Let’s Get Personal ~ Our Family Trip to Disney World!

A couple weeks ago [bah, I can’t believe it was already a couple weeks ago!] my entire family [parents, 4 siblings, and 2-husbands] went to Disney World. We had an absolute blast. So I though, why not share some of the fun here for a “Let’s Get Personal” post :)

It all began when we arrived at the airport in Orlando. From the airport we had tickets to board Disney’s Magical Express. Oh MAN was I getting pumped!

I shared a instagram pic of Andy & I on the bus back when it was happening:

We arrived at our hotel, Disney’s Saratoga Springs, and soon discovered it was literally across the water from Downtown Disney!

We spent a TON of time walking back and forth to Downtown Disney, for food, drinks, & overall just good times.

On one such trip over, my brother couldn’t resist grabbing my mom’s hand and my little sister was there to capture THIS picture. Which cracks me up, every time I see it!

One of our first trips was to Magical Kingdom – and there really isn’t a more magical place on Earth [except for Hogwarts of course].

Magic Kingdom is awesome because you can find chocolate covered Mickey Mouse rice krispy treats that are LITERALLY the size of your face.

Literally.

At the Magic Kingdom, you can also dress up like a Pirate – no matter how old you are.

See: Andy, as Captain Jack Sparrow.

One of the really cool things we did on this family vacation, was get tickets to a VIP dessert on Tomorrow Land’s balcony. Only about 50 people are allowed for the dessert each night, and they give you a spectacular view of the Magic Kingdom’s fireworks display.

The display includes not only amazing fireworks, but one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen – pictures & graphics projected onto the castle. This picture doesn’t do it justice, at some points in the night the castle was polka-dotted, had pictures of people from the park that day displayed, and many MANY other awesome projections.

And of course, thanks to Youtube & the millions of people that would rather watch the show from their phone than with their eyes [yes, I am making some opinionated, societal commentary there] if you want to see what i mean, check this video out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwnDPj40TRE

From there we took some time to celebrate my mom for Mother’s Day; which she dubs “the most sacred of days”. Happy Mother’s Day Mom! [my older sister, younger brother, me, my mom & younger sister]… I look like I’m talking … naturally …

We did find some downtime at our hotel to just hang out with the family. And naturally take goofy pictures like this one:

Ok, this next shot is of another one of the REALLY COOL things we did on our trip – we had dinner with an Imagineer! We met Dustin and got to ask him all sorts of questions about what it’s like to plan projects & dream up ideas [anything from how to disguise a trashcan in Animal Kingdom, to building an entire new part of a park] for the most magical place on earth.

It was a REALLY really cool dinner & I’d highly recommend it to anyone going to Disney with a more adult crowd!

Click inside for the rest of my post on our family vacation to Disney … including HOGWARTS!

Thursday meant I got to return to my most favorite place on the planet. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. For readers that read my blog last year, you know I went last April – but the minute I left, I was dying to return.

[Andy & I at Hogwarts!]

I could not WAIT to suck down another butterbeer [seriously, this stuff is ecstasy in a frozen drink] & cauldron cake.

We also spent some time at the other parts of Universal Studios – including a group Spidey shot … oh my family :)

Our last day in Disney ended at Epcot. I couldn’t have thought of a better place to end the trip. We had a FABULOUS dinner in Mexico [including LOTS of margarita’s & a couple tequila flights … OLE!].

And they told the place it was my birthday – so I got sung too … with my ears on. [Embarrassing!]

And from there my siblings, husband, & I attempted to do our best at “drinking around the world.” [AKA you do 1 drink in each country of Epcot] I think we are in Germany here!