Disney Day 1

Originally, our flight for Disney was at 4pm Saturday, but Paul had found out that the 8am direct flight still had a lot of openings, so we were going to try and fly standby. All week he was calling to get updates and every time he called he get different answers...it was so frustrating. Anyway, the last call looked good, so we decided to give it a try.

My mom dropped us off at the airport and we found out there were a lot of open seats, it was just most of them were in the emergency exit row and kids could not sit there. They made a few announcements asking if anyone would be willing and, finally, just as the last passengers were boarding, someone switched and they were a party of four. It worked out perfectly. It was me and the 3 kids in one row (Em was across the aisle) and Paul right in front of me.

Thankfully, the flight was uneventful - I really hate flying. The kids were good too. The girls played their DS, we read and Em wrote in her journal (part of her homework for school). During takeoff, Joey kept asking if we were upside down yet....and I kept telling him, we never want to be upside down :) that wouldn't be good at all.

We arrived and took the Magical express shuttle to the hotel. It was so nice, we dropped off our luggage in Rochester and didn't have to worry about it again. They brought everything right to our room. We're staying at the Carribbean beach resort - it's really nice. When we arrived, our room wasn't ready, but we were able to get our park tickets, so we decided to head over to Animal Kingdom.

We were able to get a family picture in front of the tree of life, which is one of the first things you see when you enter the park.

We were all starving, so we decided to get some lunch first. Walking along, you see these birds EVERYWHERE. They're just walking along with the rest of us.

Well, Alli didn't like them that much and she especially didn't like all the ducks that were around the dining tables. Whenever one would walk near our table, she would freak out!

We, of course, had to get some autographs. This was Brer Bear and we also saw Brer Rabbit. Honestly, I don't know who the heck they are, but it's fun. Alli is actually getting her own autographs and posing for pictures this trip. When we were here in 2005, she wanted no part of the characters (except Cinderella). This trip, Joey has taken over the fear of the characters. Boy does he freak out when he sees one. Paul has to go so far away when we're getting autographs or Joey just cries and cries - poor little man.

Here are Paul and the kids with their bug glasses on as we're waiting to get into the 3d Bugs Life Show. If we hadn't freaked out Joey enough with the characters, we sure sent him over the edge with this one. He even took his 3d glasses off, but was still scared during the show. It didn't help that they sprayed the audience with water (just lightly), had "bugs" crawl under your seat and wasps coming at your back.

After traumatizing Joey with the bugs, we headed on the safari ride. Thankfully he liked that. It was a great ride and we got to see lots of animals - giraffes, elephants, cheetah, flamingos, rhinos, lion and lots more.

After the safari ride, we decided to head back to the hotel, see our room and take a nap since we had all gotten up so early for the flight. Afterwards, we went to Epcot for their illuminations show.

Joey was fascinated by the "Big Ball". We went on a really cool ride inside the big ball and did the finding nemo ride before the show. The night had actually gotten pretty cold - the girls were freezing -really, we all were. Florida nights got a lot colder than we were expecting!!!!

The illuminations show was really cool. There was a huge explosion of fire (we could feel the heat across the lake) and lots of fireworks. There was even a huge illuminated globe that circled the lake. Paul and I loved it - the kids - especially Alli and Joey not so much. Joey and Alli take after their mommy - they HATE fireworks. I love them now, but hated them as a kid.

Our first day at Disney was wonderful and such an unexpected bonus! We got to see so much more than we had expected having gotten on the earlier flight. We're really looking forward to the rest of the week - we just hope it warms up a bit (but as I keep reminding Paul...it's warmer than Rochester!).