heading home...

Good, but sad...they said we had to leave all the Disney magic at the resort...can only take it with us in our memories. :(
Amidst all the cheerleaders, dance troupes, and football players, we sit and wait for our bus to take us to the airport.
Katie is NOT going to miss the cheerleaders ("obnoxious") and the rest of us won't miss the Cheerleader Moms (where do you think they got it from??) Sorry if we just put one of YOU in that category too!

Other thing we learned/did:

• Josh is big on questions,but not figuring things out for himself - I would just hand him a map or show him my watch, so he'd go and ask someone else!
• Kenny and I got giggly Sunday night...about nothing in particular, but just that we were "most UNrelated". :)
• This many days was just about perfect...we're all ready to get back home into some kind of routine where we don't have to worry about our tallies of sit-down, quick service meals, or snacks; we ARE sitting outside in tshirts right now though...heavy sweatshirts tied around our waists to kindof remind us we heading back west into ...WINTER...
• It will be a little hard to eat at home for the next week or so...getting into the pre-paid food plan was the best thing we ever did! Awesome bfasts, lunches, and sit-down dinners - entree, beverage and desserts at every meal! (even when we were already stuffed!)

All in all, we love each other and got to share a lifetime's worth of some incredible times and memories. Thank you Dardo and Monie! We love you lots!

Days 5 and 6 - Hollywood Studios

The Tower of Terror was the first place we went this morning...again, learning from our great experience with the big rides early in the morning...we all loved it so much that we did it twice in a row!
Next door was the Rockin' Roller Coaster with Aerosmith...are they still making the big bucks, or what?? Guitar Hero, Disney...those guys are definitely set! Again, we loved it! The one and only ride that took us in the dark AND upside down all at the same time! We got off of this ride, and went immediately to the fast pass line to get a seat again in the afternoon.

Maya got soaked on the Backlot Tour...they said the water was going to come in on the left side of the tram, Maya! oh well...she walked funny for about 1/2 an hour until her skivvies dried up! :)

There was definitely too much to see at this park in 1 day...so we decided to leave some of the attraction for another day.

In the Walt Disney attraction, we learned that Walt actually died in 1966 before his Disney World park had even been built in Orlando...his brother, Roy headed the whole thing up based on Walt's vision and drawings in 1971.

Something we realized the hard way was that we should've done a lot more planning before we even left Lincoln...and we went to the wrong park on the wrong day with the wrong dinner reservations...("Oh...we had you down for reservations here LAST NIGHT!"...OOPS!)
And then, just try to call the reservations line and have them laugh at you for trying to have dinner for 9 people TONIGHT (when most people call 180 days in advance for them! :)

We ended up at an Irish Pub for the most incredible meal of the week and LIVE Irish music and a dancer to boot!

Why do people throw spilled salt over their left shoulders again? I did it and couldn't explain to anyone why....heehee

So, we went back to Hollywood Studios on Sunday and did the rest of the things we had missed...still didn't get into the Toy Story Mania 3D ride that we had seen so much about...a regular 90 minute wait every time we walked by..
Got a good dose of the princesses at the live shows of Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast...Katie and Maya were singing and humming all the tunes the rest of the day...I remember Uncle Drew saying, "It would be OK with me if you stopped that." :)

Family, family, family...i think we've all noticed that it's getting close to time to go home...all this togetherness is starting to get on our nerves :)

Oh..and we can't forget that Katie keeps walking into low poles...watch out! She says she was tired, but apparently there's a history there....and we had to explain to her that razzing her about it for the rest of her life is our job...we can't help it!

Ate dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Cafe - pretty good, the ambiance was cool...don't know if the food would pass muster for Chef Gordon Ramsay, though...seemed like fried onions on everything that came out of the kitchen! haha

Closed the day on shopping at the World of Disney store for last minute souveniers, trinkets, and sweatshirts getting ready to head home.

Oh yeah...I almost forgot...we weren't able to download pictures from the last couple of days because someone made the mistake of putting the wrong cable in the wrong hole on our camera...after buying a couple more memory cards to TAKE more pictures, we'll have to get home and see if the camera can be fixed.

Day 4 continued

OK...starting up again...
The best ride at the Animal Kingdom was definitely Expedition Everest...we had heard that we should go straight there to the back of the park and get Fast Passes to ride later that day...when we showed up there, there wasn't too bad a line so we rode it first thing in the morning...what a great way to be woken up! Most everyone was jumping and screaming with excitement after getting off the ride, but Miss Maya wasn't too sure about it...it wasn't the roller coaster itself, but the Yeti that loomed over us for a few seconds with red beady eyes...don't think she had nightmares that night...that she admitted to, but now, all we have to do is say the word "yeti" and she cringes.

Another amazing part of the park was the way the simple walkways in between areas really made it seem like I was in INDIA! Ok, minus the diesel gas fumes, but otherwise, it was almost a little eerie...Disney is all about the detaiils! (I think you'll see that in the pics)

We did a good balance of sitting, walking and standing, and called it an early day - went back to the resort, the kids swam and we dined in the resort restaurant...for the 2nd time during the week...at least there were enough things for all of us to try something else.

