Disney World

Three days after school got out we left for Disney World with Zach's parents.  None of the five of us had ever been before, but his parents have been a few times.  When they approached us about going a few years ago, I told them the boys had to be 7.  I wanted them to be old enough to ride all the rides and walk around the park.

first plane ride for Pierce and Graham

the kids loved the pool at our house

On the first day we went to Magic Kingdom.

Is Space Mountain going to be scary?

That was nothing!

This is a screenshot of where Zach's phone was lying after it fell out of his pocket on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride. We did this ride in the pouring rain, and we laughed hysterically the whole time.  

(The phone was found a week later and mailed to us)

Tron was every one of our favorite rides from day 1.  It was shockingly fast!

The firework show was amazing!  We had never seen anything like it. 

Day 1 of Disney World was amazing!  We loved all the rides, had good food, and had a great time altogether.  It rained, but the rain didn't really affect us.  If anything, it made for shorter lines.  

On Day 2 we went to Hollywood Studios.  

All of the toy story rides were fun

We got each of our kids a $50 gift card, so they could buy something of their choice at Disney.  The boys designed and built their own light sabers.

Monroe spent her money on a sweatshirt.  

Hollywood Studios was fun.  Unfortunately, Rise of the Resistance was closed off and on, so we didn't get to ride that one.  Graham, Melinda, and I opted out of the Tower of Terror, but the others liked it.  I think Slinky Dog was our favorite ride. 

Day 3 was our day at the ocean.  This was all three kids' first time in the ocean.The day was cool and windy, but the water felt great.

That evening, we got ice cream at Disney Springs.  This is a Lego display.

Day 4 was Universal Studios.  Universal had a few rides that you had to be 52in to ride.  I gladly rode smaller rides with Pierce and Graham while the other four rode the big coasters.

Monroe and I were beyond excited for everything Harry Potter!

We went to Ollivanders wand shop.  Monroe was picked to get her wand.  It was a fun experience.  We bought each of our kids a wand.  There were about 40 places around the two Harry Potter worlds where you could stand and perform a spell and something would happen.

Riding the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade

Butterbeer!  It was delicious!

If you are a Harry Potter fan, get yourself to Universal Studios!  Our favorite ride, by far, was Hagrid's Motorbike.  There were quite a few surprises, and we all loved it! 

Zach, Doug, and Melinda wanted to ride one of the big roller coasters, so I took the kids to ride others.  

They were able to ride this one without me, so I let them.  They ended up going three times in a row. It started raining, so they were quite wet!

We all want to go back to Universal Studios some day.  We didn't get to all of the rides because of time and the rain, so we want to experience them all.  

We all agreed that we didn't need another amusement park day, so we took it easy on day five.  We hung out at the house and swam, went out to a local pizza joint, and then spent the afternoon at Wonderworks.

That evening we went to the new Little Mermaid movie on opening night.  It was really good!

Day 6 was our departure day, but our flight was not until late afternoon.  We went to a mini golf place where we could feed crocodiles.

Then we played mini golf.  We also had lunch at a park, and went to a local ice cream shop.

We had some exhausted kids on the drive home from Omaha.

Thank you, Doug and Melinda, for a fabulous trip.  We had a wonderful first Disney experience, and we would definitely go back!