Disney World

We made it back from Disney World in one piece with lots of memories, but very tired! We were going, going, going for the entire time. I think it took us over a week just to get back to feeling somewhat normal!

Here's a link to our WDW video that shares our week at Disney. We had so much fun - I think I've watched this video at least 10 times just remembering our fun times.

We told Jackson we were going to Disney World through a scavenger hunt, just like my parents used to do for Jenna and me on our birthdays. At each clue, there was also a piece of dress-up clothing to put on. He looked pretty cute by the end of the hunt. The last clue was (found in a suitcase) was about watching a movie. When he opened up the cabinet to our DVD player, Mickey was sitting there and had put the Disney planning DVD in for us to watch. He was a bit underwhelmed by the video, but he got more excited as it came closer to the trip.

Jackson took his first plane ride on our way to Florida. I love Southwest. During one of our layovers, I asked if Jackson could just meet the pilot quickly, and the pilot immediately asked if he wanted to sit in the co-pilot's seat. Jackson showed him the plane picture he drew, but said he couldn't keep it. :)

On the return trip, one of the flight attendants gave Jackson his own set of wings. He was so proud of them and told everyone around him that he was the pilot and was driving the plane.

For our first day at Disney, we went to the Animal Kingdom. We saw they were about to start the "Festival of the Lion King" show, so we decided to watch. As we walked in with the crowd, the usher motioned us to follow her and she put us on the very front row! We felt very special...and then we realized we'd be part of the show. To Tom's credit, he did an AMAZING elephant sound, and Jackson did a great job as the "Shaker" and playing Follow the Leader. The show was really good, and we were singing the Lion King songs for the rest of the trip!

After Lion King, we went to meet Mickey and Goofy. Meeting all of the characters was one of Jackson's favorite parts of the trip.

Later that night we went to Hollywood Studios. I was amazed at how many people were at the park. The lights were beautiful.

The next day, after breakfast with the characters at the Beach Club, we went to Epcot by boat. We walked around quite a bit seeing the sights and riding on Soarin' and Test Track. Jackson LOVED both of those. He's quite the adventurer! For lunch, we tried some of the countries cuisine. Tom opted for a Japanese bowl and was a little sad he didn't come with us to the French Boulangerie. Jackson picked out a "cheese/ham samich" and a chocolate donut. Guess which one he ate first?

We had dinner at the Coral Reef Restaurant in Epcot and were lucky enough to get a table right next to the aquarium. Jackson kept sneaking glances at the fish and looked for the big sea turtle all night long.

Epcot was closed after we finished eating and it had just finished raining, so we were able to get some good pictures of Jackson and Nemo as we leisurely walked out of the park. It was a great evening.

We went to Magic Kingdom the next day and enjoyed many of the rides in Tomorrowland. He particularly liked the PhilharMagic....especially watching Donald get stuck in the wall.

Jackson saw Donald Duck (again) and was so excited to give him another hug. I love this picture.

Later that night we went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. We had in our heads that it would be a smaller crowd - boy were we wrong! I think we spent over 1/2 the party dancing with Woody, Jessie and Bullseye. Jackson was so excited to show them his moves.

In addition to the dancing and the Christmas Parade, we also got to ride several of the rides with much smaller wait times. Jackson discovered that he LOVED roller coasters, and we ended up riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at least 3 times in a row. The people in the cars behind us were a little concerned that he'd be too scared, but Jackson would just throw his head back and laugh hysterically as we started going up and down the track. We also got to ride Dumbo and the Carousel.

We stayed to watch the fireworks - they were great. I loved watching Jackson and Tom together as the fireworks burst over our heads with the Castle in the background.

The entire trip, Jackson would randomly give us a hug and kiss and say "I love you, Mommy. I love you, Daddy". We are certainly blessed!

At Hollywood Studios, we waited in line to see Buzz and Woody. Jackson's face completely lit up when he walked over to meet them.

We didn't ride too many rides at Hollywood Studios. Toy Story Mania was definitely our favorite, but the lines were so long that we only could do it 3 times during the week we were there. Jackson even tried out the Tower of Terror! He was scared during the initial part in the dark, but holding on to his glow stick seemed to help. He loved the part going up and down, though. Tom and I have discovered that we are much more sensitive to motion sickness than we were when we were younger - between Star Tours, the multiple roller coaster rides in a row and the Tower of Terror, we were about done!

When we went back to Epcot, Jackson wanted to see the characters (again...sensing a theme here?). He was so excited that he was finally going to see Pluto (or as he calls him - Poodle).

He also asked specifically to take a picture with Bruce. I had no idea who Bruce was, until Jackson led us here:

The last night, we were supposed to have a character dinner with Winnie the Pooh at the MK. We were all so tired that we decided we didn't have the energy to wait for the bus, ride the bus and repeat it all again back to the hotel after a 1.5 hr dinner. So, we decided for our last afternoon, we'd go back, take a nap, go swimming and eat at the African restaurant in our hotel. It turned out to be a great decision. The nap helped us all, the swimming pool was so cold that it quickly woke us up, and the African food was excellent - one of our favorites the entire trip!

Our flight back was later than we originally thought, so we met Tom's parents (who had just flown to Orlando for their own vacation) and met and their friend at Downtown Disney. We ate lunch at T-Rex, which is like a Rainforest Cafe except with Dinosaurs instead of the jungle.

Linda bought Jackson some dinosaurs while at T-Rex, so he and Tom played with them the entire way back to our hotel and the airport.

At the airport, Jackson found the Universal Studios store and posed in front of one of his favorite superheroes.

It was a great family vacation that we'll always remember.