Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's off to Disney We Go

Come with me as I reminisce about our magical journey into the depths of Mickeydom. After two years of planning and saving, our week-long trip to Orlando with all but my brother from the Meldrum clan finally arrived. We rented a house literally five minutes away from Disney World and I think I will never be able to rent a hotel again after discovering how much I love having a private pool, hot tub, several bedrooms to go around, and a full kitchen so we could actually enjoy our breakfast, versus trying to eat cereal with warm milk around the hotel room's teeny tiny table with only 2 chairs.

We spent many hours in the pool. In fact, we decided to spend our first day in Orlando resting and getting adjusted to the time change by spending the entire day swimming (literally).

Cousin Jake with Alicia and Kimberly

I was afraid the girls' favorite part would be the swimming, but they quickly fell in love with Disney World, starting with our first day at Epcot.

The gang

The girls' favorite ride of all the parks was found here - Test Track where you ride in a car that makes you feel like you are at a race track.


Okay, I should clarify. This was Kimberly and Alicia's favorite ride, Not Natalie's. She definitely did not care for the speeding car and tight corners. For the most part though, she thoroughly enjoyed the bigger rides, like Splash Mountain...

(she's in the second row right behind my sister's head)

Megan was back with my mom's friend, Lynetta while we were on this ride. I must say, attending a Disney Park with Grandma Meldrum and her best friend of over 20 plus years came in really handy for us! On a side note, my mom's best friend ironically lost her husband to a massive heart attack literally two months before my mom experienced the same thing. Coincidence? I don't think so. I think they were meant to be friends so they could go through the experience together.

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We really liked Animal Kingdom because it was a lot more relaxed than the other parks, except for the dash to Expedition Everest first thing in the morning. This new roller coaster goes backwards for part of the ride, which is a really weird sensation.

...here we are racing to the famed mountain...


Magic Kingdom was a little more fast paced with the added bonus of being more crowded than the other parks. We went with the flow and still enjoyed ourselves immensely.




For the most part, Megan did really well and took her naps in the stroller.


and when she wasn't napping, we went through a lot of park maps because she kept doing this to them...

and you know you've spent way too many hours at Disney World when your kids all do this on the ferry ride back to the parking lot...

It was for a good reason though.

We wanted to stay and watch this...

and the fireworks shows too of course.

I think my kids are still trying to catch up on their sleep (as are John and I). Or perhaps I'm still on Florida time because I'm zonked by 9 p.m.

Truly, it was a magical time, a trip with memories that will last a lifetime.
That being said, I'm Disneyed out for awhile.

Here are a few more pics to enjoy -