Disney Christmas Family Vacation!!!

The holidays sometimes can get a bit stressful. Especially trying to share them with 3 different sets of grandparents. This year we decided to go on a Disney Christmas Family Vacation with Glenn's mom, step dad, sister Kristen and her husband, Freddy and son, Joshua. And his brother Mark with his girlfriend Ashley. It was a really great, BUSY vacation!

We left Friday afternoon and headed up to Orlando. Glenn and I drove the Subaru while Mark and Ashley drove our Expedition. We were told that we would have LOTS of things to bring back home, so we figured that we better bring both of our SUVS. When we got to Orlando, Glenn's mom, Kathy, instructed us that our condo was not ready. So we drove around for a bit and headed to Publix to pick up a few items. When we finally made our way to the condo, Kathy had decorated the whole place really special. All of our rooms had a small Christmas tree in it with Lenox Disney ornaments for us. She also had really pretty nut crackers with Godiva chocolates on the nightstand. There were stockings hung up for each one of us. And the boys room had 3 HUGE mickey mouse stockings filled so much they were exploding. They also had a Christmas tree in their room, along with Lightning McQueen Christmas window clings and a big mickey mouse snow globe that sang Christmas carols. It was amazing!! She did a wonderful job and it was very special! After we all arrived, we set the table and had a nice dinner together. When dinner was finished, we all showered and headed out to the living room to celebrate Christmas and open presents! If there is one thing that is certain, it is that my MIL gives GREAT gifts. She is a shopaholic, with a capital "S". She shops year round and finds incredible buys at awesome prices. Good thing, because when December comes around, we are flat broke. This is the 3rd Christmas now where we've noticed that his business slows down significantly. Our plan for next year is to save, save, save and hopefully end up with enough so that we don't have to be so stressed and tight with money for the holidays. After we opened up presents we put the kids to bed and ended up staying up really late just chatting.



































Glen and Kathy got all of us passes for Saturday and Sunday to go to either Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios, and then a pass for Monday to go to Disney Quest. It was an absolute blast! My one and only groan about the trip is that it is close to impossible to have that many people at a theme park and try to stay together. Next time we go with a large group, I will be sure to coordinate an itenerary for everyone; when and where to meet and what places we want to eat at. A lot of time was wasted in the park by us just standing around trying to figure out what our next move was going to be. I ended up packing the boys peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and LOTS of snacks which helped out with the cost of eating. When we got there a parade was going on, so we stopped for a bit to watch. Then we immediately headed over to Fantasyland and rode a few rides. Next we made our way to Mickey's Toontown Fair and jumped on the train ride. The boys loved it! When we got of the train, we went back to Main Street for another parade.

Dumbo The Flying Elephant

Mickey's Philharmagic

Mad Tea Party

Glenn watching his beloved Gators play!

After the first parade, we decided to pack up and go back to the condo to eat dinner. Kristen and Freddy showed up around that time. After we all ate dinner, we loaded up in the car and headed back to the park for round 2. This time Kristen and Freddy came along a Kathy and Glen stayed behind. All of us ran around the park like maniacs trying to ride as many rides as possible. It was so much fun!

You know I had to take a picture of Mexico during It's A Small World ride

Cindarella's Golden Carrousel





On Sunday, everyone strolled out of bed rather late and we headed to Animal Kingdom. It was freezing! We ended up riding on some expedition style ride through a bunch of animals. I have to admit that the termite hills were pretty freakin' cool! Then we split up the group and all headed in different directions. Glenn and I and the boys walked around aimlessly because the boys had fallen asleep.




Rylan yells out "scarlet Macaw"...Thanks Diego!
The Tree of Life



This is really the only reason he loves to come to Disney World!


Those crazy termite mounds

Shortly after they woke up, I got a text from my friend Amber, telling me they were in Animal Kingdom too! So we hauled over to the other end of the park and met up with them to say hello! What are the odds that my best friend who lives in North Carolina would be at the same park at the same time as us? It was great to see her, and to hold her sweet little Savannah!

Sebastian
Siennah
The Greenawalts!

After our little meet and greet, we scurried over to the Finding Nemo Musical! Seriously, it was fantastic! And surprisingly, the boys sat completely still totally enthralled in the show! When the show was through, Grandma and Kristen took all the kids, while me and the guys went on the Mt. Everest ride. So cool! Afterwards, we all went over to where Pooh bear and Tigger were for some pictures. The boys loved it! It was getting dark by now, and the park was about to close, so we decided to head back to the condo for dinner and to recharge for the rest of the long night ahead at the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!











When we got back to the park, we made it to the front and then plopped down to watch the Once Upon A Christmastime Parade...Magical! After that it was off to Tomorrow Land where we spent most of our time. The guys got fast passes for space mountain while all the girls went on the kiddie rides. We had a blast! After we went on countless rides, we all met up again to go eat dinner. When dinner was finished we hauled butt back over to the little kid part of the park (can't remember the "land") We went on the Peter Pan ride, Winnie the Pooh ride, and all those other ones over in that area. Because the park was only open to those who had purchased the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade tickets, the lines were NOTHING compared to what they were during the day! We zoomed around the park hopping from ride to ride in just minutes...It was so fun! Finally, exhausted and hungry again, we headed out the park when it was closing!













The next day we could have gone to Disney Quest, but we were tired and wore out. So we called it a weekend and headed back home! It was an amazing trip to Disney! Thank You Grandma Kathy and Papa Glen for an awesome Christmas Vacation!