Walt Disney World 2012!

Finally, the countdown to Disney ended. We left Friday morning to drive to Orlando. We arrived just in time Friday afternoon to pick up Grandma Marilyn who flew in from Utah. Brad and Merecedes and their kids arrived later that evening from Minnesota.

Walt Disney World

Where Dreams Come True!

Let the dreams begin!

Saturday, Day 1: Animal Kingdom

The long walk. The anticipation is building.

It was a jungle in there. Grandma definitely helped keep things under control with 7 kids.

The Animal Safari was the first ride.

The baby elephant was my favorite.

Rhinos always remind me of dad (aka: Duke)

Check out these wild animals. I got to play zoo keeper to these animals while the big kids went on this ride....

The white water rafting.

The Everest Experience.

This was Addilyn, the thrill-seeker's, favorite. We had no idea how intense this ride would be and Maycie came happily with the big kids, being mom, dad, Uncle Brad and Addilyn. Considering I was almost in tears myself after the pitch dark backwards plunge into the mountain, I thought Maycie did quite well. It was still a blast.

This was the last picture my camera took as it plunged into the toilet.

I might as well have flushed it down the toilet because it didn't work after that.

Addilyn was generous enough to let me use her new camera she got for Christmas for the rest of the trip.

Isaac with grandma at the dinosaur excavation play site.

The weather cooperated. In fact, I would have enjoyed about 5 to 10 degrees cooler. It was in the low to mid 80's the whole time we were there. Maycie, of course, found a water source to cool off in.

The happiest place on earth where even the skies smile at you.

Rob said he wants to be the guy that makes pictures in the sky when he grows up.

Sunday, Day 2. After going to church the kids told "m&m stories" with grandma by the pool while the babies napped. Then we headed to these beautiful fresh water springs.

Wekiwa Springs.

Leiden, Machara, Addilyn and Maycie enjoying a snack after a cool dip.

Uncle Brad: spider monkey.

Addilyn: tree hugger.

Maycie: goof.

Day 3 & 5: Magic Kingdom

Isaac's favorite ride was the shuttle from the parking lot to the park.

Getting into the park was quite a feat. First, park the car, unload kids, load baby into the stroller, load all bags onto stroller handles. Next, walk to the shuttle, wait for the shuttle, take baby out of stroller, take bags off stroller, fold up stroller, load kids onto shuttle. Then, ride shuttle to first entrance, unload kids, unload stroller, put baby back into stroller, put bags back onto stroller. Then, walk to either monorail or ferry to transport us to the inside entrance, unload kids, and walk to security gates, unload bags, stand in line to have bags checked. Finally, stand in line to have tickets (and fingers) scanned to enter the park. Whew! What a trip, but it was worth it. Now I know why they can charge so much for food. People don't want to leave and re-enter the park. On the first day we did pack a cooler for a picnic lunch determined not to pay the outrageous price for food, but we got tired of dragging the cooler around so we paid $14 to rent a locker. When the kids were hungry it took over 30 minutes to walk back to the entrance where our locker was to retrieve the food. The kids were so famished I ended up buying about $10 (which wasn't much) worth of snacks to tide them over until dad came with the cooler. In the end we decided that $30 - $40 dollars for lunch was worth it the headaches saved.

The kids were not thrilled about stopping a moment to take a picture, hence the grumpy looks. A good group shot was pretty illusive this trip.

Brad and Mercedes in the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. I think everyone has wanted to live in that tree house at one time or another.

The kids didn't have much interest in finding the princesses, which I guess is a good thing, but I still made them pose for one.

Alex giving a good pirate "Arrrgg"! on Pirates of the Carribean. I think this is the only ride I remember as a child going to Disneyland.

The kids saved their money for weeks and in addition to some help from grandparents had a good amount to spend on souveniers. Alex's first purchase was a pirate sword, then a pirate hook, then a star wars hat, then a star wars gun. His only regret: he didn't get an Indian Jones whip at Hollywood Studios.

Who knew that "It's a Small World" was such a thriller. It was nastalgic, at least. This was Maycie's favorite in Magic Kingdom.

"It's a small world after all". Is the song running through your head now?

The "Tinkerbell Fireworks Show" was specktacular. Tinkerbell flies out of the castle window followed by an amazing light show.

Maycie and Alex getting their first experience at the wheel.

My favorite part was all the amazing shows everywhere you turned; bands, dancing, theatrical performances, stunts. I soon began to realize that Disney is very little about the rides and more about the entire experience and engaging as many senses as possible. The 3-D shows would actually spray water at you during a visualbig splash and send out a smell of whatever you were viewing. The attention to detail and caliber of talent in everything was truly astounding.

We ended Magic Kingdom by getting a little souvenir. Grandma purchased silhouettes of all the kids. The lady would simply cut away without tracing. Each child only took a few minutes.

Didn't they turn out darling?

After several hours at the park we would come back to the house and the kids would swim in the house pool for as many hours as we would let them while the adults crashed. Oh, to have the endless energy of a child again.

Isaac loved his first pool experience - in the buff, of course.

I think Isaac looks like a toothless, double-chinned version of me in this picture.

Day 6: Epcot Center

For Rob's birthday, Marilyn watched the kids while the adults spend a few childless hours at Epcot. "Mission: Space" was the big ride there. It was a simulated space shuttle trip to mars. Now I know why I never became an astronaut. It was amazing, though. "Soaring" was a another amazing ride which simulated a hang gliding ride.

Ironically, the park was more adult geared, but we saw more disney characters there than at the other parks combined. Those are not my children with Belle, but I had to take a picture since she's my favorite princess.

Happy 35th Birthday, Rob. The kids thought it unfair that dad got to spend his birthday at Disney.

Day 4 & 7.

Hollywood Studios was, overall, our family's favorite park. On the last day, Addilyn decided to return to Magic Kingdom with Grandma to go on her favorite ride, Space Mountain, while Rob and I took the younger kids to Hollywood Studios again.

Voyage of the Little Mermaid: one of the many 3-D shows we saw.

Toy Story Midway Mania was Maycie and my favorite ride. It's like you're in a giant video game. During the whole ride you shoot at digital targets and try to score the highest points. It was a blast.

While standing in line for Toy Story, Rob met some girls who live in the same city he served his mission in; Saporo, Japan. That was the 2nd time on the trip that he surprised some Japanese tourists by suddenly speaking Japanese with them.

Waiting for the Toy Story ride was part of the fun. It was like being inside a giant to box.

The giant talking Mr. Potato head was Isaac's favorite part of the ride.

Maycie with her 3-D glasses and toy gun getting ready to shoot at some digital targets. Seriously, so fun.

Indiana Jones Stunt Show was Alex's favorite show/experience, followed by Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show. Explosions so big your felt like your eyebrows were being singed.

Cars driving on their sides...

...then driving out of 2 story buildings.

Huge explosions!

We ended the day by letting the kids get their face painted.

Alex admiring his storm trooper face in the mirror.

2 face paintings: $30.

2 ice creams: $8

Finding free palm tree souvenirs in the parking lot: priceless (literally).

After 7 days of trying to get everyone together with their Mickey Mouse ears long enough to take a picture, we finally got it on the last night.

What an amazing trip. I can't wait to do it again!