Disney World 2009!

Okay...so are you ready for lots and lots of pictures??!! We took a ton of photos and it was hard to weed through them all to just pick out a few...so there are a lot!

Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009
We started our day early. Our flight left Springfield around 6 a.m. We made it to Orlando around noon and after that it didn't take long to make our way to the Beach Club Resort...our Disney home for the next week! After getting situated in our room, we headed to Epcot...which from the Beach Club is a very short walk...less than 5 mintues! We had lunch at our favorite Epcot Counter Service, the patisserie in the Franch Pavillion. Then, we headed up to see how long the ride was for Soarin'. Taylor decided she didn't want to ride, so mom and I took her to "The Living Seas" Pavillion to ride the "Nemo" ride and check out the manitees.

After we were done there and had joined up with Michael and Zachary again, we saw Chip and Dale standing outside the Character Spot area of Epcot.

After Chip and Dale, we headed inside the Character Spot to meet everyone in there. Of course, our first stop was with Mickey and the rest of his gang!





After riding a few rides and walking around Epcot, everyone was ready to head back to the resort and hang out at the sand-bottom pools.

Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009
We decided to head to Hollywood Studios. Another easy to get to park from the Beach Club...just a quick boat ride!
Here we are standing on the boat dock. The resort and shipwrecked boat (that is part of the pool) is in the background.

After we arrived at Hollywood Studios, one of the "American Idol" people came up to see if anyone was interested in trying out for a spot to perform. There were several people that auditioned on the spot, but only 3 made it...Michael was one of them!!!!

(above) Michael filling out his application to be a part of the show.


(above): Michael practicing and waiting to sing to the producer of the show.


(above) his name on the stage screen when they announced the 3 competitors.


(above) Michael singing "Walkin' After Midnight" to the crowd.


While Michael spent the morning preparing for "Idol," mom, the kids and I headed towards one of our favorite rides, "Toy Story Mania."




Zachary ready to play/ride "Toy Story Mania."


On our way back to "Idol" to see Michael perform, we saw Minnie in the area in front of the big hat, so we had to stop so Taylor could have her picture taken with her. My mom had made Taylor the cutest Minnie dress. When Minnie saw Taylor in her dress, she made a huge fuss over Taylor. She stopped a few people so that they could see that Taylor and her were dressed a like. It was so cute!





After watching Michael perform, we rode Toy Story again with him and "Star Tours." Had lunch, watched "Indiana Jones" and got ready for the "Block Party Bash" Parade. We were a little disappointed with the parade this time. The characters didn't leave their floats to come dance with the kids like they did the last time we saw it in December. It was still cute, but if we had known they weren't getting off the floats, we probably would have skipped it. Hopefully, it was just for that particular day and not something that is the norm now for that parade. We then headed back to the resort to swim! Orlando was having record high temps the first few days of our vacation, so it was nice to go swim.


Monday, Sept. 28, 2009

This was a Magic Kingdom day for us! I always love going there and seeing the castle...it just seems so magical. The Magic Kingdom looked awesome with all the Halloween decorations.



We immediately headed to the Buzz Lightyear ride.

Teacups were next!

Followed by Cinderella's Carousel.

Taylor wanted to meet Tinkerbelle, so we headed to Toontown and waited for that to open and Michael and Zachary went to the "Tomorrowland Speedway."

The Pixies determined that Taylor was an "Animal Loving" Pixie and her job was to take care of animals. She had decided before our trip that she was going to find a Tramp dog to go with the Lady dog she got on our first Disney trip.

Zachary with his "Tomorrowland Speedway" license. He was so proud!

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Magic Kingdom. We had dinner reservations at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. It was such a fun dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the evil step-mother and step-sisters.

Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009

This was our big day/night at "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party." So, for the day, we stayed close to the resort so we could save up our energy for that night. We did a little laundry and played on the beach.

