Christmas Vacation 2010, Part 1 of 3. Disney and Universal!

So, starting our epic Christmas vacay, we went to Universal Studios for a few days, then Disneyworld for a few days! Despite looking like this some of the days...overall, they did so well handling all the busy days and fun fun fun they could take.
This is in Islands of Adventure.
There were Who's! Who's walking around the Dr Suess part of Islands of Adventure.
Brooklyn, Lizzie, and Elijah

I thought Elijah might be afraid of the big characters, but he LOVED them! He gave Curious George a big hug.
And Scooby got a hug too.
I think this picture displays very appropriate symbolism.
A big highlight of the trip.... HARRY POTTER WORLD. I thought it would be cool to see, but not a huge deal. Once we walked in though, you're in freaking HARRY POTTER'S WORLD.
it was amazing. Soo cool. Definitely lives up to all the hubbub.

We stocked up on wands, chocolate frogs, and various scarves, candies, and some indulged in butterbeer.

Next, we shuttled over toooo.....DISNEYWORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you have never been to disney at Christmas time, I highly suggest it. Everything is just that much more incredibly amazing. It was like a two day out-of-body experience. Here we are, entering the park for the first time


Check out Brooklyn in the background. Way to be on the look out for a camera.

Teacups! Our first Disney ride.
It was one Lizzie was most looking forward to. Mark too.
Dont worry, I controlled the gas pedal on this ride.
Main st, Disney at Christmas! We got special tickets to Mickey's Christmas Parade after the park was closed. They made it snow!
While waiting for the parade to start, we tried to keep occupied.
Julia and Marcus.

Proof that Mark has held a baby.And now the parade! Cinderella's carriage in front of Cinderella's castle??!! That about sums up the magical-ness. (magicality?)
Look how pretty the castle is all lit up for Christmas.
Toy soldiers/drummers? They were awesome.
And of course, Santa!
Elijah watched the fireworks with Papa Mickey, and laughed the whole time at the noises he was making.


At Disney, we stayed at the Contemporary, which was AWESOME, but I didnt take pics there for some reason, we did, however, visit one of the other resorts to see the GIANT gingerbread house!! Totally edible! It was amazing! My brother Mike styled Elijah's hair that day so Elijah was looking like this.

Here is the lobby area, you can see part of the House to the left of the tree.

We could not get the whole house into the frame. Also could not get Elijah to look at the camera.So it was basically the most amazingly magical wonderful outrageously awesome crazy fun family Christmas time vacation trip of a lifetime EVER ever. Thanks Papa Mickey. Happy graduation and retirement. What a way to celebrate.

Next up: Trip to Virginia
Later: Christmas in South Dakota and New Years in St Paul