Disney!!!!

DISNEY WORLD

We did not have any internet access while we stayed at Fort Wilderness, which is the campground at Disney. It was nice-not the nicest we have stayed at, but probably close. The transportation was great, and it was very convenient. We arrived there on Sunday, July 6. We had no problems finding it and getting in. That evening we went over to the Wilderness Lodge to see our friends Mike, Lori, and Avery, and Kevin, Clair and Ginger. They all traveled to China with us. We hung out and ate supper at the lodge. Avery was not feeling well, so they had to leave early. We hung out with the Harrisons until about 9, then headed back to go to bed. On Monday, we rode the boat over to the lodge to meet up with the Harrisons and Morrisons to hang out before the Morrisons had to go home. They live in Florida, and Mike had to go to work the next day. We took the kids to the pool, and they all had a great time. We ate lunch at the café in the lodge, and we all had a good time. It was sad to say goodbye to Mike and Lori. It was like 3 years had not gone by since we last saw them. That afternoon we ran into the Pattens and the Giles as they got in from their flight from Chicago. We went to the campfire that night, and some of the families staying at the lodge came over. It was fun except Chip and Dale made Serena scream! Screaming when you see characters in costume is not a good sign when you are fixing to spend a week at Disney.
On Tuesday morning we went to the Magic Kingdom and met up with Kevin, Clair and Ginger. We had really good luck between getting there early, fastpasses, and rain, and we rode a bunch of the rides. We were going to meet up with the Chicago people but seemed to keep missing them. We had a great day, and we ended up staying in the park all day and did not leave until after 9:30. We caught the light parade in the rain, and then caught the boat back. The rain was a blessing in disguise-it cooled things off, and ran people off!
Wednesday- We met the Harrisons at the lodge and drove to the Animal Kingdom. It was hot! It is a pretty park, but the jungle like foliage makes it very steamy. This was the hottest day by far. The kids saw most of the animals, and Keegan got to ride the Dinosaur ride. We left by 4 and made plans to meet up at the pool at the lodge later. That evening we took a boat over to the Lodge and met up with the Harrisons and Pattens. The kids had fun swimming and playing, and the grown ups got the chance to visit. Kevin, Clair and Ginger were leaving on Thursday morning, so we had to say goodbye to them. We had a lot of fun together. Once again it was like 3 years had not passed since we had last seen them. We hope to stop close to Atlanta on our next trip east.
Thursday we drove to Disney MGM studios. That was a lot of fun. Many of the shows, etc… were indoors with ac, and that is a good thing in July in Florida. We all enjoyed that day, and we saw most of the park and rode the rides that we wanted to.
That night we went to Downtown Disney and ate at the Rainforest Café. The kids enjoyed it, but it was overpriced. They have now had the experience once and probably won’t again. We also did some shopping since they have a really cool Legoland store. We forgot the camera at the trailer, so we did not get any pictures.
Friday was a long day. We got up early (again) and took the boat and monorail to Epcot. We really liked Epcot. We rode all of the big rides, and Keegan has gotten very brave. He has ridden everything. Space Mountain did scare both of us to death! We liked Epcot so much we went back there Saturday. We added a day to our stay since we just hung out on Monday and did not get to go to a park. We left Epcot on Friday in a thunderstorm and took the bus back to the Fort. We rested a couple of hours and waited for the rain to stop. About 8 p.m. we walked to the marina and took the boat to the Magic Kingdom for the fireworks. We met a man that works here that adopted a daughter from another SWI in Gansu last year. You don’t meet many people that adopt from Gansu. That was really neat. We rode Pirates of the Caribbean without waiting in a line, then we got caught by the parade. It was even better the second time around. The fireworks were spectacular. I can’t even imagine how much their fireworks budget is! The kids wanted to ride the Small World ride again, so we did that. We also rode the tea cups and the Barn Stormer roller coaster. It was getting late, and we did not leave the park until about midnight. Both kids were asleep. We did not mean to stay that late, but the 11 p.m. parade slowed us down.
Saturday we slept in, then took the bus back to Epcot. We spent the rest of the day there. We ate lunch in Morroco, then we sampled the drinks and eats of several other countries. I sent Coley to take a picture of the Hansen brothers from Deadliest Catch since the camera had died the day before. I saw them, but I was not willing to wait in line an hour to have a picture with them. We did not get back to the trailer until about 8. We had tried to call the Chicago clan, but everyone was busy trying to cram the last bit of Disney in. We are bringing home many Disney souvenirs- and have already made a list of what we missed that we want to do next time. I guess we are Disney converts now- we really had a great time!
Now we are on our way home. We left Fort Wilderness about 7:30 Sunday morning, and drove around 700 miles to Clinton, MS. We had an small issue with the AC on the trailer, and low overhang and Serena about to wet her pants were involved. We spent the night at a really nice Holiday Inn, and we are calling insurance and repair dealers this morning. We will either get home tonight or hopefully sometime tomorrow. We have had a wonderful vacation. School and football will be starting up soon, and it always gets really hectic. It is nice to get away and spend time together. When you travel 4,000 miles in a trailer and truck with 2 kids, things are going to happen. We are blessed to have spent such great days together on this trip. I will post pictures in a bit