Disney for Christmas 2012: Days 1 & 2

We spent Christmas is Disney World this year. It is something that we have always wanted to do and figured this was a good year to do it, as Christmas traditions have been changing as we get older and figured it would be fun to spend Christmas day in Magic Kingdom :) We planned to leave Friday after work, but didn't get out as quickly as we'd hoped. While we were packing the RV, we let the dogs wander in my parents' yard and they decided to go for a run to the lake. They do that sometimes and pretty much always come running when we call them. Well of course as we are trying to hurry out of town they didn't want to listen. As they went for their run to the lake they found a playmate and once Tyson has a playmate his ears turn off. We went tromping through the woods and came upon Vegas first and then she went with us to find Tyson. I turned back to get our cell phones since we didn't have them and Trey finally found Tyson running back towards him with his new playmate. Little turds... 

We hit the road and stopped in South Carolina for the night. The dogs were pretty tired from their adventure:

Day 1: Saturday 12/22
We got to Fort Wilderness around 3:30 and got parked. 

We unpacked and got settled then started decorating for Christmas. We brought indoor and outdoor decorations... people in Fort Wilderness take decorating for the holidays seriously. I will post tomorrow about all of our decorations and then some of the sites with all of their Christmas lights and blow ups. It's amazing all of the stuff that people have. 

We rented a golf cart for the week and enjoyed driving around checking out the other sites and the campground. The campground is pretty big, over a mile from the lake front to the check in location, and about a half mile wide, I think. 

Every night at 10:00 Magic Kingdom did it's fireworks show, Vegas did not enjoy it. She gets nervous because you can hear it pretty clearly from the RV, Magic Kingdom is just across the lake and depending on the wind you can really feel the booms. 

 

Day 2: Sunday 12/23

We got up bright and early and headed to Animal Kingdom. When the crowds are as big as they are during the week of Christmas the only way to get anything done is to get up early!  

Trey and I ran off to get fastpasses for Expedition Everest while mom, dad, and Chad walked slowly to the Safari. We met up with them and got right on the Safari! That's a great ride first thing in the morning as the animals are pretty much all awake and active. 

After the Safari we walked through the Jungle Trek and saw a few animals, they were not as lively as the ones on the safari and since it was chilly out the bats were still sleeping in their cave. Then it was time to use our fastpass for Expedition Everest... such a fun roller coaster! 

Then we headed to DinoLand and we (except dad) rode the Primeval Whirl... such a funny little spinning roller coaster. Mom ended up sitting down next to me, making Chad and Trey squish together on the other side of the ride... it was an interesting sight. 

On our way out of the park we watched "It's tough to be a bug" and then we headed out to get some lunch. We went to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It's such a cool hotel. If we ever didn't stay in the RV, I would definitely want to stay there! We had lunch at their quick service restaurant, Mara, and then went out back to the Savannah overlook and saw lots of animals... the hotel rooms overlook them! How cool. 

After lunch we dropped Chad and Trey off at the Boardwalk to go to ESPN Club to watch the Panthers and Redskins games. They hung out there for the afternoon then, since it is right next to Epcot, they walked in there and drank around the world for a while. 

They took the monorail from Epcot to the Transportation center, and took another monorail to Magic Kingdom then the boat back to Fort Wilderness from there :) 

While they were watching the game and hanging out in Epcot, we finished decorating the RV and I went for a run through the campground. While we were outside decorating Vegas hung out in one of her favorite spots... the golf cart. 

We had dinner in the RV and then rode the golf cart to look at lights and had the dogs ride with us too :) We picked up the boys from the dock when they got back. Before bed we let the dogs get some energy out by chasing their light at the dog park... they LOVE the dog park, it was incredibly close to our campsite and is a great way to let them have some fun. We tried to go there once or twice a day to let them play. 

Come back tomorrow for Christmas Decorations and then more from our trip!