Disney Part 2

After checking out all the princesses and riding carousels and walking through castles, Tommy was definitely ready to move onto his two favorite things: Star Wars and Harry Potter. On Sunday we spent the entire day at Hollywood Studios, arriving long before they opened the park so Tommy and Will could get in line for the Jedi Academy. Only 600 kids get to participate each day and we wanted to make sure that Tommy was one of them. While we waited in line that morning, I quizzed him on multiplication facts and spelling words to help pass the time. He was so excited to become a Jedi that he didn't even fight me on the study time.

 Robed and ready to become a Jedi!

 The parade of future Jedi's to the testing stage.

 The kids each got to fight either Darth Vader or a sith. (Just FYI, I don't really know what a sith is, but Tommy and Will were excited.)

The force is strong in this one. Tommy made an excellent Jedi!

 After Jedi training, we headed over to see the Indiana Jones show. So cool.

 After we did everything we wanted to do at Hollywood studios, we ended the night by packing up and heading over to a new hotel. We started our trip at the Coronado Resort, but since Will had a conference at the Gaylord Palms Hotel at the end of the week, we were able to stay there for free for two nights. Yes, please. The Gaylord is an unbelievably beautiful hotel and we really wished we could have just hung out there by the pool for an entire day.

 Our last day was spent at Universal Studios. Watch out for Jaws!

 I was excited for Disney, but I was BEYOND THRILLED to get to go to Harry Potter World at Universal with Tommy since we've been reading the books (we just started book 4 when we got back). It was just like walking onto the set of the movie. Awesome.

 Fred and George's joke shop.

 Gringott's bank, complete with fire-breathing (for real...it would breathe actual fire every 10 minutes or so) dragon on top.

 Picking wands at Ollivander's was definitely a highlight.

 "Expelliarmus!"

 It's hard for me to imagine a drink further outside my approved diet plan than this frozen butterbeer, but man was it ever worth the risk! So good. 

 Lunch at the Leaky Cauldron. I had a "banger sandwich."

 Through the brick wall into Diagon Alley.

 After lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, we headed to King's Cross to catch the train to Hogwarts. Watch out for Dementors!

 Hogwarts Express!

 The castle was so cool but we wished we could go in and walk around. There's a roller coaster in there but the kids weren't too into those this time around. Next time for sure. Tommy loved every bit of Harry Potter World just as much as I did!

 After Harry Potter, we headed into the Doctor Seuss section. Annabel loved the carousel.

 She and Will also rode this One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish ride while Tommy and I ate a snack.

 Once we walked through Jurassic Park and through the superhero land, we headed back out to the front of the park to wait for our ride. While we waited, we decided to putt. I was ON FIRE and crushed Will.

 Although I asked to change our flights to Wednesday so we could spend all day Tuesday by the pool, our tickets were non-transferable so we had to head to the airport at 11am Tuesday morning. That didn't stop us from spending three hours by the pool on Monday night and then another hour before we left on Tuesday. What a beautiful hotel! We will definitely plan to tag along on another conference week sometime soon.

So that was our trip to Disney! We had a ton of fun and are considering a return trip several years from now when the kids are a little older and we can try out some of the bigger stuff. We'll see. It's quite the commitment money- and time-wise since it definitely makes sense to go in the spring when Will goes down for his yearly conference. We'd better start saving up now $$$! 

Hope you're having a great week so far! We're getting pretty busy now that the end of the school year and all those last minute activities and performances and field days and carnivals are being thrown into the scheduling mix along with the sports and dance and scouts we're already doing. I'm starting to get excited about summer vacation and NO SCHEDULES for a few months!