Disclaimer: This is a long post. Staying awake is not a requirement! Some memories may not be correct. Due to difficulty choosing from almost 900 pictures not all events have been shared but all photos represent a good time being had by all. Apologies extended for delayed documentation.
One year ago we had just gotten back from a week at Disney World and I started thinking about what a fun time it was...
The whole trip was a truly magical experience. There are a LOT of details the Disney staff has planned for and if there were glitches, I don't recall. Of course the whole thing started on this end with our travel planner, Mindy!
Just waiting at the Orlando Airport for transportation to our hotel.
Except when the old ladies took a taxi our mode of transportation always magically appeared!
We stayed at Pop Century where each wing of the hotel was decorated for a different decade.
You could say, all the outside decor was oversized! That's a fourth floor balcony over there on the right.
We started out our first full day there with a character breakfast...
...and moved on from there to Epcot.
Lots of fun things there.
This is the Mickey I wish we girls could have had our picture taken with.
On Monday of that week we visited Hollywood Studios. Almost right away you see the Tower of Terror lurking near the entrance.
Jon and Jill were scary ride buddies for the week. No one else was daring enough!
We met lots of the Disney cartoon characters and the kids got a lot of their autographs.
Even the older folks got up close and personal with a few.
It was so hot and humid that week I got to be best friends with a strawberry icee kind of thing but I just had to have a Mickey pretzel.
The end of another fun day.
Tuesday we spent at Animal Kingdom. My pictures of the lions, elephants, giraffes and others were pretty much blurry but I did get good shots of these wild creatures! :)
Of course, we found Mickey and Minnie were in their safari outfits.
Animal Kingdom is where you find the Tree of Life...
...and Mt. Everest. Jill and Jon went on a ride called Expedition Everest...a roller coaster type ride but at one point you're going downhill backwards!
But they lived to tell...
...and we all survived the day!
So Wednesday was the Magic Kingdom. Right away we headed for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train to beat the rush. This is one of the funniest pictures of the whole trip. I love it!
I don't think the old ladies look anywhere near as petrified as the young bucks! Hanging on for dear life though!
We had to be sure to go on Dumbo because that was Cate's favorite ride when their family went a couple Decembers ago. Now that's my kind of ride!
I talked Jill into riding the big carousel...
...but we took some more daring rides too...
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad...
...and Splash Mountain. Funny thing about Splash Mountain, it's just this nice, easy, soothing ride and then...BOOM! Down you go! At first I thought it was one of those 4D rides because something grazed my face on the way down. Turns out, Jon's hat had flown off and clipped me but we got it back. You can't tell by the picture but Harvey is sitting right next to Jon!
We had been to Disney World way back in the 80's and at that time the Pirates of The Caribbean ride was closed so we were determined to go on it this time. That would have to be my biggest regret. It wasn't that great and the whole hour or more we were standing in line the other guys were at the castle and doing more fun things.
The Magic Kingdom is what I'd want to go back to Disney for if we ever went back. My best picture of the castle was when we were there in the evening for the fireworks.
We did talk Cher into waiting quite awhile in line just to have our picture taken with Mickey. But he was in his magician outfit which, I suppose, is fitting for the Magic Kingdom but I prefer the traditional Mickey.
Thursday was our shopping day at Downtown Disney and our evening meal at T-Rex restaurant. This guy greeted us at the door!
Friday we caught an early city bus to Sea World...where we promptly got photobombed!
Natalie was still sporting her 'do from the Boutique the day before but she was trying to blend in with the flamingos.
Jon and Jill weren't done being crazy yet. They went on a ride called The Manta and Jill admits to it being the scariest of the bunch.
They went up, up, up and topsy turvy at high speeds, roaring around corners and splashing up spray.
I waited for them to come off the ride. Just wanted to see if they were alright. We made it in time to see the dolphin show...
...and in the afternoon we saw Shamu.
We really had nice, sunny days but oh, so hot!
Who's got the nicest teeth?!
And who's trying to es-CAPE the teeth?!!
We headed back earlier than the younger guys...
...and swung through Downtown Disney again. Jill and I took this tethered balloon ride...
...and got a pretty good view.
All week long Cher had been having these Mickey ice cream treats every day so we finally broke down and had some ourselves.
Saturday came and it was time to fly home. I took a little spin around the hotel taking some more pictures. I loved playing foosball in my younger days so I wanted a shot taken with one of these guys.
These were the clothes I was wearing when we got home and it was 36 degrees. After the heat and humidity of the week it felt mighty fine. Headed home...
...and you could tell we were close. Beautiful Fall colors as seen from above!
So there it is! A recap of a vacation from a year gone by. But oh, so fun to think back on. As much as I dragged my feet about going I'm so glad we did!
