The One-Time-Never-Again-Holy-Tiring-But-Awesome Trip to Orlando!

Talk about an overwhelming blog post to write!  I have over 500 pictures from our recent 2 week trip to Orlando and every single one of them is worth sharing.  In short, we had a great trip.  Here's the condensed version...

We knew we wanted to take the kids to Disney World at some point and we tried to pick a time when they were at an age that they would each both enjoy it and remember it.  We also knew that we would only go once (there are way too many places in the world to explore!) and we wanted to go for long enough that we could enjoy other things that Orlando had to offer.  So we set off for 15 days and timed our trip for when the Habs were playing the Lightning in Tampa Bay so the kids could catch their first Habs game.

The pictures will tell a better story than I ever could so here we go.  In summary, there were no rides we didn't ride, no princesses we didn't meet, and no ice cream we didn't sample!!!

CONDO - Windsor Hills:
We rented a condo in Windsor Hills, located approximately 4 miles from Disney.  It was everything we could have wanted. We had a 3 bedroom unit complete with a fully-equipped kitchen and 2 bathrooms.  The resort had a big pool and there were tons of amenities like tennis, ping pong, a games room, and a theatre that took requests for daily viewings.  We enjoyed everything the place had to offer on our down days between amusement parks.

Picnic lunch by the pool.

EPCOT - March 5:
Our first Disney park was Epcot.  

Waiting for the rope to drop - here we gooooo!!!

First ride: Test Track.  We got to design our own car and then "test it" on the quasi rollercoaster track.  Cool!

The kids now think they've been to Italy and can't wait to tell Nonno!

We were there for the Garden festival and all over the grounds were Disney characters in plant form.  I told Leah this was the closest she'd get to meeting Anna and Elsa because I'd heard rumours of 4 hour lines.  She seemed fine with not meeting them.  Little did I know...

Guess who lives in Germany??  This was of course a planned meeting (hence the dress) and I can't possibly put into words how cool an experience this was for Leah.  She wound up at the front of the line when it was time for Snow White's 20 minute break.  The princess saw her and said a quick hello as she left and then made a huge stink out of Leah when she came back. There was a massive line behind us, but the meeting wasn't the least bit rushed.  It couldn't have worked out better.  Leah was speechless for a full 30 minutes after.  Completely speechless and in a daze.  Extremely cute.

I took a video of the end of their meeting where Snow White is teaching Leah a dance.  I believe you can access it by clicking this link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p30uoe2qpfwdwz4/MVI_2587.MOV?dl=0

ORANGE PICKING - March 6:
This was one of our coldest days and wasn't a great day for hanging at the pool.  After some morning tennis, we decided to venture out and find an orchard where we could pick some Florida oranges.  The kids had a blast picking the oranges but weren't as excited about eating them.

 

ANIMAL KINGDOM - March 7:
It was still a little cool today, but it was the perfect day to check out Animal Kingdom.  We even enjoyed the Kali Rapids ride (picture White Water Canyon at Canada's Wonderland only shorter) but opted to wear our ponchos to keep dry.

Traveling back in time to capture a dinosaur egg before the meteor hits!

A very brave (and terrified) Leah on Expedition Everest - she even went again!

Ethan and Josh were pretty freaked out the first time on it too!

Josh aboard the safari.

The kids in front of their favourite coaster (they wanted to wait until the train was coming down the track in the background).

GATOR SWAMP TOUR - March 8:
Someone had recommended Gatorland to us, but by this point we were getting a little tired of the crowds and decided to find a more authentic gator experience away from all the Disney tourists.  We drove over an hour to a place that came highly recommended on Trip Advisor and enjoyed a one hour tour aboard a boat through the swamps.  The number of gators we saw was unbelievable.

On the lookout for gators.

It didn't take long before we found them.  This guy is as close to our boat as he appears.  Ack.

Our guide risked his limbs to fish some water lilies for Leah.

The boys enjoyed those walkie talkies!

Back at the dock safe and sound!

We came back to Orlando and finished off a great day with some minigolf.

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS - March 9:
We put in a full 12 hour day at Universal Studios and left no stone unturned.  It was unanimously our favourite of all the amusement parks we went to.

Checking out the Delorion!

Waiting in line for Minion Mayhem.

Waiting in line for Escape from Gringotts.  It was awesome!

Waiting in line for Disaster!

