Ben and Mike Jette had a conference in Orlando (Kingdom Advisors), so we got to tag along! Just one little hiccup on the way down...
It was weird... we saw about 6 cars with flat tires in the next several miles. Makes me wonder if there was something on the road we all ran over!
Mike got a REALLY nice 3-bedroom suite at the hotel so all us Gansons could stay with them. :) The first morning, I thought I was going to have to rush-rush-rush the kids out the door to the Disney World shuttle, but the first shuttle at 8:30 was already packed, so we couldn't leave until 10:00 anyway.
Enjoying the view....
And finally.... DISNEY WORLD!! A friend from high school (who works at Disney World) gave us two free passes, and another friend-of-a-friend offered us two more free passes, so we got to go FOR FREE and even had the free shuttle from the hotel (which Mike paid for!) Talk about a dream vacation ;) Of course, Ben was at his conference all day so he didn't get to come along. :(
First stop, Hollywood Studios to see all the Star Wars stuff. Caleb was bummed that he didn't get to do the "Jedi Training" because I hadn't signed him up early enough in the morning, but they still had a great time seeing everything. Ironically, Micah's favorite part of Hollywood Studios was the 3-D Muppet show and had nothing to do with Star Wars. He later wrote a paper about Disney World, "the best day of his life," for his Essentials class.
Clone troopers (or Storm Troopers? I don't know the difference) marching down Main St.
Meeting Kylo Ren (the bad guy from the newer Star Wars movies.) Abby was not to sure about him. :) Kylo pointed at Micah and said, "Will you turn to the dark side?" Without missing a beat, Micah said, "Absolutely!"
We did watch a 30-minute version of Beauty and the Beast which was pretty impressive. Or at least I thought so. Abby loved it....Caleb was a little grumpy about it. In the video, you can here Caleb say at the end, "WHY DO THEY JUST SING???" (He gets that from his father.) :)
Part way through the B&B performance, Caleb tells me he thinks he is going to throw up. So I step out with him and Micah stays with Abby to finish watching it. Caleb was mostly just hot and stuffy and hungry. (It was almost 2 and we hadn't eaten lunch... just snacked on stuff I brought along.) Once he devoured a hamburger... and he didn't have to listen to the "loud singing" anymore... everything was just fine.
Next we took the bus over to the Magic Kingdom. As soon as we walked in, we realized it was almost time for a parade, so we stopped and waited... and waited... and about 40 minutes later, it finally made it to us. (I didn't realize we were at the tail end of the parade route.) I also didn't realize how much there was in the Magic Kingdom the kids would like (I thought they would like the Star Wars stuff more) and I wish we would have spent more time there instead of starting off at Hollywood Studios.
Pretty impressive floats...
The obligatory picture in front of Cinderella's Castle...
And Abby cranky because I made the sun get in her eyes. :) Caleb is of course being the usual "stud muffin."
On the boat ride for "It's a Small World" ride.... which Micah called "The Creepy Doll" ride. He's right; it is a little creepy. :)
We actually ended up waiting in line the longest for the carousel. (The big rides I used a "Fast Pass" for.) It was a Thursday in February... not during spring break or anything, but Disney World was still SO BUSY! I don't think there is an "off season" for Disney.
I also "accidently" took the kids on their first roller coaster ride. We saw the entrance to it earlier, but the line was super long. We went past it again right before the fireworks, and hardly no one was in line because they were all headed to the town center. So we went on it, and not until after it started going did I realize it was a REAL rollercoaster, not a kid-version. Micah and Caleb sat in front of me and I sat with Abby. Abby did okay as long as I held on to her tight. Caleb was a little shell-shocked, but afterward said he loved it, and Micah thought it was THE BEST THING EVER!!! He kept turning around to look at me during the ride with this huge laugh on his face.
And of course, the grand finale fireworks for the day...
The next morning while Ben and Mike and Sharon finished up their conference, the kids and I got to hang out at the pool and enjoy the lazy river. We felt like spoiled royalty. :)
Complimentary popsicles by the pool...
That afternoon, we drove the extra 2 1/2 hours to Grandma and Grandpa's house! We bought a new tire at Walmart to replace the spare, and Ben told the boys that if they changed the tire, he would pay them each with a cookie. Ben of course helped, but they certainly got a good handle on what to do! Grandma's cookies are very motivating. :)
Telling Grandma and Grandpa about Disney World...
One rainy day... we went to the big "wood burning/carving show." One of the old guys at a booth gave Caleb a small wooden pig he could take home, so Grandpa helped Caleb "decorate it" with the wood-burner. Micah started on a wooden car kit... and quickly gave up. :)
Eventually, Grandpa gave Caleb and Abby a birdhouse they could paint...
Looking cute in her summery dress at church...
We went to the beach one day, but only stayed a couple of hours because there was something in the air that made everyone cough. (I think it was called "Red Tide." Hopefully we don't all get cancer. :))
Abby would only venture into the ocean hanging on to Caleb's "tail..."
After the beach, we tried stopping in a Culver's frozen custard store, but they were still under construction and didn't open for another week. The manager came running out to the parking lot and gave us free ice cream tokens for when they do open. So we took our ice cream coupons and used them at a different Culver's on the way home. :)
This is one of the rare pictures where I captured the typical "Abby look". This is what she does when she is deep in thought.
On the way home from our great Florida trip... might as well sit on a WWII bomb!
The younger two kids always head straight to their rooms and find a new love of their toys anytime after we've been gone for a few days. Caleb made this "coffee maker".
Abby wanted to practice writing letters... (I better take pictures now while she still WANTS to do this stuff.) :)
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