Dawson's at Disney World!

We're back from our vacation! We had so much fun and did so many things I don't think I can write about them all without filling the whole blog. We have a ton of pictures so I'm splitting the slide show into 2. First of all I have to tell the story of our dream upgrade. We were initially booked to stay at Coronado Springs Resort (a moderate $ hotel) for 5 nights and POP century (a value $ hotel) for 4 nights. But when we arrived at Coronado Springs they were all booked up so they transfered us to the Animal Kingdom Lodge (a deluxe $ resort). I was so distracted when they told me though because Valie had just fallen head first off of a bench and onto the marble lobby floor! She was ok but pretty shocked/embarrassed. So we got into a disney van and they drove us over to our new hotel and it was so beautiful. We had a savannah view and there were animals right outside our window! There are some pics on the slide show but it's kind of hard to distinguish our room view from the safari ride we went on. Anyway, it was amazing.
We went to all four of the parks, multiple times. There is so much to do everywhere, it's overwhelming. There are even activities at the hotels all throughout the day. My dear mom is the one who took us on this wonderful trip and she was such a trooper. Valie made sure her granny rode all of the thrill rides with her. Including Tower of Terror, Dinosaur, Expedition Everest, Space Mountain, Splash mountain, Mission Space, and Test track. But as much as Val loves the thrill rides we also went on almost all of the other rides as well.
One of the greatest things about our vacation was that we were on the dining plan. I made reservations 180 days in advance to make sure we got into the restaurants with the most yummy food :) Oh my goodness I'm so glad I did my research because we had some of the most amazing meals ever! But I'm saving all of the food pictures for another blog post, so stay tuned. I did put in a couple shots from the Hoop De Doo Review dinner show though.
We also met a ton of characters. There were some very obscure ones out and about so it was fun to meet ones you don't usually see, like king louis from the Jungle Book and the walrus from Alice and Wonderland.
My personal favorite thing we did was Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. It's a special event where you buy tickets and they turn the Magic Kingdom into a Halloween lovers paradise. Everyone dresses up, Valie was tinkerbell, Cameron was Captain hook, and I was Peter Pan. And everyone goes trick or treating. We got so much candy, 13 pounds! It was insane. They had face painting and dance parties, which Valie loved. She could have stayed and danced the night away. There was also special Halloween fireworks and a Halloween parade. It was sooo fun!
I'm so glad we went in October because it was also the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. They had tons of booths and set ups that they don't normally. So there was tons to do and see in the World showcase.
Despite the fabulous time we had while on vacation, it is nice to be back home.