Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Christmas 2010...continued (part 1)

John and Debbie told us last year about this year's Christmas present.  The big kahuna! An all expense paid trip to Disney with all of Jeff's family (dad's side).  It was an amazing time with so many memories made and sweet family bonding time!  We drove down to Tulsa, and everyone else drove over from Enid, and we met at the airport on Thursday the 30th.  Jackson rode on an airplane when he was about 10 weeks old and not since.  Creighton has never been on one, but either way, this was the first trip for them that they know of!  It was very exciting. 

Jackson and Layne on the plane!
 Creighton's love of Dramma Debbie! She was so excited! The first 24 hours Debbie definitely had a 40 pound 41 inch shadow! It was pretty cute (and a nice little break for me). Thanks Debbie!
My silly girl! She wanted to make a silly face 
 Jackson loves finding his name.  It's actually in LOTS of places all over.  
Houston Hobby ...they were thrilled with the rocket... 
Layover Lunch.  The burgers and hot dogs were huge...as well as... 
 THE MILKSHAKES!
The shadowing :)
 
 Papa John, Jackson, Jessica and mommy
 We arrived to Orlando! We were aboard the Disney Magical Express! It was a great way to travel.  We literally never waited on a bus ride more than 3 minutes.  It was great!  She was tired but still so excited!
 Daddy and Jackson on the bus
 On the way into our RESORT (Disney's Coronado Springs). It was a really nice resort with many nice amenities.  Even though we were really not ever there to enjoy it.
Our room!  They were so tired and yet hyped up at the same time by the time we got into the rooms 
LATE dinner the night we arrived!  It was a very elegant dinner place and I was feeling anything but fancy/elegant by that point. I ordered off the kids menu. It was all so expensive and "hoity toity" but my plane Jane kids meal was great:) 
 The sidewalk drawing on our first morning.  We were on our way to the Animal Kingdom.
 Animal Kingdom!~ Wish we would have spent a little more time here. The kids enjoyed it. We did about 6 or 7 things here and left to go to Hollywood Studios.  Animal Kingdom was the least popular park and it was so nice. The lines were all short and the kids could be a little free-er.  
 Dino-Rama 
 After the dinosaur ride.  Jackson LOVED it.  It was his favorite of that park hands down.  Creighton hated it in every way and cried the whole time.  But she was all smiles afterwards :)
 Just love all the stinkin' stores they lead you to before exiting EVERY ride.  Made for lots of fun times.
The tree of life! They loved it.  It was huge and pretty cool!
 This was the last thing we did in Animal Kingdom and one of the cuter ones.  It was Bug's Life.  I liked it. Creighton doesn't like 3D glasses and doesn't like the dark, but she was with Debbie this time:)
 These were what they REALLY wanted but we didn't let them get them.  I am much happier with their picks for souvenirs.  Pics are cute though!!!
 Off to Hollywood Studios with the rest of the world.  Magic Kingdom has closed for the day because it reached capacity while we were at Animal Kingdom, but we had plans to go there the next day anyway. But Hollywood Studios should have also closed because it was ridiculous how many people were there!  

Here we were in line for 3 hours for the Toy Story Mania ride. Jackson had told us he wasn't feeling well pretty much all day.  He hadn't eaten anything at all and I always know that means he really doesn't feel good.  But this was the ONLY thing he wanted to do.  So we waited even though I didn't think there was a chance we'd make it with them for 3 hours.
Creighton didn't do very well, but she made it somehow.  Jackson was a trooper but I could tell the longer we waited the worse he was feeling. He wouldn't eat anything (that's how I occupied Creighton several times).  He was complaining more and getting a lot paler.  I felt terrible for him but he really wanted to ride and we'd already waited 2 hours at this point.  So I held him and he fell asleep on my shoulder.  He is a heavy boy, especially dead weight.  We were getting closer to the front and he was starting to stir and so I put him down.  He looked awful and told me how bad his tummy was hurting.  I asked him if he needed to throw up.  *side note: at lunch Creighton's kids meal came in a beach bucket* 

