Photos from our trip to Disney World

We recently flew down to Tampa, Florida to visit our friends, Greg and Livia, and to go to Disney World.  We had a wonderful time, the weather was incredible.  It is tempting to quit our jobs and move down there, but I don't know if Greg and Livia would like it if we moved in permanently.  I do know that their two cats would not like it at all.

Here is a collection of photos from Disney World.  We went to Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Epcot.  We stayed at the Art of Animation resort.

This is from Cafe Mickey, where we ate when we first arrived at the park.  We took the Monorail from here into Magic Kingdom (it was just like riding the monorail in Seattle)

Here are J and AHG on the Winnie the Pooh ride.  It is hard to get a clear picture when the ride is moving so fast.  The girls had a wonderful time on all the rides.  Rebecca did a world class job organizing our restaurant times and Fast Pass times so that we barely waiting in any lines on any of the days.

For dinner one evening, we went to the Hoop Dee Doo Revue, which was a song and dance show set in the old West.   We sat up in the balcony.

We stayed at the Art of Animation resort.  They had HUGE statues set among the buildings.  Here is a 4 story version of Ursula from the Little Mermaid movie.  I am not sure how this was supposed to help little kids sleep better at night.  Thankfully this was not right outside the door of our room.

These shots are from the cafe located at the Art of Animation.  I really liked how the shiny, green fabric of the bench seat made a good backdrop for J and AHG.

One of the parks we went to was the Animal Kingdom.  It was like Woodland Park Zoo, but with roller coasters.  We went on the safari ride and they drove us through an area for us to see many animals.  The areas for the animals were large enough that it seemed like the animals were happy.  Here are some rhinos and meerkats.

This is outside the doors to the Bug's Life 3D show.  AHG has her 3D glasses on.  Before the show, she was excited, but during the show she was traumatized, and I don't blame her.  She left with Rebecca before the show was over.

Here are AHG and J enjoying ice cream.  The weather was warm, without being hot.  And the only time it rained was when we were inside watching a show.

Here is me and AHG on the Flying Dumbo ride.

Rebecca and my 8th anniversary was during the trip.  We celebrated by having the girls stay at with a center at the park where they had dinner, watched Disney videos and played with other kids while we went to a really nice restaurant and ate incredible food.  One constant through the trip was good food.  I thought I was going to lose 10 pounds during the trip from all the walking, but the food was so tasty that I think I gained 10 pounds.

 It was foggy the morning we went to the Crystal Palace to eat breakfast and get an early start. There was a nice flower arrangement in the lobby of the restaurant.

The Art of Animation resort was enormous!  Here is a panorama shot I took one morning showing most of the buildings.  And this was only one of the resorts around the park.  Disney World is 43 square miles of park.  It was hard to comprehend.  It had its own major road network inside the park.

 One evening we went to the restaurant on top of one of the hotels next to Magic Kingdom.  It had great food, but Annabelle wasn't a fan of all the waiting for the next course to arrive.

 We stayed late one night to watch the electric parade and the fireworks.  Here is Cinderella during the parade.

 Rebecca arranged for the girls to meet alot of the Disney stars during meals.  Here is AHG checking out if Pluto's whiskers feel like our dog Gus' while Pluto signs the autograph book.

J and AHG with Disney characters

While we were at Disney World, J and AHG had the opportunity to meet and get autographs from many of the Disney stars.  Here is the collection of all the stars they met....