DisneyWorld!

Ok, just a heads up, like many of you, I use this blog as a journal so this post is going to be lengthy. I won't be offended if you just skip ahead to the awesome pictures :)
We took advantage of Ryan's spring break and took a trip to Disney World. We were blessed with perfect weather (mid 80's), safe and on time flights, and relatively short wait times for rides :) Here's a recap...

Day 1
Ryan enjoyed ample leg room (for a change) on the flight then we checked into our hotel.We stayed at Disney's All Star Movies resort. There are huge statues of Disney characters throughout the hotel. By huge I mean 3 stories high. We stayed in the Mighty Duck building. I was worried that it would be swarming with noisy kids but I was pleasantly surprised and the room was great.
An example of the room, we of course enjoyed a king bed

After dropping our stuff off, we headed to Hollywood Studio's. We loved the Hollywood Tower of Terror but especially the Aerosmith Roller Coaster. If you have been on California Screamin, it's a lot like that but to Aerosmith classics blaring and it's all in the dark. You go from stopped to 60mph in like 2 seconds then straight into a loop. It's AWESOME, we went on it 7 times during the week :)

Day 2
We spent the day at the Magic Kingdom
enjoying some of the classics like Pirates (which now features Jack Sparrow), the Haunted Mansion, getting soaked on Splash Mountain BEFORE the drop,
and the Jungle Cruise.
It was this day that I learned of Ryan's disdain for It's a Small World which I guess is an inside joke about his dad's own dislike for the ride. So this picture is for you Robert! Another super exciting thing that hap pend on Day 2 was during our lunch we received a phone call from Ryan's brother Jason and his wife Kelli. They are expecting their first baby and after their ultrasound called to tell us that they are having TWIN BOYS!! We couldn't stop talking about how excited we are for them!

Day 3
We started the day back at Hollywood Studios for another 2 or 3 rides on the Aerosmith Coaster. The Planet Hollywood store had these cool statues of a Gremlin and the Terminator.

After a much needed few hours by the pool we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom. I was particularly excited for this one after I found out they had a petting zoo. It actually was just a bunch of goats, sheep, and two darling miniature donkeys (which I now plan to include on my farm).

I got to pet this cool little guy, I don't remember what it is specifically but basically he is a giant rodent from South AmericaRyan sizes up pretty well next to a rhino...except for the 5,000 pounds and leather thick skin the rhino has on him.

We also went on this cool safari. I had no idea but Disney invests a lot into research and preservation of endangered species. They have an expansive savannah devoted to these animals that we were able to tour. It was so much better than a zoo where they are locked in cages.

We caught this lion "sunning"
We also saw several HUGE gorillas.
This cute one is clutching a grease board which apparently is something they are trying to train him with.
We saw the Jungle Parade
then onto DisneyWorld's version of the Matterhorn. They had a Dino land where they basically took the Indiana Jones ride from Cali and made it a Dinosaur ride.

Day 4
Epcot
We both weren't sure what to expect here but enjoyed it. The future ride in the globe is cool and we did a space one where they simulate the feeling of taking off in a space shuttle. What a strange feeling, immediately tears started running down my face and the pressure in my eyes was too much for me. It left me feeling weird all morning, guess I don't have a future as an astronaut...Disney does an awesome job with their landscaping. I LOVE all of the flowers and trees!

We spent some more time by the pool then back to Magic Kingdom for Ryan's favorite Pineapple ice cream and of course we had to pick up our Christmas ordament (we try to get one from all of our trips). Then it was back to Hollywood studio's for another 2 rides on Aerosmith!

Day 5
A much too early wake up call at 4:30am to leave the resort by 5:15 and get back to the airport. We sure had a fun trip and look forward to going back once we have kids to enjoy it with.