Trying another video clip

Katie and I rode a 2 person slide at Blizzard Beach (after much coaxing by me), and this is our video clip.  Watch at the end I get a blip of Emma and Mark right after us.

For some reason, I can't get the video of the family raft ride to upload, so that may be it.  It was amazing trip, probably one of our best!

Disney trip video clips

Before we went on the Disney cruise a few years ago, I purchased a hand held water proof video camera that I have been very pleased with.  It takes very clear video and you can video under water.  Even though, I still have to apologize for my shaky hand.  I really didn't video that much on the trip because, once again, I am also the picture taker of the family, but I wanted to put a few up here.  Here is a sample from the trip.  Enjoy!

Emma in the magical mirror at Bippity Boppity Boutique

Disney Photopass pics

So if you have been to Disney lately, you know they offer a Photopass option, which is basically a card that they scan every time their photographers take a picture of you.  If you individually buy these pictures they are very pricey (like 14 bucks a 5x7), but you can order a CD of all of them (and its cheaper if you pre-order it - which of course I do).  It's still not cheap, but when you are the major photographer of every trip, its the only way I get to be in family pics.  I got the CD from Disney in the mail the other day, so here are some of our favorite family pics.

That's Emma and I in the middle row to the far left:

Park 8: The water park and hanging out at the hotel

So sadly enough, everything good must come to an end.  The last day of our trip (actually the day before we left), we decided to go the Blizzard Beach - the Disney water park that I had actually not gone to before.  We had visited Typhoon Lagoon when Katie was 3 (and I was pregnant with Emma), but we couldn't do much b/c she was so little and I was "with child".  I brought my camera, but it didn't even make it out of my bag.  We had so much fun.  Emma likes the big slides like her mama, and Katie eventually warmed up to some of the slides - like the family slide which was a blast.  Here are some of the Disney Photopass pictures that we got on our CD:

After our day in the water park, we decided to hang out at the hotel and take it easy b/c I had a ton of packing to do.  We swam at the pool and took the monorail back to the Polynesian that evening to eat.  I had the best pulled pork nachos, and of course, we had to get our last Mickey cupcakes.  Mine is the one of the left - peanut butter and jelly cupcake (amazing), and Katie got the chocolate Mickey one of the right (too cute):

The next morning, we finished packing up and I took a few pictures of our room:

One of Emma and I's adventures in our hotel were the Disney prints outside each elevator.  We noticed that when we got out of different floors in our hotel that each print was different.;  Our floor had a Cinderella print, and the one to cross over to the Contemporary and catch the monorail was (of course) a monorail print.  Other floors had Goofy and Snow White and so forth.  One day Emma and I kind of played a game getting off on different floors guessing what the print would be.  I love things like this with her because she is still "little" and enjoys things like that.

I took a few more snapshots of the hotel and the girls and I while we waited for Mark to get the car.  Why do my kids love stuffed animals so much?

Lobby check in:

I am so faking a smile here b/c I am about the break down and cry because I have to leave my happy place!

We absolutely LOVED this hotel.  Mark and I discussed about the 2nd day we were there, that we may never be able to stay at another resort in Disney.  Having the proximity to the parks and the monorail was amazing.  If you have to travel at a busy time of year, which with school age kids and 2 teachers for parents will almost always be the case, then you can not beat the Bay Lake towers.  We may not get to go there every year, but when we do go, we go BIG!  Absolutely, hands down one of the best vacations ever - and I think everyone in the Carroll family would agree to that.  Don't worry, I think I'll blog one more time on this trip.  I'm going to try and put some videos on and also some of our really cute Disney Photopass pictures.  Until then, have a magical day!

Part 7: Back to Epcot and the Magic Kingdom

For our next day, I had kind of left it open to what the girls wanted to do, and I knew their favorite rides were in Epcot.  Since we had a few late mornings before this day, they were ready to go early.  They decided they wanted to go back to Epcot to ride Test Track, Soarin' and Mission Space again.  After we hit the big rides we headed back to World Showcase to do a few more things and meet some characters.  

Mary Poppins topiary in England:

Meeting Mary Poppins herself:

 Heading to France to meet Belle:

Belle in her "casual" outfit:

While waiting for a drink, Mark turned into the duck whisperer:

So after a quick rest at the hotel, we were heading back to the Magic Kingdom for part 2 of by birthday celebration.  I am wearing my birthday pin again because we were going to eat at the Be Our Guest restaurant in the Beast's castle, and if you are celebrating a special occasion, you get "the gray stuff".  (Like "Try the gray stuff, its delicious..." from the Be Our Guest song from Beauty and the Beast).  You can't order it off the menu - cool huh?  So please excuse my semi-lie about my birthday - just for tonight!

Notice also, my new dress - can you find the hidden Mickeys?

The Magic Kingdom

Be Our Guest Restaurant:

Gaston's tavern:

We did NOT let him buy this shirt:

Waiting for our reservation at the restaurant:

Our rose napkins:

My dinner: Shrimp and Scallops in puff pastry:

Katie's chocolate cupcake:

Emma's lemon cupcake:

The infamous grey stuff, and my birthday card from Belle and the Beast:

I tried to take a few more pictures around Beast's castle, and it was just too dark.  My camera does not take great pictures from a distance in the dark.  

After dinner we did a few more rides in the New Fantasyland like the Little Mermaid ride:

We also met Daisy (finally):

And Minnie - how cute is her outfit?:

Okay, so I randomly took this picture when we were headed to ride Dumbo, and I think it might be my favorite picture from the trip.  Its just a nice casual smile from both of them.  And also,they look like they might actually  enjoy each other's company (it can happen)!

Like this one too:

So our evenings in Magic Kingdom worked pretty good for lines (not being too long), but the only one we did have a long wait for (about 30 minutes) was... guess which one.... yep - Peter Pan!  Its a must do, so we did wait.  Here is Emma and I's reaction:

Lastly in New Fantasyland, the girls and I rode the tea cups.  This is definitely a no go for Mark.  He can not do the spinning thing.  I got a few pics on it.

That same night we also did a few things in Tomorrowland - Buzz light year, the people mover and the comedy floor with Monsters Inc.  Emma was so excited that she got picked out of the audience for part of the show.  Too cute!

I'll be wrapping up this adventure soon.  We head to the water parks tomorrow and then say good bye to Disney.  (sniff, sniff).