SO WHAT ABOUT YOUR TRIP TO FLORIDA DEBBY?

Thanks for asking, it was great! Leaving right after Thanksgiving, then coming home and getting ready for Christmas I just haven't had time to work on this post. I know the pictures are small when I do a collage but I can never pick just a few. Click to enlarge so you can view them bigger.

We stayed at the Gaylord Palms near Orlando and it was wonderful. They have an alligator pond with turtles. I have pictures of the turtles up on the alligators backs in the water but they just don't show up with the reflections of the water. They had lovely poinsettias all around. They had a shuttle to and from Disney several times each day. 

Here are a few of the Christmas decorations around the parks. I enjoyed the large ornaments in the window. It was a chorus line of several doing kicks. 

Loved the large Coke bottles and the Toy Story soldiers on the building taking the Scrabble game!

I did Hollywood Studios on Tuesday and had such a fun time. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror was something else. You can't help but scream! You know I love miniature things but I also get excited when I see large items like the monkeys going across the street or the large over sized light bulbs. I had been to this park when are kids were young and it was brand new, off course there were a lot more things to see this time. 

I did as much as I could do with my day and really had fun. I was pretty exhausted since we didn't get to the hotel until 1:00 am the night before but I just keep going. Really enjoyed the Beauty and the Beast show. They do excellent productions at Disney and I also enjoyed the back lot tour along with Star Tours and the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. 

I was also very please to see this Nativity set up. It wasn't in a prominent spot but never the less it was there and made me smile. I think I was gone about 11 hours that first day. Amazing what adrenaline can do to you when you are visiting the happiest place on earth! 

On Wednesday I went to the Animal Kingdom. I didn't stay as long as the day before but I saw everything I wanted to see. Besides I had a dinner date with Mark that night. It was wonderful, I really enjoyed this park. 

I was very excited to see the Tree of Life. This is the front view of the tree. I didn't take a lot of pictures here but took a lot at the back side. My plan was to go and see some of the shows first. 

 This is the back side....

A few up close....

The Festival of the Lion King was the first show I saw. It was wonderful, I really enjoyed it. I haven't seen The Lion King on stage but I must say this inspired me to go see it someday. It was fun, exciting and the talent was amazing. Of course that is what you expect from Disney! 

Finding Nemo the Musical was so cool. It is puppet show like you have never seen before. If you ever go don't pass this one up. I loved it! 

Something I definitely wanted to do was the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride. It is a safari ride through lush African to search for lions, elephants, giraffes and more! What a fun ride, you really feel like you are on the rugged roads in Africa. There were three woman who were visiting the park and sat with me on the ride on the same bench in the jeep. We were in the back row and we really got bumped around and they were laughing so hard. 

I also did the Dinosaur ride and of course the Expedition Everest which is a roller coaster. I really do like roller coaster rides! I did a lot of shopping and just enjoyed my day. Even though the parks appeared to be crowded they really were not, the wait for rides was never longer than 20 minutes. They have a lot of walking tours which I didn't do but would have liked to. I have to admit I was pretty exhausted that day.

I did enjoy the parade. I have seen many Disney parades over the years but never the one in the Animal Kingdom. So different and so much fun to watch. I have to say I would definitely visit this park again. 

Then on Thursday we headed to my dad's house. I had made plans with everyone to come over for a pizza night which was fun. We had a nice evening and actually watched "The Sound of Music" with Carrie Underwood that night. My dad doesn't have a DVR so it was a must to watch it. 

These four are always a reason to go to Florida. These are my sister and brother in laws grandchildren. Starting on the left is Ashlynn, her older sister Amanda, her younger brother Garrett and their cousin Amber. 

So that's what I did in Florida........