My Big, Fat Disney Vacation

Mmmm, vacation — sounds relaxing, doesn't it?

Really? Then you must be single, have no children — or maybe you're a man. You definitely haven't done the planning, the packing, more planning — and you definitely haven't taken a trip to Disney World with extended family.

I really can't complain (much).

Other than a few minor glitches — some cold weather (hey, if I have to wear a sweatshirt in Florida, it's too cold), a little rain (luckily just one day - but it really poured and I ended up with the broken rain poncho - a lovely fashion accessory), illness (just my brother and sister-in-law while we were there - everybody else, except Caitlin who vomited on two unsuspecting strangers on the plane, waited until we got home) and a lost memory card (the one with all but the last day's pictures on it) — we had a great time.

We left the afternoon of Nov. 25 to spend the night in Indianapolis and our flight left Thursday, Thanksgiving Day and Megan's 18th birthday. We flew home Sunday, Dec. 6. That's right — 12 fun-filled days of family-togetherness.

We planned for the three travel days, two "off" days and the rest of the days at the parks. Even two days at each park is almost not enough time and we went during a not-too-busy time and followed a lot of Tour Guide Mike's suggestions and touring plans (they worked out pretty well, too).

We stayed in a nice, big house in Windsor Hills which is pretty close to Disney property - five bedrooms and five bathrooms (as close to heaven as I've ever been even if I only had a shower instead of a tub - but I'll get over that eventually). (All of the photos in this post are courtesy of my brother and sister-in-law).

With 12 of us - our family of 6, my parents and my brother's family - it was nice to have that much space and having a full kitchen and laundry facilities was very convenient. I think it may be the only vacation I've been on where I didn't have lots of dirty laundry to do when I got home.

We spent our first park day at the Magic Kingdom - and, of course, the first ride of the day was our favorite pachyderm, Dumbo!

Looks like Caitlin's riding Space Mountain or Rockin' Rollercoaster!

Later that day we were asked to participate in Tiana's Showboat Jubilee which was a lot of fun even though it threw off the day's schedule a little bit.

Everybody had a great time being part of the show - even my dad!

We had a lot of fun spending time with my brother's family. They live in Texas so we don't get to spend a lot of time together.

Cousins Joy and Megan did become pretty good buddies on this trip (my very talented brother and sister-in-law made the Minnie dress) and all the cousins spent some fun time together — they even threw their own private, girls-only dance party (poor Isaac - he's the only boy cousin). Even the Florida girls — Shailynn, Alivia and Makenly — were invited. We all played together at the big playground at Windsor Hills and spent some time at the big pool, too (well, OK, I spent time in the hot tub, but the little girls had a lot of fun — especially on the big slide). We followed up with pizza and birthday cake - Megan and Sam had their birthdays on the trip, my dad had his earlier that month and Kara's is at the end of December - but we wouldn't get to see her then so we celebrated early.

Here's the only boy cousin — don't let Mr. Adorable fool you though - he is one very busy boy and the best alarm clock I know.

Here's the whole gang of cousins with grandma and grandpa.

We rode lots of fun rides, saw some great shows, and made memories — lots of good ones and just a few not-so-good ones — on this trip. And, even with as much time as we were there and as much as we did (and as exhausted as we became) there was so much more stuff to do! I don't think anyone on a Disney vacation could ever complain of boredom.

With some of the grandkids being almost-grown-up — not to mention the expense — we probably won't do another big Disney trip together — at least not for a long, long time.

I'm glad we were able to be there for Isaac's first trip — he learned to high-five from the characters — we were able to go a few years ago for his sister's first trip, too. And Joy is at a great age for Disney World — meeting characters and some of the rides we thought she would like, she decided not to go on — but the kid did ride Big Thunder Mountain — definitely a big girl ride.

I know the next time we go, we'll miss having that stroller to sit stuff on and there probably won't be anyone to watch all the backpacks, fanny packs and sweatshirts because everyone will be tall enough to go on all the rides!

We do have one last big trip to look forward to, though. We're going to meet each other approximately half-way and spend some (hopefully) relaxing time in Branson this summer.

Get the music ready for another dance party, girls!