And Then We Went to France!

France in Epcot, that is!!



See the Eiffel Tower!

Though a trip to Paris and London and Ireland and Dubrovnik

and . . . are all on my bucket list! :)

But, for now, France in Epcot will have to do!

 

 

 We LOVE getting a bite to eat at the Patisserie --

the quiche is

so yummy,

 the croissants melt in your mouth, and

who could resist an eclair or chocolate mousse for dessert? 

Tres magnifique!  Yum!

 

 

Isn't Princess Aurora so beautiful!

 

 

On the way home between flights with her 2 best friends!

 

This finally concludes my series on our Spring Break trip! 

We had a blast and someone is already planning the next one!

Yikes!

 

 

An Elephant and A Mouse

Sunrise at Mt. Everest in Animal Kingdom

 

 

Yes, we are finally nearing the end of the Spring Break/Disney series!

 

 

 

Although I do have a ton more of miscellaneous photos that I could share with you!

Another early start on our day to Animal Kingdom and it was another brrrr chilly morning!

Good morning Mr. Giraffe!

We got right on one of our favorite rides -- the Kilimanjaro Safari ride! 

Love that one and you can see the animals up so close.

 

Not wanting our tickets to the really scary high roller coaster (Expedition Everest) at Animal Kingdom to go to waste (I chickened out, oh yes I did),  we gave our fast passes to some people who otherwise would be waiting 60 or more minutes for the ride.

We did go on a river raft ride that I thought would be too chilly,

as you always get wet, but it turned out ok and Mr. Tennis took the brunt of the water on that one --  much appreciated! :)

King Louie is a big hugger!

I know it's kind of  silly, but watching Maddy with the characters

is really one of my favorite parts of the trip!

Soon, she might be too old to find that fun -- but not yet!!

A New Friend and Some Characters!

At breakfast on our last morning at the Universal Studios hotel

before we moved to Disney,

we made some new friends.  

A young girl (4th grader) and her Dad joined us for breakfast. 

 They thought we looked like fun! :)

Oh yeah, look at Mr. Tennis below -

fun is his middle name!!!

 

Somebody loves Dumbo, doesn't he!!

 

Diana was also adopted from China.  She and her Dad were on a spring break

roadtrip while her Mom was on a trip to China! 

It was so fun to meet them and chat with Diana and Joe! 

We all wished we had met sooner --

the girls really wished they could have gone swimming and hung out together!

 

We ran into them a little later at Disney,

so the girls hung out together while waiting for character autographs --

one of Maddy's and Diana's favorite things to do!

We had just seen the movie, Wreck It Ralph --

and there he was along with his little cohort and friend, Vanelope! 

Sweet!!

 

Silly Ralph stuck Mickey right into his pocket with those big hands!

 

Waiting in line for autographs never

gets old for Miss Maddy!!

 

 

 

Pool Time!

Of course, we had to have some pool time during our trip to Orlando.

Pools are not opening around here anytime soon

and snow is still being forecast this week!!!!

Where, oh where, is spring?

 

The hotel had a lovely pool and after that wake-up call of 6 AM

and hitting the parks,

we opted for some relaxing pool time in the afternoon.

 

I think I could have spent every day, all day,

 at the pool!

 

And besides Maddy,

guess who else loved the pool?

 

 

Yes, Mickey Mouse went everywhere with us

and insisted we take lots of photos! 

 

 

We headed back to Universal that evening

for more rides!

Can you just about hear me screaming??

 

 

Favorite Photo Friday!

Love this place -- 

especially the Porch of Indecision!

Who among us hasn't said at one time or another (or many times) 

"I don't care, where do you want to go?"

 "What do you want to eat?"
"What do you want to do?"

 "Do you want to stay or go?"

 

Bet you didn't know that Mr. Tennis and I saw Jimmy Buffet

in concert at the Tower Theatre in

Upper Darby, Pennsylvania during his law school days.

That is Mr. Tennis's law school days --

 I don't know if Jimmy Buffet went to law school!

 

Jimmy (as he asked us to call him) had broken his leg at an

earlier, more rambunctious concert (think he meant drunken party),

so he was in a full leg cast,

but still put on quite a performance.

He may or may not have been taking some pain pills at the time! :)

Anywhooooo -- we had to visit his place at

Universal Studios and toast

him with a margarita and cheeseburger in paradise!

 

And Mr. Tennis had to FB the event!!

 

Mickey was so embarrassed that he was
FBing or texting during dinner!

 

More Universal!

More from Universal Studios!

 

 

We actually were not at Universal Orlando very long

(2 nights at the hotel -

then we moved to Disney).

We loved Universal -- though we felt a little out of the loop

since we hadn't been there before.

But, we stayed at a super hotel

 recommended by my sister.  We were going to meet her there

when the trip was originally booked for last New Year's. 

But then I broke my foot (remember all the whining -- boo hoo!) --

so we had to reschedule.

  Unfortunately, my sissy and her daughter could not make it over the Easter holiday. 

We missed them so much!! 

But LOVED the hotel she recommended. 

 It was the Loews Royal Pacific -- super nice and so close with a great little walkway over to Universal and Islands of Adventure!

 

 

Some of our fave rides at Universal/Islands of Adventure were

Despicable Me - Minion Mayhem (hilarious), Shrek the Crazy,

Twister (that one scared Maddy)

and some of the silly Dr. Seuss rides!

 

Super fun looking roller coasters - not brave enough to ride though!

 

Jurassic Park --

who knew it would be coming out in 3D this week?

That movie scared me when it originally was released!

3D??  No thank you!

 

 

 

A funner version of my big red jeep!


 

 

Sweet bicycle!!

 

The Dr. Seuss area playground -- so fun --

do you see who's photobombing this one?

 

 

 

I don't know if Miss Maddy will ever be in a

big city with a subway system,

so Mr. Tennis and she took the subway there!

 

 

Coming up soon -- pool fun!

 

A New Kind of School -- Hogwarts U!!

While we were in Orlando, we decided to check out a new school --

The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry!!!
Remember Harry Potter -- of course, you do!

We joined the early morning crowds!

 

 

 Thanks to staying at a hotel on-premises, we got in at 7 AM --

Nothing like a 6 AM wake-up call on vacation, right!?!!

Oh my word --

 that ride is seriously AMAZING!!

 

Loved it -- we (Maddy and I) screamed a Lot  (that seemed to be a theme on this trip)

and the sign of a very good ride!

Another fave ride was the Flight of the Hippogriffs --

we rode that sweet roller coaster a few times -- once in the very first car --

lots of screaming and laughing ensued!

We would definitely have tasted some Butterbeer--

but it was only 7:30 am!!

As the daughter of a retired railroad engineer, I loved seeing

 that special train the students took to Hogwarts!

 

Now, that's the kind of train my Dad would have loved to engineer!

Stay tuned --

more Orlando fun to come!

An Easter Parade!

Oh my - 

I have some catching up to do, don't I!

 

 

So, before Easter is long forgotten

I wanted to share a few photos

from the Easter Parade

at DisneyWorld!

 

 

 

 

 

Here's Miss Maddy on Easter Sunday -

it was unseasonably cool in Florida while we were there

hence the leggings and sweater! 

 

 

 

Had a wonderful time --

more to come!