Disney World...Family Vacation!

We --Wayne, Melinda, Addison, Bre, Landon, Truman and Laila--had a wonderful family vacation with the Madsen's --Rob, Tami, Kylie, Hunter, Alex and Nash.
  We flew out of SLC on Nov. 9th in the beginnings of a snow storm and actually, by the time the storm stopped there was 30 inches in Bountiful... but we flew into beautiful blue, sunshiney skies!  We had some mechanical airplane delays and ended up not making it to Orlando on Friday...but only to Kentucky.  Delta put us up in a hotel and gave us food vouchers and a little overnight kit.  We were stuck in our clothes, without our luggage, but it all turned out great.  Erica Belnap Haskell and her two boys drove up to have dinner with us.  Those kids are darling...and it was good to have some Erica time.    Laila made sure to bring Winston ( Monson's stuffed panda) along...and represent Monson, so he wouldn't miss out.

Stuck at the airport....

 We finally made it to Orlando on Saturday at noon.  Rob and Tami ended up doing all of the "grunt" work, that we were supposed to do....pick up the Van, get the groceries, get checked into the Condo etc.. They were good sports about it though.  We also changed up our amusement park schedule as a result....but it ended up being  perfect.   We got our clothes changed, unpacked and we headed  to EPCOT for the rest of the day.  This was a good beginning park.  Not many rides...it was more about the country experience.  Hunter kept wondering where all of the rides were...but he was fine.  He gets a "Guest Assistance card" because of his deafness...so we get into all of the rides without waiting in long lines.  This helped us out all week long.   Today was Rob's birthday, so we all got Celebrate buttons and many disney workers wished Rob a happy day!  We took a lot of Character pics.  Landon ended up with a headache and walked like an old man, barely making it out of the park and back to the condo....we will  get a  wheelchair for the days ahead.  Our favorite parts for this day included:
Bre:  The Viking ride in Norway, eating chocolate crepe in France, and seeing Goofy
Add:  Mexico and all of the art
Lando: finally making it to Orlando, eating School bread in Norway
Tru:  eating School Bread, eating a turkey leg and talking to the Brittish people in England.
Laila:  Mission to Mars ride and having Alex and the cousins with me all week.
Wayne: eating Turkey legs  and playing checkers with Truman
Melinda:  Having everyone soak their legs in the giant hot tub at the end of the day, laughing a lot, eating school bread in Norway.

How many people can fit in an English phone booth?

Sunday was our Church-Ocean day!  It was a gorgeous day...and the beach had some awesome waves with the softest sand.
We traveled around in a big 15 passenger van and told stories, joked and laughed a lot! I brought my Blendtec and Tami packed her Vitamix...and we made green smoothies every morning for any one who wanted one.   We found time at the end of most days to go to the pool or atleast soak our feet in the giant tub in the Master bedroom at the condo.

 Monday was our Harry Potter Land day!  It was thrilling to be there.  There was so much hype leading up to it, but the kids weren't disappointed.  Their expressions were priceless.
We all had Butter Beer...Laila liked the Frozen, but Tru and I preferred the regular, it was more flavorful and didn't give me a brain freeze.  Laila wasn't tall enough to do the Dragon roller coaster...so....we took Alex's shoes off..and Laila put them on and we put her hair in a high ponytail and...  ta-dah...she got on the Dragon Coaster.  Laila loves all of the coasters!! We got Landon a Wheelchair...which really helped his head situation, and reminded us of our trip here from 8 years ago.  Only once did Addison push him onto a splash pad and try to walk away.  Nash liked to ride on Landon. ( That was his best ride...most of the other ones scared him.)  Add and Bre loved the Hogwarts castle ride, and HoneyDukes candy store.  We went into Olivander's and Alex was chosen  to get "the wand."  It was magical. Most of the kids bought wands and cast spells on each other the rest of the time.
We went on all of the water rides in Universal....everyone eded up wringing wet...literally...we had to go into the bathrooms and take off clothes and wring them out and put them back on.  It was crazy, wet fun.  We also liked the Super hero comic book land with the giant Hulk coaster and Seussville.
Wayne took us all for deep dish pizza at Giordanno's to end our day!

 Day 5 was our Magic Kingdom day! We were up every day early, to make it to the parks right when they opened and we stayed there til they closed. This was the perfect day for this park...it was open late, there were extra shows playing, and the new part of fantasy land which included a new Ariel ride, Ariel's grotto, Belle's story time and a Gaston restuarant and fountain were all having a dress rehearsal.  LOVED IT!  The other cool part was the Color Celebration show that is projected on the castle and the fireworks!  It's better than  the projections on the water. We also discovered and devoured handmade ice cream sandwiches at Sleepy Hollow in Liberty Square.  Warm Choco chunk cookies with mint or vanilla ice cream smashed in between.  Made to order.  Delish!

Wednesday we headed to Hollywood Studios Disney-- if you like Movies, you like this park. Tower of Terror is the bomb!  We all love it.  Good thing for the Hunter pass because the lines were long, but not for us.  Even Nash went on it after much cajoling and some bribery.  Tami had to "talk" him into a lot of rides.  He is so funny.  One time as she is pulling him onto a ride, because she knows he will like it, he is reaching out and speaking to any worker who will listen, "Help me...my mom is making me go on this ride. Please.  Anyone?"    We all loved Fantasmic, and the Chrismas Street lights at the end of the day were Amazing!

 Day 7 was a Universal day again.  This time we started at the other park...hit the Rock It Roller coaster many times and some of the fun rides. Tru and Laila got chosen to be in the Disaster movie show...Laila looked at the Rock and  Truman had rocks fall on his head.  This was an over cast day.  It never rained, but it misted and we weren't prepared.  By the time he made it into Harry Potter Land for one last hurrah...all of us were freezing.  We had to buy Harry Potter Sweatshirts for everyone!!!    Laila only wanted a Ravenclaw hoodie...which they didn't have in her size...so she went with out...and is going to order one online.  Good thing she is a warm body.  

 We had 5 Ravenclaws, 2 Hufflepuffs, 2 Slytherins and 4 Gryffindor's on this trip.  It was a wonderful family time.   So glad we could share it with the Madsens.