Sunday, December 12, 2010

brrr....Florida was cold!

So glad I brought along jackets and my Uggs! While walking to Epcot one morning we actually saw ice on the walkway!!! Anyway Disney was quite nice decked out for the holidays (we are planning on returning again this time next year) First thing different I noticed was in the lobby of our hotel...Each lobby at every resort had a giant gingerbread creation! Do you recognize whose feet are hanging out of the chimney? Next year I plan on visiting the lobby in as many resorts as I can to see all the different gingerbread creations.

Of course I have to show a few pictures of the topiaries in Epcot....

and then here's Pluto and his house sitting in the gardens between Future World & the World Showcase.


Here's a picture of the Magic Kingdom as we arrived by boat one night. In all the years that we have come to Disney World this is the first time we arrived at the Magic Kingdom via this form of transportation. An interesting piece of useless Disney trivia: they have the 7th largest Navy in the world. (This fact was imparted to us by a cast member while waiting for a parade to begin...I have other interesting tidbits too, maybe they will come up in another post)

One of the special holiday events we attended was "Mickey's Very Magical Christmas" with a special admission ticket to the Magic Kingdom you can spend 5hrs in the park enjoying special shows, riding the attractions, enjoying complimentary cookies & hot cocoa, catching a fireworks show and watching a parade on Main Street as it snows. (yes I said snow...the magic of Disney makes it snow on Main Street...though I think it was cold enough to snow on it's own)

Here's a shot of the sparkly castle as we were walking to Tomorrowland.


and here we are waiting for the parade to come down Main Street.

Of course at the end of every Christmas parade is Santa.

All in all it was a great vacation and like I said we plan on spending sometime early next December in Disney. It was a great way to kick off the holiday activity. The only major hitch was our flight was delayed almost 2hrs coming home. I finally crawled into bed at 2am Thursday morning and had to be at my desk by 8:30am! Ugh....Thursday was a LONG day.

Friday night we went and bought a fresh tree.

Saturday I got up and went to a workout (kettle bells and TRX) then came home and started decorating. I can say with the help of the whole family the outside decorations/lights went up, the artificial tree in the living room went up and the fresh tree in the family room is up, as well as other decorations throughout the house.


Here's a look at the tree in the family room.

Today was church, some laundry, and pretty much just vegging. Still have lots to catch up on, a few last minute gifts to buy, and everything still needs to be wrapped...but I am on my way!

3 comments:

Lisa Cole said...

Okay, several things:
I'm putting my dibs in now to join you for Christmas vacay in Disney next year :)

I love the sparkly castle - is it supposed to be icicles?

I *love* gingerbread displays, we have a large one in Seattle each year - and I would love to check them all out with you, wearing my Uggs too ;)

So glad you're back. I love that you got a real tree this year too :)

Beth said...

Wow, Disney could put anyone in the mood for Christmas, I think! But if I'm going to FL I want it to be warm!

Your tree looks beautiful! How do you decorate the other tree? I got an artificial one because I didn't want to deal with the stand, needles, watering it, but it's a little slim in the ornament department. :)

scrappysue said...

Oh I do love Disney!! So glad you had a great time; loved seeing all the photos! Your tree is beautiful too. Hope your Christmas preparations go well! Heading off on vacation ourselves on Thursday, so if I don't get on line again, hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas.