East Coast Family @ Disney World

Andrew has his last leave from the Marines before he ships out for his first tour.  With Mandy working this summer at Disney World, Trish planned a GREAT trip for all of us to be together in Florida for a few days.

We were all to arrive at the airport within an hour of each other.  Delta delivered as I walked off the plane on-time.  Toyota also delivered (guessing the vehicle) as Mandy was dropped of by her roommate to the airport on-time.  JetBlue on the other hand made a real mess of the others flights as they landed about seven hours after the first two parties arrived.

So Mandy and I hung out, visited, read books, shopped and ate a meal or two at the Orlando airport killing time.

EVERY one accounted for we are off!

Riley, Mandy, Trish, Andrew and Tina

Day 1 - Animal Kingdom

This is the park that Mandy works at.

We look bright eyed and ...

EXCITED as we tram in!

Entering the Rain Forrest.  Disney goes all out with reality as it was already pouring rain on us.   

The pictures with the white boarders were taken by Disney Cast Members.
I would say, Disney Staff but I learned from Mandy that they are actually called "Cast Members".

Tree of Life, we have arrived!

OK,  It wasn't Disney that provided us with the rain it was Hurricane Debby.  She made sure we thought of her ALL DAY LONG!

Nemo was cool and surprisingly dry.

I accidentally used the flash on this photo (oops) but  I got a GREAT shot!

Did I mention the Debby yet?

So much rain was coming down that the park was quite empty of two legged animals.  How many people do you know of that have take a photo at Disney World and they are the only ones in the picture?

Dinosaur Ride

We planned on looking cool and calm on this ride.  I think we achieved this.

Ok, Riley and Andrew did, they almost looked board.

We would step into stores to browse but mostly to get out of Debby's rain.

Hats are always fun to play with. (Riley wasn't too happy with us)

Stopped and grabbed some hot drinks at this point.

And found some cover in this stationary cart.

Meet and Greet!

It's a must if you don't have to wait in lines.

Pooh, Eeyore & T-I-double G-ER!

Mount Everest ride!

We decided to do the DUCK "O" sign while Riley did the "C" for Riley.  Ok, I think the "C" was for Connecticut.

Bugs Life in 3D

The glasses made us look like we were coming right at each other!

Lion King show is where Mandy works.

Last stop was the Lion King show with VIP seating.  Oh, I should say that we had many VIP seating with some of Mandy's connections.  Sweet!

We are soaked but yet still smiling!

Andrew was chosen to help our section learn the Elephant call.

He did a great job and we got some good laughs at this!

Simba!

Debby brought so much rain that some of the things Mandy arranged for us to do got canceled, darn it.  She had us watch the last showing of the Lion King so we could do the Meet and Greet with the cast.  Mandy also had arranged for us to dress up and participating in the Animal Kingdom Parade.  Both would have been a chance in a life time, darn you Debby!

We finished off the evening with a wonderful meal. (yes, still dripping wet)

Riley was most excited about his cow.

We ate as one family, sharing bits of each others meal and also stealing when one might not be looking if it was tasty enough.

What an AWESOME first day!