Dance Family: January 2022

Last Christmas Present

One of Jackson's presents did arrive before Christmas, and then because of the snow it didn't arrive before we left on our trip. It finally arrived today when the mail was delivered. He was excited about more Pokémon cards!

Rice Chex Galore

Rice Chex were on sale a bunch in November and December so I stocked up!

Gatorland

Our last day in Orlando was spent at Gatorland.

This was our cottage. We really liked it! It had 2 rooms, beds for all of us, a kitchen, and it was only $55 a night!

Gatorland!

The 2-4 year old gators.

We fed the gators by putting fish on a string attached to a pole. Kenzie, Jackson and I didn't want to touch the fish, but luckily Jordan, Coleman, and Doug didn't care.

We watched 3 shows. The first one was alligators eating chicken. First off a string.

Then out of the guys' hands.

Then we fed the alligators some more.

Doug threading the string through the fish.

And feeding a gator.

We found these glasses before a Beauty and the Beast sing along at Epcot. Coleman had been really wanting glasses at the Disney Parks and was so happy when I found these. We were really lucky with all the free things we found... Mickey ears, Minnie ears, some painted wood things, quarters, and glasses,

There were other animals too, like this orange iguana. We learned that iguanas have third eye between their normal 2 eyes that they can't really see with but it helps them sense what's around them I think.

baby gators

Kenzie loved feeding the goats!

Coleman also fed them.

Another show. We were glad the gator did bite off his head.

We walked around and saw lots more gators.

And this cool pink bird.

We really loved Gatorland. I didn't have too high of expectations, but it really was so fun. There were funny signs all over. The shows were entertaining. Doug, Jackson, and Jordan all did a zipline which they loved. It was great to see all the alligators. It was a great ending to our fun, exhausting trip! When we were done we went to the airport to catch our flight home.

Epcot

Our last Disney day was spent at Epcot. It ended up being so busy and way to crowded everywhere. We still had a great time, but it would have been much better if there were less people there. It was the first day of an art festival they're hosting, which is why so many people came there.

The last time seeing this sign.

Us on Nemo.

Looking at sea animals before watching Turtle Talk with Crush.

As we were walking around we saw a really really long line that didn't seem to be moving much. We were worried it was for a ride but learned that it was for these purple dragon popcorn holders. People waited in line for 6 hours to buy these. We think people could by 2 per person and it seemed a lot of people were buying that many. And then they were selling them on ebay for $100-$200. It was so crazy!

There was an interactive area after the imagination ride.

We watched some Disney Pixar shorts.

In line for Frozen

Still in line for Frozen.

It's dark so hard to see much, but we were in the shop from Frozen.

This was after Frozen.

After the Spaceship Earth there were a lot of science activities we could do.

The flash was bright:)

After Epcot we went to CiCi's again. The first day we were there, Kenzie saw this little bear keychain that cost 2 quarters. Doug told her to look for quarters. She found one at Animal kingdom, and then found another one at Magic Kingdom the day before. She was so happy to be able to buy it!

We had a great time, but waited in some long lines. There's a new Ratatouille ride that was supposed to be 70 minutes and ended up being 2 hours. Kenzie and Coleman both said it wasn't worth the wait. It was a cool ride, but it would have been much better with a shorter wait time. The lines for food were also so long so we just had everyone get a treat at one that wasn't too long. We also rode on Mission: Space, and some of us thought it was no fun. We were fully enclosed and it spun around so fast that it increased the g-force and made us feel so heavy. It felt awful. But the rest of the ride wasn't so bad.

Favorite rides:

Coleman: Soarin'

Kenzie: Turtle Talk

Jordan: Soarin'

Jackson: Pixar Shorts

Doug: Frozen

Me: Frozen

We had such a fun week at Disney! We were so tired and had sore feet and legs, but it was all worth it. I think we all agreed that although we had so much fun, we do prefer Disneyland and California Adventure, which is good since it's closer and easier to get to.

Magic Kingdom Day 2

On Thursday we went to Magic Kingdom again. It was a much better day than Tuesday. We started out the day by doing the rides we hadn't done on Tuesday while the lines were still short. We rode Dumbo, Little Mermaid, the Barnstormer, and Teacups all with a less than 10 minute wait time. Then we rode Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan, which had shorter times than expected.

The kids on Teacups. I didn't ride with them so they could spin as fast as they wanted.

Kenzie and Coleman with Nana.

Winnie the Pooh was cool because it had a play area for the kids while we waited for some of the time.

And cool things to do even after we left the play area.

They got a picture with Stitch.

The kids and I rode Space Mountain. Doug had a headache and he thought it would get worse on this ride because it's a little jerky and he got one on Tuesday after riding it. We brought kindles that day and spent a lot of time in line reading. This line was only supposed to be 60 minutes, but it was 90 minutes. It was so long! We had dinner at a Mexican place called Peco Bill. It was yummy!

Kenzie, Coleman, and I rode Space Mountain twice again at night (the line gets so short during the fireworks, you can see how empty it is behind Kenzie. We pretty much walked on the second time). Jackson and Jordan joined us for the second time and when we met them in line Doug gave Kenzie these Minnie ears. He had found them on the ground. She was so happy!

After Space Mountain, we went to Pirate's and then to Jungle Cruise. We weren't sure if we'd have time to do both before it closed at 9. Most of us didn't think we would, but Coleman, always the optimist, kept saying we would. He told me not to get my "hopes too low". After we were able to get in the Jungle Cruise line after Pirates, he said both times he thought we'd make it, and both times he was right. The Jungle Cruise line was super short so we got on quickly and had a really funny skipper. It was a good end to the night.

We had a much better day than Tuesday. The lines were much shorter. And getting back to the car was a lot better too. We rode the ferry and were able to get on right away since it was 9:30 (and the park had closed at 9.)

Favorite rides of the day:

Coleman: Space Mountain

Kenzie: Space Mountain

Jordan: Jungle Cruise

Jackson: Jungle Cruise

Doug: Jungle Cruise

Me: Pirates and Thunder Mountain and Jungle Cruise

Hollywood Studios

On Wednesday we went to Hollywood Studios. The first thing we did was Tower of Terror (everyone but me rode it, but Coleman hated it. It used to be his favorite ride, but he doesn't like big drops anymore.) then everyone but Coleman and I rode the Rock n' Roller Coaster. Coleman and I were going to ride it but then we learned that it goes upside down, and didn't think it would be for us. So we rode Star Tours instead. We met up again at Smugglers Run. We also watched a fun Indiana Jones Stunt show and some Mickey Mouse show.

This was after a Mickey Mouse show.

We watched a Beauty and Beast play. It was so good!

We went to Toy Story land to ride Woody's ride. We never did the other Toy Story rides because the lines were always so long.

Coleman loves Monopoly!

Our longest line of the day was Rise of the Resistance (which was actually not as long as expected) Doug was tired of standing so Kenzie made a seat for him. (The man in the blue jacket was live streaming the ride, it was funny.)

Star Wars line.

We rode Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. It started with a video and then someone jumped through the screen and that's how we got the actual ride. It was pretty cool.

Doug and the kids with the Tower of Terror. Everyone but Coleman and me rode it again. Coleman and I rode Star Tours 2 more times (which made 4 times for us because we also rode it with Doug and the other kids).