 Jeff snapped these pictures during the ride.  You can tell in the one below he wasn't his normal self.
  After the ride Creighton spotted the huge billboard for Tangled. Her newest favorite everything!
The lines were all very long for everything.  We spent so much of our time with the TSM ride, and with Jax not feeling well, we decided to just relax and we went to get a good seat for the Fantasmic show. Everyone got a hat and a horn and so it was quite loud as we waited an hour for the show to start.  
It was pretty cool except I wish they didn't dwell so much on the evil people.  The princesses were a big hit.  The show kept spraying us with water. It was really cold outside (for Florida) anyway and so I am thankful I had packed our jackets.  
After the show our family of 4 left to go back to the hotel.  The kids really enjoyed swimming in the pool, and I froze to death while trying to play with them. (the water was heated but it was still cold).  The hot tub was a very nice stay! :) Afterwards we got the kids in bed and I also went to bed (I wasn't feeling great with a sinus infection/bad cold).  Jeff left and joined the rest of the group for celebrating the New Year Disney style! The park's magic hours were till 3am. I think they closed the place down.  I would love to say the 3 of us back in the hotel were sound asleep, but none of us slept much that night because there was MUCH commotion and noise through the night and we were all coughing our heads off all night.  We were tired the next day! 
 Matt, Steph, Papa John, Brent, Katie, Jennifer, Jessica, Grandma Debbie, and Layne (Bree was there somewhere and Jeff was taking the pics).
 There were so many people it was insane! I am sad one hand I missed it, but glad on the other! It looked cool! Happy New Year! We welcome 2011!
  The next day on our way to Magic Kingdom we had someone take our picture on the bridge of our resort.
First walking into the Kingdom. The infamous castle! 
 We went to the Pixar side first and the Toy Story ride wasn't nearly as crowded here.  (We figured there were lots of people still sleeping!) They both really liked this ride and the wait too! (only 20 minutes). Then Daddy and Jackson went to Monsters Inc comedy show and Jackson got called up on stage.  He was so excited.  Creighton and I went to watch a show at the castle and get good seats for the Holiday Parade!  We had fabulous seats and many of the characters came and shook her hand and blew her kisses! It was great. She was so excited.
At the very end of the parade, Daddy and Jax had made it back our way, and because of the parade we were able to snap an awesome picture of Creighton with NO one else near the castle! So fun! 
 The lines at Disney were ridiculous to meet characters so we took pics from afar and called it good. Jesse and Buzz are some favorites! (just ignore the random people that waited an hour or more for a picture!)
We had lunch that was VERY yummy! The kids' plates came Mikey shaped! 

We then went over to the Presidents show. It is my least favorite thing, but one of Jeff's faves so we do it.  Barack Obama was added of course, so at least it was updated this year.  *THIS was also the place I lost my cell phone, so I got to sit through it twice (and still didn't find it!) I was NOT happy at this point. 
We separated from the rest of the group and took the kids to see Mickey's playhouse and to meet Mickey. 
They really liked finally getting an autograph and getting to hug a character!  The wait for him wasn't nearly as bad as everyone else, but still more than it should have been (about 40 minutes) 
 Creighton picked our her souvenirs after this! She decided on a 12 inch plush Mickey and matching Minnie. She is happy with them and I like them much better than the Mickey/Minnie ears she wanted.  

The castle was all decorated for Christmas and it was beautiful!!!
Terrie paid for Creighton to visit Bippidi Boppidi Boutique.  It seemed like a really cool experience. She was excited to go IN the castle.  But I was rather disappointed actually with how it all turned out. She didn't like any of the "do's" they offered, but thankfully they offered a Tangled wig and so of course she was thrilled by that.  But the lady didn't really do much to her and threw a wig on her head (that never stayed on at all) and then she didn't get a crown, but did get a sash, and they ran out of nail polish so she got a bracelet instead! :( All in all a sour taste for the BBB, but oh well, she didn't seem to care much. 
 The final product! Thanks Grammy and Pop
 Yes, we are STILL in the boutique here (less than 2 minutes after we paid) it was off her head and on mine! (so sad)...
 We put her up on the wall outside the castle for a quick picture!
Next we went over to the line again to see the Princesses(last time it was over an hour).  It was 10 minutes!!!  The girls that went in with us were mad Belle wasn't there so they just left, so we had them both to ourselves and Creighton was happy even though her faves weren't there. 
 She does like Aurora though!
 They wanted to ride the Buzz ride again and so we did! 

We left shortly after this to head back and get some rest because we were all very tired.  The next post will document our travels to Universal Studios. 

We had so much fun at Disney World and all the magic it has to offer. The kids had a blast and all-in-all were amazing.  They were patient and didn't fight too much and all together we all were kids again! So fun.  Thank you so much Papa John and Grandma Debbie for everything!!!

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