Disneyworld 2007

Well, it's certainly not the most visited tourist spot for nothing! Disneyworld is quite the experience. We made our second trip to Disney this month... there is so much to do; you could go every year and have a new experience every time. I wish we could go every year.... Dad?

We were there for about a week and stayed at Wilderness Lodge, which is a great rustic setting with lots of cool amenities. The hotel is always one of Preston's favorite parts of any vacation. He loves watching TV in bed, taking a shower and using the room key! Oh, the simple pleasures.

During most of our stay we were actually joined by some of our good friends, the Bradleys. They brought their two older boys, so needless to say we hit all the "boy stuff" that Disney had to offer! It was really great having good friends with us and I know all the boys will have memories to last a lifetime... and the moms and dads too.

Our favorite park of the Disney parks is definitely Magic Kingdom. It's just such a classic and there's so much for the kids to do. Although, MGM does run a close second for me!

So we'll start at Magic Kingdom... talk about characters and rides! This park definitely offers the most rides for the young kids. Preston's favorite ride was probably Thunder Mountain Railroad, followed closely by Splash Mountain. When we went two years ago his favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear ride, which he still loved, but the adventurous side of him won this time! But not too adventurous.... he braved Space Mountain, but just once. It was pretty funny... he was totally fine getting on, but when he got off I asked him if he liked it and he said "yes", but then I asked if he wanted to go again and he said "no, thanks". Ha! Maybe next time! The characters are also so much fun at Magic Kingdom... we saw all the regulars - Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Daisy... but some of our other favorites are Chip and Dale, Cinderella, Aladdin and Captain Hook!

Probably one of Preston's favorite memories was his sword fight with Captain Hook! That's one of those things that may never happen again. Plus, as we were waiting in line, Captain Jack Sparrow of Pirates of the Caribbean walked by... it was pure awe! Preston also loved the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, again with the Jack Sparrow. Too bad for mom it wasn't really Johnny Depp! Ha!

We also had lots of great character meals throughout the trip... they are a great time to really get to see the characters and interact with them. In fact, we were the last seating at a restaurant at Magic Kingdom one night and the boys got to have the characters pretty much all to themselves for a while - they were great... goofing off and making the boys laugh. Another great character meal at Magic Kingdom was dinner in Cinderella's Castle. I know, yes, there were more girls than boys there... but they had a great time and got swords for being princes! Plus, I think the boys were all sweet on Cinderella! You're at Disneyworld, you have to eat in the castle at least once.

Moving on to MGM... this park is so great because it has all the movie characters that the boys REALLY love! To name a few favorites... The Incredibles, Meet the Robinsons, Chicken Little, Lilo and Stitch, the Playhouse Disney gang, Buzz and Woody, and oh yes... the Star Wars stormtroopers! More about Star Wars to come. I think we also met all of the Disney princesses this time. If there was a character, Preston wanted to meet them. And he was so into them signing his autograph book! And I didn't mind... hey, more pictures for me! It sometimes seemed like we were on a scavenger hunt for characters, but it was honestly one of our favorite parts! Preston and I would both get so excited when we saw a new character! We were also guilty of "illegal" line jumping at Disney World - oh no!! We'd have the Dads wait in one line while we waited in another and then just shuffle the kids back and forth... hey, you do what ya gotta do! Hee hee! Don't the Dads look really happy to be waiting in line to see ANOTHER Mickey!

So getting back to Star Wars... it was by far Preston's favorite part of MGM, of the whole trip really. They have this cool Star Wars ride called Star Tours that he rode four times I think? It has all these cool props while you're waiting in line and of course a gift shop and huge "four-legged walker" out front (some of you mothers of boys know what I'm talking about). I have never seen such big eyes on Preston! We are infatuated with Star Wars and everything about it. It was a highlight of the trip for sure.

