Christmas at Disney!

The morning of Wednesday, December 5th, Mom, Dad, Deavin, and I flew to Orlando to begin our Christmas vacation. We spent Wednesday in Tampa, ate at Circles in Apollo Beach, visited Tracy's new house, and stayed with Aunt Janice and Uncle Bob to prepare for our trek to Orlando the next day. We ate A LOT on Wednesday, which was simply a foreshadowing of the entire trip!

Mom, Dad, Deavin, and I left Aunt Janice & Uncle Bob's house around 7:30 on Thursday morning, en route to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. We arrived right after 9 AM and began our fun-filled day, starting with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, of course. Deavin and I visited this theme park last year on our honeymoon (which was a horrible experience altogether, but that's a different story for another day). So, it was Mom and Dad's first time to experience Universal Studios. We went to Olivander's, went through Hogwarts and rode the simulated ride inside of the castle, ate at The Three Broomsticks, and visited Honeydukes and the joke shop. After spending a couple of hours just in that section of the park, we headed over to see a show, The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad, which turned out to be really entertaining! I got some great photos during the show. We also went through Whoville (love it), got on the Spiderman ride, met Spiderman, and generally walked around the Jurassic Park and Marvel comics section.

Deavin and me with Spiderman. I accidentally touched his butt, which was very obvious considering he was only wearing spandex. And look at me - all up close and personal to him, including my arm around him! I'm so embarrassed now, haha.

Me with Arthur Weasley's flying car!

Mom & Me in Hogsmeade

Deavin & me in Hogsmeade - so excited to be there!

Us with the Grinch! He was, as expected, quite a character.

Mom & Dad in Whoville. I love all of the vibrant colors in Whoville! And, of course, the Whos are really cute!

David, Carrie, Hannah, Abby, and Andrew arrived in Orlando on Thursday night and we all checked in at our resort, Shades of Green, on the Magic Kingdom property. Aunt Janice, Uncle Bob, Tracy (my cousin), and Marcia (Tracy's wife) were also staying at the resort. When I said this was a family vacation, I wasn't kidding!

Friday morning we all got up early, ate breakfast at the resort, and headed out for a full day at Magic Kingdom. Our first stop: meet the princesses. Hannah and Abby were able to meet Aurora, Rapunzel, and Cinderella. Their little faces were priceless. We spent all of Friday in Magic Kingdom - ALL of it. At 7 PM that night, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party began! It's an event that you need special tickets to attend, and it's absolutely awesome. You get free cookies, hot chocolate, see a wonderful parade, and watch an awesome fireworks show at Cinderella's Castle.

Hannah and Abby with Cinderella (who happens to resemble Taylor Swift)

Hannah - 1st time Disney World visitor!

Mom & Dad 

Back view of the beautiful Cinderella's Castle at night

Abby (Snow White), Hannah (Cinderella), and Andrew (Buzz Lightyear) all dressed up for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party! The "real" Disney characters LOVED their outfits.

Carrie (sister-in-law) and David (my brother)

One of the many special effects they did on the castle. This show was spectacular. No pictures or videos can do this place any justice whatsoever.

We left Magic Kingdom around 9:30 on Friday night - about 12 hours spent at the park! Needless to say, we were tired, but more fun was to be had on Saturday.

Saturday brought another early wake-up call. We visited Epcot for the first part of the day, then headed over to Hollywood Studios. This was my first time to experience Epcot. It's very different from the other parks and definitely more adult-oriented. Deavin and I enjoyed spending time to ourselves and exploring the park and showcase of countries. We ate lunch in Morocco and got to see a variety of characters as we walked around the showcase. Around 3 that afternoon, Deavin, Tracy, Marcia, and I went to Hollywood Studios. Everyone else was coming over later that evening for the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. We rode the Tower of Terror twice, which Marcia loved, and people-watched while we ate candy. When everyone else arrived later, we witnessed the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. "Wow" is really the only word I can use to describe it. This is also one of those things that you have to see in person, as no photos or videos can do it any justice! Absolutely breathtaking. Once we saw enough of the lights (though, really, how can you get enough of that??), we went to see Fantasmic! This show was another new experience for us and it did not disappoint! Disney really knows how to put on a show.

From left to right: Lee, Christi, Cayden, Logan, Tracy, and Marcia

Us in front of the huge Christmas tree in our resort's lobby.

Andrew, Hannah, and Abby ready for Epcot.

We spotted Goofy right when we got into Epcot.

Silly cousins waiting on the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights.

Logan & Andrew

Unfortunately, Sunday was our day of departure. :( However, I was coy enough to talk my parents into spending the morning at Animal Kingdom. (It didn't take ANY convincing for Dad. My mom was another story). None of the four of us had ever been to this park before either, but due to our love for animals, I knew it would be a hit. I was so right! The first thing we did was the Safari ride in Africa. We were able to see a lot of beautiful animals on the safari and I got so many great photos along the way. Dad and Deavin rode the Mt. Everest ride, which they both seemed to really enjoy. Since we had limited time to spend at Animal Kingdom (we had to meet up with Aunt Janice and Uncle Bob at 1:30 to return to Tampa to catch a flight), we weren't able to spend nearly as much time and see all that we wanted to see.

Our flight from Tampa to Birmingham was at 5:05 that evening. Talk about a depressing trip home. I love flying, but I want to fly to somewhere fun, not Birmingham. :( 

The beautiful lion! He looks so majestic.

I was fortunate enough to have Monday after our trip off of work to recover from our Disney trip, or as I like to say "come off the Disney high." I desperately needed that day to recuperate! I'm planning next year's trip (hopefully)  to Disney already!

There's no place on earth like it. :)