The Most Magical Place in the World....

We hit the parks and try to get to every last ride
When I saw the cost of a hot dog, I almost cried
Yet we had as much fun as one family should get
Now I have to rob another bank to pay of the debt

On Wednesday we moved from the Nick Hotel to the Port Orleans hotel on Walt Disney World. The Nick Hotel was awesome but the Disney resorts always have a special feel.

We spent one day at Animal Kingdom with the Segal family. All of the kids went on the new rollercoaster Expedition Everest. Although Brett went on twice - he had his head buried in my shorts the whole time. We also went on the River Rapids three times in a row - but paid the price as it took the whole day to dry out from that adventure. We hit Epcot later that night for more rides and the fireworks show....


The next park we hit was MGM. The kids favorite rides was probably Star Tours but we had a great time seeing the parade and going to to the Fantasmic show at night. I sought out my favorite Disney/Pixar character (Mike Wazowski) and got to get my picture taken with him..

Our final Disney day was split between the Magic Kingdom and Epcot (open until Midnight !). We had a great day at the Magic Kingdom and went home to use the pool at our resort before heading back to Epcot for the Fireworks and some additional rides. Brett and Kelsey loved Space Mountain and we all enjoyed the Test Track at Epcot.


It was a fantastic vacation. We did not have any rain in the 10 days we were gone. Nobody got sick/injured. Nobody got arrested.

Who Lives in a Pineapple Under the Sea ?

The Disney cruise really got our vacation started with a bang
Now it was great to get to meet Sponge Bob and the gang

For water fun and games the Nick Hotel is the place
I was having a ton of fun until I ended up with a pie in the face

We left the pampered life on the ship to spend a few days with SpongeBob and friends at the Nick Hotel in Orlando.
The Nick Hotel has a couple of awesome pools with waterslides and it was a great time to unwind and the kids had a blast in the pools. They also had a pool table, a minature golf course and basketball hoops in the same main pool complex. Jake especially enjoyed playing pool with different kids.
We had a nice two bedroom suite with a Sponge-Bob theme but perhaps most important a nice 42" plasma where we could watch the Pats-Chargers playoff game.

Nickelodeon caters to their target audience by hosting a number of wacky competitions that generally involve the people getting hit with a pie in the face or a bucket of slime poured over their head. In addition to hosting these competitions poolside during the day - they also host several shows in Studio Nick. The kids were thrilled to participate in one game.


Much to my families delight I was also a participant in one of the competitions. Of course I was not aware that the event would involve me dressing up as a baby but Karen was delighted with the results.

Yo Ho and a Bottle of Rum....

There was swimming, lounging and entertainment galore
And we ate and we ate until we could eat no more

When the 3 days were over, we all had the blues
We are already looking forward to our next Disney Cruise

We boarded the Disney Wonder at about noon on Thursday and headed straight for the buffet and a refreshing adult beverage.
Our first port of call was in Nassau. We limited our time touring Nassua to a very quick trip through the Straw Market. The Straw Market combines several activities that I just can't get enough of:
- Shopping with crowds
- Haggling with poor people
- Elmo Handbags made out of straw


In addtion to the self-service soft-serve ice cream station, a highlight of the cruise for the kids was spending time in the pools.


The last port of call was Disney's private island Castaway Cay. The island is beautiful and done in true Disney style. They even had the ship used in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean docked off the island.


Other highlights of the cruise portion of our adventure included:

• The Disney Broadway shows at night
• The awesome food
• Ian's sleepwalking adventure
• Fireworks
  

Disney Trip - Preamble

January 10th, 2007

You know your trip is going to be good when the coordination of two flights from weather risk originating cities (Manchester NH and Minneapolis) work our perfectly and you go to check-in at your hotel near the Orlando airport and see this......

Of course there was an incident with a make-your-own waffle bar that resulted in a burn that could be a blow to a potentially lucrative marble career.




On to the cruise ship........

Blog Intro

2007 Goals

1. Run Marathon without needing any emergency medical assistance
2. Prevent Wii controllers or Yo-Yo's being lodged in the new plasma TV
3. Create a pointless blog

I am now able to check something off the list. This blog will likely be abandoned but I could at least share the Disney trip highlights and some photos.....

-greg