Family Vacation In Florida Days 1, 2, and 3

We got to take an amazing family vacation in July to Florida.  I have a cousin who lives in Orlando and works for Disney.  She had been telling me for the last couple years to bring the family and come visit her and Florida...(she gets some free family passes to share with family members throughout the year and she could get our family in for free to the parks and we could stay with her.  Seriously, how could we pass up this offer???  Jess, thanks for your persistence and encouragement to bring my family to Florida!) So in May when Eric said to me he would have some time at the end of one job, before another job started, if I wanted to take a trip somewhere this summer, I didn't hesitate.  I blurted out, "Let's go to Florida!"  We booked our flights in May with an airline that flies in and out of Kansas City and Wichita only on certain days of the week, non-stop flights to and from Orlando.  This would be our kids first time to fly, first time to Florida, first time to Disney, and first time to go to the beach.  We were all pretty excited to go!

Day 1 - July 4th - Flight, Lunch, Family, and Fireworks

Our flight left the airport around 9am on Wednesday morning.

On the airplane, Eric and Silas sat on on side, and the girls and I on the other side.  We sat toward the back of the plane and the kids could see out the window alright.  We were seated very close to the engines and it obstructed their view just a little bit.  They all did good on the flight and seemed to enjoy looking out the windows.

When we arrived we got our rental car, and went to a Bahama Breeze for a late lunch.  After lunch we headed to my cousin's apartment.  Jess had to work, but Johannah was there to greet us.  We walked around the apartment complex, then went to the grocery store, before heading over to the backside of Disney's Magic Kingdom to watch the 4th of July fireworks show.  Johannah, Jess, and Andrew work for Disney so we got to park in an employee lot behind Magic Kingdom to watch the show.

It started to ran on our drive to watch the fireworks.  We sat in our cars waiting for the rain to let up enough for the fireworks show to start.

When the show finally got started, we knew it was worth the wait.  Disney doesn't mess around with boring stuff.  They go big!

Thanks for taking us to watch the fireworks, Johannah.  It was a very fun night!

Night selfie: Eric, Stacee, Silas, Johannah, Phoebe, and Sarah.

Day 2 - July 5th - Animal Kingdom

On Thursday we got up bright and early and headed to Disney's Animal Kingdom.  (My family took two family vacations to Florida when I was growing up.  Once before my freshman year of high school and the other was before my Sophomore year of college. This is the only Disney park that I had never been to with my family, so I was excited to see what this one would be like.)

Our first ride/show in Animal Kingdom was "Bug's Life", a 3-D show.  We all got to wear 3-D bug glasses!

In the center of Animal Kingdom is a HUGE tree.  The Tree Of Life.  It has all kinds of animals and bugs carved/formed into it.

While Sarah, Andrew, Johannah, and I rode a spinning roller coaster Eric, Jess, Phoebe, and Silas went to meet Goofy.

There are two exceptional shows to see while visiting Animal Kingdom.  One of them is the Finding Nemo show.  The costumes and set are AMAZING!

The biggest ride of the day at Animal Kingdom was "Expedition Everest".  A large fast roller coaster.  All of our kids were tall enough to ride it.  One (Phoebe) was not excited to ride it at all.  She was scared and super nervous.  We tried not to let her know it was a roller coaster until the last minutes before we got on the ride.  We got put in the front car.  Eric and Silas were in the very front seat!  Behind them were Phoebe and I, then behind us, in the third seat were Johannah and Sarah, and Jess was in the 4th seat (not in our picture).  You can see from the picture below, as evidenced by our faces, as we were flying down one of the bigger slopes, how much Phoebe was enjoying the ride....  It was a great roller coaster.

I love these two girl cousins of mine.  They are fun to be around, great company, caring, great with our kids, and giving.  (I wish we could spend more time together Jess and Johannah.)

Behind us in these two pictures is the ride "Expedition Everest".  (And, if you will look closely in the picture below, you will see that indeed Sarah has now grown taller than me.  We knew it would happen, and truthfully I am happy about it.  This will be great for our sports-minded girl, so grow girl, GROW!)

