March Break at Disney World - In Emma's Words . . .

Emma Bailey, Age 11 . . . 

It was awesome at DisneyWorld!  There were so many things to do!  We didn't even have enough time to finish everything!  The first park we went to was Animal Kingdom, and it was by far one of my favorites.  It was like a zoo except there were ride and movies and things like that.  

Favorite Park to Visit:  Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom.  I LOVE animals and all the rides there, except for the roller coaster, but thats natural.  And I liked riding on the trams. I love all of the Disney characters and they were all over Magic Kingdom.  SeaWorld is also tied in for first because of all the awesome shows featuring the sea animals and also because we got to touch sting rays and tried to touch dolphins.  Epoct came in 2nd and Hollywood Studios came in 3rd.  

Favorite Memory: Just being there and getting to meet all my favorite characters.  Especially going to the Festival of the Lion King - that was a great memory - amazing!

Favorite Ride: I liked pretty much all the rides that I did so it's hard to figure out just one.  

What did you collect: I loved collecting pins!  It was really fun, but at first I was nervous and shy especially because I had to go up to random people and ask them if they wanted to trade pins.  My favorite pins are a tie between my Lion King one, my Cinderella Castle one and my Mickey Mouse Crest one.

Favorite Character: It's a tie between Alladin and Simba and Pluto.

Favorite Swimming Place: I liked the pool a tiny bit more since I didn't have to worry about the salt water in my mouth and also because I chipped my tooth at the beach.  The pool was nice and secluded and I could watch alligators from the pool.

Do You What to Go on Another Vacation: Yes - I love vacations and I love flying and I love road trips.  I love anything that has to do with travelling.  It would be nice to try travelling by boat - that would be cool.

Did you like flying again?  Yes! I liked being in first class but I felt sort of weird because there were all these people walking by that didn't get first class and the same attention that I got.  

I LOVE DISNEY WORLD!!!  And if you go to Disney World be prepared to be bombarded by magic "Be Prepared . . . " (sing in a Lion King song voice by Scar and the Hyenas) 

March Break at Disney World - In Kaleb's Words . . .

Kaleb Bailey, Age 9 . . . 

I went to Disney World and it ROCKED!!!  I finally saw what happened on the Yedi and there wasn't a real Yedi locked up in the cage!  I also really loved the Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios.  I ate with sharks and ate an ice cream Mickey Head.  I even got 2 pins, a vinylmation one and a firefighter Stitch one.  I never want to forget being able to go with my family because they are the ones that I love most (awww - says mommy!)

Favorite Park to Visit: I liked Hollywood Studios because of the Tower of Terror.

Favorite Memory: Going on a holiday with the family and going with my Dad on the Tower of Terror.

Favorite Ride: Tower of Terror because it was funny because my bag flew up on it and my Dad had to catch it.

What did you collect: Vinylmations - little characters in the shape of Mickey Mouse - like C3PO in a Mickey Mouse shape.

Favorite Character: Mickey Mouse because he's the main Disney character

Favorite Swimming Place: I like the pool at home because it didn't taste gross.  I liked swimming at the beach a little because I found sea shells and I got to jump over waves and got swept away by one!

Do You What to Go on Another Vacation: YA!!!  I want to go to Universal Studios now because I haven't ever gone there and I want to swim in the pool shaped like a guitar at Disney World.

Did you like flying again?  No because my ears started to hurt.  When I was sitting by Dad Dad was watching a show on his computer and I was watching it too but I couldn't hear it because he had earphones on.  I played games on my iPod Touch.

March Break at Disney World - In Navia's Words . . .

Navia Bailey - Age 6 . . . 

I went to Disney World and I got to go on my first ride and I wanted to go on the side and there was awesome on the side (it was the Primeval Whirl Roller Coaster).  

