The Story of Us: Walt Disney World 2011

A couple weeks ago we packed our bags and boarded a plane to Orlando, Florida. Henry, the girls, and I flew down on Friday, January 7th, and met my parents in Melbourne that evening. We spent the night there and went to a couple beaches and the Ron Jon Surf Shop the next morning.

We walked up and down a couple different beaches near Cocoa Beach and picked up seashells. We found a TON. Lara plans to bring them to school and let the kids in her class each pick out a shell or two to keep. The water was really cold, but it was still very nice out.

Ayla and Papa on the beach

We could do this every day!

Building Cinderella's Castle. Or something like it.

After the beaches and lunch we drove back to Orlando to check into our home for the week. It was a really nice place! That night we went to Old Town, then back to get ready for the big week ahead of us. On Sunday we went to Animal Kingdom. We went on the safari, Lara rode her first roller coaster (Expedition Everest), which she was terrified of, saw the bird show, met some characters, saw the Bug's Life 3d show, went to the Finding Nemo musical, and saw tons of random animals.

Ayla and Henry watching the Meerkats

It's Tough to be a Bug!

We're dorks

Ayla was SOOO happy!

Animal Kingdom closed at 5pm so Henry and I went to eat dinner at a restaurant in Orlando that he had found called Dragonfly. It was so good! We even went back a few days later and brought the whole family.

On Monday we headed to Sea World. I hadn't been there since I was around 2, so I was excited. It didn't look as new and glamorous as they make it look in the commercials, but it was a lot of fun. We got rained out after the Believe show, but we had seen everything we wanted to so that was okay. We went on an awesome roller coaster called Manta. We even got on the very first ride of the day, right in the front row. It was so much fun! We saw a dolphin and whale show, the seal and walrus show, and the Believe show with the orcas. We also saw some really cool aquariums.

Lara loved the shows

We sat in the splash seats for all of the shows but only got a few drops of water on us.

We spent Tuesday at Magic Kingdom. We rode lots of rides and saw lots of characters. Lara hated the Haunted Mansion, but Ayla didn't mind it. Lara probably doesn't trust us anymore, after making her go on 2 rides that she hated. We had awesome weather all day.

It's a Small World

Cinderella's Castle

We ate at a lunch buffet with characters from Winnie the Pooh. The girls got to meet Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore. They thought it was pretty cool!

Our ears

My 2 favorite mice

One of Disney's best rides

We slept in on Wednesday and hung around the place where we were staying. The boys and the little ladies went swimming. It was way too cold outside for me to swim, but the water was nice so the kids didn't mind.

In the evening we headed to Epcot. We went on the ride in the big ball, the Figment ride, found the leaping water, checked out some of the countries in the World Showcase, and froze while watching the fireworks show.

Thursday was spent at Hollywood Studios. We saw the Indiana Jones stunt show, a couple indoor shows, played in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, rode on some rides, and met some more characters. We once again froze our butts off waiting for a show, Fantasmic. It was pretty cool.

I'm a big fan of Handy Manny!

Lotso

We returned to Epcot on Friday. We went on the rides that we wanted to and visited a few more countries, then got the girls' silhouettes done before leaving. I miss Disney World like crazy! I wish we could go every year!