We're back...

from Orlando. It was a quick trip for the girls & I. We left Thursday morning & were back home by very early Sunday morning. It was a whirlwind but it was fun.
We were able to see Jon & Jenn Parker on Thursday evening. Jeff hadn't seen them since their wedding almost 7 years ago. Emma & their daughter Jordan had a blast together. They saw each other last year, but I don't know if either of them remembered it. We had dinner at the hotel, the Disney Swan where Jeff was staying. It included a couple appearances by Disney characters Goofy & Pluto. The restaurant wasn't all that busy, so they were able to stay with each table for quite awhile. Pluto came back twice, as did Goofy. The girls posed for a picture with Pluto (on the website), one on each side of him, with his arms around them. After I took the picture, he stood up, picking up the girls under his arms and started to walk off with them. It was cute. Even though Jon & Jenn were only able to stay for a few hours, it was nice to see them again.
The next day we went to Disneyworld. Emma decided she wanted to wear her Snow White outfit the whole day. I mistakenly thought she might be one of only a few kids to be wearing costumes before the Halloween thing that night. I was wrong. I saw no less than 50-100 kids wearing a myriad of costumes, mostly Disney Princess ones. There were even a few adults dressed up.
We had fun. Emma was adamant about going on the Dumbo ride and the carousel. We didn't get on Dumbo until late in the evening, as it was one of the most popular rides in the park with the longest line. Emma ended up not liking half of the "kiddie rides", i.e. Peter Pan's Flight & Snow White's Adeventure. She did like the Winnie the Pooh one, though. I'm not sure why she wasn't thrilled about the other ones. They have a new one for Buzz Lightyear. It's pretty cool. You're on a car, like the other ones, but you have a stick shift & are able to turn the car around on a 360 degree access and shoot at targets with 2 onboard laser guns. It keeps a tally of how many you hit & gives you a score at the end of the ride. It's pretty neat.
They also have a new 3-D show called "Disney's Philharmonic". It was Jeff's favorite. We went twice. I think even Sarah liked it, although I felt bad that she had to see it blurry, as she didn't have any 3-D glasses.
Emma was a little upset when we stood in line for 45 minutes to get a picture with Cinderella (her favorite) only to have Cinderella leave when there were only 3 people in front of us. I think she had a show to do, and Disney has a policy that 2 people playing the same character aren't allowed out in public at the same time. We went and saw her show and before it started, some of the villains came out to give autographs & pose for pictures. The Evil Queen from Snow White was there & as she was passing Emma (we were in the front row), she just stared at her & gave her the evil eye. I'm assuming it was because she was dressed as Snow White. It was pretty funny. Emma didn't think so, though and got scared. It was kinda cool, there were adults dressed up as Maleficent (from Sleeping Beauty), Cruella DeVil, and the Evil Queen. They each went to their respective villain & posed for a picture. I thought that was kinda neat.
We had a blast and can't wait to go back. It's definitely different than Disneyland.