Gotcha Week at Disney World

We celebrated David's Gotcha Day all week long at Disney World. There are way too many pictures for a post, so I'll put a few highlights here and work on a Picasa album with the rest. Keep an eye out for Pandy the panda who came to the parks with us every day.

We arrived last Saturday late afternoon. We stayed at the All Star Sports resort. It was an excellent choice. David loved the over the top sports decor and was particularly fond of the statues of Huey, Duey and Louie playing baseball.

Saturday evening, we met up with a family who lives in the area and is in the process of adopting a little boy through China's waiting child program. They have three kids, and David had so much fun running around like a nut with their girls. Good luck to Katie, Josh and their family as they prepare to bring their di di home!

Enjoying dinner with Gracie. Annie and David took turns letting Donald eat their heads.

Sunday the three of us went to the Magic Kingdom in the morning. David loved Small World (which we ended up riding eight times over the course of our trip) and the trolley tracks down Main Street (which we spent a painfully long time walking on). Nahnee and 'Ramma arrived in the afternoon, and we all went to Epcot where we enjoyed some a really good Mexican dinner.

David "driving" the Small World boat, following the trolley tracks and cruising on a boat at Epcot with Nahnee

Monday we went to the Animal Kingdom first thing. The safari ride there is one of my favorite things, and the one we went on that morning was amazing. We saw so many animals, including a mama and baby white rhino running full speed right past our truck and three cheetahs who were very interested in what the rhinos were up to. We went back to the Magic Kingdom that afternoon. On this trip, David fell in love with the Swiss Family Robinson tree house.

On Safari with 'Ramma, completely enamored with the tree house water collection system, the 3 of us at the Magic Kingdom

Tuesday was Hollywood Studios. The Toy Store ride there was probably the consensus favorite of the entire group. You go from screen to screen playing virtual carnival games (ring toss, throwing darts at balloons, etc.). That night David used his powers of persuasion to get some merchandise from the Lego store at Downtown Disney, and we made our obligatory pilgrimage to Chick-fil-A.

Toy Story ride and Sci-Fi drive in lunch at Hollywood studios

Wednesday was May 5--Gotcha Day! We celebrated two years as a family of three. At the Animal Kingdom, we started off checking out the Asian jungle trek and then went to the glorified playground that is Dinoland USA. We went back to Epcot in the evening, watched the Chinese acrobats and had a really delicious dinner at the Nine Dragons restaurant there. We also went to the movie at the China pavilion and let David pick out a Gotcha Day gift. The winner was a little panda. I'm not sure if Pandy is jealous or what because he spent the rest of the night involved in paw to paw combat with the new little panda bear. David capped off the evening by drenching himself in some fountains and asking if he could come back to Epcot wearing his bathing suit.

The 3 of us in the China pavilion at Epcot. Billions of dollars in entertainment surrounding him, and the water was the most fun.

So Thursday we went back to the Magic Kindgom in the morning and then to Epcot with David is his swimwear in the afternoon. The three of us made a loop of the world showcase for dinner sampling such deliciousness as nachos, brats and gelato. Sadly, Canada no longer serves beaver tails.

David was very pleased to acquire a sword from the toy store in Germany. Back at the fountains in his bathing suit, completely oblivious to the large fireworks display.

Friday was our last day at the parks. We wanted to get David back on the Toy Story ride, so we started at Hollywood Studios. We made a mad dash for the ride, which is relatively new and insanely popular. Kevin grabbed fast passes before we hopped in the regular line. We went on the ride, went back to a Disney Playhouse show that he had really enjoyed earlier in the week and then back on the ride with our fast passes. We hopped a boat to the Boardwalk area where Kevin and I stayed for our honeymoon, had lunch, raced through Epcot to get to the monorail (exclusively for the purpose of riding the monorail), took the monorail to the Magic Kindgom and then bussed it back to the hotel for nap time which was followed immediately by one more trip to the Magic Kingdom where we rode rides until they kicked us out. We were literally the last people to go on the Winnie-the-Pooh ride last night.

Sucking on a lemon at lunch, Tomorrowland Speedway and waiting for the carousel with Kevin

This morning before we left we took one last dip in the pool and bid Huey, Duey and Louie adieu.

It was a super fun vacation. Thanks to Nahnee and 'Ramma for coming with and providing a 4:1 adult to child ratio that was still barely enough. I've left a million little stories and several dozen really cute pictures out. I'll try to include as much as I can in the album, so stay tuned if you're interested...