One last stop at Animal Kingdom and then a long journey home December 29th

On Saturday morning we got up, finished putting the last minute items in the car, ate breakfast, did our final run through of the condo, and then headed for Disney's Animal Kingdom. We had been thinking all week that as a way to get some energy out before the long ride home, we would go for the morning. Since we had really liked Animal Kingdom and it was quick to get in and out of, we went there. Since we were not able to do the Safari on Tuesday, John immediately headed to the Africa section of the park to get some fast passes. The girls and I meandered over to Dino Land, looking at some of the animal exhibits on the way and one of the shops. John made his way back over to meet us in Dino Land and we all got in line for the fling Triceratops (Emily called them the rhinoceroses). We were in luck that early that the line took only a few minutes. That seemed to be one of Emily's favorites from the other day and she seemed to love it again. In addition, Ansley and Bailey seemed to have a blast. Since the line was so short, we rode one more time. After that, we ventured back to the Dino play ground, specifically the digging area with the little rocks. Emily again, though that was the best thing ever!!! After leaving Dino land we headed to the Africa section since our time was approaching to use our fast passes. On our way, we happened to see the Calypso band again. By the time we made it over to the Safari, the little ones were to tired, so Emily and I got in the fast pass lane. I have to say, it was one of the neatest rides ever. You board this large jeep type vehicle and a driven through Disney's safari area that they have set up to look like the African outback. It took about 15 minutes and while on the safari, the animal are just roaming around you. Emily was amazed, as was I, and she had me taking a picture of every animal she saw. The first group we saw were the Rhinos, birds, and Hippos. The Hippos were in the water and our guide/driver said they were able to stay under water for up to 5 minutes. Next were the Nile crocodiles. They were kind of down in a moat type area since the driver said they were noted to be even more aggressive that the American crocodile and got upwards of 20 feet long. Next we moved on the the plains type area where we say a variety of antelopes and other similar animals, giraffes, elephants, zebra, and much more. We then made our way around past the flamingos, saw ostrich eggs, and then several more elephants with their babies. Once we pulled back in the loading station, Emily and I got out, tried to see the gorillas and then met up with John and the girls. Emily mentioned she was hungry so we headed towards the Mickey area to get her something to eat. On the way out of the Africa section, we got to see the African dancers. It was a group of about 8 guys and they were doing various African dance and acrobatic tricks. One of the acrobatics was truly amazing. This one guy did a hand stand balancing on another guys hands that were over his head. After the show, we got some lunch, went through a few shops, and headed for the car. Unfortunately, we had no idea what kind of traffic we were going to face on the way home that started not long after leaving the park. After a few hours, we had only made it to 80 miles south of Jacksonville where we made our first stop at a McDonald's/gas station. We took a break, got a snack, and then walked over to the fruit stand next door, since John was dying to get some oranges. Very surprising since I never see him eat fruit =) He samples a couple and decided on the Red Navel Orange. A special type from that area, that was really quite good. The 1/4 bushel was the smallest size, so after buying it, we loaded back up and headed back to I95. We again hit a lot of traffic with numerous slow downs (that never seemed to be explained at the end of them). Around 7 we stopped again, at around Brunswick GA at a Sub Way/gas station. There were picnic benches out side, so John took the girls to one of the benches while I got our food. After eating, changing the girls into jamies, and filling up the car, we were off. We overall made better time with only about one more slow down and a little rain. The little ones went to sleep after while. At around 10, John was ready to switch drivers, so we stopped at Balentine SC and quickly switched. Unfortunately, Emily was not able to get comfortable in her seat so it was a long last hour or so for her until we made it home at 11:15 pm.

Pool Day - Downtown Disney

On December 26th, we decided to take the morning off from theme parks. After getting up, we went to IHOP for breakfast. After we came back we played around some, before deciding to go over to Downtown Disney to look for Emily a princess dress. She loves to dress up as a princess so we had promised she could pick out a princess dress while we were on vacation. When we arrived at the Down Town Disney area, we parked, and first found the main Disney store. It was huge, so we all walked around for a while and let Emily look at all of the choices before she picked. She had talked about a Cinderella at the first of the week, but when she found the Little Mermaid (Areal) wedding dress she was hooked. She also picked out some shoes to go with the dress. After getting her dress, she was anxious to put it on, so we found a bathroom to change. We walked around to a few shops before trying to get some lunch.


In the afternoon, we made a trip to the pool.

