Disney World 2012

Remember my Christmas post about getting to go to Disney World? Well our trip finally came! We left last Sunday at 4am for the airport.  That is right 4am...my in-laws apparently like early flights because we are ALWAYS at the airport before 6am it seems like.  But that is okay, because we were on our way to Disney World!  We got to Saratoga Springs Resort mid afternoon where the rest of the family was relaxing in our amazing villa.  My one sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and little nephew could not make it, but their two oldest were able to come along with Ryan's other sister, husband, and two kids.  

After settling in we headed to the Contemporary Resort outside of the Magic Kingdom for dinner at Chef Mickey's.

Laura(niece 21 yrs old), Zach (nephew 16), Mom, Dad, Andrea(sister-in-law),
Will(nephew 18), Bruce(brother -in-law), Me, Ry, Mickey Mouse, & Lexi(niece 8)

Then we headed to Magic Kingdom!

 Can you guess the first ride I dragged the entire family on??? Yep, Pirates of the Caribbean, featuring Captain Jack Sparrow. So much fun! I even got a pirate medallion.

The first Jack Sparrow we saw looked so
real Ryan kept insisting it was an actor!

The second day we went to Hollywood Studios and guess what? It poured the entire day! We all had to get overpriced Disney ponchos.  I did not take too many pictures there because I did not want my phone to get ruined.  My favorite thing by far here was Fantasmic which is an amazing fireworks/light show.

Getting ready to watch the Muppets! And get out of the rain.

The third day we went to Epcot.  And it rained some more.  Ryan and I were the only smart ones and had our ponchos with us.  I enjoyed this park a lot more that I did when I was little, but my feet were hurting so badly I got tired of walking around everywhere anyway.  My favorite things here were Soarin' & the Finding Nemo ride.  Our little niece Lexi loved this ride so much!  She rode it twice and could not stop talking about it and bouncing up and down!  I was kind of the same way...

I love my sister-in-law & niece!

I think Ryan was trying to hold the ball up?

The fourth day I was just about dead.  It was also so much hotter and sunnier than it had been when it was raining. We went to Animal Kingdom early and everyone did Everest and the Safari Ride.

Have to love Ryan's face in this picture!

The jeep had to stop for giraffes in the middle of the road.

The Animal Kingdom was pretty neat and I liked how they had it themed by regions.  The Festival of the Lion King show was awesome and amazing!  Loved it!  I was really excited to go to the Finding Nemo musical, and while it was really cute, the songs were a little cheesy.  Oh well.  It was 40 minutes of sitting in a blissfully cold, dark theater.  We left late afternoon and then hit up Downtown Disney and ate at a good Irish place complete with Irish dancers and band.

This picture was not taken at the Animal Kingdom.  It was outside our room!  Maybe it is not a big deal to anyone that lives in Florida, Louisiana, or a swamp, but come on, we only have rattle snakes and cactus in Austin!

Ryan said it was easily five feet long.  But don't worry.  The resort says
they move them once they get to be about six feet.

I guess boys will be boys.  What do we do when there's a gator  next to
the sidewalk?  Run down to the water and take pictures of course!
*No animals (or humans) were harmed or injured in the making of this picture.*

The fifth day we went to Blizzard Beach.  I have no pictures as of yet because I did not bring my phone with me, but my niece should have some for me later.  While the water park was refreshing and relaxing, it was not very big and paled a little in comparison with Schlitterbahn.  But it was still fun, even though we all got sunburned.  Later that evening we headed back to the Contemporary Resort for a nice dinner at the California Grill.  The food was so good at this place!  Highly recommend it to anyone going to Disney World.  Hopefully you have a dining plan like we did because otherwise it is REALLY expensive.  We also got to watch the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom out on a private balcony.  The restaurant was up on the 15th floor of the hotel.  Awesomely magical fireworks show!  I felt like a was five years old.

Our sixth day saw us back at the Magic Kingdom.  We ate breakfast up in Cinderalla's Castle and it was so cool!  

We got to take a picture with Cinderella before breakfast.

My little niece's favorite princess is Jasmine, but I guess they do not allow minorities at Cinderella's Royal Table because the only princesses there were Cinderalla, Belle, Aurora, & Ariel, haha.  My nephews were totally checking out the princesses and wanted to be in the pictures for obvious reasons.  When Zach asked Belle if he could be in the picture too she said "Certainly, every picture needs its Beast." HAHAHA!  Zach looked stricken and said she was mean.  Belle responded "I consider it a compliment.  My beast is kind and gentle."  Zach was not pacified at all and decided he did not like Belle anymore.  Too funny!  Will did not ask permission.  He just creeped in behind us.

Zach has the dark hair and Will is the creeper in the background.

Ryan and I stayed till about one in the afternoon and decided to go back to the room to escape the oppressive heat and sun.  The park was opened until 2am that night, so we went back with Laura, Will, & Zach at about 8pm and stayed till about 1:45am.  Long night!  But it was nice because the lines were not nearly as long.  The Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh rides were really cute!  And of course we did Pirates again.  We also watched the fireworks show again, this time right in front of the castle.

Saturday we had to say goodbye and head back to real life.  It was so much fun to spend time with everyone.  We keep trying to convince his sisters to move to Texas (Andrea, if you're reading this- Move to Texas!).  We will miss them (& Disney World).  Sorry if I made anyone insanely jealous of our awesome trip!  Thanks for reading!