Family trip to Disney

Back home from a fantastic trip to Walt Disney World -- best time I've had in a long time, and well worth the effort to take two small boys that far for fun! We left dark and early on Friday morning and the long nap to Orlando that I had envisioned for us all didn't pan out.

We got there with no problem and quickly made our way to the All Star Movies resort, checked in, grabbed our park tickets and headed to Downtown Disney for an afternoon of hanging out at Disney Quest, riding the little train and carousel, and dinner at Rainforest Cafe.

We woke up early the next morning for breakfast with Donald, Pluto, Goofy and Mickey himself at the Animal Kingdom's Resturant-asorus. That was a little too much, too quick for the boys, though, and they played 'hide under the table' when the characters came by. The rest of the day we played around Animal Kingdom, then hit the rides at Magic Kingdom before ending up back at the hotel for dinner and bedtime stories.

Sunday was Porter's birthday and that found us at the Magic Kingdom again for a full day of rides (Jackson even went on Space Mountain with me!), shows, parades and dinner at Crystal Palace with Pooh and the gang. We even saw the fireworks that night as we took the ferry back to the trams and our car.

Monday was Disney/MGM and then Epcot for dinner -- we had started to go to the pub in England, but didn't think they had a kids menu. Jackson wanted chips and queso; Porter wanted beans and rice, so that meant off to Mexico! On the way, the boys saw the Viking boat in Norway and they had fun playing on it while we waited for our table. I was really impressed with Mexico, by the way -- I'd always just walked by and not stopped in, but inside the Mayan pyramid, there's a lot of cool stuff, including a market and a river ride.

We didn't stay for Illuminations since the kids (big kids too) were whipped -- so we hit the road to the hotel right at showtime. Boat ride back to the Boardwalk, and had the boat all to ourselves.

Tuesday was our last day and we spent it well -- little time in Magic Kingdom riding Pooh's Honey Pots and the Tomorrowland Motor Speedway, then the rest of the day at Animal Kingdom. The boys loved playing in the Dino-Dig area, and at the end of the day we saw the parade. When the park closed at 5, we headed to Downtown Disney to let the boys shop for some treats, then headed for the airport. We made it home around 10 with the boys sound asleep.

Fantastic vacation -- I want to do it again every chance we get!