The last of the year of a million dreams Day 1 and 2

For the past 2 years (2007 & 2008)Disney has had the theme the year of a million dreams.
2 days after Christmas we went to Disney World. We got an awesome deal on a 6 bedroom house so invited my parents and Morgan and Taylor to come along with us. They had to leave 2 days early because Taylor had a JV basketball game (Who schedules games during Christmas break?). We had a great time. The subdivision our house was in was called Orange Tree. There were orange trees all over the subdivision. The best part about that was it was orange season and the orange trees are for the residence to pick and since we were residence for 9 days we partook of the fruit. They were really good and juicy so good that my mom went out a bought a little hand juicer and strainer and we took turns throughout the whole time we were there making fresh squeezed OJ. It was yummy!!. Right across the street from our house was a little playground and some orange trees. The kids had a great time playing over there.

Our house for 9 days

Playground across the street from our house

Some orange trees across the street from our house

Hayden and Kennedy putting sand on the slide

The weather was great the whole time we were there. I think we only wore pants one or two times with short sleeve shirts, the other days we were in shorts and a t shirt with a jacket in the morning. We arrived at our house around 5 pm. We ran into a little road construction twice on the way down that added about a hour to our time. We did stop off at Fazollis for lunch. I love that place. I was so sad when both of the ones close to our house closed down about 3 year or so ago. After getting all the things unpacked, my parents and I headed off to Publix to buy some food and dinner for that night. Jon and the kids went swimming. The pool was a little chilly but nice when you got used to it even with paying extra for pool/spa heat. The spa was nice and toasty warm.
The next morning we were off to Epcot. We arrived there in plenty of time to purchase our tickets and still make it before the park opened. We like to do as much as we can in the front part of Epcot before the World showcase opens and then once the world showcase opens three hours after the park opens we like to go back there and do that. We were able to do Test track, Mission to Mars, Soarin, and Neamo (some of us 3 times) before heading over to the world showcase. In the world showcase we did the Mexico ride and Norway ride and looked at all the shops. We didn't watch any of the movies (the kids get too bored and we have seen them before). Then we headed back to the house for some naps and swimming.

Connor in Mexico

Dad, Morgan, Connor, Brenton, Jon Payton, Hayden, Taylor, Kennedy, and Talmage in Norway

Crane wading in the water in China

Hayden and Kennedy watching the trains in Germany

Italian clown with the freaky eyes

Hayden in a Fez

After dinner, we headed back over to Epcot and some of us went on Soarin again me for the first time this trip (we used the baby swap and fast passes we had left over from earlier) then living with the land, Spaceship Earth and then headed over to find a seat for the night show. The kids love the fireworks at this show. It was a great day and we were able to do everything we wanted even with the big holiday crowds.