Diagon Alley.  We went into Olivander's Wand Shop and Josh got chosen as the wizard for wand selection.  Is was done exactly as it's done in the book when Harry goes into the shop for the first time.  Very cool experience (until they tried to convince us that the wand chooses the wizard and we need to fork over $60 for a piece of plastic while our son was in tears.  Sigh.)

Meeting Sponge Bob.

MAGIC KINGDOM - March 11:
We opted to go to Magic Kingdom a little later in the day so that we could stay until midnight and catch the fireworks display.  We were all anticipating some serious awesomeness (this is afterall THE Disney park), but unfortunately we were all a little disappointed with Magic Kingdom.  We still had a great day - and Leah certainly was the perfect age for it - but it wasn't our favourite of the Disney Parks. 

Exploring the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse.

Waiting in line for the Haunted Mansion.

As we were eating our ice cream, the Wicked Stepmother and Stepsisters from Cinderella came over and tried to steal Leah's.

Cinderella's castle.

Aboard "It's a Small World" which literally hasn't changed in 35 years and the song will be in my head for eternity!

Space Mountain.

Splash Mountain - I love this picture!

Remember when I said we wouldn't wait in line to meet Anna and Elsa?  I caved... and Leah clung to them both and hugged them for ever.  Super cute yet again!

Leah and Elsa.

More hugs.

While the boys were off doing more rides, Leah and I went to check out "Enchanted Tales with Belle".  Leah was chosen to play the horse in the little play they put on and got to have extra time with the Princess.  Pretty cool!

Meeting Belle.

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS - March 13:
The last of the Disney parks was Hollywood Studios and it ended up being our favourite of the four.  There were 2 fantastic stunt shows - Indiana Jones and a car one.  We also had a blast on some of the rides.  However, the best of the best was the jedi training that we managed to get the kids signed up for at the end of the day.  They were trained and then fought Darth Vader one-on-one.  I've included the 20 minute video of the entire training if you want to see the whole thing.  Ethan and Josh are one of the first to fight Vader and then Leah is 2nd last, so you can fast forward through all the kids you don't know.

This is the only ride Leah was too small to ride - the Aerosmith Rock'n'Roller Coaster - it was our favourite of all the coasters we rode.  But Leah wasn't too disappointed to skip it.

The Tower of Terror terrorized one of us in particular (poor Leah!). 

Jedi Ethan

Jedi Josh

Jedi Leah

Official Jedis!

You should be able to access the video at this link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yzkx1dw8rn9a44h/2015-03-13%2016.39.53.mov?dl=0

MEETING UP WITH THE MAYBEES - March 15:
Amanda, Greg, Zach and Jake were down in Florida for their March Break and overlapped a few days with us.  They rented a big house with their entire extended family and invited us over for the day to hang out and swim in their pool.  We had a blast together catching up.

COUSINS REUNION AND HABS GAME - March 16:
Karen and the kids were in Clearwater for March Break which is only 30 minutes past Tampa.  Since we were going to Tampa for the Habs game, it was the perfect opportunity to meet up.  We had a picnic lunch on the dock and then swam in the pool.  It was so great to see them and catch up for a bit.  We're all really excited for a longer visit in a few months in Ontario.  Then it was time to head to Amelie Arena.  We got there early and took in all the Thunder Alley pre-game activities.  We then made our way into the arena to catch the warm up.  There were a ton of Habs fans there that night and the atmosphere was awesome.  Every time the Lightning fans started cheering, the Habs fans would overpower them.  Unfortunately, despite all our cheering and some great hockey, the Habs made some mistakes and the refs made some questionable calls, and we had 3 bawling children when the final buzzer marked the end of the game.  Oh well!

Josh and Kim having lunch.

Picnic by the sea.

The London and Saskatoon cousins.

In front of Amelie arena.

Throwing bean bags and listening to a great Irish band in Thunder Alley.

Leah posing with some Lightning cheerleaders.

The Maybees also came to the game to cheer on the Habs!

Waiting for warm up to start.

This was Leah's first NHL game!

HERE WE GO!

DOWNTOWN DISNEY - March 17:
We had one more day back in Orlando.  The boys wanted to go back to Hollywood Studios to ride some of their favourite rides so Leah and I dropped them off and went to check out Downtown Disney for a couple of hours.  The Lego store was Leah's favourite!

So all in all it was a fantastic... and exhausting... trip!  We came home to melting snow and spring fever and I'll be posting again soon about the big summer build!  Eek!