studios. The kids wanted to ride the carousel after we met George so they took a quick ride and we were headed to Hollywood Studios and Epcot.






We also stopped in the Guest Services building to sign up for a time for the Mayor to tuck the kids in to bed.



We started with Hollywood Studios because they opened a little bit earlier.



We went straight to the Indian Jones Show to find out the show times for the day. They had one that we had to back for in about half an hour. So Mason and Montana headed to Star Tours.



I waited with Tanner and Peyton until they were done. And then we headed back to Indiana Jones. We got in our seats and Tanner wasn’t happy. And Peyton kept crying, saying he didn’t want to see it. So I decided to leave Montana and Mason and take the two smaller boys to Disney Junior Live On Stage. We headed that direction and met up with the Little Einsteins and Handy Manny. We got pictures and autographs and then wandered a gift shop until the show started.




I walked up to the line and asked where we should go since we had our Guest Assistance Pass and the lady had us go to the front of the line so that we could be first in the theater. And then of course, we were front and center for the show! Once we were seated for the show, I looked outside and it was down pouring. I had covered everything in the stroller cause it looked like it might rain. Now I started getting rather worried about the cameras that were in the bag in the bottom of the stroller. But all was safe and sound and pretty much dry when we came out! Anyway, Tanner gave me a little trouble throughout the show but all in all he did really well. Peyton absolutely LOVED this show! I think he knew all the words to all the songs they sang. And he danced, laughed, played, sang, etc. When we came back out, we found our stroller and Montana and Mason. And Montana had heard that there was a character signing going on in the building right next to where we were. And it was a good character signing! We didn’t tell Peyton…we just told him that there was somebody there. When we walked in, Mickey Mouse (with the wizarding hat on) was in the room…along with Winnie The Pooh and the Incredibles.



We promptly went to Mickey Mouse and Peyton was so excited to finally have his wish come true…to meet Mickey Mouse! Then we went to get something to eat and to figure out what else we were gonna do before we headed to Epcot. Mason really wanted to see the Cars Stunt Show but it continued to rain off and on and we didn’t know if they were still running it or not. So we headed to the Toy Store ride, rode that one, and headed out of the park.



We decided to leave the car parked at Hollywood Studios and ride the boat to Epcot.




The boat ride took about 25 minutes cause it had a few stops to make along the way. Tanner fell asleep in the stroller on the boat and slept through most of Epcot. He really needed a nap so it was great! When we got to Epcot, we just wandered cause we didn’t know where the boat had dropped us off. Right now, the Food and Wine Festival is going on at Epcot so there were tons of adults and tons of food and wine. We finally found the place we needed to be – We were gonna do the Finding Nemo ride. We got there and both the ride and the interactive Talk With Crush attraction were down. And we didn’t want to wait to see if they would open it again. We headed over to Epcot’s Character Spot and bypassed the line (thanks to the Guest Assistance Pass and GKTW button). We hopped in front and went right up to meet Mickey Mouse (the regular one), Pluto (not the pirate), Donald Duck and Goofy. Donald Duck and Goofy were fighting with each other and teasing each other. Peyton thought it was hilarious! When we got the character spot, the wait time was 45 minutes….and we made it through in about 10 minutes! I just LOVE the pass! Then we went over to the huge Epcot ball, took some pictures, had some pictures take for us, returned the stroller and headed to the bus stop.



We didn’t want to go on the boat again and spend 25 minutes riding it. The bus was much faster and we were quite exhausted. We got back to the village, saw the fun toys that were left on our table by the fairy while we were gone (wooden ball toy thing for Tanner, a Buzz Lightyear sun catcher that needed to be painted for Mason and a wooden truck for Peyton), put swimsuits on and headed to the fun pool! Montana accidentally locked us out of our villa so he went to get a key while I took the kids to the pool. Tanner flipped out when I put his feet in the water but he warmed up to it really quickly. The boys had a ball playing in the pool and the splash zone. Montana played with them and they loved it. Tanner loved to watch them playing and would just laugh at them! He really liked the water spraying out of the side of the pool and played in that. The pools that they have at the village are only 4 feet deep in the center of the pool. And one of them has a zero depth entry. After swimming, we came back to the villa, had dinner delivered to our villa (from Boston Market) and put jammies on the kids. After dinner, we headed back to the pool area (that has a pirate ship stage) for the Pirates and Princesses Party.



The boys drew pictures, got eye patches, loot bags, sea shells and bandannas, and Mason got a tattoo!



They could have had their faces painted like pirates but they didn’t want to.



They also got a certificate saying they are official pirates and we are supposed to have swords delivered to the villa later. Pirate Shamu showed up at the party with his dolphin princess and the boys had their pictures signed and we took pictures!



Then it was time for the dance party. We were all dancing around and having fun when the rain started again! And it came fast! We covered the camera and ran for cover. We were soaked when we got under something but it was still fun. The bus was driving past and we decided to hop on and go on back to the villa and put the kids to bed. It was another fun day and we are hoping the rain lets up a little cause tomorrow is SeaWorld day!

