A belated trip report

the flower gardens in Canada

playing native African instruments

It has taken a week for us (well, specifically Mommy!) to recover from "Girls Week" at Disney. We had a fantastic time but it completely wore us out! Our typical vacation plan when we visit Disney is to have 2-3 park days scattered in among 'rest days' at the resort. On this trip, we visited the parks FIVE DAYS in a row... and quickly came to the conclusion that that is not our favorite 'Disney Vacation Strategy'!! Next time we will go back to our more leisurely exploration of the parks...

Even though we have visited Disney many times, there are still many things that we (or the girls) have not experienced. Some of our 'firsts' on this trip included:

Staying in a 'value' resort (smaller rooms but just as 'magical' as a moderate or deluxe!)...

Learning to draw Goofy at the Animation Studio...

Having breakfast with Pooh & Friends at the Crystal Palace (the last time I ate here it was a cafeteria-- does anyone remember that??!)...

Getting faces painted (Tinkerbelle & a butterfly/flower fairy)...

Riding Astro Orbiter (the girls' first time)...

Participating in a 'Velcro game show' at Innoventions in Epcot (Abbie)...

'Driving' the boat on the Jungle Cruise (Emma)...

Driving an 'electric scooter' because of her hurt knee (grandma Anna!)...

We had also never visited the parks in January and went with the expectations of very low crowds and comfortable weather... which mostly happened. The beginning of the week was very pleasant (see previous post for swimming pictures!) but it got pretty chilly by Friday. The crowds started out extremely heavy at Hollywood Studios on Monday (not sure why except maybe leftover marathon crowds??), cleared out to nothing mid-week (we rode Buzz 5 times without a wait) but then picked up again on Friday (MLK holiday??). One advantage/disadvantage (depending on your point of view) of travelling in 'off season' is that sometimes rides are down for maintenance... can you guess which ride is NOT Abbie's favorite??

The girls chose two very different but special souvenirs of their trip. Abbie picked an oyster in Japan and had the enclosed pearl made into a necklace.

Emma chose to have a parasol custom painted in France.

All in all, it was a great trip. Michael managed well without us (although I think his buddy Jake the Labrador was sad to see us return as he was downgraded from 'house dog' to 'basement/outside dog'!!) We enjoyed visiting with our Florida family and having my mom along for part of the trip. Disney's "Homeschool Days" is a great option for travelling in off season and seems to be a pretty well-kept secret (the group at the special speaking event on Monday was fairly small-- only a few hundred people). We definitely plan to participate again... but will not be quite as ambitious in our touring schedule!!!