Day 3 and 4??

OK, I don't know what happened! Oh yeah...I remember...I've been exhausted! :) (in a good way, of course)

We were at EPCOT yesterday...the "Kids" kept asking where all the rides were...we spent a ton of time in the "future" section vs. the country section of the park. Mission Space was awesome...and my shuttle did just fine with me as pilot, Mary as navigator and Darrell as engineer...somehow the got us all the right assignments, huh? heehee

All the sciency stuff was really cool too! All the exhibits, and all the interactive, hands-on stuff.

The Test Drive was sooo cool...uh-oh...WE'RE THE TEST DUMMIES...oh! The crash wall moved out of the way just in the nick of time or we would've splat! (sorry if I'm ruining anything for anybody! :)

Lots of shows, and lights...but by the end of the night, most everyone wanted to just get back to their rooms and crash...Drew and I and Mary and Darrell stuck around for the fireworks...a truly amazing sight - I'm glad we decided to stay!

Day 4 was in the Animal Kingdom - every time we saw the Tree of Life in the middle of the park, we saw new animals carved into the sides.
Oops...gotta go right now...will finish this later :)

Day Two - The Magic Kingdom

Day 2 down....phewwwww.....

Tired doggies (feet) today, for sure - and the buses back to the resort were packed and we all pretty much had to stand/balance in the aisles! Oh well...so is the story of a full Disney day!

We stole the Extreme Makeover Home Edition phrase, "Bus Driver...Move 'those Buss's" today...getting moving this morning was a little more difficult, and actually making "group decisions" took a little more time...OK, a lot more time. :)

We learned the following very valuable Disney lessons today:

• There are no short buses/boats at the It's a Small World ride (Sorry, Aunt Nay!).

• Fast Pass is way cool!, but sometimes not worth a darn...We realized very quickly into the ride that Peter Pan's Flight was not worth all the wait.

• Josh - "The Haunted Mansion" is for babies." :)

• We could actually be The Seven Dwarves, Snow White, and an extra Grumpy or Sneezy (depending on the day).  It took us a whole line waiting episode at It's a Small World to figure out all the dwarves' names.  For those of you who can't wait to Google it yourself...Dopey, Grumpy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Happy, "the sixth one" and Doc.....took us a long while to remember poor Bashful...for those of you who knew that already, you get 100 extra points (as if you were collecting points! Ha!)

• When the 'cast member' told us to put our hands up, Drew found out that he can touch the top of the initial tunnel you go down on Space Mountain...OUCH!

• Kenny changed from "Grumpy" yesterday, to Sneezy today...I lost count!

• We saw a funny shirt (actually on a guy!) saying:  She got the ring, I got the finger.

• Katie has a funny shirt (but didn't actually bring it to Disney with her) saying: I'm not short.  I'm fun-sized.

• Katie's eyes "look good, but don't see good".
  

• At dinner, Barb said, "I saw chocolate, and I'm gonna eat it!"

• Maya also realized that it doesn't feel that great to flick root beer in your own eye...can't imagine it feels great when you flick it in someone else's eye(s) either! 

• On the Jungle Cruise (the last ride of the night tonight), a 15 minute wait, Disney time, might actually mean 35 minutes to wait in line for a "punny" ride! Uggghhhhh! (See Pastor Ryan...it's contagious all over the country now!)

So...tomorrow, starting off the morning a little earlier, cuz we're headed to EPCOT - Woooohoooo!  Can't wait to share it with you!  Nitey-nite! :)

Day One Down

OK, can I say that we feel accomplished if by the end of day One we're utterly exhausted and haven't even entered any of the parks??? Oh well...
A pretty full day of traveling for the Buss/Leymaster clan...here are the highlights...

• O dark 30 departure from Omaha in 20+ degree weather
• Katie was sooooo hot in Dallas, TX that her pants flew off on the jetway! (sorry no picture available at time of print)
• We got to the Port Orleans - Riverside resort first and had full intention of getting the "sweetest suite" before anyone else...OK, they're all the same in the end.
• I wanted to tell some of the Disney patrons the same line that the "Cast Members" spew..."Have a magical day!"
• Yes, everyone who tells you to make dinner reservations well in advance of your trip is already 100x smarter than us.
• There's always room for dessert!
• There is such a thing as "vanilla BEAN ice cream", Josh!
• No, we're not on our honeymoon, ma'am...we're just always that cute together. :)
• Grandma and Grandpa are Old Kids with New Disney Sweatshirts...finally!
• And Kenny's new nickname is "Grumpy" and he must get the shirt that says so in some fashion - all self-admitted, of course.
• Hats are good, hats are fun, hats are good for everyone - even though none of us bought one!
  
• And to sum it all up, keeping company with the crabby bus driver is still warmer than the funny boat guy in 47 degree, weird Orlando weather.

I'll try to figure out how to put an album of pictures on here tomorrow!
Thanks for keeping track of us so far...hope you're enjoying living vicariously thru us to Disney World!