Walt Disney World 2013: Day 2 -- Disney Downtown & Magic Kingdom

We stayed at the Port-Orleans Riverside resort, a very nice place with lots of amazing buildings and a river on which we took a boat to Downtown Disney.

Restaurant / cafeteria portion of our resort. We really liked it.

The boardwalk around it.

Another part of the resort I believe.

The central part with the Lobby, the bar and the actual restaurant (not the Cafeteria)

Off to Disney Downtown on a boat like the blue one there while Suzanne is working.

Our Captain was 80 years old, and quite talkative

Acres and acres of perfection at Disney World.

I love these chalets on stilts.

After a brief visit to check out the Rainforest Cafe, we stopped at the Lego Store, Mathieu’s favourite place. He did not waste time showing off his amazing building skills. Sadly, they didn’t have the model he wanted.

The kids were quite taken with the Rainforest café

This is inside the café

Buzz Lightyear

Entirely made of Lego. The knight on the horse is about Mathieu's size

The Hulk, in Lego

We had lunch at the amazing if somewhat noisy T-Rex restaurant, a place full of animated dinosaurs. Suzanne ordered a flashing drink and both Sabrina and Mathieu got to make their own dinosaurs: Snowy and Mato.

Make a Dino

Inside the T-Rex restaurant... VERY LOUD, but an experience

Animotronics everywhere. This block of ice changes color when the meteorite strikes or the volcanoes erupt.

I'm a robot :)

Suzanne's drink glows in the dark.

You can't go to that restaurant without touring it. Really cool.

After lunch we were back at Magic Kingdom. We did fun rides like Pirates of the Caribbean’s, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear and It’s a Small World. Once again, dinner at the Crystal Palace. 

Back to Magic Kingdom. There's no sign of any Christmas decorations. They had to work all night for there was a lot. And I have neighbours who still have theirs...

Waiting for the Pirates of the Caribbean's ride.

Swiss Family Robinson Tree House

Back to the Crystal Palace for our real reservations.

His fur is the same colour as my hair

Wishes Nighttime Spectacular is the biggest, brightest fireworks extravaganza in Magic Kingdom theme park history. We had the chance to experience it again right after dinner in front of the Crystal Palace.

There’s something special about these fireworks. In some way, they and the castle represent the image of Disney I have when I think of it.

I’ll always remember the first time we saw them in July 2010. Sabrina was in awe (it was her first fireworks). Mathieu slept through them.

Real nice fireworks, and the castle changes colour as they go.

We were fortunate enough to experience the Main Street Electrical Parade while going back to our bus. It’s quite magical to see all our favourite Disney characters on bright shining floats. Just beautiful.

Thinkerbell

Alice... There's no cat...

and now there's one.

Hook fighting with Peter Pan

Hi-ho, hi-ho

Some sort of Magic Dragon.... Puff

The ride of the day was most certainly Space Mountain

Suzanne's favorite. Mathieu had a great time too.

Walt Disney World 2013: Day 1 -- Trip and Magic Kingdom

We treated ourselves to a trip to Disney World for Christmas 2012. Organized in August, it was really hard to keep it a secret from Mathieu and Sabrina. Better yet, Thelma was coming with us for her first experience in the Magical World of Disney.

It was an amazing trip. We got to visit Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. We experienced some real fun rides, saw a few cool shows, met some great characters and ate real good food at some interesting restaurants. We had an amazing experience we will never forget.

We took over a thousand pictures during our trip. In the following pages you will chronologically experience with us a photographic trip through each park. May you enjoy our memories as much as we did.

The big day finally arrived. We woke up early to drive in the cold Montreal winter to the airport. We were in the air before 9:00am.

Usual early departure

But we're used to it

The kids are used to taking the plane. And I hadn't flown before I was 21.

A little map to remember how far we went. The trip was relatively quick and painless.

A bit after noon we landed in Orlando and took the Disney Magical Express bus to Disney World to our resort, Port Orlean’s Riverside. 

First time in Florida for Thelma, on board the Disney Magical Bus

First lunch of many at the Riverside

Waiting for the bus. The Disney bus system is very well organized, only once we waited more then 10 minutes

After a quick lunch at the Riverside Mill Food Court, a place we will get to go often, we walked to the bus stop to wait for a bus that would take us to Magic Kingdom.

There’s something special when you first walk in Magical Kingdom. Main Street is filled with people and shops. It’s like entering a fun vibrant town where everyone is happy. At the end of the street looms Cinderella’s Castle.

When you first come in the Magic Kingdom,  it's really impressive.

We arrived the last day they had Christmas decos out. This tree is amazing. Gone tomorrow morning

Christmas decorations everywhere

There she stands, beautiful as always. I remember my Sunday nights...

My gang

The first ride had to be “It’s a Small World”. One of Sabrina’s favourite, it would soon become Thelma’s as well. We also went on Ariel’s Adventure, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin and Space Mountain (Suzanne’s favourite).

Waiting in line. A first of many for Thelma

The buffet at the Crystal Palace was quite tasty and the friends Sabrina and Mathieu made were quite memorable. Eeyore even made friends with Thelma!  

The castle was simply gorgeous, wrapped in sparkling Christmas lights. It may had been intense, but we had a wonderful day.

Owl's Head

Today was the best ski day ever. Our friends Kim, Kate, Ben and Pascal invited us to join them for a day of skiing at Owl's Head. About an hour and a half away from here, it's well worth the drive. Being a Monday (and a PED day for the kids) we were hoping to have a good part of the mountain to ourselves. Boy were we treated right. Look at the parking.

Let's just say it was an amazing day. The girls worked on their techniques, the boys on, well, pretty much nothing as they just flew down the mountain as often as they could.

Owl's Head is an amazing mountain high enough to make you wonder when it is you're going to arrive at the bottom. The main face has a lot of interesting runs, from the majestic Lilly's Leap, to the black diamond Standard, to the oh so very fast Shady Lady, where I got to reach speeds of 89 km/h+.

Thanks so much to Kim, Pascal, Kate and Ben for a wonderful day.

When we got home we got to watch the first episode of Suzanne's show, VoirGrand.tv  -- it's really cool to see her on TV, she has great presence.

Today was ski day... again

The entire family went to Bromont for a fun morning of skiing. We spent most of our time on the "Versant du Lac" as the fast chair on the main hill was out. What I like is that we arrived early enough to park the car in the P5 parking, meaning that we can get to the hill within a few hundred feet of walking, and no steps.

Sabrina had fun taking pictures of Mathieu, and then altering them a tad...

We're currently prepping for Orlando. Our departure is in about 64 hours. Our first few days look so great.

Happy Birthday Chris

We were supposed to go skiing today but Suzanne preferred getting some work done. That said we still drove to Knowlton to celebrate Chris's birthday at Nick&Amy's home. We have a great time and the food was absolutely excellent. We were all there, along with Tim and Diane, and Gail and David. It was the best of times.

Happy birthday Chris. It's good to have you in our family.

What a blistery day

Guess what we did today? We went skiing to Bromont, the kids and I. Low and behold, Pascal, Kim and family were there too and we ended up skiing together for a while. We had a blast. Sabrina was able to conquer her fears and tried her first black diamond of the season: The Knowlton.

Not to say that the conditions were great but we still had a great time.

Soon to return

I am currently re-installing my photo library on my computer. Once this is done I'll be able to take pictures and build my log again.