Now home from our surprise WDW vaca!

[BIG_Dizfan]

[font="Century Gothic"]Well, we are home after our long awaited trip to the fabulous Walt Disney World. It was perfect, though not nearly long enough for our liking. The kids were COMPLETELY surprised! Even as we were driving by Animal Kingdom, all my son could say was, "Daddy, there's the ride you got sick on" (Expedition Everest). My daughter who'd figured it out as we passed through the "Welcome to WDW" gates, was practically incontinent at his oblivion!

5 days with the kids is just not long enough to thoroughly enjoy everything AND feel relaxed! LOL...it's run run run run. But it's also fun fun fun fun! We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas in a beautiful 2BR villa overlooking the Savannah. Though it was gorgeous, I probably wouldn't choose to stay there again, we like to be closer to the action...Boardwalk/Beach Club is more our style. Not to mention being woken up by a very verbal zebra between the hours of 3-6 every morning! LOL It was very humorous and cute the first two days, but by the 5th morning, it had definitely lost it's appeal.

The weather was perfect! The lines were the longest I have ever had to endure, however. We usually come in the fall, which is far less crowded. Luckilly, given that it wasn't oppressively hot, it wasn't bad waiting. We met some great people in line while we waited, and of course took advantage of fast passes when we could...however, if we didn't grab one first thing in the morning, the fast pass return was not slotted until late afternoon/early eve--we had to rush to get fast passes!!... another thing we were not accustomed to.

We all enjoyed the attractions we've grown to love, as well as the newly rennovated ones (Spaceship Earth...) Loved the "floating" impatients in the water between Future World and World Showcase. The flowers were incredible, and we enjoyed the new exhibit in the old "Wonders of Life" pavilion, that exhibited the magic behind the gardening....though I so enjoyed the previous attactions there (Cranium Command, and the Making of Me were some of our favs).

We enjoyed many delicious meals...we ate at the new Tutto Italia in EPCOT. My mother in law is from Italy, and our server was from her same region. Narcoosees was delicious, and we took advantage of the late hours of MK. The kids had never been up so late...they thought that was great! Riding on Space Mountain at 12:55am was the thrill of their vacation! The Hoop Dee Doo was it's usual entertaining delight, though I think they changed the recipes around a bit, and am not certain if that was for the better. After the show, we grabbed a leisurely hayride around Fort Wilderness. That was lovely. We enjoyed a delicious meal at Spoodles on our last evening.

Both of my kids are finally tall enough to go on all of the rides, so no one was left out of the fun this year! Peter LOVED the Rock-N-Roller Coaster. It is a favorite of mine for sure.

Almost all of the CMs we encountered were fabulous, as usual. They really do go to great lengths to make our time the best time possible. Our last morning (3/21) we had a delicious breakfast at Boma. Had tried to get reservations there for dinner on our last night, but waited until the last minute, and couldn't get one until well past 9:30, which was not what good for the kids, or my 70 year old mother in law, so we kept our original reservations. We enjoyed a fun evening at Down Town Disney after dinner. Gosh that place is crowded, even on the Thursday!

Well, like I said, it was way too short. But it will have to do until we are able to go again. Thankfully, we're DVC members!!!! So, there will definitely be a next time.

I didn't get a chance to meet any of the CMs on this message board, at least not that I know of, but to all those who may be reading this...THANKS!!!![/font]

[Whazzup]

Sounds like you had a GREAT time and managed to keep it a surprise for the kids. Yayyy! :D: Thanks for sharing.