Now where would be the perfect place to start our family reunion tradition? Disney World, of course! We tried to go somewhere else. We looked into Washington D.C., various beaches, and even Bear Lake, but Disney won in the end! I am so glad that it did!
It was the 7th time that our family has gone to this happy place and even though we are all grown up Disney still has not lost its magic. We had a blast. All 9 of us were able to attend including the most adorable 14 month old that this Wray family has ever had the privilege of being related to! I just want to kidnap her!
Unfortunately I didn't get any shots of us in our official reunion shirts but they looked something like this. Each of us got to pic our fav Disney character. My dad's shirt even sported the official reunion theme... to eternity and beyond!
So what did we do while at Disney? Well let me show you. (Now I took 600 pictures so trying to narrow them down has been tough so I apologize if I put you on picture overload.)
Magic Kingdom:
Splash Mountain:
'
It's a Small World:
Jungle Cruise:
Pirates of the Caribbean:
Buzz Light Year! My brother actually conquered this game. He reached 999,999 points! Way to go Jeff!
And we did our fair share of shopping:
"Mom can I have this?"
"And this?"
"Oh and I think I'll take one of these too."
And the lucky winner... Woody with a nap!
Gotta love the parades!
Hollywood Studios:
Back Lot Tour:
Indiana Jones Show:
American Idol Show: (This was seriously cool!)
Fantasmic:
Beauty and the Beast Musical: (My family loved me for dragging them to this one!)
EPCOT:
Monorail:
Spaceship Earth:
Baby Kate playing in the water fountain:
Segway Central:
Animal Kingdom:
Tree of Life:
African Safari:
Expedition Everest:
Disney Dining Plan:
Disney does not skimp on the food! Since we partook in their dining plan option, everyday we got a quick service meal and sit down meal and both consisted of entree, desert and drink. These were not small entrees. For lunch, Aaron would get a 1/2 roasted chicken, slab of ribs, mashed potatoes and green beans with carrot cake for desert plus like 2 gallons of soda. Then would be expected to do it all again for dinner. Plus the dining plan includes one snack a day. We were permanently stuffed all week!
We ate at some great places! Captain Jacks sea food restaurant in Downtown Disney, Le Ceilier a steak house in Canada, 50's prime time cafe at Hollywood Studios that took us back in the past and served good southern fried chicken and pot roast. Chef Mickeys breakfast buffet with all of our favorite Disney characters. I think our favorite meal was at a place called Ohanas at the Polynesian resort. Within 5 minutes they had served us our salad, appetizers, and entree which was just giant skewers of meat and then they just kept on bringing more food!
Chef Mickeys:
Gummy Bears for breakfast! Only in Disney World.
Ohanas- This is just before they attacked us with never ending amounts of food.
Love this photo! I can just imagine her saying:
"I'll go ahead and order for myself tonight. For an appetizer I'll take two crayola crayons to suck on and that napkin over there looks pretty tasty. For dinner I'll have the beef low mien but who are we kidding here it is all going to end up on the floor anyway. I'll take an orange juice to drink. Thank you."
Disney's Contemporary Resort:
I can't finish this post without mentioning our hotel. We have always had the privilege of staying at a Disney resort, but we always stayed at a place called Coronado Springs. I was excited to show Aaron the hotel that we always stayed at. This time we decided to switch it up and stay at a new hotel. I was a little bummed at first, but all that sadness went away the second we walked into the hotel. It was incredible! The room was so big it fit us all. It had two bedrooms, three bathrooms, plus a huge living room and kitchen!
And check out this view! The Magic Kingdom! We were so close it was only a five minute walk to the park or you could hope on the monorail to another one of Disney's parks because the monorail came right into the hotel.
Nighttime and Daytime view from the hotel:
You could even sit on the hotel balcony and watch the fireworks show! It was incredible!
Now I am sure if you have made it this far in the past that you are wondering what kind of souveniers that I picked up on this trip. Well I got plenty of t-shirts and magnets and even a mick mouse pancke maker. But when it came to my Belle souveniers, I sort of exhausted all of my options. I have endless picture frames, jewelery boxes, t-shirts, blankets, pillows, pens, pencils, notebooks and I could go on. There wasn't much to choose from becasue I already had it. So I had to get a little creative on this trip and I was inspired one evening as we made a trip to Goofy's candy store... there it was, a Belle Carmel apple! It was so simple. Carmel, whilte chocolate and yellow sprinkles! It was perfect!
It was another successful trip to Disney World. We were spoiled and we had so much fun! Yes even Aaron had a good time!