MGM also has great shows like Beauty and the Beast and Fantasmic and it has an awesome car parade with all of the characters! They've also got cool interactive stuff for the kids to do. In fact, they have this drawing class that teaches you how to draw some of the Disney characters and we took it four times. It was really fascinating and Preston loves drawing. The setting at MGM is incredible... it makes you feel like you are on a movie set with all these different scenes. And it's a little smaller than the other parks, so it's easy to get around. Preston also loves the huge "Honey I Shrunk The Kids" playground at MGM - we played in it for at least an hour. They have all these cool "huge" bugs and yard props - it's really, really cool.

We also made a trip to Animal Kingdom. There aren't too many rides there, but they have a great section called Dino Land USA where the boys could play and dig for dinosaur bones. And they do have a great safari ride where you get to drive through a beautiful setting and see animals right up next to your vehicle. There was a new "really big boy" ride there... so the moms let the dads go indulge in Expedition Everest! And of course we saw a few characters... I think "Flik" from Bug's Life was the biggest find at Animal Kingdom. After our day at Animal Kingdom, we had a great dinner at the restaurant in our hotel - Whispering Canyon Cafe. What a favorite restaurant for families - they have stick horse races for the kids and the waiters are a riot with lots of funny tricks... in fact, if you ask for a bottle of ketchup at dinner - the waiters will announce to the whole restaurant that you need ketchup, so before you know it you have 30 bottles at your table - it's a great time.

And last, but not least (okay, maybe least)... is Epcot. Seriously, it is a beautiful park... just not quite as much to do as the other parks. But both times we've been they have been in the middle of their Flower and Garden Festival and there are some truly amazing Disney sculptures made from flowers and plants. And we did get to meet "The Beast" from Beauty and the Beast. Oh, and Princess Aurora... she gave Preston a huge kiss on the cheek and he had a red lipstick mark on his cheek for the afternoon. There was a great ride at Epcot called "Soarin'".... it's a mesmerizing ride as it floats you above some of the beautiful scenery of America. Epcot also has lots of great science buildings, so all the boys had fun doing experiments and learning about technology. Another great building in Epcot is the Living Seas building - they've got an aquarium and of course the Nemo gang is splashed throughout your tour. We even got a picture inside the mouth of "Bruce" from Finding Nemo.

We also took a side trip to Universal Studios this time. Preston is so into SpongeBob and Jimmy Neutron that we thought he'd enjoy it... and we all did. They also have a lot of fun rides for the kids. His favorite ride (and I actually got to ride it too!) was the E.T. ride. It was this amazing ride that made you feel like you were flying through the air on your bicycle with E.T. in the front basket! They also had a great splash park at Universal and Preston got soaked.... so soaked that we had to buy him some new shorts in the gift shop because his pants were falling down! Hee hee! Universal had some of Preston's favorite characters.... Jimmy Neutron, SpongeBob Squarepants, Shrek and Donkey, Scooby Doo, Curious George, the Madagascar gang and even Jaws!! We got to ride the Jaws ride where he jumps up out of the lake at the boat... it was pretty cool and pretty scary! You'll also see this cute picture of Preston with a squirrel that let him get really close... Preston LOVES animals and just thought this little guy was so cute. Preston has said that he wants to do something with animals when he grows up... take care of them, find them... anything. One of his heroes right now is Steve Irwin.

And funny enough - another one of Preston's favorite parts of Disney is the Disney transportation... you pretty much get to ride every single form of transportation during your stay. Of course, we took an airplane, then a hotel shuttle, Disney buses around the parks, a boat to Magic Kingdom, the Disney monorail, Preston's first taxi ride, moving sidewalks... you name it and it got you there! Every ride was an adventure - again, it's the small things that make a good time.

Well, I could literally go on and on about our days at Disney... but I'm sure I have rambled on enough (plus I've got a whole Disney trip to scrapbook!) It's a great place and we hope to get back there in a few years - this time with two Cutler boys!

And now here are just a whole bunch more pics for any of you still reading! Hee hee!