Disney Recap - Part One

A great time was had by all last week at the Happiest Place on Earth. We arrived last Saturday (6/18) in Orlando without a hitch. It was a fairly decent flight.

The 4 kiddos - Brooklyn, Jack, Emmy, and Tyler

We did have two extra kiddos with us, so that made it a bit more interesting, but fun. My niece and nephew flew down with us so they didn't have to do the whole drive with my sister and brother-in-law.

Sunday morning, bright and early, the boys skipped on over to Blizzard Beach to enjoy a day at the waterpark.

(Getting ready for the Snow White ride)

Brooklyn and I spent the day at Magic Kingdom.

Brian and Carrie and Brooklyn (Emmy and Tyler are behind that person's head) on Aladdin's Magic Carpet.

Autographs from Goofy - Tyler, Emmy, and Brooklyn

Autographs from Stitch - Tyler, Brooklyn, and Emmy

That evening, we all met up (all 15 of us - one grandma, one aunt, one uncle, 2 cousins, one mom, one dad, one sister, one brother-in-law, the two of us, and 4 kiddos...and, yes, we are one of "those" families that wear matching t-shirts) at Magic Kingdom for their new dessert buffet.

Sporting the family T-shirt - TCNP - Trent, Chatterton, Newman, and Pardieck family vacation 2009

The buffet was sickening - I've never seen so much sugar in my life - we loved it! It also included a great view of the fireworks show over Cinderella's Castle, except that it was a bit cloudy. No worries...we still enjoyed it all.

Monday morning...another early start to our day at Disney Hollywood Studios (or MGM for all of you that didn't know they changed the name - which I found very annoying, so I still call it MGM). This was actually our only day of rain - and it wasn't even a hard rain. We definitely lucked out with the weather. Besides the obscene heat, it was really pleasant. We all watched the Lights, Motor, Action Stunt Show,

Lights, Motor, Action Stunt Show Set

got some autographs from the High School Musical 3 crew, and went on the Backlot tour.

Oh, look. A truck!

Oh, no. A fire!

Whew. Good thing there was that huge gush of water!

You feel like your right there with us, don't you?

Jack stayed with the "roller coaster riders" and tackled Rockin' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, again. We went back with everyone else and hit the pool. Monday evening, we all met up to eat at Boma - the African buffet at Animal Kingdom Lodge. What a neat place.

This is Zac...after dinner.

The food was surprisingly good (I'm a really picky eater) and we were able to take a walk after dinner and see all of the animals that live right there in the middle of the resort. After dinner, we went over to Epcot to try to catch the Illuminations fireworks show. This is where the entertainment begins. Picture this...we are packed in like sardines trying to get the best view of the show. It begins. My mom comes over and says she found the perfect spot where no one is standing. We all trek over to "the perfect spot" and realize no one is there because there is a huge tree blocking the entire sky. Apparently, she missed that factor. So, we head back over to our original spot. Fireworks are booming, lights are flashing. Pure beauty. Then, all of a sudden, Brooklyn starts screaming. Her glow bracelet exploded and she, along with all those standing around her, are glowing. Literally glowing. She's still screaming so Zac takes her back to the hotel, as the rest of us miss the remainder of the show because we are laughing hysterically. Anyway, probably one of those "you had to be there" moments, but entertaining nonetheless.

This picture really doesn't do it justice, but this is my uncle's leg...glowing.

I think it would be fair to say the my cousin Christy was the highlight of the vacation for the kids. Not much of a vacation for her, but the kids loved hanging out with her, hanging on her, etc... We were continually giving the kids "time-outs" from Cousin Christy.

Stay tuned for Part Two!