(NOTE: Lots of pictures and even a video, so give it a moment to load)
For the last few months, we’ve been planning an exciting
trip to Orlando, Florida for Spring Break 2013.
Between Katelynn’s fascination with Disney Princesses and “her castle” at the Magic Kingdom, and
Todd’s & Carl’s desire to finally go to Legoland Florida… it’s been a trip
we’ve all been looking forward to for quite sometime.
It started back in January when we told the kids we were
going….
Unfortunately, as is almost always the case with Carl’s job,
travel plans were tentative until the last minute – at least for Carl. Since Carl was working away from Houston, it
took a little coordination to get us all together. On Saturday, the kids and I took off to drive
halfway to Orlando, conveniently located at my parents’ house. The 8-hour trip ended up taking 11 hours
thanks to construction traffic in Louisiana.
At the same time, Carl drove the 6+ hours from the Valley to our house
since he couldn’t leave work earlier.
Since the timing worked out, he attended the Chris Tomlin/Louie Giglio
concert at the Cynthia Woods Pavilion.
He said the concert was awesome and Louie’s message was amazing, but it
was weird to be there by himself. Carl’s
been going to listen to Louie Giglio since the Passion 2000 event 13 years
ago. Both Louie and Carl have gotten a
little older since then!
Sunday, Carl flew from Houston to Orlando while my parents
and I drove the rest of the way to Orlando.
There was definitely a lot of energy in the car on the way down. Once we all got together, we settled into the
vacation house we rented for the week (much cheaper than a hotel) and rested up
for the long week. Monday, we got to go
to “Carl’s Disney World”… otherwise known as Legoland Florida. There was a ton of stuff to do there and you
didn’t have to be a Lego fan to have fun (but it helped). Todd even went on his first real roller
coaster ever (the ones at the county fair don’t really count). After a full day of fun, we headed back to
the house and met up with Carl’s sister and her family. They were planning on coming to Disney for a
few days anyway so they stayed with us so we could multiply the fun. It’s hilarious when all the kids get
together!
 |
| US Capitol |
 |
| Sitting in the Pirates' Treasure Chest |
 |
| Iwo Jima |
 |
| Welcome to Las Vegas |
 |
| Ready to enjoy the day!! |
 |
| Panoramic of the Kennedy Space Center |
 |
| Statue of Liberty |
 |
| DC Highlights |
 |
| Lego Imperial Soldiers |
 |
| Pedal, Pedal, Pedal!!! |
 |
| Ready to Drive |
 |
| Not looking where he's going |
 |
| Florida State Capitol Building |
 |
| Inside the shark's mouth |
 |
| Riding the second floor of the doubler-decker carrousel |
 |
| Mommy is actually letting him drive |
 |
| Getting ready for Todd's first real roller coaster ride |
Tuesday was the Magic Kingdom – Part 1. Although Todd had been to the Magic Kingdom
three times before, Katelynn’s expression upon seeing “her castle” for the
first time was priceless. The sheer
emotion of excitement on her face couldn’t have been more genuine. First order of business was to get Katelynn’s
silhouette cut out by Jim. Those of you
who have been to Disney World know there is a place where someone will cut out
your portrait on black paper and paste it onto a white background. Jim, who has worked at Disney for 26 years,
cut out Carl’s silhouette when he was a little boy and cut out Todd’s a few
years ago. Now it was Katelynn’s turn…
and Jim did an amazing job as always! We
spent much of the day traversing Main Street, Frontierland, Adventureland,
Liberty Square, and Tomorrowland. We
competed against each other on the Buzz Lightyear ride, braved the dangers of a
jungle boat ride, and road a magic carpet.
Katelynn got to meet a bunch of the characters and lit up each time she
got to get an autograph – truly adorable!
At the end of the day, we connected back up with Rachel’s family, had
dinner and watched the electric parade from a distance. Then we found a place that wasn’t too crowded
to watch the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom.
We found out why it wasn’t too crowded when the trees blocked our view,
but it didn’t seem to faze the kids any.
Wednesday, we went to Epcot and saw “the big golf
ball”. There aren’t as many rides there,
but we still had fun. Now that Todd is
taller than 44 inches, he can ride all of the rides as long as one of us rides
with him. We went on Mission:Space where
we simulate a trip to Mars… and my daredevil son chose to go on the rougher
ride (there are two options for that ride – a smooth ride – which really isn’t
exciting, and a rough ride where you get spun around and feel the force of
gravity). Todd loved every minute of
it! We also got to see more characters
and enjoyed some chocolate mouse from the French Bakery in “France.”
 |
| Meeting Belle |
 |
| Family picture with "The Boss" |
 |
| Loving the chocolate mousse |
 |
| Wearing the chocolate mousse |
 |
| The "Big Golf Ball" |
 |
| Meeting Minnie |
 |
| Meeting Pluto |
 |
| Epcot at night after a long day |
Thursday was a very early day, leaving the house at 7AM in
order to make a breakfast reservation with some very important friends! Katelynn and Todd had a blast!
Friday was the Magic Kingdom – Part 2. We knew the kids would have a lot of things
to do in Fantasyland, so we spent the majority of our time there. Luckily, the FastPass system at Disney World
made it possible for us to do all of the rides in Fantasyland, as well as Space
Mountain in Tomorrowland, with little or no wait. Todd got to watch the Captain Jack Sparrow show and was called up on stage to learn how to become a Junior Pirate! And since Katelynn was asleep during the
nighttime electric parade the first time and we had bad seats for the fireworks
show, we got do it all over again.
Katelynn loved the electric parade, bouncing up and down to the music on
Carl’s shoulders the whole 30 minutes.
And we were able to find a spot right in the middle of Disney to see the
fireworks, which Todd loved watching from Carl’s shoulders.
 |
| Amazing what they can do with PhotoShop these days! |
 |
| Family picture in front of Cinderella's Castle |
 |
| Learning how to be a Pirate from Captain Jack Sparrow |
 |
| Getting his Junior Pirate certificate |
 |
| Todd with Pooh and Tigger |
 |
| Katelynn meeting Pooh and Tigger |
 |
| Riding "it's a small world" |
 |
| Riding on the Regal Carrousel |
Saturday, we packed up, dropped Carl off at the airport
(since he had to get back to work down in the Valley) and headed back to
Pensacola. Of course, the ride back had
a lot less energy, having expended much of it in Orlando. It was definitely a Spring Break to remember!!!
