Disney Days Come and Go, but Pictures Last Forever!

I've been watching Hannah & visiting family/friends in Ashland since June 2, so today I'm finally back home and updating the ole blog.

First things first is the Disney getaway we had from June 5-8. I'm sure you'll understand when I tell you that the temps were in the low 90s and the humidity was near 100% that there are nearly no pictures of Miss and I. This trip was unusual for a few reasons:

1) We were there for the shortest time we've ever been (4 days, two of which were travel days).

2) We didn't use our DVC (Disney Vacation Club - aka timeshare) account this time; we stayed at Disney's Port Orleans - Riverside Resort.

3) I didn't plan a thing! I knew the parks we were going to each day, but I didn't even always know the park hours!

4) We focused on Hannah and didn't even ride some of our favorite rides.

5) My camera died during the nighttime parade/fireworks, and I didn't get angry or frustrated. I took it as an indication from the Lord to slow down and just enjoy the moment rather than just focus on getting good pictures.

We arrived in Orlando around 12:15 on Saturday afternoon and boarded the Disney's Magical Express to our hotel. Hannah enjoyed the video of the characters they showed on the bus. Here are the highlights of Day One.

First shot before leaving Ohio. It's earrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrly here, but we were headed to Disney and in good spirits!

Pulling into our hotel!

Disney thinks of everything. At their hotels, while the grown-ups are checking in, kids can watch Disney cartoons (Lambert the Sheepish Lion was showing - it's a classic cartoon we used to have on tape, and it's one of my favorites!). The chairs are even kid-sized!

Blurry picture of our room - it was very comfy.

Here's a close-up shot of the Mickey towel animal that Mousekeeping (aka housekeeping at non-Disney hotels) left for us to see when we checked into the room.

Hannah was ready for the park!

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. I took this from the monorail platform when we arrived at the park. Our first park of the trip was, obviously, Epcot.

Hannah's first Disney annual pass! :)

After we played a while, got some lunch, and rode a couple of rides, it was time for Hannah to get a fun picture in Bruce's mouth (he's the shark from Finding Nemo).

After that, Hannah wanted to pose with the Nemo characters. The whole shot and pose was her idea!

We played an interactive game called "Where's the Fire?" You work as a team to shine flashlights on a video screen, and fire hazards light up. It's a great game to teach fire safety and evacuation strategies to kids. The world's largest fire safety display is outside the game, so Hannah wanted to pose for her picture. She got a little frustrated working the flashlight, but she did great overall!

After the fire game, we played a game called "The Great Piggy Bank Adventure". This game teaches kids about how to save money wisely. It's interactive, just like the fire game, but you get to carry a piggy bank with you from scene to scene and put it into this device. A computer screen activates, and you play a game to try to save money virtually. Hannah enjoyed it a lot.

She's playing a scene in the game where we learn to save and spend wisely. You have to tap the screen to get the coins to fall into the save or spend bin.

Next up, we rode Spaceship Earth (this is the ride inside the iconic big golf ball at Epcot). In the ride, they take your picture and help you create a virtual future. At the end of the ride, they project some people's pictures onto a big video wall. I've never seen my picture there before, but this time, I did. Hence, I had to get a picture of it...

While Miss rode a ride that Hannah's too little for, we enjoyed posing near some fancy cars in the waiting area. Hannah's giving two thumbs up!

We decided it was time to park hop over to the Magic Kingdom, so off we went. Miss and Hannah rode The Mad Tea Party ride.

The major reason we went to Disney for this quick trip was to see the iconic Main Street Electrical Parade. It's a classic Disney parade that we've never been lucky enough to see. It was as wonderful as I imagined! The next several shots are from the parade. My camera died at the end, so there are no shots of fireworks from tonight. But it was wonderful nonetheless.