Our Disney World Vacation

As a Christmas gift to Andrea and I we were given the opportunity to take the vacation of our choice. At first thought our minds ventured to places like New Zealand, Italy, and New York but as we began to seriously discuss where we should go we came to the conclusion that we wanted to go somewhere as a family, with Syd that is. Having an infant would make sightseeing and such pretty difficult and we want to get away and relax more than anything else right now. After giving it a little thought we decided that Disney World was where we wanted to go mostly because it would be fairly accommodating to people with infants which would in turn allow us to enjoy the time spent together as much as possible. Anyway, enough of the how & why...
We had a blast. Sydney was so responsive to the atmosphere and characters. We had park hopper passes and visited every resort but we spent the most amount of time at the Animal Kingdom and Epcot. Both were fantastic. Its hard to pick a favorite thing but I will share some of the highlights. First off I will say that the Animal Kingdom was amazing! The environment was so lush and it was great to see all the animals. The Tree of life in the center of the park is also amazing. From a distance it looks like... well... a big tree. But as you approach it you start to see that the trunk and roots of the tree are actually made up of the shapes of various different types of animals. We spent a good twenty minutes walking around it and picking out as many animals as we could identify. One cast member even told me that there is around 250 different animals represented. We went on the safari that unlike the Jungle Cruise has real animals. That was a lot of fun. Annie said that was her favorite part of the park. Mine was the new attraction Expedition Everest.
It doesn't officially open until around April 9th but they had a soft opening and were allowing park visitors to ride it. It was so much more than just a roller coaster. Throughout the ride you are being stalked by a Yeti, the giant snow monster. At one point the cars are hurled backward along the tracks. It was great fun. But as much fun as I had on that ride I think my favorite thing was walking around the Nation Pavilions at Epcot. It was fun to venture through the miniature towns that represented different countries from around the world. Each one had restaurants and shopping that were unique to the nation it represented. Also many of the cast members working in those specific areas are actually from the nation. It was nice because when we talked to them not only did they have authentic accents but they also had stories and bits of info about their countries that they had experienced or picked up in their home land. It may not sound all that exciting but we enjoyed it tremendously.
Last but not least when we were walking around the Disney/MGM Studios we ventured into the Disney Art gallery. My wife saw this painting and instantly fell in love. She called me over to admire it with her and after a bit of discussion we decided that we wanted it. We both really like that it wasn't overtly Disney and that it also would be a nice memento of not only our trip but also this time in our lives, with a new child and such. We are looking forward to receiving it sometime this week and we already have a place for it on our wall. :)

All in all it was a great family vacation. It was nice and relaxing but also a very fun way to spend some time away together. We are looking forward to taking Sydney back in a few more years! Until then we have these memories to cherish...