Hershey Park 2014

 

We made our first trip to Hershey Park this fall.  We happened to visit on Milton Hershey's birthday (Sept. 13), and they were giving out free chocolate all day in the park. In fact, from our arrival at the Hershey Lodge on Friday night until our departing stop at Chocolate World on Sunday, the kids pretty much ate chocolate all weekend.  Even the air outside smelled like chocolate.  Elise didn't get to try the chocolate spa treatment at the hotel, but she did design her own chocolate bar (in purple, of course). A great family get away—we all want to go back soon!

 

 

  

 

  

  

 

 

Dutch Wonderland

We celebrated the end of school (and the start of summer) with a day trip to Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA.  We wondered if the kids might have outgrown the park, but as you can see below, they had a ball.  The new dinosaur exhibit was a nice addition to the park.  Henry's favorite ride was still the roller coaster (we rode three times), and the highlight for Vivian, curiously enough, was the diving show.  It ain't Disney World, but this little theme park still delivers a ton of fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disney World 2014

Like lemmings to the sea, we marched off to Orlando in January for what has become our annual visit to the House of Mouse.  This trip was significantly shorter than past visits.  With Henry in Kindergarten, we’ve had to limit our travels to school breaks.   A teacher in-service day tacked onto the long MLK weekend provided a four-day window for our yearly Disney fix.  We could visit during spring break or summer, but as experienced WDW travelers, we knew to avoid those high crowd seasons.  As an added bonus, Mimi and Paw Paw joined us for the long weekend.

The weather was unusually cold for Orlando, which made for some chilly mornings at the resort bus stop but also helped keep the crowd levels down (MLK weekend is a popular time for Floridians to visit).  Despite the compressed time frame, we hit all of our favorite attractions/restaurants: Cinderella’s Royal Table, Pirates of the Caribbean, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, Soarin’, Maelstrom, and Oktoberfest in Germany.  We also returned to the Be Our Guest restaurant for dinner and were lucky enough to be seated in the mysterious West Wing.  Henry graduated to the grown-up roller coasters on this trip and tackled both Expedition Everest (Animal Kingdom) and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Magic Kingdom).  The former proved a bit too scary—not so much the coaster as the Yeti that jumps out at the end.  However, his favorite ride remains the Barnstormer in Magic Kingdom (check out the video below).  Vivian was fortunate—very fortunate—to meet two of her favorite princesses: Anna and Elsa from Frozen.  We heard the wait to see them could be as long as five (5) hours!  Miraculously, the line moved faster than anticipated, and it only took about 50 mins for Vivian’s turn.  She was the last visit before Elsa went home for the day—we were that close.  Mimi and Paw Paw gamely joined us for what they figured (between visits with kids and grand kids) to be their 20th+ trip to WDW.  We packed a lot into those three days.  On our last night in the park, we stayed until 9pm and saw Main Street Electrical Parade—something we have never done before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And check out these videos from our trip:

Disney World 2013

We returned to Disney World at the end of February for another week of magic and mayhem.  This was Henry’s third visit (not counting a 2009 trip to Disneyland) and Vivian’s second, so the kids are now well versed in the House of Mouse.  We weren’t expecting to return so soon, but with Henry starting kindergarten next year, we decided to squeeze in one more off-season visit before becoming slaves to the school year calendar.  We also were super excited to have Mimi Pauline join us this time—her first visit to WDW!

Taking a vacation to Florida in February has its benefits: we were blessed with low crowds and mild weather all week.  We decided to surprise the kids and told them we were flying to Michigan to visit Pauline (which was half true).  Amazingly, they never figured out where we were headed, even after multiple people at the airport asked if we were “visiting Mickey.”  Finally, as we waited to meet Pauline at the shuttle bus, we told the kids our plans.  As you can see from the video below, they both burst into tears—apparently they really wanted to see their Mimi Pauline!  When we explained that Pauline was joining us and that they could visit WDW and see their grandmother at the same time, the tears quickly turned to excitement.

