Disneyworld

We have an interesting history with Disneyworld. We've been just one time before this trip, and that was about the same week in February in 2008. We were then living in southern California and after many months of serious illness/hospitalisations rocking our family, we were in real need for a family vacation with a high fun factor. What better place to visit than the Happiest Place on Earth!

Originally planned after much research to pick the absolute best time of year to minimise crowds and heat. As an aside to this story, I'd like to say that if you can manage it I highly recommend taking your kids out of school to do Disney during a low heat, low crowd period. It makes an enormous difference to the overall level of enjoyment and also value for money. And I say this as one who does not routinely take kids out of school for vacations. If you have a hard and fast rule on this, Disney is the one time to break it! So my in depth research revealed that mid-January to mid-February AND the month of May before Memorial Day weekend are the two single best times to go to Disneyworld. So in 2008 we did just that. It also happened to be during that exact same time that we were deliberating our decision to move to London, and it was on that trip that we decided to go for it. Oddly enough during our week at Disneworld we found ourselves surrounded by British folks. During the entire week everywhere we turned we heard English accents from 9 out of 10 people. We were surprised to learn it was not only such a popular holiday destination for the British, but also curious as to why on earth there were so many during that particular week? We only half took it as a sign that we should decide to move to London, but really it was just a funny coincidence :) And I wouldn't find out until after our first year in London just why there were so many British among us during that February Disneyworld holiday. Now I know it's half-term break, our half-term break now. And once again we found ourselves with all the other British half-term breakers at Disneyworld, only this time we knew why.

With four days for theme parking the kids all unanimously voted for a day at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. That left three days for Disneyworld itself, three days and four parks. The kids put it to a vote and came out with Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. We had a fun, albeit exhausting three days at Disneyworld.

Animal Kingdom . . .












Jeweled Mickey necklace from the other Grandma :)


This kid just doesn't stay with us, so we took precautions. Trevi, what do you do if you get lost? "Find someone with a tag and do this (see photo)."




This was one cool Goofy to know just exactly how to handle a 12 year-old!




I loved watching Dallin's face during this amazing bird show.




The giraffes were exceptionally lively during the safari tour.




Loved how her icy lemon treat coordinated with her outfit!




Mickey shaped ice-cream number one


Afternoon ice-cream break


Love the colours of Animal Kingdom


Tree of Life, such a beautiful work of art










This is how things start to unfold at the end of the day, time to go home



Hollywood Studios . . .




Trevi is SOOOO stoked he's tall enough to ride Star Tours; we rode it twice!


Star Tours riders all set!


Trevi was in Star Wars heaven in the well-placed Star Wars shop at the end of the ride. He was very selective and decisive on making his purchases with his birthday and chore money.


Photo that nearly exactly matches one we took four years ago . . .


Meeting Lightning MacQueen, another dream come true!




Trevi was especially interested in Mater, totally wanted to check everything out!




Lunch at our favourite dining spot at Hollywood Studios


Green army man from Toy Story, totally awesome!


He's a hugger!


Monkeying around . . . must be time to go home!

Pool time at our hotel . . .









Magic Kingdom . . .






Still my princess


Lunch with Pooh and friends






Playing with his new shop finds


Madeleine was very careful choosing what souvenir to buy with her chore money. She decided to get a make-your-own charm bracelet at Cinderella's Castle shop.


Dallin is saving all his money for an iPad and thus didn't buy a thing on this trip.












Mickey shaped ice-cream number ???


A personal childhood favourite of mine, Tom Sawyer's Island






Must be getting late again . . . we're getting a little nuts!




I love how this shot illuminates Dallin's freckles


A total throwback to my childhood, the parade, but especially the music is like an instant transporter to my childhood.



Goodbye Disneyworld, next we check out Hogwarts!