Favorite Park to Visit: It's a tie between Magic Kingdom and SeaWorld - I love them the same.  I love Magic Kingdom because I got to see all the princess and go in Cinderella's Castle!  I love SeaWorld because I got to pet the sting rays and they were covered with what's in a big sneeze (mucus) and they were slimy.

Favorite Memory: Seeing the Princess and getting a hug from Cinderella.

Favorite Ride: Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom and Journey to Atlantis at SeaWorld - I like wet rides!

What did you collect: Charms for my bracelet

Favorite Character: All the Princesses but especially Belle and Cinderella

Favorite Swimming Place: I liked the pool because the beach tasted horrible and kept on getting in my mouth.

Do You What to Go on Another Vacation: YA!!!  I want to go to somewhere with sun - maybe LEGOLAND?  

Did you like flying again?  I liked the second going home because I got a special pilot wings pin from the pilot of the plane!

March Break at Disney World - In Braden's Words

I've always thought that Mickey was kinda creepy.  A short little boy mouse that has a girly voice, wears tights, and has two big circles in an oddly familiar spot on his shorts.  Kinda creepy.  

But going to Disney World with my family is a very different experience than I expected. It's more than just seeing Mickey in a cartoon.  It's even more than being inside the past 60 years of Sunday evening cartoons, Pixar movies, and Disney movie sets all at once.  

Oddly enough, it's more than even meeting every magical character that you grew up with and introducing them to your kids, or even being convinced that your dreams can come true even if you're 38 and starting to bald more than you thought you would.  

It's better than all those.

It's a week of time with your family that you won't forget; it's enough pictures to keep you going at 4 family reunions.  It's a really good beer where you didn't expect to find it, and a wild turkey leg the size of a small ham.  It's watching a mouth drop seeing the princesses for the first time, catching a backpack in mid air as we drop 13 stories on the Tower of Terror, it's trading a pin for the first time with one of the workers and finding out it really is free.  It's a fight over who gets to hold your hand walking through the streets, a sleeping girl on my shoulder while the Castle lights in in hundreds of different ways, and a long, tight hug as you speed down a track in a car at 60 mph.

Those are the kinds of things that made the trip magical, the things I will never forget.  

And those are the reasons I now think Mickey rocks.

March Break at Disney World - Day 8 SeaWorld

For our last day in Orlando the kids wanted to go to SeaWorld, which was the perfect choice for us too because we knew that it would be way more relaxing than going to Universal Studios.  It was a better choice than we knew though, as when we were there and Braden went to take Kaleb on the roller coasters Braden was denied access due to his cast.  I guess you aren't able to have a cast and go on the faster roller coasters!  This would have really been hard at Universal as so many of the rides Daddy wouldn't have been able to take Kaleb on.  So, great choice kids!!!

When we were leaving the house Kaleb came upon a few turkeys in our front driveway - so weird, but the kids thought it was pretty cool.

We got to SeaWorld at opening and then started our last day . . . 

The kids (and us parents) really liked their shark tanks - it was pretty neat walking underneath them, being surrounded on both side AND on top of us!

We found the kid section of the park - which Navia was in her glory!!!  There had been a few rides that she and I sat and watched the older kids on, so this time they were all perfect for her - and she was all smiles and giggles!

Okay - this one might have been a little squished to get them all in there - hehehe!

The shows were AMAZING!!!  To watch such incredible animals doing the tricks and choreography was like watching a movie - you couldn't take your eyes off of them!

There was a 'soak zone' that the kids wanted to sit in (not a splash zone, but a 'beware you're going to be absolutely soaked- soak zone') so we let them while Brade and I sat on the second level, watching the kids get wet. The animals were trained to 'wave' and 'cannon-ball' to make sure that no one in the soak zone escaped!  At the very beginning Navia was wearing a rain poncho because she didn't want to get wet.  After Shamo's first pass and she didn't get wet she ran up to us and gave us the poncho, disappointed that she wouldn't need it.  Well - she spoke too soon!!!  At the end of the performance our little girl's dress was dripping and her face wasn't very happy.  If it wasn't so wet you would have seen the tears a bit more, but even in it's wet stage you knew that she wasn't a happy camper!!!  It took a while for us to get her in a better mood - although it didn't stop her from wanting to be in the 'soak zone' for the next show!!!

