Saturday, July 14, 2012

Hollywood Disney Day

YEAH!
And we are excited yet again, rain or shine!
I did say rain, still.
Tropical Storm Debby joined us for day 3.

Andrew was picked to participate in the Indiana Jones movie.
He played it up on stage and we had extra fun watching.

Star Wars.
Had Mandy take this photo for Cole.
I love Star Wars.

Jedi Andrew: "These are not the guests your looking for."
 Mandy: "Your Jedi mind tricks will not work on, ummm, what?"

Speeder Bike
The chance to sit on a speeder bike? AWESOME!
And look, No Debby!
Andrew and Riley argued who would drive.
The crowd waiting for their photo turn gave us an applause when we finished with our photos.  We were a fun group I tell you what.

Until now that is.
Debby came back again.

Dates with Mr. Incredible & Frozone
Yup, Mandy and I asked to have a date photo with these two.
 Mr. Incredible looked longingly into my eyes while Frozone walked away arm in arm with Mandy after the picture.  Guess they were headed out for a real date.

Mandy then asked if we could arm wrestle Mr. Incredible.
Yes, two against one!
We might be winning...
WAIT!
Mr. Incredible cheated!
He reached around with his other hand and tickled me under my arm pit.
Mandy and I hope they had as much fun as we did.

M-I-C-K-E-Y  M-O-U-S-E
We took a Disney drawing class and learned how to draw Mickey.
We are all artists!

Andrew and I were the only two willing to brave the TOWER OF TERROR!
I think we both thought is was too short of a ride.  FUN!  Would have rode it again if there had not been such a long line.  Where is that Debby to send all those visitors home?

Final activity before heading back for some needed sleep?
Fantasmic show!
They had water spraying up and showed movie pieces on the spray.
Along with live action on this set.
The dragon in the center had started fire on the water and Mickey (bottom right corner) came out to defeat the dragon.
I think this was the BEST ending to all our nights at Walt Disney.

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Magic Kingdom day

Day 2 brought us more Debby, however she became a tropical storm instead of a hurricane darn the luck.
We entered Magic Kingdom on this over cast day happy and joyful.
Getting along on day two as we had more days of togetherness in store.

One of the best plaques ever, I might print this and hang at work.
Welcome to my mind's world!

See, happy normal family.
Just chillin' at the MK castle.

Alien Attack!
The challenge?  Shoot the aliens with your laser beam, high score wins.
Serious competitors and not to brag, ok, I will.  Yes, it was me, the winner!
Twice in fact as Andrew couldn't believe I beat them all so I had to do it twice.

Came out of the ride to an arcade thank goodness as it was a waterfall of rain from Debby.  She too will pass so we hung out for a few games and stayed out of our rain gear a little longer.
This four way air hockey was fun, started with one puck and they ended with four flying around the table at the same time.

Lightsaber Build
Yes, you're never to old to build your own Star Wars lightsaber.
Mandy is holding the one Andrew built for Cole, Riley built a double and Andrew, I can't remember what he said about his.

And I just thought this was cute...
Never too old to walk around with a lightsaber sticking out your backpack.
(don't let Riley know I said he was cute with his lightsaber)

Through the Tree House
There are just some things you must always do while in Disney.

Pirates of the Caribbean was fun.
I enjoyed how different the tunnels into each of the rides were.

Have you noticed that we were not wearing our rain gear yet?
It didn't last. However keeping dry was GREAT up to this point!
Thrilled to, yet again, dig out or gear.
Oh, and a HUGE THANKS to Mandy for getting us those as it made it pleasant to be hanging with Debby so much.
Didn't damper our spirits though as we rode the train.

SPLASH!
Thought of Jo while on this ride as it is her favorite.
Oh Trish, we were suppose to look Cool and Calm again.  Well maybe next time. Love this picture!

Who is our secret service to the Presidents?
This was neat as an adult, very educational and emotional for me.
I saw the Presidents when I was a kid and remember that it was a real yawner and thought it took way too long to get back out to the rides and the real fun.

Can you guess where the three of us went?
Hint: The boys didn't want to ride this one.
Does this picture help?
Small World.
Again, a ride that is really a must while visiting the Bid D.

And what did the boys do while we were enjoying "It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all ... " (your welcome to putting this song in your head)
They ate Turkey Legs.

Last but not least...
The final  show of the evening.

And that brings us to the end of day 2..
"What character did we park in today?  What number?  Are you sure?"

We did remember each time where the car was.  I laughed as each evening we heard car alarms going off as other guest just used their panic buttons to locate their vehicles.
Yup, all smiling and full of energy still.  We have more days ahead people!  COME ON!
(I bought a new hat this day too.  I love my hat.)

Saturday, June 30, 2012

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!