Worst part of vacation, they come to an end

So, I am back from our week long Disney vacation and I am definitely sad it's over. For many reasons first off we had a BLAST, second I am back to work now BOO!!!! But lets focus on the fun stuff, vacation!! We took a HUGE group to Disney, and by huge I mean lots of family members from Saturday-Saturday, all counting that is 8 days together in close quarters(haha). Anyway, we had a really good time so much so that none of us wanted to come home this past Saturday. Here are some of the highlights from each park.

Magic Kingdom- Pretty much closed this park down twice. Our daily routine was go to a park in the morning, and then take a break and head back out at night to a different park. With great planning we hit MK one night that it had extra magic hours for guests staying at Disney Resorts. That means it closed to the public at midnight, but for resort guests it stayed open til 2am, and we made it. The lines were not that bad, but they were pretty much non existent at 1am. I think we did every major attraction at least once, and some twice. I think the biggest hits were Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Philharmagic, and of course for the nephews who love the movies Pirates of the Caribbean. My favorite there is Splash Mountain, it's such a great ride. We got to see 2 parades, the wishes fireworks show, and meet a very interactive chip n dale they were great. However, the highlight for me was eating at my favorite place there Liberty Tree Tavern, my mouth waters just thinking about it!!

EPCOT- Definitely not a favorite for the kids on the trip because the countries bored them, and the thrill rides since so few had long lines. I love the America Adventure, especially being that I am such a history buff with a speciality in US History, this show literally tears me up at the end if you ever make it to EPCOT go to the American Pavilion trust me. It was nice to see spaceship earth(where you go to the top of the big ball) had changed a bit it was now interactive which was cool. We also did turtle talk with Crush at the seas, which we have never done before and it was really good. EPCOT was the only place we got stuck in the rain as well, luckily we were right by the country the UK and just ducked into one of their buildings. The real highlight to EPCOT though came when it was close to closing and I spotted the character spot, where Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, and Donald were all waiting!!! We waited 30 mins but my Disney Dream came true I finally got my picture taken with my all time favorite Disney character, Donald Duck!!! We took 2 together, I was in heaven.

Hollywood Studios- This is my favorite park, partly because it has my two favorite rides in Tower of Terror, and Aerosmiths Rock n Roller coaster. It's also nice they are right across from each other. For some reason lines were just not that bad everywhere but Rock N Roller coaster, but thanks to fast passes we got three rides on that one. Tower of Terror is literally my favorite ride at all of Disney, for starters you never know how many times you're going to drop! We got different ride programs everytime we rode it, and we rode it 8 times!! The longest we waited in the stand by line was 20 minutes. Got to do the new star tours, and I have never been a fan of that one, but the changes have made it cooler for sure, and I was the spy on board!! Studios also has the best live music, they had bands playing almost all day long, and a special bus show that was every hour on the hour. It was also cool that one of my nephews really enjoyed the great movie ride so we did that 2 times for him.

Animal Kingdom- We started our trip here as it was the first park we visited. Most of the family wanted to do the water rapids ride, but I am a priss and I don't like to get my clothes/hair wet so I skipped out, and was able to get about 5 rides on the Expedition Everest Yeti Roller Coaster thru the single rider line while they did that, it was much more worth it than being wet all day. In all I was able to ride that amazing roller coaster 12 times! I know you don't but I swear it feels like you go upside down when you travel backwards. My favorite show in all the disney parks is also at AK, the festival of the Lion King. This show is SOOOO good, that we saw it twice, and both times one of my nephews was picked to be a volunteer. The first time, my nephew was asked to demonstrate what a giraffee sounds like, and the second show my other nephew was asked to play an instrument in the parade during the finale. I love this show, when I watch the tumble monkeys I am like hey I could totally do that!! Other highlights, my mom bought our picture on the dinosaur ride, it's a great picture because we all posed, except my one nephew is looking the wrong way but it made it cuter.

Our hotel was awesome as we remembered it, we stayed at the Beach Club which is an EPCOT resort. For those that don't know staying on Disney property is the best way to go, you get so many perks. We could walk or boat to EPCOT, walk or boat to Studios, and then had to bus to both animal and magic kingdom. The best part about staying on property though is the magic hours, you either get a couple extra hours in the morning or at night, when you get in line for a ride you just show your hotel key(which is also your park ticket, meal plan, etc) my poor brother in law lost two of these cards while there, thankfully he found them both but guest relations told him it happens all the time haha. The other best part of the beach club their pool, they have the best pool of all Disney resorts, it has a sand bottom!! The noon hour is crazy there it's one big party, and yours truly won a dance contest I am the best :) This is just one part of the pool.

All said we had a great vacation, great food, and I came home with 5 new bruises from the roller coasters, 4 on my biceps, and one on my back pretty low considering we were there so long. Oh Yea I was totally hit on twice!!! The first time while riding the tower of terror I was sitting by a very cute girl who grabbed my arm on the drop too bad she was only 9 ;) One of the zebras in the festival of the lion king show winked at me, but duck pointed out that doesn't count cuz she is paid to do that. However, the best flirt I got was Minnie Mouse gave me a kiss!!! Jealous? You should be :)

Now it's back to the real world, back to work, back to coaching and I am not looking forward to it. I am counting the days til Christmas Break. How are all of you doing? Anyone watching Big Brother? I am voting for Cassie to come back into the house!!!