Day 1: Friday, January 6th
All about flying. We were up by 4 AM, at the airport by 5 AM and in the air by 7 AM. With a layover in Dallas, we were in Orlando by 4 PM. We used Disney's Magical Express service which picks you and your luggage up at the airport (there's no need for you to fetch it from the baggage claim areas). They drop you off at your hotel where you check in; later that evening, they deliver your luggage directly to your room. That's a cool service all around. However, the check-in process was painfully slow. It somehow took us 3 hours to get from the airport to fully checked-in and in our rooms.

We decided to vent some steam and hit Epcot for a short period of time that evening. Nothing accomplished, but we enjoyed the park.

Day 2: Saturday, January 7th
We spent most of the day freezing our butts off. With a high barely in the mid-50s, it was chilly to be walking around outside. We briefly went to the Magic Kingdom in the morning, where I saw my first "Disney Moment." While watching a barbershop quartet performing on Main Street USA, I noticed a woman escorting her daughter who obviously had Down Syndrome. The quartet held out their hand to the girl, put her right in the middle of the four of them, and continued to sing as the teary-eyed mother snapped a photo. You likely won't see that anywhere else.

Later, we rode the Monorail to Epcot at Jacob's request, went back to the hotel to rest up, then went back to the Magic Kingdom for the SpectroMagic parade and "Wishes," a huge, new fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom.

Day 3: Sunday, January 8th
The chills remained in the air as we dodged Disney Marathon runners. We started at Animal Kingdom for a character breakfast. The food left something to be desired, but the characters were quite friendly. After hitting a few rides and attractions (including the Kilimanjaro Safaris), we again headed back to the hotel to rest up. The kids were fighting colds to start the trip as it was, so there wasn't much point in pushing them too hard.

We headed back out that afternoon to go to Disney-MGM Studios to have dinner at 50's Prime Time Café, which actually closed the next day for renovations. We decided to make an early evening of it since tomorrow (Jacob's birthday) would surely be a marathon.

Day 4: Monday, January 9th (Jacob's 4th Birthday)
The morning started with an 8 AM Winnie the Pooh character breakfast at The Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom. Jacob and Andrew met Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger and, of course, Winnie the Pooh. Jacob was serenaded with "Happy Birthday" for the third time already this trip.

Second up: a guided tour throughout the Magic Kingdom. I got to see a few different things that I would've otherwise missed, such as the heart with a pair of paw prints in the sidewalk in front of Tony's Restaurant. That's taken directly from Lady and the Tramp for all those non-Disney freaks out there. Also, Cinderella's Fountain, which when viewed from a low angle (a child's perspective), can be seen with Cinderella's crown on.

The tour concluded with Alice (from Alice in Wonderland) joining our party and escorting us into PhilharMagic. Being the birthday boy, Jacob got to sit with her, hold her hand, got a kiss on the cheek from her, etc. We all joked that it was Jake's first date.

We once again killed a good chunk of the day by heading back to the hotel so the kids could sleep some more. By this time, their colds had pretty well warn off, but they were still getting very cranky and tired very easily. So, sleep it was.

We headed back out to go on a pirate-themed boat ride from the Contemporary resort around to the cove in front of the Magic Kingdom to watch "Wishes," that new fireworks show. What a beautiful site it was! Unfortunately, since the boat was moving every so slightly, many of the pictures I took wouldn't work. I guess you'll just have to go see that for yourself!

Day 5: Tuesday, January 10th
Anna and I formulated a plan mid-way through Monday: no more trips back to the hotel and we'd cover one park per day the rest of the trip. Animal Kingdom was first up on the chopping block. This would be our last trip to this park, something that I didn't mind at all. It's a beautiful park and it has some great attractions, but it is my least favorite, by far. I think it's the fact that the vegetation is so thick around there that you can't really see that far ahead. It's not like Magic Kingdom or Epcot where you can pretty well spot the central point (Cinderella's Castle / Spaceship Earth) from anywhere in the park and navigate by it. Besides my prejudicial opinion about the place, we enjoyed ourselves, partly because it was the first day where it was just Anna, Jacob, Andrew and me. Anna and I didn't need to deal with aunts/uncles/grandparents spoiling the kids and could decide what we wanted to do when we wanted it.

After doing the doings at Animal Kingdom, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for a little known service on Main Street USA: a barbershop. The boys got their haircut with some serious flare added!

