April 7, 2012

4: Hollywood Studios


If I had to choose a favorite Disney park from our trip,
it may just be Hollywood Studios.
Of course, the Magic Kingdom is still
the most magical of them all.
But every ride here was one of the best
and the shows were pretty cool, too.
Tower of Terror has grown on me
and Kyler and I rode it 4 times.
We all loved Rock n Roller coaster, Toy Story,
and, of course, Star Tours.




To be part of Jedi training here,
you have to sign up for a time.
It fills up really quickly and we were lucky
we got a time for the boys.
However, we were most unlucky
because the only time it rained during our entire trip
was the hour and a half surrounding the boys Jedi training time.
Since its an outdoor show,
they had to cancel it.
Disappointing, but the boys still participated in
Star Wars trivia.
Kyler knew almost every question.
This one must have been a stumper
since he has his thinking face on.
But he was called on to answer many of the questions
and got them right.
They also took us into a room off of Star Tours
for pictures with Darth Vader.

After the Studio Backlot Tour,
we saw Darth's real costume!
And this Sith guy
who the boys can name
but I can not.

One of my favorites!
We watched  Muppet Vision 3D in the theater.
Kacin spent his souvenir money
on this misting fan.
It made him happy all week.


Autograph from Pooh bear
while Ky and I rode Tower of Terror.


The boys also loved the Stunt Car show
and Fantasmic at the end of the day.

April 4, 2012

3: Epcot


Two main events in our day at Epcot.
The first one is not for the weak of stomach.
The second is super awesome cool.

So I'll start with the first one.
Let's just say there's a reason why they put
barf bags in the Mission: Space ride.
And they get used.
For this ride you have two choices
for your experience--
green is milder than orange.
We started with green.
It was fun!
Two boys wanted to conquer orange.
As we waited for the doors to open
so we could take our seats in the
spaceship
I got to thinking
how when my bro-in-law let us try the air force simulators
I got really dizzy
and that I don't even like pulling G's.
Then I saw them cleaning up the puke
from someone else who had just
ridden the ride
and I was out.
E thought he'd be fine.
That's a negative.
It's a good thing they had those bags I guess!
Of course, Kyler thought it was great!

Later on in the day,
we were in line to ride Soarin'.
We asked for the front row
so they had us step to the side to wait.
As we stood there,
a Disney cast member came up to us
and asked if we had ridden on the ride before.
We told him we had at Disneyland.
He asked us if we wanted the best seats
and a really amazing experience.
Uh, Yes!
He told us to follow him
and he brought us into a "secret" room.
There was another family there--
a mom, her teenage son, and his three friends.
It was never very clear,
but from what I gathered
this family was on a VIP tour
and the man was from guest relations.
He started telling us
about the three hidden Mickeys on Soarin',
how the idea for the ride came about,
that the people who created the ride and their families
are the ones on the rafts on the river
and a whole bunch of other interesting information.
One of the hidden Mickeys he mentioned
is on the golf ball that the golfer hits right at you.
He then told us that he's even heard that
you can reach out your hand and catch the ball.
The teenage boy affirmed
that he once saw someone at Disneyland catch it.
That made the boys believers and they were pumped
and ready to catch that ball.
The mom explained that she had heard
it helps if you shout
"I want that ball!"
We took our seats
front middle
with Kacin right next to the teenage boy
who was next to the
Disney man from Guest Relations.
When we got to the golf scene,
our entire row stretched out our arms
and shouted
"I want that ball!"
And what do you know?
Disney magic at its finest
the teenage boy revealed that he caught the golf ball!
He offered it to
wide eyed Kacin
and impressed Kyler.
So we now have the golf ball from the ride Soarin"!
I love Disney magic.

The only other pictures
I took on this hot day
were in cars
after riding Test Track.




April 4, 2012

2: Magic Kingdom

A most magical day 
at the Magic Kingdom.
15 hours of fun (and crowds).
This is the day our feet hurt the most
because we were all over that park
working our fast passes.

Saying hello
to Mickey and his friends
when they rode in on the train
to open the park for the day.
First ride--
the Indy Speedway.




We tried to all ride together
on Prince Charming's Carrousel
but then some kid came and snatched
Kacin's horse before he could get on.
While Kacin and I moved back to another spot
and E was trying to figure out what was going on
his horse next to Kyler got taken.
In the end,
Eric and Kyler
rode all alone.

Almost had the sword out this time!

We explored Tom Sawyer's Island.

We also enjoyed the Electrical Light Parade,
Dole Pineapple Whip,
and the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor.
We thought we were safe
when we sat in the back row during the show.
Alas, we were not.
Well, I was not.
It was a funny show
until their camera went on me
and my face was up on the big screen
and I had to interact with a monster 
by making antennae on my head
and repeating silly noises
while he tried to guess the number I picked. 

April 3, 2012

1: Animal Kingdom

We ran on 5 hours of sleep that first day.
I guess it was more of a speed walk than a run,
but we went as fast as our legs could go
to get to everything we wanted to do at the Animal Kingdom.
Kacin was super excited to ride
Expedition Everest first.
We even waited for the front.
Unfortunately,
this thrilling ride was a bit more than he expected
and he was pretty shook up afterwards.
Kyler? I have yet to find any ride or dangerous feat
that shakes him up!
E loved the Safari ride
and I'm sure would've been happy riding it again and again.
Instead, the ride we rode over and over
E wouldn't even go on
and I could've passed on the spinney part--
the Primeval Whirl.
Animal Kingdom
was very zoo like.
We passed on looking at most of the animals
and called it an early day
around 5:30pm
so we could get a good night's sleep
and adjust to the time change.
A few more pictures from the day  . . .



April 3, 2012

Destination: Orlando, FL

When we found out E had
to travel again
for work
to Orlando, Florida
and that his conference happened to be during
our spring break
we could not pass up the opportunity
to tag along
and take advantage of a week of hotels
and E's plane ticket compliments of The work.
We planned a family vacation!
I was dying to tell the boys about our trip
from day one,
because I was too excited to keep it in.
E made me wait
so I just blabbed about it to everyone else.
We ended up telling them a little less than a month before the trip
so we could anticipate and be excited together.
And we were!
We left on a Tuesday
after mornings at school, teaching, and work.
We caught our plane at 2pm WA time
and arrived at 1:15am FL time.
Kacin letting Polo and Giraffy look out the window with him


April 3, 2012

First Derby

Ah, the great Pinewood Derby.
Scouts is a whole other world to me,
but Kyler has loved it
and the Pinewood Derby
was fun and exciting for him.
With my calling in YW,
I ran back and forth between
my beehive class and the derby
and was able to watch Kyler race
a few times and snap just a few pictures.
Kyler designed the army car.