Day 1 Florida - OLD KEY WEST Resort & DOWNTOWN DISNEY

September 5, 2011

We drove down to Des Moines last night so we could leave early in the morning and catch our 6 am flight to Orlando! Thank you to EVERYONE that made this trip possible!

Jaren and Ollie goofing around in the back of the van.

A beautiful sunrise on the plane.

Jaren

Eden and Ollie

We stayed at Old Key West resort which was beautiful. This was behind the front desk. :O) Again... thank you to the Sproull's for allowing us to stay here free of charge. We can't wait for you to see all the fun we had! It was beautiful!

While we were checking in, they came in and announced that Oliver had just arrived, gave him balloons and each of the kids an autographed picture of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and Pluto! What a sweet surprise!

Ollie was wearing his UNI shirt (University of Northern Iowa) the first day and a worker at the resort came up to Ollie and I and said, "UNI?!? Is that a University of Northern Iowa shirt?!" Turns out that he graduated from UNI in 2006 and was from Iowa. His name tag said "Cedar Falls, Iowa" on it -- my hometown. How crazy is that?!

Grandma and Jaren waiting outside of the General Store.

By the pool area.

Sweet Jaren. The workers there kept giving the kids Mickey Mouse stickers!

After we grabbed lunch and looked around the resort for a few hours we headed to Downtown Disney. We didn't have a chance to go there during Ollie's Make*A*Wish trip last year. It was WAY bigger than I thought it would be. There were lots of restaurants and shops lining each side of the lagoon. We got there by bus and went home via water taxi.


Oliver at Downtown Disney

I was in awe at all of the Lego creations!

Oliver chose to eat at T-Rex which was a dinosaur version of The Rainforest Cafe. Jaren was NOT happy about this choice. When we walked inside and he saw the huge dinosaur behind Ed moving he said, "Get me out of here!!!" I'm sure we won't win Parent of the Year because we stayed there and ate anyways. He most likely won't be a paleontologist because of this horrifying experience! ;o) I thought it was pretty awesome!

During the 'Meteor Shower' lights would go off and on and sounds of dinosaurs filled the restaurant. The ice cave would turn from blue to pink to orange and back again changing with crackling noises. It was awesome. I had hoped we would sit in the ice cave area.

Ollie

Mom and me
This huge octopus would move around every once in a while.

Ollie and Eden

In the Lego store next to Buzz Lightyear!

Eden picking Woody's nose!

The kids getting creative.

By the Harry Potter Lego kits.

This Mickey was made out of a ton of smaller Mickey statues!!

The kids designing their own Mickey's.

I had to get a picture of the Yoda one!!!

This statue guy was pretty cool. He was all bronzed out and looked at Jaren right before I snapped the picture!!!

It was fun hearing all the music and seeing all the lights and cool shops.