Fun around the Disney Resorts

After hearing about Laura's family's adventures and reading reports of other family experiences at Disney, I knew the resorts would be high-class vacation destinations on their own. From our experience last week, I can attest to the fact that Disney is top-notch when it comes to creating an atmosphere perfect for family fun. 

From the wildlife viewing from our villa balcony (thanks Laura and John for this treat!)...

...to the kids activities planned at the lodge throughout the day and night. After dinner the Saturday evening that we arrived at Disney the boys enjoyed an animal sound matching game put on at the fire pit by one of the Disney "cast members"...

...while Amelia (helped by grandma and grandpop) enjoyed roasting marshmallows in the fire pit. Funny thing - Amelia doesn't care for marshmallows, but she sure enjoyed sharing her creations with the adults that were interested in enjoying the gooey treats!

And of course a mandatory photo of all four grandkids with their grandparents. So hard to pull off...but so worth it!

As expected though, the biggest draw for our family were the pools. Even though the Florida weather was unusually chilly last week, we all enjoyed spending time at the two pools at Animal Kingdom Lodge and at another pool at the Grand Floridian Resort. 

Below is a cool action shot of John at the large Animal Kingdom Lodge pool, participating in his aunt Laura's game of "who can do the best belly flop into the water with the biggest splash?" Kudos for aunt Laura for her creativity with this game.

And kudos for Scott for exercising his shoulder muscles to throw the three big kids in the pool over and over again. Scott is with Jack in the photo below. The kids all loved this!

On our day of departure (Tuesday), Scott and John and Henry had all left (Scott to return to work in Texas, John to work in Gainesville, with Henry in tow), so Laura and I were left with the three big kids. None of us were ready to leave Disney property yet so we tried to do something fun with our remaining time. Unfortunately the day was a bit dreary with cooler than normal temperatures and drizzly skies. But we made the most of it. We traveled via bus and monorail to the Magic Kingdom area, where we spent the morning and early afternoon exploring the Grand Floridian Resort, one of the most picturesque (not in this weather though) of the Disney resorts.

Needless to say, the kids had the pool to themselves! They were thrilled!

The Pool Children's Activities Director had the three cousins as her captive audience for a game of "Catch the Critters" (there were no other children swimming at the time). She threw small plastic animals into the beach-entry section of the pool, and John, Amelia, and Jack were charged with capturing the most animals they could in a race against time.

On your mark, get set, GO!

The kids loved playing this game (probably highlighted by the fact that they are competing against each other with no outsiders present), and enjoyed having fun with each other over and over again.

We loved the amenities that the Walt Disney World Resort provided and are glad that we had the chance to share them with Laura and her family.

More photos from the rest of our Disney experience as well as Sarasota to come.