Having stayed at the Caribbean Beach and Polynesian resorts on past trips, we decided to try Coronado Springs this time.  Overall, we really liked this resort: central location, moderate prices and better than usual food options for a WDW hotel.  The one negative: it took us over an hour to check in.  The cast member misheard our name and tried to give us another party’s rooms.  Disney is a well-oiled machine, but when the wheels come off, they really come off.  Once they realized their mistake, no one could figure out how to fix it—and in the meantime, our adjoining rooms were given away to other guests.  Finally, Bryant uttered those words that strike fear in the heart of every Disney employee: “I’m not having a magical day.”  The entire reception desk fell silent and someone went to fetch a manager.  She quickly rectified the situation (sort of, we weren’t able to get our adjoining rooms, but we were nearby) and promised to make it up to us.  Later that evening, after some margaritas at the Mexico Pavilion and some hearty German food at the Biergarten restaurant in Epcot, we returned to find toys, balloons and autographed photos of Mickey and Minnie in our room.  That was nice, but not a replacement for our adjoining rooms.  Fortunately, the rest of the vacation went smoothly.

We were anxious to see the new Fantasyland expansion, which was still under construction the last time we visited.  Although not completely finished (a new Snow White themed ride is still in the works) and somewhat smaller than we expected, the expansion did not disappoint.  The Ariel ride quickly became Vivian’s favorite, and she asked to ride it every day we visited the Magic Kingdom.  Fortunately, there were fast passes available because the stand-by line was over 90 minutes long—and no ride is worth that kind of wait.  We tried the LeFou’s Brew at Gaston’s Tavern (Disney’s answer to Harry Potter’s butterbeer at Universal) and had dinner at the new Be Our Guest restaurant, which was simply awesome.  The restaurant is themed to look like the Beast’s castle, complete with grand ballroom, library (where you can meet the Beast) and even the spooky west wing (where you can see the magic rose in its glass case).  Not surprisingly, the menu is French inspired.  This was, hands down, the best meal of the trip.  Elise and Pauline both enjoyed a very nice ($$$) glass of French wine, and Bryant stuffed himself on mussels provencal, grilled steak and pommes frites with truffle mayonnaise.  Afterward, the waitress wheeled over an impressive dessert cart, and we each chose a different pastry.  We will definitely be heading back here on our next visit.  Another highlight of the new Fantasyland was the Enchanted Tales with Belle.  It’s basically a meet-and-greet attraction where the kids get to re-enact the story of Beauty and the Beast (everyone gets a part and they perform a little skit).  It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s nicely done.  There’s also a really cool magic mirror that transports you to the castle and an impressive animatronic Lumiere.

 

  

When we weren’t riding our favorite attractions (or standing in line to ride them), we were getting made up like princesses and pirates.  Vivian was finally old enough to visit the Bibbi Bobbi Boutique at Cinderella’s Castle and had a grand time getting the full princess treatment.  Apparently mom and mimi also got a touch of princess fever because Vivian came home with several new dresses from the boutique.  While the ladies were getting sprinkled with pixie dust, Henry and Bryant headed over to the Pirate’s League in Fantasyland so Henry could get his face painted like a skeleton pirate (again).  It never ceases to amaze us how our squirmy little boy can sit so still for these things.

 

 

It was a fun but exhausting week—we managed to hit all our favorite attractions and restaurants and even added a few new ones.  Both kids rode the Haunted Mansion for the first time (and were mostly OK).  Henry’s favorites are still the Barnstormer roller coaster and the Maelstrom ride in Norway.  Actually, we’re not sure if Henry likes the ride so much as the gift shop afterward.  Thanks to his grandmothers, he managed to come home with two more troll figurines for his collection.  Henry wasn’t quite old enough to ride the adult roller coasters, but he did make it onto the Dinosaur ride in Animal Kingdom (even if he had his eyes closed for most of it).  For Viv, the highlight of the trip was undoubtedly breakfast at Cinderella’s Castle.  She simply can’t get enough of her Disney princesses.

 

Mimi Pauline provided good cheer and some much needed help throughout the week.  We’re not sure what the highlight was for her, but she certainly seemed to enjoy riding the Kali River Rapids with Bryant and Henry as you can see below.

 

 

As usual, the week went by far too quickly and, before we knew it, we found ourselves at the airport waiting to fly home.  Not sure when we’ll make it back for another magical vacation, but something tells us it won’t be long…