A Magical Grand Tour

[JSJJ388]

I went as a sophomore in HS, and had a blast. We got 5 days of park hopper passes. Loved animal kingdom, by far my favorite part of the parks. Also thoroughly enjoyed Epcott. That said, I thoroughly despise crowds and people in general and would never set foot in that place again if my wife was not dead set on taking our son in a few years.

That was also the last "free and fun" Disney trip for our school. Apparently they dont like it when you show your roots and smuggle gallons of alcohol in the schools Sousaphones on a school sponsored trip.....

 

[UTfball68]

I went at 10, 15, 30 & 35. Pretty sure it MADE me a crowd hating, cynical, sarcastic, yankee despising, foreigner intolerant asshole with zero patients for stupid people. Which, I'm ok with...but causes problems when the Food Lion up from the house is busy and I just need a couple of items

Shawn and Cyd are much more patient and create a joyous experience for their kids

I noticed my patience level (or lack thereof) may be having an adverse impact on my 2 year old this weekend. She's to the point now where she understands green means go and red means stop, and she's aggressive when it comes to back seat driving. On the way home from church yesterday, I was behind a car that didn't start moving in a timely manner as the red light turned green...and about the time I was about to say something under my breath my 2 year old pipes up from the back seat 'MOOOOOVE LADY'. I've also received reports that when she rides with my wife she'll say 'GO FASSER MOMMY'.

 

[CasterTroy]

my 2 year old pipes up from the back seat 'MOOOOOVE LADY'

That grocery store joke: "Pick a lane asshole" had to be someone who witnessed one of my kids in the shopping kart

 

[UTfball68]

That grocery store joke: "Pick a lane asshole" had to be someone who witnessed one of my kids in the shopping kart

Not to derail the thread too far...but I was at Harris Teeter with my 2yo a weekend or so ago. She was in one of those sweet racecar carts...an aisle gets jammed up 'Scuse me pweese (no one moved), SCUSE ME PWEESE (folks looked up, but didn't move)...I SAID SCUSE ME'. The aisle parted, and I wasn't mad about what transpired.

 

[trailhugger]

So I realized I never actually finished telling y'all about our trip...

If you ask the kids what was their favorite Disney park, they say without hesitation, "Animal Kingdom!" They love animals and, like everything else, WDW does an amazing job of immersing you into the 'land' and you walk through thinking you're really there.

Their favorite thing about the WHOLE Disney vacation wasn't actually anything to do with WDW. On our last day in Orlando, we took a trip back to a simpler time, to a simple roadside Florida attraction dating back to 1949...

Gatorland!

This place had grown since @shawn was there as a kid and it's an amazing education on gators and other animals in their natural habitat! We spent some time with one of the keepers learning about some of the bigger alligators they've bred or rescued and they are way more fascinating than I'd ever imagined!