Animal Kingdom: Antarctica

We spent the day at Animal Kingdom.

An unexpected cold front blew in dropping temperatures to record lows keeping the animals snug in their beds out of the elements such that the only critters we saw all day were a lone alligator, a boa constrictor hiding out in his water bowl, and some frisky tigers.

We were however able to catch some wonderful shows like It's Tough to be a Bug, The Lion King, and Finding Nemo.

As the boys took their now customary nap in the stroller we managed to ride Everest and find a spot curbside for the Jammin Jungle Parade.

The boys woke up just in time to watch the parade.

We also got in some shopping. I found ornaments for everyone and some cute Christmas 2010 shirts. We closed the park down dancing at the goodbye show and headed off for our dinner reservations at Chef Mickeys to have dinner with Mickey and friends.

The Nine Days of Disney: Day 4

We spent some time this morning visiting the Toy Story section of the resort.


The boys got to see RC, Woody, Buzz, Rex, and Bo Peep.

We headed off to Epcot for the rest of the morning. The boys enjoyed the Finding Nemo ride while I particularly enjoyed Living with the Land.

After a hibachi lunch at Teppan Edo where Ryan showed off his chopstick skills we hit a few more rides and played in the water spouts before heading off to Hollywood Studios for the evening.

The boys were zonked again so I talked my mom into riding the Tower of Terror.

Afterwards we saw the Osborne Spectacle of dancing lights before enjoying a few more rides and some extra magic hours.

Hollywood Studios: Honey, I Lost the Kids.

We spent the better part of Day 3 at Hollywood Studios where we caught the Drew Carey Show, Indiana Jones, lunch at Mama Melrose's, the Muppets (where Connor belly laughed so hard it was contagious and people in the rows in front of us were turning around to look), pictures with Lightening and Mater, and half a dozen other things.

Though the thing I will remember until my dying day is that I spent 15 of the most terrifying moments of my life in Honey, I Shrunk the kids. Only it should be more aptly named "Honey, I lost the kids."

Despite knowing there is only one way in, and one way out it is still terrifying to watch your two year olds dive in opposite directions and disappear into itty bitty tunnels that go who knows where. I dove in after one and promptly lost him as I attempted to crawl as he ran through the warren of tunnels shrieking and giggling at the pursuit as he went. I eventually caught up with him and dragged him back out to his father with strict instructions not to let him out of his sight, before spending the next 10 minutes waiting and watching for sight of a 3ft tall blond head in the mass of kids darting here and there. I finally caught sight of him across on the far side climbing some stairs that disappeared past the mushrooms into another series of tunnels. I dove in after him and came up with a shoe full of laughing giggling child who was having the time of his life completely oblivious to my near panic at not having caught sight of him during all that time.We chased them around the tunnels for a while before finally corralling the two of them in the toddler area with one of us stationed on each side watching them run, crawl and frolic in the tunnels, ramps, stairways, and slides. It was by far their favorite playground ever.

They were so tuckered out after their hour of play that they passed out in the stroller as we wandered around the park before heading off to the Magic Kingdom for dinner, the Main Street Electrical Parade, and Wishes Fireworks Display.

We scoped out a spot on the front row about an hour before the show, got all bundled up and sat down to wait.

I think the wait was definitely worth it. We really enjoyed the parade. The boys both really liked the whirling twirling bugs.

The Nine Days of Disney: Day 2

We spent our first full day at Disney World at the Magic Kingdom.

In the morning we made our way through Tomorrow Land including favorites like Buzz Lightyears' Space Ranger Spin, and the Tomorowland Indy Speedway.

After lunch the boys zonked in the stroller. While they napped Great Grannie kept an eye of them while the rest of us rode Splash Mountain, and the Thunder Mountain railroad.

Once they woke up we headed into Adventureland to ride one of the boys' absolute favorites the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, before catching the Enchanted Tiki Room Show, and taking a tour of the Swiss Family Robinson Tree house before it was time to head off to our Dinner reservations.

We stopped to get a few quick shots of the castle all decked out for Christmas before heading on our way.

The Nine Days of Disney: Day 1

We spent most of the day in transit, and getting checked in. It is truly a testament to will power that we managed to get all 4 of us and all our bags into, through, and back out of the airport (except the checked bags that never made it on to the plane thanks to a broken conveyor belt - oops).


After waiting in long lines at Magical Express Pick-up we made it to our resort and took our place at the very end of a long check-in line there as well. It was our first inkling that Disney wasn't quite as deserted this time a year as they had advertised.

3 hours later after finally getting our room reservations straightened out (or at the promise of it with the planned eviction of the Columbians who had apparently "forgotten" to check out of one of our rooms) we once again hauled all the bags to the end of the earth and checked out our new digs along the way.

After a short stop to drop off our bags we packed everyone up and headed to Epcot for the evening.

We managed to squeeze in a ride on Spaceship Earth before heading off to our dinner reservations.

We had an absolutely delicious meal at the Garden Grill punctuated with visits to our table from some of the classic disney favorites like Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, and Chip and Dale as we slowly rotated around the different areas of the Land.

We finished dinner just as the fireworks show began. We stopped along one of the walkways on our way to enjoy the show.