Florida

Before all of this craziness began Abby and I went to Florida the third week in March.  My Mom has had a time share down there for about 5 years and has only gone down once.  She really wanted to go again, but we couldn't afford it on our student budget.  My Mom wanted us to go badly enough that she paid our way!  Thanks Mom!!!  My two sisters came too.  My brothers couldn't come - Samuel had classes and Elijah started boot camp (Navy) the day we left.

We had a great time.  Abby loved it and asks when we're going back regularly.

We spent our first day at Magic Kingdom.  Abby wore her Snow White dress that she wore for Halloween..best $20 I've spent :)  I was looking forward to going on some of the "grownup" rides but couldn't because I was pregnant...I was bummed because I love roller coasters and it has been a long time since I've been on one, but baby trumps roller coasters.  We mostly went on kiddy rides that had waits of 30 minutes or less...Abby wasn't going to make it longer than that.

Of course we watched the parade and the show the princesses and Mickey and his friends put on in front of the castle...Abby LOVED it!  I'm not very good at taking pictures.  I find that when I do take lots of pictures I don't get to really enjoy what I'm doing so you're mostly stuck with parade pictures.

Abby and Rebeca waiting for the parade.

Me and Abby waiting for the parade...there's A LOT of waiting at Disney World.

 

Abby watching the parade wearing my sunglasses.  I forgot hers and it was wicked sunny.

 

 

 

 

 

Anna, Abby and my Mom waiting in line for the carousel.  We went on twice - it had the shortest line and it was one of Abby's favorites.

 

The last two pictures are from waiting in line for the Winnie the Pooh ride.  It was the best wait ever.  I almost think Abby had more fun waiting in line than going on the ride.  They had tons of different activities for the kids to do.  I wish they did this with all the rides...it would have been a much more enjoyable experience.  Those big shiny things on Abby's head are silver, sequin Minnie mouse ears...of course those are the ones she would pick.

PS - We got ice cream at Magic Kingdom.  Abby wanted sprinkles and they didn't have any!?!  How does the most magical place on earth not have sprinkles for ice cream? So disappointing.


The 2nd day we stayed around the hotel.  They had a lot of playgrounds, pools and even a splash park that Abby had fun playing in. Since we were staying at a time share we had a full kitchen so we went grocery shopping too.

The 3rd day Anna, Rebeca and I went to Universal Studios.  It was a lot of fun...again I was disappointed I couldn't go on any roller coasters but there was still plenty to do.  The Harry Potter section of the park was really cool...and that's what we have pictures of.

Waiting in line to for the Harry Potter ride...it was a long wait.  It was a simulation more than a ride so I went on it.

  

 

The other really cool ride/simulation was the Spiderman ride.  It was 3D as you can tell by our super cool shades.  It was also a really long wait so we took some goofy pictures to kill the time.

 Our 4th day we went to Animal Kingdom.  We only had a half day there because Rebeca had to catch a plane home that afternoon for a friend's wedding, but we still had a lot of fun, saw a lot of animals, watched the amazing Lion King show and of course watched the parade.  

Timone was the only character we saw in both Magic and Animal Kingdoms who didn't have a long line, so he's the only one we got a picture with.

  

The Safari

The baby elephant was the cutest thing we saw.

"You're a flamingo...you stand on one leg..."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ostrich eggs

Lion's area...they were all hiding.

The Parade

Most of the "floats" were actually these really cool metal sculptures of animals on wheels.   A person pulled each one and most of them moved.  They were really beautiful and I wish I got some better pictures.

Waiting for this parade...I remembered her sunglasses and she is decked out with her Disney pin and new Little Mermaid doll.

 

 

 

peacock's tail

peacock's wing

giraffe

No Disney parade is complete without people dancing in ridiculous costumes.

some sort of bird

monkey

chameleon

 

 

 Petting Zoo

 

 

Our last day we spent the morning at Down Town Disney.  It is all shopping and restaurants.  They did have a Lego store with some amazing things built out of Legos.

 

 

 

So hot air balloons we saw a few mornings from our hotel room.