Disney Trip: Days 5-10 from Tragic to Magic!

Well, I apologize for not blogging about our Disney trip the rest of this week but I was so exhausted every night when we got back that I just chilled out and relaxed. Let me go back to Monday and update everyone on our fabulous fun-filled week.

Monday we returned to the Magic Kingdom but it wasn't such a magical day as that is what they say to you after you pay the $14.00 to park and enter the parking lot. It poured down rain the entire day! I mean torrential downpours! We made the best of it and got around to as many things as we could trying to stay focused. We spent the majority of the day in Tomorrowland and some in Liberty Square and finally Frontierland. Gwynny actually rode Space Mountain even though she was not at all thrilled with being in the dark. Bill thought she would like it since she loves roller coasters but that wasn't the case. She also freaked out in "Stiches Great Escape" and I had to escort her out of there. What a pain! She was excited to see Jasmine and Alladin at there picture spot in Adventureland but she still refused to go up to get to get her picture taken. Oh well! We ended up cutting that day a bit short because we were all soaking wet and cold. This would be part of the tragic stuff! LOL!

Tuesday we decided to go to Disney's Hollywood Studios instead of Epcot. I had been reading about the different parks and everything I read suggested that if you have young children Epcot would be the least appealing for them. So we made the trek over to Hollywood Studios and that was definitely a GREAT choice! We had to deal with torrential rains again in the morning but we bought ponchos and wore them to help stay dry. Well, the rain stopped fairly early in the morning so we able to enjoy the park more without dealing with the rain. Favorites were "The Little Mermaid" musical show, Playhouse Disney's show, Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage, and the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids," playground. I really enjoyed this park with the HUGE Mickey's Sorcerer's hat in the middle as the center point. We also got to see several of the character's such as Mickey Mouse, the old man, boy, and dog from "Up", and the Incredibles!

Wednesday we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom. This was probably the least favorite park of mine. The major highlights of this park are the "Finding Nemo" Musical and "The Lion King" musical! Both were phenomenal! We also enjoyed the Safari ride to see the animals but the rest of the park kind of reminded me of our zoo at home. I guess we are spoiled with having such an awesome zoo in Cleveland. The park was only open till 5pm so when we got back home Bill and I changed and got ready for a night out on the town. Grandma and Grandpa babysat the kids so we could go out to Downtown Disney for dinner and to walk around. Very cool place to go! We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe which is an animated restaurant with animals from the rainforest. We were serenaded by elephants and gorillas just to name a few. Afterwards we walked around and looked at the Lego sculptures and shopping in the Disney World Store! To end our night out we went to Ghiradelli's for a dark chocolate fudge sundae! Let me tell you...it was to die for! YUM!

Thursday was a bit more laid back in the morning. We slept in a bit, had a late breakfast and left for our last day at Disney's Magic Kingdom around 12 noon. We wanted to go late so we would stay later for the SpectroMagic parade and the "Wishes" fireworks! It was a great day! We went on Pirates of the Carribean, the Jungle Cruise, Swiss Family Treehouse, and Aladdin's Magic Carpets! Bill and I wanted to go on Thunder Mountain so right before the 3pm parade we got in line for the ride and Grandma and Grandpa took Lily and Gwynny to watch the parade. We had already seen the parade on Sunday. Anyways, Bill and I also went in the Haunted Mansion and Grandma and Grandpa took the girls back on "It's a Small World". That was Lily's favorite ride! As soon as she got in there she started clapping and kicking her feet! She was fascinated by all the colors and everything in there as well so it would have to be her #1 pick! We stayed late for the parade which was out of this world! So cool! I highly recommend seeing the SpectroMagic parade because it is like nothing you have ever seen! The fireworks display was also very cool because Cinderella's Castle changed colors during the whole thing and there was music that coordinated with the fireworks display! Fabulous! Lily on the other hand...had a complete meltdown during the parade and Grandma and Grandpa offered to take her away from all the action and took her closer to the entrance to wait until the fireworks were over. Gwynny, Bill, and I stayed up by the castle and watched.

Friday was a very laid back day. We slept in and then got up to temperatures in the 70's but cloudy. We decided to go to the pool and hang out. Lily didn't go in because I felt that it was just too cold for her little butt to be going in the pool and then back out into the cool air. Gwynny didn't mind and spent the whole morning in the pool with Daddy, Grandma, and me. Bill and I even decided to take the "Pirate's Plunge" down a waterslide they had at one of the pools at the condo! Total Blast! Grandpa took Lily back to the condo room and between him and Grandma they got her to take a nap. Thank goodness! She was exhausted by Friday and really needs to get back on her schedule. After lunch in the late afternoon it started to rain again so the pool was out of the question. We ended up spending the majority of the day inside packing but we did make a short trip out to the most unique Mc'Donald's in the world. It had video games, a kid's play area, all kinds of memorabilia on the walls, a singing moon man, and a statue of Ronald Mc'Donald on a bench. Very different indeed.

So that brings us to today. Today was a travel day and we made it to Charlotte, North Carolina the same place we stopped at on our way down. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for lunch about an hour from Savannah, Georgia and then made two other short potty stops before landing here for the night. Planning on getting up at the crack of dawn and getting on the road early so we can get home at a reasonable time. FYI: We get to go home and deal with a broken garage door cable. Yep! My friend that has been taking care of our cat while we are gone went over earlier in the week and tried to open the garage only to find out that it would only open a few inches and close. She did not have a key to our house because we only left her a garage door opener so we ended up having to overnight a house key to her. Arrrrgggghhhh! Just one more headache to deal with when we get home! Well, I am tired and we are trying to get the kids to settle down and go to sleep. I definitely will be posting pictures sometime soon it's just that I took 958 pictures so that means I have 958 pictures to go through. Whew! Makes my head spin just thinking about it! Well, talk to everyone again soon when I get back home.