We had lunch at "Beaches and Cream"...which is located at the Beach Resort. It's an old-time ice cream/soda shoppe. They have really good hamburgers...much better than what you find at the counter service places throughout Disney....what's even better is the ice cream! They are known for the "Kitchen Sink"...which we tried last December. This year, we thought we would just order sundaes. I think that was just as much ice cream as the "Sink."

This is the kid's ice cream. So cute...looks like little mice!

Here's a photo of all of us with our big sundaes in front of us.

After lunch, we finally headed over to the Magic Kingdom to get ready for the big party! Zachary had an appointement at "The Pirate League" (which is a really slow process...he took longer than Taylor's BBB appointment...so if you go, expect to wait a long time.)

Zachary in his Captain Hook costume spinning the "Pair of Dice" chest to determine his pirate name. His pirate name was "Enrique Chainswatter"

Sitting in his chair getting the "Cursed Pirate" makeup.

Since the Pirate League took so long, I had to leave him and Michael early to get Taylor to her appointment at Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. She was ready to be made into a Disney Princess!

Here they are all made up and ready to go trick-or-treat through the Magic Kingdom!

One of our first stops was behind the castle at Cinderella's Coach! They only bring this out for the Halloween parties, so it was really neat to see it since it is something that isn't a permanent fixture in the park.

Next, was a visit to Mickey's house to see him all dressed up for the party. When Mickey saw Zachary he acted like he was so scared of him. Zachary loved that!

Alice and that Mad Hatter's Trick or Treat trail was next!

We trick-or-treated some more. Stopped to watch "Hallowishes" firework show at the castle and then headed back to find Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. We had to get our pictures with them since we were dressed like Peter Pan characters.

On our way, we ran into four very fun characters!

As we were walking by, we noticed Genie and Abu taking pictures. We had never met Abu before. The kids have always asked Aladdin on past trips about Abu and he has always told them that he must be playing in the market. So, when we saw Abu, we had to stop. While we were waiting in line, the cast member announced that Genie and Abu would be going in and Aladdin and Jasmine would be coming out. I asked the cast member if there was anyway we could meet Abu before they went back in. She decided we would be the last family to meet these two. While The Genie was running around acting scared to death of Zachary, Jasmine and Aladdin came out too, so the kids got to meet all 4 of them at one time!!

Then, we found Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. Taylor decided she was scared of Hook and started crying. Part of it was that she was getting tired. Mr. Smee was so sweet. He walked over to her and got down on her level and started making gestures that made her laugh. Before we knew it, she had taken his hand and had walked over for a photo.

After the parade, we headed to the bus to go home. Our little pirate and Tink all worn out.

Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009

We headed back to Epcot. Taylor really didn't want to ride many of the rides. We did go through the Nemo ride and go in to see "Turtle Talk with Crush"...which ended in tears for Zachary because Taylor got picked to ask Crush a question and he didn't.

Michael made it up to him by taking him to ride "Mission Space." All he talked about the rest of the day was how he went to Mars. While the boys were riding rides, we took Taylor and tried to find somewhere to eat. Along the way, we ran into a couple of princesses.

We also ran into our neighbor's who live across the street from us!

While playing around in Mexico, we also found Donald!

That evening, we had dinner at the Japan Pavillion's Teppon Edo. It was so yummy!

Here is the chef making an onion volcano...the kids thought that was really cool. This was their first experience at a Japanese Steakhouse!

Taylor trying out chopsticks for the first time. Zachary dropped his on the floor before he had a chance to even try to eat with them.

A quick photo of us in front of the Coy Pond in Japan.

Thurs. Oct. 1, 2009

We went back to Epcot for the morning. The kids were still wanting to make their Kidcot masks and we had lunch reservations at Canada's Le Cellier.

One of the first people we saw was Snow White!

After meeting Snow White, Michael and Zachary went to ride a few rides. Taylor wanted to shop and see who else she could meet. After visiting "The Land of Imagination" the day before, she decided she needed a stuffed "Figment." When we walked outside, there were several characters standing outside.