The other can't miss show at Animal Kingdom is the Lion King show.  Great performers, great singing, high action, amazing costumes, great gymnastics, and audience participation.  FANTASTIC!

Park selfie: Eric, Jess, Stacee, Phoebe, Silas, Sarah, and Johannah.

What were two of your favorite rides at Animal Kingdom?

Eric - Expedition Everest and the Kilimanjaro Safari

Stacee - Expedition Everest and the Kilimanjaro Safari

Sarah - The Dinosaur and Expedition Everest

Phoebe: The Dinosaur and the Kilimanjaro Safari

Silas: Expedition Everest and the Kilimanjaro Safari

What was your favorite show at Animal Kingdom?

Eric - The Lion King

Stacee - The Lion King

Sarah - Bug's Life 3-D show

Phoebe - The Lion King

Silas - The Lion King

Day 3 - July 6th - Epcot

On Friday we headed to Epcot.  Johannah had to work that morning.  Jess and Andrew had to work that afternoon and evening.  So, Jess and Andrew enjoyed a couple of hours that morning at the park with us before leaving to go to work.

Silas loves Andrew!  He was so happy on the days Andrew got to come to the parks with us.  He wanted to hold his hand, ride the rides with him, and hang out with him.  He has always had a lot of fun with Andrew when we are together and misses him living closer to us in Kansas.

One of the most enjoyable rides and walk-through exhibits for the kids was the Finding Nemo ride and aquarium.  There were great things from the movies Finding Nemo and Finding Dory to pose and take pictures with, a fun ride, and a large aquarium area to view live dolphins, fish, stingray, sharks, and other fascinating sea creatures.

There was a soda station to taste test different sodas from all around the world.  The worst one to all of us was a ginger tasting soda.

All of our days at Disney involved a LOT of walking.  It was hot and humid (typical for Florida), but rained a little bit most of the days we were there, cooling us off some.  In all of the Disney parks you can get free ice water at any food and concession stand throughout the parks.  We ate a light lunch at a cafe' in the section of Epcot that represents France.

One of the most fun experiences and rides to all of us at Epcot was "Test Track".  This is a ride where you pair up with someone to design a vehicle and then your vehicle is tested/simulated through a variety of courses and tests, like a real vehicle would be, to see how great of a design you came up with and how it performs.  For the Test Track, Eric and Silas were partners, Phoebe and I teamed up, and Jess and Sarah joined forces.  In the next picture you can see us all taking a ride in one of the test cars.

Below our three vehicles that we designed.  Eric and Silas won with a score of 200.  Phoebe and I tied Jess and Sarah with scores of 197.

After the Test Track ride when exiting everyone walks through some more vehicle exhibits and hands-on vehicle tests.  Silas wanted his picture taken with this very cool yellow sports car.  He walked right up to it and didn't hesitate to put his arm out and lean right on it, like he owned it.  Smooth, Buddy.

Some of the countries that we enjoyed walking through in the Epcot World Showcase were England, China, Norway, Mexico, Morocco, and the United States of America.  In Norway we rode the "Frozen Ever After" ride.  In China we listened and watched a drum show.  In England we walked around and thought about Uncle Ernie and Aunt Judy and all they have gotten to see and do on their many REAL trips to England.  In Morocco, some of us caught a glimpse of Princess Jasmine.  In Mexico we went inside a huge building that was colorful and decorated with many things from the new Disney movie "Coco".  And, in the USA we enjoyed beautiful patriotic and folk music performed by the Voices of Liberty, a small mixed ensemble, and then a show about America.

Before leaving the park that night, we visited the characters Joy and Sadness, from the Disney movie "Inside Out".

Park selfie: Eric, Sarah, Silas, Stacee, and Phoebe.

What were your two favorite rides at Epcot?
Eric - Mission Space and Soarin
Stacee - Frozen Ever After and Soarin
Sarah - Fast Track and Soarin
Phoebe - Fast Track and Soarin
Silas - Frozen Ever After and Fast Track