Visitors

We have visitors! Our good friends, Doug & Halie, made the trip down South from Kansas, and they are our first non-family visitors since moving to the new house. So we spent most of the week being tourists and showing them the sights around town.

We explored the historic district one day...

Then headed over to the beach for another...
Then, one day we split up. Halie and I had a girls-day-out (with Baylor) at the outlet malls while Doug, Anh, and Jax hit some balls at the driving range. Then, today we got adventurous and climbed the 219 steps to the top of the lighthouse. It was awesome!

The Keeper's Office

The 30 lb fuel bucket that the Keeper had to carry up all 219 steps to the top. No easy feat!

The lens at the top.

The only photo evidence of supernatural activity that we captured. Can you see the orb?

One of the rumored haunts is referred to as "The Man in Blue," and he has been seen on more than one occasion in the basement of the Keeper's house. We saw our own "Man in Blue."

The Keeper's House

I was really excited to finally make it to the top, and I can now say that our lighthouse is a must-see for any future visitors. What a treasure!

The Rides

When we weren't watching a parade, we were probably on a ride or waiting in line for one. Thank goodness for the FastPass system Disney set up. By the 2nd day, we had mastered the FastPass and that allowed us to zip through the lines on all the major attractions.

The absolute best experience was when we FastPassed Space Mountain and walked right past a line of people that had been waiting for over an hour & a half and immediately boarded the roller coaster, and because the grandparents weren't interested in riding any roller coasters, we got to ride a 2nd time too. The waiting crowd shot us some evil looks when we strolled past them again for round 2.

We pretty much rode every ride at every park. We started with the classic It's a Small World. It was a good warm up.I think the award for best roller coaster goes to the Rock' N' Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios, but the Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom also deserves an honorable mention.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was Aunt Nguyen's favorite ride, but only because of her nickname, Winnie.I too liked the Winnie the Pooh ride, but I would rank Peter Pan a close 2nd, followed by Snow White's Scary Adventures.

Jax really enjoyed the Dumbo ride. I think he would have enjoyed it even more if Aunt Kelly had been able to make their elephant fly higher.

Hands down, Jax's favorite ride was the Indy Speedway because it was the first time he was actually able to drive the car. Once was definitely not enough for our future race car driver. Nope, as soon as we finished round 1, he was already begging to go again.

Breaking News

Attention, Everyone! With extreme delight, I can proudly announce that Anh is BOARD-CERTIFIED!!!!!

Parade Addict

One of the things we really looked forward to each day were the Disney parades. You couldn't help getting caught up in the spectacle, but Uncle Al seemed to have a downright addiction to them. His favorite was the nightly SpectroMagic parade which sadly was very difficult to photograph. I was able to get quite a few snapshots of the Christmas parade, however, which included lots of Disney characters.

The Grand Marshalls, Mickey & Minnie

GoofyA Few of the Disney "Hotties"

Snow WhiteCinderella I guess even I need to brush up on the Disney Princesses because I have no idea who this is.Belle from Beauty & The Beast Enchanted ChristmasSleeping Beauty
The FairiesFairy Godmother Grandfather's Favorite, Toy Soldiers marching & dancing in unison.

The BeastWoody And, of course, it wouldn't be a Christmas parade without the big guy from the North Pole.

Magical Moments

I'm already suffering from Disney withdrawal. It truely is a Magic Kingdom where you can put reality aside for a bit and enjoy an idyllic fantasy world. Some of my favorite memories are from our first few hours.

I don't think I'll ever forget the feeling I had as we made our way around the HUGE Christmas tree at the entrance square and looked down Main Street towards Cinderella's castle. Even the Grinch would have been moved by beautiful holiday decorations. Disney knows how to set the mood!At the end of Main Street, we paused to take some pictures in front of the castle. To put it simply, the castle is the kingdom's centerpiece, and it is BEAUTIFUL...straight out of a storybook.And, it's even more impressive after sunset when it's illuminated with millions of twinkling lights. Throw in a spectacular nightly fireworks display complete with a real life Tinkerbelle flying overhead, and you can see why people call it the "Happiest Place on Earth."We were all impressed by the fireworks spectacular, but no one more than Baylor. It was a jaw-dropping moment for him every single night. In fact, it was so impressive, he actually clapped for the first time ever after seeing them for the first time. The magical evening came to a close as we walked back down Main Street to take the Monorail home, and it began snowing. Okay, it wasn't really snowing. We were in Florida, after all, but through Disney magic we were treated to a white Christmas.

Truly an evening that I will never forget!

A Very Disney Christmas

We (all 14 of us) survived Disney! The trip was filled with some roller coaster moments, literally and figuratively, but the many, many wonderful memories far outweigh the few negative experiences. I have so much to share, but I think I'll start with some pictures of some of the friends we made along the way.