Christmas 2010

My wife, Amy, and I planned a vacation from the beginning of 2009 for the children and us. We have two wonderful children, a boy, Preston, age 13 and a girl, Emily, age 9. When the Christmas of 2010 came, we had gotten the children their own laptops, and we changed phone carriers so we were able to get everyone new Android phones (best phone I have ever owned). They opened these things at home before going to Amy's sister's house.

After arriving at Amy's sister's house, we ate a wonderful dinner and then sat down for the opening of gifts. All gifts were passed out and opened but Amy's sister, Kendra, said "Wait! We forgot a present!" She had it retrieved and handed it to our children. It was a large box we had wrapped and brought over earlier. The kids started opening it and when the Christmas wrapping was torn off they could see an alien head that they knew was a computer logo (Alienware). The box was too light to have a computer in it though so they started digging in the box. There was a lot of shredded brown packing paper and we had taped a piece of paper to the bottom of the box. When they finally were able to see the paper they read it but it didn't really dawn on them what they saw. We asked them what the paper said and they read it: "Surprise, we're going to Disney World! Merry Christmas, Love Dad and Amy." Amy said "Yea, we're leaving tonight!" The kids couldn't believe it. Emily high-fived Preston and we finished our visit and then took off.

We drove the whole way, I would drive an hour and Amy would drive seven hours. We swapped like that the whole way. hehe yep, I can't drive very long without losing consciousness. We made good time though and got there sometime in the evening of the next day. We got unloaded and crashed for the night.

The next day we woke up, got ready, and went straight to Magic Kingdom. I have never been to any of the Disney parks and was very impressed with it all. My favorite character is Goofy and I looked for him the whole day but never caught him. We watched several shows, rode some fun rides, and at night watched the fireworks show. We were exhausted by the time we left that night. We went back home (our home away from home) and planned the next day.

We decided we would go to the mall and we walked around looking in all the shops. We just took this day easy as there were no rides or anything in this part of Disney. There was no Goofy here either. Next time we will skip the mall. It was nice to take an easy day and rest up for the rest of our time. We went back home and cooked a yummy dinner and then planned our next day.

On our third day we went to Epcot! This is the place to go. Get to this place as early as you can. We rode several rides and watched several shows. We stood in line to greet and meet the Disney characters. It was a long wait but worth it. Emily got her picture taken with Minnie Mouse and got her signature first. Then we moved on to Donald Duck where I greeted him in his own tongue. He was impressed and after the picture and signature I said goodbye in his tongue. Mickey Mouse was next and Amy got her picture taken with him (I was very jealous ;) After Mickey, I looked up and there he was. A tall and lanky dog faced man waving me over. I walk over and give him a big hug. We posed manly and got our picture taken, hugged again, and I had to make way for the rest of the people in line. That was the best day at Disney in my opinion. After that we went around the world checking out the foods and cultural differences. We ate in Morocco and the food was delicious. While we were eating a couple of guys came and and played some small guitars. A lady followed later and belly danced around the floor. She called some girls out and Emily went and danced with her. We had a great time eating, listening, watching the show. We found other Disney characters and Emily got more pictures and signatures. Before we left, we looked for souvenirs. Emily got a really cool Disney jacket, Preston could not decide on anything and ended up with a mug, Amy got a Disney jacket, and I got a bright orange Goofy sweater pullover with hood. We went back home with our loot and crashed. Another exhausting day.

On our last day, we went to the Animal Kingdom. When we walked in we started looking around and noticed a real tall tree lady. We walked up to her and got pictures with her. We walked around looking at all the animals. There is a large tree (tree of life) with all kinds of animal shapes carved in it. It's very cool. You could probably stare at it for hours and still not make out all of the different creatures portrayed. This is a cool park but we left early because it was New Year's Eve and we wanted to get back to The Magic Kingom before it got too crowded. We did not make it early enough because the place was packed. I ran ahead to try to get us a place to see the show but there just wasn't any place that wasn't taken up. I found one place under a tree and waited while they attempted to ride some rides before coming to wait for the show. They had no luck though. The wait time was atrocious. They started the arduous task of trying to get to where I was. They would get detoured outside the park to get to parts of the park that allowed for movement to where I was. It was crazy. We finally were all together again and the show finally started. We started recording everything with our new phones. I recorded the kids faces as best I could but it was so dark it was hard to see. Fireworks went off over and over and when midnight arrived we were given a great fireworks show. We waited for people to disperse and started our way out of the park. A lady in front of one of the shops stops us and says they have free hot chocolate and cookies inside. I thought to myself, uh huh. You are just going to put us in a cage and get us fat so you can throw us in a stove and eat us ;) We went in and actually found a table we could all sit around. We sat and ate the cookies and drank the hot chocolate. I called my brother, sister, and parents to wish them a happy new year. I think we ended up getting home around 3am that night.

Although that was our last Disney day, we still had two days at Universal Studios. There are two sides to the Universal Studios park. I can't remember which one we went to first. We got there early though and headed straight for the Harry Potter area. They really did a great job on that area. It looked just like the movie. We rode some fun rides, avoiding Dementors and flying a dragon. Before we left that area we were asked are we truly done because they were handing out numbers to get into this area. It was good we came early or we would have had a long wait. We left that area and watched the Indian Jones show and walked the shops.

The final day of our vacation we went to the opposite part of the Universal Studios park. We rode the Tower of Terror and the best roller coaster ride I have ever been on, Aerosmith Rock and Roller Coaster. We got Preston on that one because he could not see the twists and turns it makes. He gets very motion sick so we had dramamine on hand to help with that but it still makes him uncomfortable. You should have seen his picture after we got off the ride. His bushy hair was forced back by the wind and his face was one of complete terror. I felt bad but couldn't help but laugh. It was so funny looking. We rode another roller coaster ride that plays music you select as you ride. I selected Sabotage by the Beastie Boys because of the beginning of the new Star Trek movie. We left reluctantly and had already packed up for the trip home. We drove the long ride back to our home. I drove an hour and Amy drove seven :)

If you ever get the chance to go to Disney, and it's something you like, I highly advise going. We had a blast. I might have had more fun than the kids :)