Friday, January 28, 2011

Morris Murdock Travel Show Jan 28th -29th

1) 15thh Annual Morris Murdock Travel Show – Our largest show ever with nearly 100 booths
2) Date: January 28th and 29th
3) South Town Expo Center
4) Times: Friday from 2-8p and Saturday from 10a-4p
5) Kids 17 and under are free
6) Grand PRIZE: Register to win amazing trips including a grand prize 7 -day Cruise courtesy of Princess Cruises.
7) Other Prizes include: A vacation getaway to Ireland courtesy of Brendan Tours, A 9-night European vacation for 2 courtesy of Trafalgar Tours, Airline tickets, hotels stays, plus much more!
8) Over 30 Free Travel Seminars
9) Exclusive travel deals with over 80 vendors from around the world
10) Entertainment such as: Bingo, Elvis, Deal or No Deal, Polynesian Dancers, a Mariachi Band, and more
11) Vendors such as: Funjet Vacations, Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Holland America Line, Delta Vacations, Viking River Cruises, Disney Travel Company, Carnival Cruises, and tourism boards from around the world.
12) Expert agents available to assist you with a booking right at the show

Go to http://www.morrismurdock.com/  for more info!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Our Disney Vacation Adventure... Official Day 1!


We had hopper passes to all 4 parks, but originally thought it was to just 2 of the parks.  So we had already planned to start our day out at Hollywood Studios.


All the cast members greeted us on the way in with their Mickey Mouse gloves... so we got ours out!


It was a little cool this morning, but not too bad. Kai woke us up at 7:30am (5:30 Utah time)... I thought I was going to die.  Turns out it was harder on Kai than the rest of us....


First ride of the day... Tower of Terror ... big mistake! Kai was traumatized the rest of the day!


After the ride, Kai had a hard time smiling!


On our way to the Toy Story ride we stopped to watch a parade.


Keala got involved dancing with the cast.... she loved it!


Kai stood by and watched (still not feeling good).


Keala was in her element! She could have danced all day... or did she?!...


The ride was shut down right when we got there...but who's this standing around?


It was our friend... "Army Soldier'! (Kai's still in a bad mood).


After trying the Mermaid Show and Back-Lot Tour we took the kids to the Animal Kingdom Park.


Posing into the sun was not as easy as it looks!


We thought the Dinosaur Ride would cheer Kai up...


Where's Kai, he's missing from the picture?  Well, he's ducked down so far from sheer terror you can barely see him!  I can't help but laugh everytime I see this! Poor Kai!


We bombed again with that ride... so onto another...


We finally ALL liked this ride... (remind you of a famous 'Dumbo flying elephant' ride?)


Keala loved this backdrop!


Kai's still in a mood!


We sat down to eat a 'Turkey Leg' and a flock of birds came begging for free handouts.


Isn't that a little like 'cannibalism'... Keala thought it was cool.


We went to the famous 'Tree of Life' and looked for all the different animals carved into the truck... that was fun!


Then we went to the 'Bug's Life' show and it turned into the demise of my son.  He was just too freaked out from the beginning of the day to handle the puffs of air and pretend bugs poking your back and crawling under your butt.  I think this one put him over the edge.


We thought buying this dinosaur toy would help Kai out... it worked a little. He was just having a rough day!


We got on the animal safari ride and had to reassure Kai about a hundred times that there were no tricks or scary animals or suprises.  He couldn't take much more of that! 


After a roller coaster at Animal Kingdom we finally had to leave. Kai couldn't trust his fears anymore and so we came over the the Magic Kingdom where he thought we would do better.


We had to drag him onto 'Thunder Mountain Railroad' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean', when he loved those rides just 2 years ago. I think the lack of sleep was just too hard on him.


The Magic Kingdom stayed open after 6 just for our Cruise Guests.  They served us dinner and had a few characters out for us to take pictures with. Keala was thrilled!


We got right up to the characters without having to wait half an hour!


I couldn't believe they had Mickey and Minnie out... we were thrilled!


They opened only 3 rides for us but we literally dragged both kids onto the 'Haunted Mansion'.  I guess my kids are going through a stage. I KNOW we did all these rides at Disneyland 2 years ago, I just don't know why they were so freaked out about it now. People gave me mean looks for letting them cry.