Max (Goofy's son)

Stitch

Balou

After we were all together again, we headed to the World Showcase and the kids started making their masks. One of Zachary's favorite rides (not sure why), but he loves the ride in Norway. He calls it "The Ugly Old Troll Ride." So, we had to get a picture of him with a troll.

We stopped along the way to get a quick photo at the Japan Pavillion.

In France, we had to stop and get a photo in front of the "Beauty and the Beast" window.

We made it to Canada in record timing and the kids finished their masks and we were just in time for lunch.

Le Cellier was yummy and our meal ended with this cute little mousse/moose.

On our way back to the resort, we saw Mary Poppins.

It wasn't long before it was time to head to Magic Kingdom to catch the boat to Ft. Wilderness Campground to have dinner at Mickey's Backyard BBQ! So much fun.

When we got there, we were greated by Goofy. Taylor had brought "Figment" with her and if you look you will see that Goofy place Figment in his hat.

The BBQ was a lot of fun. There was a band that played the entire time, a trick rope cowboy and of course the characters were there to dance with everyone!

Friday, Oct. 2, 2009

We started our morning early with breakfast at Animal Kingdom.

Breakfast at Donald's Safari Breakfast at the Tusker House. One of our favorite character breakfasts!!

After breakfast, we headed to the "Lion King" Show. This cute Daisy, Huey, Duey and Louie scene was along the way!

After leaving the Lion King, we ran into Lilo and Stitch.

We then headed to Dinoland. After that we watched, "It's Tough To Be A Bug." As we were leaving the Animal Kingdom, we ran into a few new friends.

Meeko

Rafiki

Brer Rabbit

Brer Bear

That afternoon, we decided to go back to Hollywood Studios for a little while.

The kids wanted to ride Toy Story Mania.

After the ride, we went to the Animation Studio to see who was there. We met lots of characters.

"Up" Characters

The Incredibles

Goofy and Max

The Evil Queen from Snow White...who infomed me that she isn't evil, but "Regal."

Zachary was able to meet the Red Power Ranger when we were on our way to see the Muppet's Show.

Love the Muppets and I think this is my favorite fountain EVER!!

After dinner at Pizza Planet, another Star Tours ride and some shopping, the park was closing and it was time to go back to the resort and finish packing.

Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009

Our last day was not the most pleasant. We started our morning off finding out that we could not fully use Disney's Magical Express. We could use it for the airport transfer, but they were not able to take our luggage and make it "magically" appear at Springfield's airport. Not too big a deal, but when you expect a service, you expect it to work. So, after getting our luggage checked in with the bell hop, we headed back to Hollywood. The kids needed to ride Toy Story Mania one last time. Have I mentioned how much we love that ride?!?

Then we headed across the street to meet Woody and Buzz!

After meeting them, watching the Muppet Show again and eating lunch, we decided we had better head back to the resort and try to get to the airport early. We were all starting to get an uneasy feeling when American Airlines entered our heads. Never in a million years would I have imagined the ordeal we were about to go through.

Here is a photo of the kids walking back from the boat.

They watched cartoons in the hotel lobby while we figured out what we needed to do in order to get home.

Our trip ended with a horrible experience with American Airlines. I will NEVER use them as an airline again and will encourage others to chose a different airline. American doesn't care about their passengers. If they did, they wouldn't have pushed our original flight time back so far that we couldn't take that flight and had to fly standby on an earlier flight. They woudn't have then placed Zachary and Taylor in seats on their plane where Michael and I were not sitting with them. The airline attendants would have helped us ask for someone to switch seats with us so we could sit next to our children. They don't care about anyone's feelings or trying to help people out. I was in tears during the flight and there were so many other things that happened dealing with them and their employees. I have complained to them and gotten a very half-hearted apology...the kind where they are hoping they will never hear from me again.

Our trip ended on a very bad note, but we did have fun (minus a few changes Disney has made in a few policies that we were not aware of that did cause issues with some of the enjoyment of our vacation).