The Last Hurrah...

Our final day at Disney is behind us and we appear to have survived unscathed. A graduation of sorts. We entered these gates naive and unsure, but full of hope and American dollars. We leave broke, burnt and highly satisfied.

The mission upon arrival today was simple, but daunting - go directly to Mickey's house and get a photo/hugs with both he and Minnie. A minor line was all that stood between us and the kingpin and we were in-and-out successfully in under 15 minutes. Locals tell stories of people waiting at least an hour on a good day (assuming they're able to handle the pressure that comes with such an assignment).

From there, luck was on our side and we hit four favourites in a row without delay - the Peter Pan ride put us into a pirate ship sailing out Wendy's window, over the streets of London and into Never Never land where Captain Hook was doing battle with Peter Pan. From there, we hopped onto the Winnie the Pooh ride where we saw Eyore, Tigger, Piglet, Roo and Christopher Robin up no good in Hundred Acre Wood. Just outside, we saw Winnie and Tigger in person and C&R got their 2nd hug/photo of the day. The next ride was a tough one - Snow White's Scary Adventure. This chilling attraction had evil lurching around every corner as we wound our way in the dark through the haunted woods to find Snow White. C&R were hesitant, but were convinced that they'd "close their eyes when it's scary and only open them when Snow White is around". It turned out very well and they loved the whole thing. We took the edge off with our second showing of It's a Small World, which was almost more exciting than the first round b/c the girls knew the ride and had "favourites" (hula dancers from Hawaii and the bride & groom from Mexico).

With such an adventurous first half of the day, we took it easy in the afternoon and hit a few other attractions and headed for the exits. On our way out we had a Chip & Dale sighting and we ended our day with a final photo op - a thrill for the girls b/c for some reason they have a new love for Chip & Dale (maybe a twin thing... I don't know).

In other news, the pool at the house has been a huge hit. The girls have spent about 2 hours each day jumping, swimming and playing. Rachael is swimming without waterwings every once in a while (mostly face down flailing, but "swimming" none-the-less) and Charlotte is almost there, but prefers the luxury of assisted flotation...

We land in Toronto at 4:00 and begin our detox as soon as we step foot into 107 Lee. Complete absence of parades, Princesses, elaborate The musicals and 7 foot tall storybook characters is really going to make the Beaches a boring place to live...

Lots of love.

Into the Wild...

Today was meant to be a slow day. A day to unwind from the chaos of previous go-go-go days and to become one with nature at the Animal Kingdom. Well, it turns out we don't do calm quite as well as we'd thought.

We started the day with a live showing of The Lion King that included acrobatic monkeys, fire eaters and 3 story tall giraffes and elephants. Broadway quality singing & dancing combined with full audience interaction made this one a huge success. From there, we moved to Africa to kick off our real life safari tour. This also exceeded expectations and our guided tour allowed us to see elephants, gazelles, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, ostriches, crocodiles, flamingos, wildebeests, cheetahs, lions, wart hogs and a variety of animals that we'll have to rely on Google to help us identify...

After we safely arrived back from the bush, we decided to brave the mighty Amazon and buckled ourselves into a death defying rapids adventure. A 45 degree drop got us all instantly soaked and the girls were scared, but loved every minute (and by girls, I'm including Heather...).

The last big part of our day was the live showing of Finding Nemo. Again, this was no watered down there park performance - this was a full scale musical with live players and and huge puppets telling the story, singing and dancing. This was the highlight for C&R - we had aisle seats and were face to face with sharks, jellyfish and Nemo himself.

Just as we thought the day was a wrap, we walked out to the main street and found a huge parade that included all the favourites - Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Chip & Dale and a variety of other dancers in full safari gear, African masks and elaborate jungle themed floats. I think each day has wrapped with a parade, so I'm concerned this is going to become an expectation and Heather and I will have to come up with some pretty special end of day routines to keep up the magic...

Tomorrow is our final full day and we're heading back from a last tour of the Magic Kingdom. We've seen most of the big attractions, so I think we'll spend our time strolling the streets seeing what interesting things we can find. Based on experience, however, we're guaranteed to trip into at least one parade and Charlotte will sniff out a few characters that need a good hug/tackle...

Lots of love.

Fatal Attraction...

C&R coming into our bedroom at 6:15 this morning reminded us that today was lunch with the Princesses at Cinderella's castle. The world of sports waiting for Tiger to play at the Masters might rival the anticipation our girls had for this day - but I doubt it...

We started our day in Adventureland and were able to see Pirates of the Caribbean, Aladin's Magic Carpet Ride, the Jungle Cruise and The Country Bear Jamboree before stopping for lunch. Swashbuckling pirates put a bit of a fright into the girls, but they made it through in one piece (they had their Minnie Mouse ears on at this point, so they were well protected...). The Country Bear Jamboree was exactly the same show as our family saw 30 years ago and it still has the same charm. Liver Lips got a big laugh and Big Al's rendition of "Blood on the Saddle" is our new family song...

After a brief wardrobe change into official Princess gear, we were summoned to the castle to begin our lunch experience. Our first adventure began as we entered the castle and we found ourselves face to face with Cinderella herself! This was a bit much for Charlotte who got nervous and said she "wasn't hungry" and didn't want to have her photo taken with Cinderella. However, in true Charlotte form, the second our name was called, she latched onto Cinderella and had a big/creepy smile ready for the camera. Some stalkers will never change...