But we still had fun. Keala found her element again in another parade.  She danced with more Cast Members in FrontierLand.


They did the Hokey Pokey and turned all around.  (Kai stood this one out too!)


It was so cute to see Keala have so much fun! At least one kid had a good time today. One out of two's not bad!


At the end of the night they had 2 shows for us at the hub in front of the castle.  One was a projected show onto the castle walls which was amazing!


The second show was the famous Disney fireworks in the Sky show! Here are Keala's Minnie Mouse Ears... Everyone at this party commented on them and she loved all the attention! She was so cute!


On the way out we were saluted by our favorite Mouse! "Come back soon!"  Oh we will! (When Kai gets a couple years older!)

The Amazing Disney Dream Cruise!


Up again at 7am (5am Utah time).  These early mornings are not just killing Kai, but all of us! We were supposed to have our luggage in the hall at 7:30.  We weren't ready and litterally threw everything in any suitcase and threw it in the hall. We had nothing other than snacks in my backpack for the day!


Thank goodness they gave us bags of breakfast treats on the way to the ship.  It was an hour drive!  Its amazing how my husband can sleep sitting up!


Once at the dock, they had us seated for an hour long Christening Celebration.... pretty impressive!


I don't know how many hundreds of people were there, but this show was mostly for press, travel agents, and any other publicity that Disney invited on the cruise. Nice program!


The kids hated taking pictures in the sun.  They loved the show though!


The whole performance was one dance after another, with quick announcements in between.  But just full of entertainment, and music, and dancing!


We probably saw almost every Disney character represented in this program.


You have to look closely, but right on cue, all the Ship's Cast Members were standing on the balconies waving streamers and dancing to music... it was impressive!


The show ended with fireworks, dancing, a big band, boom, and a bang!


Brent was thrilled to see how far this company goes to impress its audience!


We saw all the 'Princesses' which was great for Keala, and some other performers were highlights for Kai!


Although we were tired, and had the sun in our eyes, we were really entertained!  Kai had a few qualms with little black bugs flying around, but other than that, the show was a hit!


After the Christening Performance they set up tables and served appetizers to us for almost 2 hours! It was a long wait, and we each started to lose our nerves by the end.


The show being at 10am, and appetizers at 11am, we finally boarded the ship at 1pm. Not a moment too soon for Kai... he was ready to move on!  First we had lunch and then toured the ship.


Kai was begging to go into the pool but we hadn't had our luggage delivered to our room yet. The poor kid was losing his mind.  Our luggage didn't come until after 5!  Poor Kai... but he got in a quick soak before we rushed them off to the next show.


We were scheduled for an 8:30 dinner, so we saw the 6:30 show.  Kai was not happy about being pulled away from his swim time (after he had to wait so long for his luggage!)  These girls were invited to be a part of the performance.  Kai opted out. 


Do you recognize the little girl in the pink shirt?


Heres a better picture! Seven kids were picked from the audience to help substitute for the 7-Dwarves. Unbenounced to us, we didn't know they would come out dauning beards!  The audience loved it!


I felt like I missed the whole thing because my nose was stuck behind the camera. 


But Keala had a blast and thats what was important!


The acting was pretty impressive.  Cruella came up to the audience and a man in the front row ran up and kissed her hand.  I think she was stunned but played along well with it!


The kids loved seeing their favorite characters.


Alot of the routines were song and dance.


But the stage presentations were amazing!  I loved every minute of it!


Kai took a while to warm up (it was a rough day) but he was pretty pleased by the end. Kids always love when Mickey and Minney come out!


We especially loved coming back to our room after dinner and seeing the towel animals with our own sunglasses on them!


Don't ask me why Keala has this face, but the kids had to fight over who slept on top. Thank goodness for the rules of  'taking turns'!


Out bed had was separated by a curtain which was nice so the kids could sleep with a nightlight on, and we could sleep in total darkness.  If its not completely dark, Brent will find a way to kill any hint of light! We were so exhausted, we all slept like babies!  Disney even sells these beds AND  the linens because they are so comfortable!