Bowers Blog: Disney January

It's hard to believe that the first month of 2019 is already over. We concluded our January with a whirlwind 3 day Disneyworld/Legoland trip and lots of basketball. It has been non stop fun, and I have lots of pictures and videos to show for it.

Two weeks ago we headed to Disneyworld and Legoland for the MLK weekend. The kids had received this trip as a Christmas gift and were so excited about it, since the girls (Ellie) could barely remember their last trip there. We hit the Magic Kingdom on day 1 and Hollywood Studios on Day 2. Day 3, we headed to Legoland, which is not a Disney park. It was about 30 minutes from our Disney hotel.

The Disney parks were crowded as usual. I was a little stressed trying to keep up with all 3 kids in the madness, so there are few pictures to document our time there. We only lost Mack briefly once when we were trying to find a table to sit down and eat our lunch. Worth had reserved it, while I had taken the kids to the bathroom to wash their hands. As we were heading to the table, we took a right and Mack took a left. When we got to the table, I realized Mack wasn't with us. It scared me, because I knew he had been right with me. After a frantic search of the eating area, I found him just wandering around in the area where you order your food. He asked, "Where did you go?" I thought I might strangle him and hug him all at the same time. I knew his magic band shown to a park employee could get him back to us if he got really lost, but these days, there are so many weirdos, you just never know.

The rest of the time we were following Worth's app and our fast passes trying to wait the least amount of time in all of the long ride lines. We rode most everything in Magic Kingdom except Space Mountain and the Snow White Dwarf Train, which each had over a 2 hour wait. We also did most of the big stuff at Hollywood Studios as well. The lines were ridiculous and I couldn't even believe myself when I would say, "that ride is under a 70 minute wait, let's do that one!" The Magic Kingdom day was beautiful and it wasn't too bad waiting in line, but at Hollywood Studios, it got REALLY cold. We waited for the Slinky Dog Dash roller coaster (in Toy Story land) for 2 and 1/2 hours, only because their were no fast passes, and it was literally the only ride the kids really wanted to go on. It was so much fun, but I will NEVER wait in a line that long with all 3 of my children ever again. I thought I might get turned into DEFACS before we made it to the coaster.

Legoland on Day 3 (MLK day) was a completely different story. We arrived early and were the first people in the park. There were no lines, and no waiting on all rides. It was so cold, but we knocked the entire park out in about 4 hours. The kids had a blast and came home with bags of Legos to play with.

We came back home to a busy week full of school, basketball games, birthday parties, and all the other "life" stuff that fills your week. By last Friday night, everyone in our house (me included) needed an attitude adjustment or just a really long nap. We finally settled back into our routine this past week and had a great week, ending with my birthday this Friday, basketball ALL day Saturday, and a sweet father daughter dance Saturday night.

Loaded up for Orlando!

Checking in at the Art of Animation Hotel

After checking in, and waiting for a restaurant in downtown Disney, we FINALLY got in. A 9:00pm dinner always brings out the best in everyone, especially Mack.

We made it to Magic Kingdom bright and early!

Lightening McQueen ride was first. I just love how they get your best face on the ride cameras. I was coaching Mack on where to shoot his gun. Worth was just trying to beat us.

This is just so funny to me.

Mack started hanging on to whoever would let him early on. I know he was so tired, but it was so nice to NOT have a stroller to carry around.

Dumbo was next up.

Dumbo was the only ride Ellie could really remember, so this was on the top of her list to ride first.

More line waiting shenanigans. I have TONS of these pictures.

They can be sweet siblings.

Mack tried to act scared on a few initial rides, but once he got the hang of it, he LOVED it!

More line waiting pictures. This was for the Thunder Mountain train.

We had fast passes for Splash Mountain, and it was SOOO worth it! Mack had to be tricked into getting on it. He looks terrified in this picture, but when he got off, he claimed it was his favorite ride.

"It's a small world" was a relaxing ride to break from the chaos of the day.

They were pretty exhausted after day 1.

We made it on a cold, windy day to Hollywood studios!

We rode a Star Wars ride first, but quickly headed to Toy Story land where we waited about 45 minutes for the Toy Story Mania ride. At least they provided entertainment while we waited. Mr. Potato Head put on quite a comedy routine.

The Indiana Jones stunt spectacular was really fun to watch. Mack was mesmerized by all the fire, tricks, and car flips.

Final Day: LEGOLAND!

While Ellie, Emma, and I rode a virtual reality roller coaster that Mack wasn't big enough for, Worth took him to driving school

and boating school.

The girls got to do driving school later as well.

While we waited in line the kids played on the Lego Wall

Mack was mesmerized by this lego mustang

Mack also liked all of the lego building areas. He would have stayed at these all day if we would have let him.

There was a lego mini area that had replicas of different US cities and Florida cities. It was unbelievable to imagine the work that went into these. This is part of the New York exhibit, obviously.

Daytona

D.C.

NASA

San Fran

Ellie and Emma worked on a LegoNinjago mission

They also got to practice their firefighting skills.

Ellie won a panda at one of the carnival games at Legoland. Mack and Emma wanted to pose in the guillotine but I didn't do a great job of getting a good picture of it.

We came back from Disney and got a call from the school that Ellie had won the kindness award at school for January. They pick 2 kids per grade each month. Worth and I were able to go to the school to watch her being presented with this. I was beyond thrilled for this award above any other school achievements. Worth and I are so glad she is kind at school, since it doesn't always happen with siblings at home.

December and January winners.

Basketball is in full swing. Emma is learning so much this year.

Ellie is too.

She is so small, I worry so much about those big girls fouling her.

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Yesterday, she wouldn't pull her shorts down. So, I took her picture.

She looked hilarious, but she said it was more comfortable that way. They lost their game, but it wasn't because this tiny high pants girl didn't play her heart out.