Christmas Day 2007 - Disney's Animal Kingdom

On Christmas day, we were woken by Emily asking if Santa came. We told her he had and went into the living room of the condo to see what he brought. The little ones were awake so they also came in to check out the action. Emily's was first and the very first thing Emily noticed was her soccer ball sitting at the top of the stocking. This is something she started saying she wanted just days before Christmas, and luckily Santa was able to come through. She was so excited she was running for the door. Although she turned back when we told her Santa had brought more and it was in her stocking. She quickly pulled out her new baby doll and followed with her various other goodies, including bath toys, a shake and go plane, candy, paint, etc. Her and the little girls loved playing with the stuff while I opened mine next. I got a digital picture frame, memory for my camera, a filter for my camera, and a movie. Next we were on to Ansley. She didn't really know what to do, but Emily and I helped. She got a remote control car (special made for 12 month+ that was really neat), various snacks she liked, bubble bath, a new WubaNub Purple Frog passie, and new plate to eat off. Next John checked out his stocking, which included a shake and go plane, a Superman shirt, a USC shirt, season 6 of Scrubs, some cologne, and a game. Finally we were on to Bailey. She didn't really know what to do ether, but Emily and I helped. She got a remote control car (special made for 12 month+ that was really neat), various snacks she liked, bath toys, bubble bath, and new plate to eat off. After all the stockings were opened, John took Emily outside to let her play with the soccer ball some while the little ones ate breakfast. She was very excited about her new ball. When they came back in, she also ate and all the girls played with their Santa stuff. At around 10, we met Daddy, Katrina, Leslie, Megan, Quinten, and Blake at the Sizzler for a breakfast buffet.

At around 2, Daddy and Katrina came over to our condo to keep Ansley and Bailey while John and I took Emily to Animal Kingdom. When we arrived at the park, we say Leslie's group and all walked in together. They wanted to do the safari. John headed with them to the Africa section to try to get fast passes. As it turned out fast passes for that ride was up for the day, and since we did not want to wait 90 minutes, we opted out. While John was trying to get the passes, Emily and I walked around. As it turned out, we quickly found a Calypso band and Emily had the best time dancing. The band was playing a variety of songs, including Christmas songs like Jingle Bells. When they were getting ready to play Jingle Bells, they got some of the kids to come up front, and gave them bells to shake with the song. Emily loved playing the bells. After a while, I got a call from John and he was able to meet us at the band. Since he did not have any luck with the fast passes for the Safari, he got us some for Its a Bugs Life (we late found out this would be a big mistake). In the time we had before our fast pass was ready, we went to Dino Land. While in Dino Land, we rode the Triceratops ride and then went to the playground. In time for our fast pass, we headed back to Its a Bugs Life. When we made it to the front, we waited a few minutes in this cave like staging area, which is where Emily started not to be crazy about it. However, when we went in and were on the second row, things seemed to be looking up. The show started out cute with the main ant coming out from the moving and doing a speal. After a minute or two, then the villain (which caught us totally by surprise), came out right in front of us. Since we were on the second row on the side, the probably 6 foot tall villain bug was hanging over us. Emily was scared, but we did not have any way to leave. We tried to get her to bury her head, but soon a big spider came out on the screen and started talking about showing us what it was like to be a bug and was spraying smoke. This is when things really went bad and Emily was screaming "Get me out of Here". Luckily it ended quickly and we were able to leave, but it defiantly turned out to not be the "show" we expected. Lets just say we did not try to get Emily to go to more "shows". After the trauma was done, we say a little bit of the parade on the way out of the ride and headed back to Dino Land. On the way, we stopped at the meet the characters section, where Emily go tot see Pooh, Piglet, Ehore, and Tigger. After we ate, I was able to get in touch with Leslie, and by coincidence, they were just coming to the restaurant where we ate, so we had a little visit. After our visit, we went back to ride the Triceratops again. There was a neat ride in Dino Land, the Primeval Whirl, that was for big people. I wanted to give it a try, so John and Emily went back to the play ground, while I went to get in line. By chance, I saw Megan and Leslie a few people ahead of me and some nice people let me go up there with them. The three of us had a blast on my first "big person ride" of the trip. When we got off, we saw Blake and Quinten. They had fast passes so they were off to Expedition Everest. I then met up with John and Emily at the playground. As it turned out, in the back of the play ground was a very neat digging section with all these tiny rocks for the kids to play in. It was like a huge sand box, but with tiny rocks. This was defiantly a highlight for Emily. After that, we started walking some and ran into the Barton's near Expedition Everest. They offered to keep Emily while John and I rode. I have to say that it was a really neat ride!! You start off traveling up what is suppose to be Mt. Everest, race around, then suddenly start racing backwards. After the ride, we headed to the play ground to meet up with the Barton's. Emily was really getting tired, so we played for a few minutes with Blake and then headed towards the car.

