Florida
It was a surprise kind of vacation. Brian confirmed that he needed to be in Orlando for work about a week before we left and with so much of the trip covered... Hotel, his flight, and car rental, we decided that since Easton was free for flight and park entrances that now would be a good time to take a trip.
We spent six days in Orlando.
We arrived Friday and by Saturday morning we were already at Magic Kingdom. The kids were great as was the weather at 25 to 30 Celsius all week.
We were surprised that the princesses were so difficult to find but after a full day in the park, the parade and fireworks we managed to see Cinderella and Belle at the theatre by the entrance. Hadley was awe struck as she spoke to the princesses. She was rejuvenated with new found energy that 11pm and five year olds seldom have. Only to find out that there was just enough time to also meet Mickey and Minnie! What a great way to finish the night.
Next time I hope to plan the meal with the princesses. I didn't know about it this time and there is much advance planning required for it. Also there are little Mickey fingers on the map to show character meet up locations which we found out about really late in the day.
Sunday the kids were actually quite tired and we decided to stay at the hotel and enjoy the pool, kids maze area (which Easton found difficult at first but was soon enough navigating it just as well as his big sister), then that night we enjoyed a campfire on the beach.
Monday through Wednesday Brian was working so we were on our own for the most part. We decided to take Monday and walk around the hotel grounds, go to the kids areas again where Hadley easily made friends, make tie dye shirts in the activity centre and purchase and enjoy the s'mores by the campfire at night.
Tuesday we were suppose to meet up with a friend who was also there with her husband but with my cell not working in the states this match up didn't happen despite my three hours of trying. However, we enjoyed our day anyway. We went to Sea World and it was lovely. The kids walked a little then enjoyed a show, walked a little and enjoyed another show. Add a little dippin dots ice cream into the mix, meals in whale trays, a kids play area and the day with the dolphins, and whales was a complete success. Hadley and I even fed the dolphins which was REALLY cool! She wanted me to pick up the sardines first but after I picked up the first one and fed the dolphin, she wanted to do the rest. It really was cool.
Wednesday we headed to Animal Kingdom. Here we saw many characters. Chip, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, and many more.
Hadley loved the triceratops tops ride, and both kids enjoyed the dinosaur boneyard.
They did a really good job with the Kilimanjaro Safari ride and we saw many animals. It was like our safari in Africa only in about 20 minutes instead of days.
This park was one of the parks that closed early (7pm), so we decided that this day would be a good day for a park hopper pass. As previously discussed with Brian in the morning. So with that we were able to head back to Magic Kingdom to hopefully see the parade with a closer view (which we did), the fireworks again, and then head to see more princesses. The good news is that we were surpised by Brian at the gate (with no cell phone this is no small feat), the bad news is that after he paid to go in at 8 pm, then watching the parade and fireworks the park closed. (This was different from Saturday hours). So, with no princess sitings this night I decided it would be worth asking if there was anything guest services could do to let us in on Thursday morning before we left just to see a princess or two. And they were wonderful. They gave us a full day pass! (We could only use it until noon because of our flight but it was still awesome of them. They even gave Hadley a Cinderella wand)! We were able to see Princess Aurora (sleeping beauty), Cinderella, and Belle, as well as Areil from The Little Mermaid.
Plus we had enough time to ride the Winnie the Pooh ride for a second time which was a family favorite. What a great end!
We flew in and out of Buffalo as there was considerable savings to flying out of toronto. The flights were great, the kids were awesome and I am ever thankful for surprise vacations!
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