{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} Disney World

Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life...

Two weeks ago we packed up the minivan and headed to Florida for a much needed vacation.  It's hard to believe that it was just a week ago that we headed home.  I feel like so much has happened in the past week that we can't possibly have been home for just seven days.

We had a great time in Disney World.  We went to all four parks and amazingly didn't wait longer than fifteen minutes to get on any of the rides.  I attribute that to us having the nifty "Magic Bands" that allowed us to schedule a fast pass for three rides per day as well as being able to use our room keys to get additional fast passes.  We also made sure we were at some of the parks right when they opened so we could take advantage of shorter lines.  It worked out so well that we managed to get on all the rides that tend to have very long lines with 0 and 5 minute wait times during the first hour that the park was open.

One of the nicest perks of our vacation was getting the Disney Dining Plan for free.  Free food is awesome when you are in Disney World.  They gave us so much food that we could barely eat it all.  Poor Ellie kept turning down dessert! Since ages nine and up are considered an adult at Disney World, Madeline really enjoyed getting to order off the adult menu, especially when it came time for dessert.  

{Pretty}

On our first day in the parks I took the obligatory picture of the kids in front of the castle.  If I didn't my mom would yell at me.  Now I wish I could tell you I took this picture as soon as we got there but unfortunately the skies opened up and it started pouring as soon as we made it through the gate.  It made for a very wet day, but we still had a lot of fun.

We spotted this pretty rainbow on Main Street on our next to the last day of vacation.  I don't think I've ever seen a rainbow in Disney World before.

I love this picture of Katie.  She was trying to watch a little show that was going on when I was taking pictures of her so she actually stayed still long enough for me to get a few good pictures.

{Happy}

Katie was star struck when she saw her favorite characters.  She was so excited to see Sophia the first that we ended up having to stand in a twenty minute line so she could meet her.  Her reaction was priceless.  She was beaming the entire time.

Even though they aren't going anywhere, the girls were happy to pose for a picture in the cute little Dumbo photo-op spot.

{Funny}

I like looking for hidden Mickeys and other little things of that nature in the rides.  In the Pooh Bear ride at the Magic Kingdom there are a few Mr. Toad shout outs in the ride.  The Mr. Toad ride, which was my favorite, was removed in order to make way for the Pooh Bear ride.

I particularly like the Donald Duck pinata that is found in the boat ride in Epcot's Mexico.  I wish they sold that pinata out in the little marketplace area they have.  I bet he'd sell fast!

Phone booths.  How many of you have kids who are totally unaware that there was such a thing in the days before everyone had a cell phone?  The girls went nuts when the saw the red phone booths in the UK area of Epcot.  "Hey, they had that in Harry Potter!"  Ellie wanted her picture taken in it so she started to play in the phone booth which was a total novelty to her.  Then she comes out and tells me that it has a real phone in it.  So Bryan and I took the opportunity to tell the girls about how phone booths used to be all over the place before people had cell phones.  We totally blew their minds!

{Real}

I'm shocked and amazed that we actually got a family picture where everyone was looking at the camera and looks reasonably happy.  We have a few others that are close to this but I think this one is the best.  I don't know why it's so difficult for us to get a nice family picture.  I guess it's just one of the mysteries of life.

Visit Like Mother, Like Daughter for more pictures of contentment.