December 23rd - Magic Kingdom

After a hard first day arriving in Florida and going to the Magic Kingdom, we decided we would hang around the resort on Sunday morning, December 23rd. The weather was beautiful and in the 70's and Emily had been desperately wanting to go to the pool. So after getting on her bathing suit, we all headed down to the pool. After watching her play a little while, Ansley, Bailey, and I headed off to find a grocery store. As most of you know, we can not make it long without getting groceries. We were in luck in the fact there was a grocery store within a few blocks. When the girls and I returned from the store, Emily was playing in the tub. We all had lunch, got the girls down for a nap, and when they awoke, we got ready to head over to the Magic Kingdom. When we arrived at Disney, we caught the ferry over to the Magic Kingdom and headed in the gates. We just made it there as the 3:30 parade was going through. Emily was very curious so we stopped for a few minutes until she was ready to head on. It was extremely crowded due to the Christmas season, but we slowly were able to make our way around to meet up with Daddy and Blake at the entrance to Toon Town. First thing, Emily and I got in line and rode the Barn Yard ride in Toon Town while John and the girls walked around. Emily really enjoyed the ride. While we were in the Magic Kingdom, John and Emily rode the tea cup, we ate at the cafe in Tomorrow Land, played on the playground in Toon Town, all of us rode the Snow White ride, and all of us got on the Pooh ride. Not long before the Spectro Magic parade started, we headed down the main drag, were not able to find the group, so we made our way out of the park and rode back via the monterale. Emily seemed to have a really good time even though she was exhausted by the end of the day.

As a recommendation for all of you that are thinking about Disney with little ones, I would not recommend going to the Magic Kingdom on the several days surrounding the Christmas holiday. With the crowds, it is impossible to get through with a double stroller, the lines for the rides are extremely long, it is extremely noisy (little ones are not able to fall asleep), and the lines for the bathrooms can be worse (which does not do well when young ones need to go to the potty often and there are diaper explosions). That being said, it is really neat to see everything decorated for Christmas. If would recommend that if you will be in Orlando at one of these peak times, try to hit ones like Sea World or Animal Kingdom on peak days. There is much more to offer that you do not have to wait for and they did not seem as busy.

Traveling to Flordia Dec 21-22

On Friday, December 21st, we all awoke with excitement because we were leaving for Florida that morning. We went downstairs to eat breakfast and got dressed. We were suppose to be at Leslie’s house to leave for Florida at 9:30 since we were all going to caravan down together. Around 8 we got a call from Daddy to let us know everyone was up earlier and that since there was suppose to be a bad storm along the coast, we were all going to try to go down interstate 85 through Atlanta vs. down 385. The new plan was for us to wait on the group at the Mauldin Rd. exit so we left the house around 8:45 and headed by CVS in Mauldin to pick up a last minute item, to the gas station, and then we headed to wait on the exit ramp at Mauldin Rd. Around 9:15, we got the call that Leslie, Katrina, Megan, Blake, and Daddy were getting ready to pass the exit so we looked for the van (since Marna, Jim, Mason, Sydney, Sophia, and Lilly had flown to Orlando; they were driving Marna’s van). Soon we saw Marna’s van passing by so we pulled off the ramp and headed for the interstate. After months of talking about our trip, we were finally off and running. All the girls were in good spirits and playing in the back seat. Emily was mainly watching Dora the Explorer for the first part (Dora has recently tuned out to be one of Emily’s favorite shows and books after Mom got here some Dora movies for her birthday) and the little ones were playing with various toys I handed them. For this first leg of the trip all was well, is was drizzling and a little cold outside, while the babies drifted in and out of their naps, while Emily watched Dora. She seemed to be so excited and keep asking us wear we were going. We explained it to her that we were taking a very long drive to Florida and in Florida was Disney World were Mickey lives. After a great few hours, we stopped in on the south side of Atlanta at a mall to have lunch and take a break. While we were there the little ones rode the carosel on our way out. They seemed to have a great time. For the next stretch, we drove for a little over an hour before the other group needed to stop for gas. After this brief pit stop we kept on to Valdosta, GA where we all stopped at Chick-fil-a around 4. Ansley, Bailey, and Emily all ate and played, while the others tried to get on the internet and played some. They were ready to call it quits for the day. Since our group was doing well and we figured it would be easier to keep going in the evening, we kept driving. Around 7, we decided it was time to call it quits for the evening, so we stopped around Ocala, FL. We were in luck that there was a Comfort Suites with availability. I checked us in, we unloaded our necessary items, and made our way to the room. The next morning we got up, ate breakfast at the hotel, and started down to Orlando. Since we were not going to be able to get into the condos until 4, we decided we would go Disney for the morning. We had spoken with Marna the night before and they were thinking about the Magic Kingdom, so we headed there. We arrived around 10, and all the girls seemed to be very excited. It was a little nippy, so we bundled up and headed for the tram. From there, we took the Ferry Boat over to the Magic Kingdom. It was all buzzing with excitement with the Christmas holiday. When we first came in, they were having a show at the castle, so we stopped to see that. Emily really wanted to see Cinderella, so we stayed there for a little while after the show. After that we headed back to Its a Small World. Luckily they had a pretty short line vs. the other rides. The girls all stared in amazement as we went through. After that, John took Emily to the Pooh play ground while to changed the girls. We then met up with them. After the girls played a little while, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my side that would not let up (It was due to an ovarian cyst. I have had these on occasion since I was in college.) It quickly got very bad, so we hoppled out of the park it what seemed to be the longest journey and headed for the condos. We hated to leave so soon, but even the happiest place on earth could not make that better =) After this rough start, we hit some luck in that we were able to check into the resort early (around 2:30) and spent the rest of the day at the condo.