We climbed the castle stairs to the dining room where we were seated and had our orders taken. The food definitely played second fiddle to the main event, but I was happy to get pork tenderloin while we waited for the arrival of the Princesses. Then, much like a Vegas prize fight, an announcer came onto the loud speaker to introduce each Princess. "Her father was an inventor, she was locked in a castle and had to find true love... - ladies and gentlemen, please welcome - Belle". Of course, half way through each introduction C&R had figured out who they were introducing and were bouncing on their chairs chanting the name of the upcoming Princess (again, much like a prize fight). Then, very systemically, each table received a visit, some light conversation and a picture with each Princess (similar to what you might find at a high end speed dating circuit...). The girls were beaming, Heather was as proud as a mom can be and Nana was tearing up to see the girls so happy. I could go on, but we've already crossed well over the line into obsession, so I'll stop here. Safe to say, the lunch exceeded all expectations and this will certainly be an event that will be talked about for many years to come.

Nana and Grandpa Bob start their drive to Brockville Thursday AM and we head to the Disney Animal Kingdom to enjoy an African Safari, the Amazon River Rapids Adventure and see a scaled down live performance of the Lion King.

Hope you enjoy the photos and we'll share more when we're back.

Lots of love.

Veni, Vidi, Mickey

6 princesses, 2 mice, 2 dogs, 2 ducks, 1 flying elephant, countless smiling dancers and one small world = 2 elated and exhausted little girls.

The day began sitting front row of Cinderella's Castle while Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy sang and danced and welcomed us all to Disney World. That was about enough to make C&R burst with excitement. Then, out came Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty dancing in full ball gowns with their respective princes. The reaction from the kids can most closely be compared to what you might experience while standing in the centre of a tornado with your eyes open. A silence overtook the twins, there eyes fixed forward and they didn't move a muscle. Awe, wonder and the dark side of delusion filled their faces. A great start to say the least...

From there we ventured into Fantasy land where we went on the flying Dumbo ride, saw It's A Small World (a huge hit for all generations in our boat) and had pictures taken with Ariel (a highlight for sure, but more silence and awe - very few questions for Ariel this time around...). The afternoon brought crowds and heat and the highlight was having story time with Belle (pictured above) followed by an amazing parade with all the A-List characters. Rachael was convinced that Mickey blew her a kiss and Charlotte claims that a fairy godmother blew her a kiss as well (none of this has been confirmed by anybody over the age 0f 4).

The girls were absolutely exhausted, but certainly had an amazing time. Nana and Grandpa Bob not only survived the full day, but seemed to have the most energy of the group as we boarded the monorail to wrap up our first day at Disney.

We got back home for swimming, dinner, stories and straight to bed. Heather and I wanted to squeeze everything possible out of our "full day ticket w/ parking" - so, we headed back to Disney hoping for smaller crowds and to see what the evening events held. The evening events were pretty amazing with another top notch parade and great fireworks - but the crowds were no different than we experienced at noon. We left at 10:30 and the place was as alive as ever and showed no signs of letting up. Amazing.

Tomorrow is a day off from parks and events. We'll have a morning of pancakes and then Nana and Grandpa Bob will watch the kids (swimming for 3 hours followed by McDonald's I imagine) while Heather and I hit the outlet malls.

Time for bed - hope everybody is doing well and we'll talk soon.

Lots of love.

The Big Fish

We were one of the first to arrive at Sea World early this morning and we made a sluggish retreat some 6 hours later. Unanimous top scores went to the Shamu show, the penguin community and the manta ray petting zoo... Being face to face with sharks, dolphins and alligators got some big smiles, but the next big deal was the "grown up" roller coaster that came with scream, cries and some very small white knuckles...

Another highlight was to watch Charlotte and Rachael replicate the aweful outfits that Stephanie, Kirsten I put together while touring these very theme parks some 30 years ago. There's something about cheap plastic sunglasses, an ill fitting bucket hat, rubber shoes and a textbook bad hair day that screams Florida theme park vacation...

Nana & Grandpa Bob arrived tonight and the screams let out by the girls equaled those experienced on the roller coasters. 800 stories were told (most with no endings...), books were read and after a few attempts, the girls finally went to bed.

Monday is our very first Disney day, so we'll try and get an early start, fight hard for as long as we can and drag the bodies out as they fall. Multiple cameras are charged, snacks are packed and we're ready to go head-to-head with The Mouse. I feel as though our lives won't be quite the same from here on in...

Lots of love.

And so it begins...

A quick 2.5 hour flight followed by a wrestling match with 3rd world car seats at Avis Orlando and some clever navigating by Heather in our Ford Fusion and we've arrived at our Florida rental. If the girls only knew how close we are to Disney, they most certainly would not be asleep right now...

The afternoon of a 3 year old on vacation is a pretty simple thing - jump off the edge of the pool, swim to the steps, climb onto the pool deck, laugh hysterically, repeat... 2 hours later, there was a partial dinner follow by an almost immediate lapse into a coma. A couple of light beers and some Pinot Grigio later and it seems like the grown ups will call it a night before the clock strikes nine...

Sunday is Sea World with Shamu, the penguins and manta rays that will eat fish out of your hand (if you're willing to be as brave as cousin Clare). Nana & Grandpa Bob arrive after dinner, so we'll see who gets the better review at the end of the day (100 feet of fish will likely pale in comparison to showing Grandpa Bob how to jump off the pool steps without getting your face in the water).

Photos and video will be posted daily, so stay tuned. If you hear nothing from us, that means Charlotte has gone "native" and we're deep within the Magic Kingdom trying to extract her from a tea party, Princess ball or parade that she has commandeered.

Lots of love.