That night was rather special. Anna and I had an evening all to ourselves, something that very rarely happens. It began with a great sit-down dinner at Boma, inside the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We later hit Epcot and enjoyed several attractions there including Mission: Space. The evening closed out with IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, a fireworks show based around the World Showcase Lagoon at Epcot. By the way, are you counting parks? We hit every one but Disney-MGM Studios Tuesday.

Day 6: Wednesday, January 11th
Disney-MGM Studios it is! We hit Rock ?N' Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show, a glorious turkey leg, and my second "Disney Moment." Strolling up to The Great Movie Ride with Jacob and Andrew's special hairstyles from the Magic Kingdom still fully intact, an "usher" at the front escorted us through the exiting doors and put us first in line simply because the kids had their hair done at the Magic Kingdom. There was no reason in the world that that guy should've done that, but he did nonetheless. It saved us a 20 minute wait.

We stayed for Fantasmic, a remarkable outdoor show that's based around a dream Mickey Mouse is having that degrades into a nightmare. Special jet-like fountains are used to create screens on which they display images from several different Disney films. The special effects in that show were pretty incredible, especially given that everything takes place outdoors.

After getting back to the hotel, we had to wash out the orange/red out of Jacob's hair and the green from Andrew's. Andrew looked like the Hulk at one point and Jacob like he had some terrible sunburn. They both thought that was hilarious.

Day 7: Thursday, January 12th
It was Magic Kingdom day for us. There's an awful lot to hit there if you have little ones, and we pretty well managed. Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain were all enjoyed, as well as It's a Small World, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan's Magical Flight, etc. A lot was accomplished. I even made a teacher-like move and made everyone go to the Hall of Presidents. I found it a little odd that they placed Richard Nixon up front with George W. Bush. The positioning was as though Nixon was Bush's Vice President. "It's a Small World" wasn't the song that got stuck in my head; it was actually "There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" from the Carousel of Progress.

The Magic Kingdom was home to my third "Disney Moment," by far my favorite. Early that morning, we purchased those clichéd Mickey hats for both Jacob and Andrew and had their names embroidered in the back. Both of the boys were giddy about those hats and couldn't take them off initially. As the day wore on and the temperature rose, the hats came off. Andrew's managed to fall off of the stroller at one point, which was just as heartbreaking to Anna and me as it was to Andrew. Anna went back to the same shop later that night to simply purchase a brand new one. As Anna explained why she was purchasing a second one, the Disney "cast member" that embroidered hat #2 for Andrew simply handed it to Anna and said that it would be of no charge. Again, that's going well above the call of duty.

That night was supposed to be a night of bar-hopping boozing down at Pleasure Island. Instead, we hit a comedy club of sorts down there and wound up calling it a night shortly thereafter. Some partiers we are!

Day 8: Friday, January 13th
It didn't occur to me until after midnight that this was Friday the 13th. Nonetheless, we started the day with a character breakfast at Chef Mickey's in the lobby of the Contemporary Resort. We still did not feel like we had covered everything at the Magic Kingdom, so we went back there that morning, rode a couple rides, and wound up buying ponchos. We headed for Downtown Disney to do some shopping when it very briefly poured. The rain had been threatening most of the day.

That night, we went to Epcot to take advantage of Disney Magic Hours which allows those staying on property to stay for an extended period of time after the park has closed. After catching IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth (this time I had my camera), we enjoyed some brats in the Germany Pavilion and walked around the World Showcase and various other parts of the park throughout the evening. Epcot closed to the general public at 9 PM, but was open to resort guests until 12 AM, which is about how long we stayed. I think it had become a realization to all of us that it was our last night there, something that was very difficult to believe. Nonetheless, it was Day 9 by the time we got back to the hotel.

Day 9: Saturday, January 14th
We managed to not hit all the countries and missed The Living Seas, which features Finding Nemo, one of the boys' favorite movies. So, we had to go back to Epcot that morning. We managed to do The Living Seas, ride Journey into Imagination with Figment, and hit five countries (spread out as far as possible, of course) all within 2 hours. We bolted back to the hotel, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and then loaded on the Disney Magical Express busses back to the airport. We got back into Des Moines around 9:30 PM.

Since then, we've all returned to the daily grind, for the most part. We've still got suitcases in our living room and come across the occasional souvenir that clearly doesn't belong in the spot it's at, but doesn't really go anywhere else, so it gets left alone. You know how it is.

As wonderful a trip as it was for me, Anna and the boys (and I'm sure the 12 others that went with us), I'm very happy to be back home.