Florida - Day 4

(And we have internet connection in our villa!!!) Today was the day that our wonderful wish trip started. We started the morning by eating breakfast at the hotel and checking out of the hotel. We returned our awesome van to the airport and picked up our rental car for our wish portion of the trip. This time around we got a Dodge Grand Caravan. It is pretty much the same as the Enterprise car but older.



And it doesn’t have a back-up camera! When we checked in with National, they asked us if anybody from Give Kids The World (GKTW) greeted us. We told them no so they got on the phone. I was told a couple of weeks ago that we would not have a greeter since we weren’t flying in that morning. Well, they told us wrong! So then we waited for our greeter. She met us down at the car rental counter and gave Peyton his sign. She made sure we knew where we were going and sent us on our way. We got to the Village around 9:45AM.




We unloaded all the kids and headed inside to check in. They proceeded to give Peyton a Mickey Mouse stuffed animal and Mason and Tanner got Shamu stuffed animals.




The kids looked around while Montana and I signed paperwork and reviewed a few things.



Then we were told that they didn’t have a villa ready for us yet. And that Orientation (where you get your park tickets) wasn’t until 7:45 tonight. I was a little stressed cause we were planning on going to Disney World today! We asked about getting tickets so that we could go today and she said she would take to the manager. And, of course, they gave us the tickets for today. We wandered outside for a minute and the lady came back out and said that a villa was ready if we wanted it.




We said we did and she loaded Mason, Peyton, Tanner, and me in a golf cart to take us to the villa while Montana followed in the van.




When we walked into the villa, there was some stuff on the kitchen table for us! The lady told us that every day, while we are gone, somebody would leave us something on the table!



We are definitely gonna need another bag before we travel home! Then she showed us around the villa, made sure we were set, took our picture by our bunny sign and went on her way.




We got all unpacked – We even emptied our suitcases and put everything in drawers. We will be here for 6 nights/7 days so we might as well feel at home. The villa is awesome! We have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a family room, a kitchen, and laundry! It’s so nice to feel like we are actually ‘living’ here instead of just staying for a little while. We got our bags packed for Disney World, ate lunch, and headed towards Disney. We were so excited when we started seeing the signs. We followed every sign to Magic Kingdom and parked the car. Then we had to get on a tram thing and ride it to the entrance….kinda. The place that we got off the tram was only a boat dock/monorail pick up place.



You can see the castle in the background but you have to somehow get across the lake. The boys wanted to take the ferry so we did. We crossed the lake, had our bags checked, passed through the entrance and away we went.



We were given a Photo Pass which is awesome! They have photographers throughout the parks that will take your picture and then scan your card.



Then all the pictures get uploaded online and we can view them and order a complimentary CD…thanks to GKTW! So we promptly had our picture taken at the entrance to the park and then again in front of the castle…a few different times!



Therefore, I don’t have many pictures of our adventures in the park since somebody else was always taking them. When we went through the entrance, Daisy Duck and Pluto were signing autographs. So we hopped in line to have them sign the boys’ books. We were standing in line and a Disney employee came up to us and told us we were in the wrong line. We needed to be in the exit line so that we could get our picture taken without waiting. Peyton wears a GKTW button and a Make A Wish button in all of the parks. We also have a Guest Assistance Pass. We get to bypass all the character lines and go straight to the front. And we also get to use the FastPass line without having to get a return time for later! It is pretty amazing!



We wore our shirts that we made so everybody knew the boys’ names and called them by name. And we definitely got star treatment. We were only at Magic Kingdom for about 4 hours but we got to do quite a bit!



We got autographs from Daisy Duck, Pluto, Pooh, Tigger, Chip and Dale, Pirate Goofy and Stitch and we went on the Buzz Lightyear ride (twice – the boys LOVE it!), Space Mountain, The Speedway, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, and the Teacups. We got our pictures taken a bazillion times since I want all those memories.



We were quite tired so we decided to head back to the village….also cause it was Christmas tonight at the village.



We got back and headed to dinner. We had a Thanksgiving type dinner that was delicious! Then we went to sit on Santa’s lap. If the kids sat on his lap, then they could pick out a present. Tanner threw a fit and cried the whole time! But we got a few pictures and carried on.



When it came time to pick presents, Peyton had a hard time deciding. Mason immediately wanted a Transformer and we picked an animal car thing for Tanner. I had to count to 5 to speed up Peyton’s picking process. He finally decided on a Steelers Nerf Football thing.



They were so excited with their presents. Then they hurried and decorated a cookie and we headed back to the villa for bed. Montana put the kids to bed while I ran to Orientation. And now I’m sitting here, typing this, waiting for laundry to get done and packing bags for another fun filled day tomorrow at Epcot and Hollywood Studios. The village is amazing, the volunteers and staff are amazing, the families are amazing…it’s just AMAZING! And we are so grateful for this opportunity!