Disney's Hollywood Studios

Baseball Opening Day 2011

Joshua has been traded to the Rangers. Last season he played with the White Sox. We are very happy about this trade though and yesterday was his first game with his new team.

Warming up

Team pep talk right before the big game The Rangers barely squeaked by with a 10 to 9 win over the Knights. Woo hoo!

Tom Sawyer Island

Tom Sawyer Island is located in Frontierland in the Magic Kingdom. Last time we went to Disney we didn't explore this little island. It was a nice little surprise though. You have to take a raft that looks just like one built by Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn. The island itself has trails winding through it, forts to explore, and cave like tunnels. It is a nice "quiet" retreat from the rest of the park.

Which way do we go?

Gotta love Kate's face in this one.

Look closely and you can see Kate and Cary in the window.

Ferry v. Monorail

To get to the Magic Kingdom you have to take a ferry or the monorail. The monorail is technically a few minutes shorter but you end up being stuck with a ton of people who are usually grumpy, dirty, sweaty and don't have such a nice odor. We prefer the ferry with clean, crisp air and the wind blowing in your face...and the view is much nicer too.

Magic Kingdom

The Magic Kingdom is my favorite of the 4 Disney Parks. It is full of magic and wonder and brings me back to my childhood of princesses and fairies.

Big Thunder Mountain....not my favorite roller coaster but still so much fun!

Liberty Belle Riverboat takes you all around Tom Sawyer's Island
One of my all time favorite movies as a kid was Swiss Family Robinson. The Robinson's lived in the most perfect tree house.
For some reason, Kate fell in love with the alien Stitch from "Lilo and Stitch" on this trip. She has never even seen the movie. She kept saying over and over, "He's sooo cute!"
We were able to see two different parades at Magic Kingdom. The first was the "Move it! Shake it! Celebrate it!" street party and the second was "Celebrate a Dream Come True" parade. I LOVE the parades. They are full of fun, music, and tons of different characters.






Between Main Street, U.S.A, Adventureland, Frontierland, Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, and Liberty Square there is so much to do and see in the Magic Kingdom.

Epcot

We spent two days in Epcot and still did not get to see everything. That park is HUGE! As an added bonus the International Flower and Garden Festival was going on so we got to see all kinds of beautiful flowers, topiary, and Bambi's butterfly garden. It was so beautiful!

While going around the World Showcase, we met the nicest Disney employees in Mexcio....Ramon and Luis. They took the kids on a Mickey Mouse scavenger hunt.

Another really neat tucked away area is Club Cool in Future World. There we got to sample sodas from all over the world. My favorite was from China. My least favorite was Italy's...very bitter tasting. The best part about it was that it was free!

More highlights from our visit to Epcot

Next stop.....Magic Kingdom!

7 days and 637 pictures later

5am and ready to hit the road to the happiest place on Earth with Grandma Martin and some of our favorite people, the Flores family

One of many, many pit stops

The great Mississippi River

Our final destination.....17 plus hours later

A sneak peak of how we spent 7 glorious days


Only 622 more pictures to go..:)

Brilliant!

Who knew that making a tree out of construction paper and tissue paper would garner this statement from Kate, "Mom! You are brilliant!" I'm thinking I need to make paper trees more often.

Kate had to make a diorama for school. She researched the African Elephant and had to make a display with it in its environment. She made it all by herself minus the brilliant tree.