We made reservations at the Sharks Underwater Grill.  It was a really unique dining experience!!!  They took us into what seemed like an underwater cave and on one wall was a massive aquarium filled with sharks . . . and while we ate we could just watch them pass by.  The kids loved it and there was one with sort of bend front fins that Kaleb kept telling him to quit flexing because we already knew how strong he was - so cute!  And the funny thing is that he did look like he was showing off!  The food there was fantastic!

Yummy!

After dinner it was time for the dolphins and birds show - another AMAZING sight!!!

After the show we went to do some rides - but soon realized that the only adult ride that the kids could do was the Journey to Atlantis as Brade couldn't ride the roller coaster here with a cast on.  Kaleb was disappointed, but understood.  Daddy first took Navia on the water-coaster and then traded with me and took Kaleb up.  The kids had a lot of fun on them, and Kaleb loved getting wet!

Loved the aquarium with the jellyfish!

Outside Journey to Atlantis

Checking out the dolphins in the underwater tank Braden, Emma, Kaleb, Navia and a stranger :)

We came across a sting ray tank that you were able to feed and pet the sting rays.  It was really fun watching how they would interact with the kids, even sometimes splashing them as they came around the corner.

We ended the day with a seal and walrus show (and boy was the walrus huge!!!)  And then went back into the kid ride section to ride a few more rides.

The first carousel ride we've ever ridden with sea animals instead of horses . . . very unique!

Once the rides we done we decided to go to our place, have supper and go for our last swim as we were having to leave at 4am the next morning for the airport and our flight home.  It was a great last swim and Brade and I enjoyed putting the kids to bed and going out to the hot tub for our last relaxing time out there before finishing up packing and heading back to the real life of work.

It was an amazing vacation and we can't wait to have another warm vacation in March!!!  We've never done it before, but I know that we will be doing it again.  Who knows, maybe Disneyland next time, or a cruise or . . . oh, so many ideas.  This trip was just what we needed though - lots of time with just the 5 of us, hanging out, laughing, having fun, relaxing and sharing new experiences together!

March Break at Disney World - Day 7 - Cocoa Beach

We decided that instead of going to DisneyWorld again we'd take a day off and head to Cocoa Beach.  They kids had a lot of fun jumping over the waves, riding the waves and running away from the waves.  It was a lot of fun watching them!

At the end of the afternoon Emma came up on the beach to me crying.  Navia had jumped over a wave and was underneath Emma's head so when she jumped up she smashed into Emma's mouth - causing Emma to spit out tooth fragments.  Emma's 2 bottom teeth are shaped a bit different right now and there is an appointment to the dentist that is booked.  Navia ended up breaking the tops of both teeth, leaving some jagged edges.  I'd show you a picture, but well, there's no way Emma is letting me take one!

We convinced her that because we couldn't fix them until we got back to Ottawa to just hang out with us and forget about them  We went to the Pier for supper and we tried Gator Bites for the first time.  Who knew that alligator tasted that good - yum!  We were able to watch the surfers and paddle boaters from the window while we were eating - kinda cool!

We stopped in at the Ron Joh Surf shop for a few "necessary" purchases - okay, so they weren't necessary, but they were nice to get!!!  We came home and still had time for swimming - and hot-tubbing!  We could get used to this life!

The next day is our last day in Flordia, so the kids decided that instead of going to Universal Studios like we had planned they wanted to go to SeaWorld . . . so it was decided . . . wake up early (but not as early as when we would go to Disney) and get to SeaWorld and finish it before supper time!  We have some smart kids!!!  Brade and I knew that SeaWorld would be a more relaxing day and we didn't even tell the kids that, they just must have known because they made the right choice!!!