On December 26th, Payton, Kennedy, and I went to Disney World with my parents and Morgan and Taylor. I guess the company my dad works for had some extra Disney World tickets that they give to clients that were going to expire at the end of the year. She sent out an email asking if anyone in the company would be able to use some of them. So my dad jumped on it and asked for a few so they could go to a couple parks. Apparently, no one else was going to use the tickets so they were given 16 one day tickets so they could go to all 4 main theme parks. I of course jumped on board since we have year passes. So I drove my big mother Yukon and paid for the gas for the car that way all of us could ride together in the same car and my dad would put us up in a hotel. The first 4 nights we were at the Marriott Residence Inn. That was nice to be able to be in the same room. Mom and dad were in the loft room, Morgan and Payton shared a bed and Taylor and Kennedy shared a bed in the other room and I slept on the pull out sofa bed which was actually quiet comfy. My kids don't get to stay in a hotel very often because we have such a big family it is cheaper for us to rent houses. So Payton and Kennedy really enjoyed staying at a hotel and enjoying the complimentary breakfasts in the morning. When we arrived Sunday late afternoon, it was very windy and cold. We unpacked our things and went to dinner.
On Monday morning, we went to Magic Kingdom. Luckily for us, it was cold outside, and by cold I mean in the low 30's. Not many people were out and about that early because of the cold. We just made sure we had our coats, gloves, scarfs, and hats on. We were able to walk right on Space Mountain and many other popular rides. So we didn't mind the cold if it meant short lines. This is also one of the the only times I have really felt like a kid again, because Payton was attached to Morgan and Kennedy with Taylor that my job as a mom was real easy (except getting them to go to bed earlier than the rest of us).
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Payton, Kennedy, Taylor, and Morgan
Magic Kingdom |
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| parade |
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| Parade |
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| Parade |
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| Parade |
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Kennedy and Taylor on Splash Mountain in the freezing cold |
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waiting for the Philharmagic show |
On Tuesday, we went to Animal Kingdom. Once again it was really cold out and once again the lines were very short in the morning
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| Dinosaur ride |
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| Primevil Whirl |
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It's tough to be a bug
Morgan, Payton, Taylor, Dad, Kennedy, and me |
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| Safari ride |
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| the only time we have seen the hippos not in the water and all I can say is Yuck please go back in the water |
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| Jungle trek |
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| Morgan, Taylor, and Grandma on Everest |
Wednesday we went to Epcot. Morgan has a friend who took a semester off to work at Disney. She works at Test Trac. She had Wednesday morning off so she hung out with us. Well she hung out with us for a short while then her and Morgan took off together and we met back up with them when she had to go to work. Payton wasn't too thrilled with this girl moving in on Morgan. As a little bonus she gave us some fast passes to rides at Epcot. As an added bonus around lunch time we were able to take off our coats. A first since we have been here. Dad put them in the car while we ate lunch.
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| Taylor, Payton, Morgan, and Kennedy Finding Nemo |
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Me, Payton, Morgan, Taylor, Kennedy, and Dad
Epcot |
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| Payton and Kennedy |
Then on Thursday we checked out of our Marriott hotel and went to Hollywood Studios. We even did an attraction that none of us have ever done before. We went to the American Idol attraction. I think I might be the only person who has never seen an American Idol episode, but with that being said I really enjoyed the show. I think we will have to bring the others to this next time. Very entertaining. After Hollywood Studios, we checked in to our new hotel for the night. The Bonnet Creek Hilton. Boy was that place fancy. We had to have 2 rooms but that's O.K. since we left the next day for home. My girls wished we could have stayed there all week because the pool was heated and they even had a water slide. The pool had two swimming areas connected by a lazy river. If you want a great work out, try swimming against the current in the lazy river.
Here are a few pictures of the area around our hotel.
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| The water slide at our hotel |
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| Payton |
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| Kennedy |
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| Lazy river around our pool |
Later that night, we went back to Hollywood Studios to check out the Osborne Family Christmas lights.
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| Kennedy, Grandpa, Taylor, Morgan, Payton, and Me |
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| Nativity |
Below are all my new hidden Mickey finds
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| Philharmagic |
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| philharmagic |
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| Wreath at magic Kingdom |
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| Finding Nemo Show |
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| Mexico ride |
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| Morocco |
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| Osborne lights |
Of course, wouldn't you know the day we left for home it was very warm outside in the morning. But, I wouldn't have changed our weather for anything. I know how crowded Disney gets between Christmas and New Years and this was not it thanks to the freezing cold. After lunch, that is when the crowds would swarm in, still really cold out so I don't know why they just didn't come earlier.
This was a fabulous trip. I am very grateful for Jon for letting me go and take the girls with me while he stayed home and worked and took care of the boys. I know he really wanted for us all to go but with our Disney get away last month and Christmas we just could justify spending that much money. It was a great time.
We headed home after our yummy free buffet breakfast. We got home just in time to eat Jon's dinner he made for us. We got home on New Years Eve. After dinner my parents and Morgan and Taylor left because the girls had plans. We didn't stay up till midnight. We just hung out as a family.
