Florida 2012

Finally got around to posting about our Florida vacation! Excuse all of the collages, was playing around with them and also thought it'd save this from being a massively large post :)

We left pretty early on Sunday morning, the kids did great and were so excited! Connor got a little nervous on the plane ride but slept for probably two hours out of the three hour flight. 

As you can see the kids thoroughly enjoyed the airports. They were ahead of us constantly, running with their adorable suitcases, loving when we had to take trams or trains or moving walkways, etc. I think they only biffed it once or twice :) Grandpa Tim even took them to the Delta perks club (or whatever it's called) for free treats.

 Our first night we went to a pizza joint down a little ways from our resort that I think we visit every time we stay at Orange Lake Resort in Kissimmee. Pizza was great and they even had someone making balloon art and we were seriously in awe over her mad skills. I mean, LOOK at Ariel the mermaid. Connor opted for a Spiderman helicopter which was also pretty cool.

Monday we spent the morning getting settled into the resort and then headed off to Epcot. We knew the kids wouldn't LOVE Epcot (I remember it being my least favorite as a kid, but love it as an adult), so we thought it'd be good to just head over in the afternoon and then eat somewhere somewhere neat. Little bit of poor planning and assuming we'd get into any of the country's restaurants didn't work out so well, but we had a great time. Kids had more fun I think than we thought they would (if you go, Talk Time with the Turtle (or whatever it's called) was seriously hilarious) and we ate at the Mexican restaurant which was really tasty. We of course had to stay for the laser and fireworks show as well.

 Tuesday we did Magic Kingdom.
Here Grandpa Tim is giving the kids a pep talk about being good listeners. Ha.

Ashlyn was in heaven with the all of the princesses! Connor, not so much a fan of life size characters so no photos of him next to Goofy or Donald or anyone :)

There aren't enough pictures to really support what we all did. First off, it was absolutely packed. We may have picked the worst week or day or something to go, but the kids still definitely enjoyed it. Lots of rides for them to go on (thanks to Bryan and Joe for running around the park to get Fast Pass tickets so we wouldn't have to wait in the incredibly long lines), lots of things to see. We were nearing the end of the night and the kids were definitely ready to call it a day but we did stay for the first 15 minutes or so of the famous lighted parade which was really neat. Bryan was the only one that went on the Space Mountain ride. We went to go try it at the end of the night but it had just broken down. Not sure I'd want to be stuck on the middle of a roller coaster that is pitch black :)

Wednesday we went to Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure. Selfishly...this was probably more for the adults than the kids, but they did have Dr. Suess' Landing which they really enjoyed. I should have gone straight for Harry Potter Land as soon as we got in (we got a little smarter and tried to get there right when the park opened), but figured we'd just head in that direction and hit up Dr. Suess stuff first. By the time we got to Harry Potter...the main attraction was a 2.5 hour wait. No thanks. However, it was pretty neat to see the recreation of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade (see all the people in the top middle picture? That's about what Disney's Magic Kingdom was everywhere. At least in Islands of Adventure it was only that busy in Harry Potter).

Thursday we had plans to go to the ocean but we decided against to kind of take a 'break' :) We spent the day relaxing and playing in the pool which everyone enjoyed. Connor and Ashlyn loved the water slide one of the pools had. It was just the right size for them to go down and that they could do themselves. I will admit I was a little shocked Connor did this by himself but he did great! Ashlyn eventually didn't even need someone at the bottom catching her, the little fish she is :)

The guys + Krystal went golfing in the afternoon and I think we just ate at the resort that night followed by a family round of mini golf. Nice, low key day :)

Friday we went to SeaWorld. I think this was my favorite day. Even though the employee at the gate said it was already an incredibly busy day at the park, it just didn't feel like it. I don't know if it's because they have so many shows going on at various times throughout the day (which means thousands less people walking around the park) or what, but it was great. And, SeaWorld is my favorite. The 'shamu' show used to make me cry (because it was so amazing), no tears this year, maybe because there aren't any trainers actually in the water with them anymore but the show was still good. Another show, primarily a dolphin show, was also great. I highly recommend SeaWorld, but I'm a sucker for shows like that, too.
The top left photo is Connor showing the dolphins 'Flipper' and you can see how much Connor enjoyed the little Shamu roller coaster in the bottom right :)

Saturday we stayed around the resort and spent some time at the beach (Orange Lake Resort's beach).
The bottom right photo was taken by Krystal, I thought it was such a great shot of my brother and Ashlyn.

That about sums up our trip! We had an amazing time!