A Visit to Walt Disney World

 Well hello!  I don't know if anyone even checks this place anymore.  I had not meant to take such a hiatus, but the spring got away from me and we have been busy having lots of fun this summer.  Last week, we celebrated Coleman's 6th birthday with our trip to Walt Disney World.  I'll start with that, and then back up to catch up on what I've missed in the last six months.

We left Gainesville on Tuesday afternoon and stopped to pick up Gigi and Papack.  Then we travelled to Valdosta to spend the night.  Wednesday around lunch, this site greeted us!

 We drove on to our resort to check in quickly before heading to EPCOT.  Brent decided the Polynesian would be a great place to stay this trip, and we were so excited to be there!

 The grounds looked just like something out of the South Pacific.  When I was in junior high, we went to Disney World and stayed at the Polynesian.  Parts of it looked just like I remembered, but parts of it were very different.  I grabbed a few shots of the room before we headed out.  Andrew and Coleman are checking out what became Andrew's bed.

Then we headed over to the monorail to get to EPCOT.  The boys were super excited about our transportation!

 We ate lunch at the yummy Sunshine Seasons cafe and then headed over to Mexico for a nice, air conditioned ride.  It is a cruise through a huge Mayan pyramid with Donald Duck.  All the boys enjoyed it.  The adults were very thankful to be in the cool.  Central Florida in August is not for the faint of heart!

We toured the Imagination ride next.

Then we went back to the Land exhibit and rode through it.

 The Living Seas were next.

Ever since he was two, Coleman has loved the ocean and its creatures.  So this was one of the birthday boy's favorites.

Next, Papack, Brent and I took the two bigger boys to ride Mission Space.  Jonathan and Gigi had a much needed popcorn snack.

Then we waited for a bit to ride Test Track.  Sadly, we realized there was no way we would make our dinner reservations if we stayed in line, so we had to leave.

Our dinner that night was our first character event with Chip and Dale (my favorites), Mickey and Pluto.  The food was great and we all enjoyed sitting down for a while.

You might remember from Andrew's birthday trip that Coleman took full advantage of the soft drink availability on vacation.  This trip was no different.  At each meal, we had to take his cup and return it after he had eaten a sufficient amount of his dinner.  He did drink lots of water too though, so don't worry about his hydration!

Yummy desserts!

 That get all over us!

After dinner, we rode Spaceship Earth and then we walked around the lake to see "The American Adventure."  Everyone enjoyed it, especially our history buff, Andrew.  We even got to see the fireworks on our way out of the park.  A quick monorail ride back home and we were sure to have Sweet Dreams at the Polynesian!

The next day was our first day of Magic Kingdom!