The Guillemette's Go To Florida - Blizzard Beach

Well I got a little off track with the Florida posts due to some happenings in life that I will posting about later. But for now it is back to Florida vacation.

For day two out at the parks and one of the hottest we decided to head to the water park Blizzard Beach! I had never been there before, in fact I am not even sure it existed when I was there but it was a great day at the water park despite the fact that a few of us came home with some burns.

Blizzard Beach is a super cute water park. It is themed around a freak snow storm hitting and now everything has melted to create a fun water park. Here is the story from the website...

The story behind Disney's Blizzard Beach begins with a freak snow storm that blanketed Florida. Within the blink of a snowflake-tipped eye, a ski resort sprang up with slalom courses, toboggan slides and iceberg walkways. Then, just as quickly, the weather shifted back to hot. The whole resort started to melt. What to do?
An enterprising alligator saw an opportunity! Clad in a scarf and hat, this Ice Gator slid down the snow-less ski jump, shouting 'Yahoooo!' all the way. With a big splash he landed in a pool of melted snow below the mountain. It was at this moment the slushy, slippery slopes became an exhilarating Water Park with a ski theme.

Marc, David and I decided to head out early and get there for opening, which turned out to be awesome. We got there as the park was opening, before the ground was so hot we had to sprint from one shade area to another and managed to claim enough beach chairs for everyone at the wave pool and ride all the rides without waiting in any lines.



Later everyone else joined us and the fun continued with lots of races down the slides. And the brave kids even went down the ridiculous straight drop slide, I was not one of the brave kids :)






We ended the day with a relaxing float around the park on the lazy river creating a Guillemette family train of tubes and then we topped it off by sharing an amazing ice cream sundae overflowing from a pail. Cute and delicious!



Up next, MAGIC KINGDOM!!!

The Guillemette's Go To Florida - Epcot Center

For our first full day in Florida and our first day out at the parks we decided to hit up Epcot.

Although I have spent a lot of time at Disneyland throughout the years the last time I was in Disney World I was 4 and the Guillemette's hadn't been there for 15 years, so it was really fun to go back as adults with the vague memories of family trips so many years ago and see what we remembered. And it turns out that pretty much all I remembered about Epcot was the big ball!

We had a great day, enjoyed a few rides including some learning rides about the world which the nerd in me thoroughly enjoyed, explored the mini area for each country, and learned just how hot and humid it is in Florida. I mean you would think that the two of us from Texas could handle it but it turns out we spend a lot of time in air conditioning and spending all day in the sun at a park teaches you just how fast you can sweat through all your clothes haha.

But despite the heat it was a great day at Epcot and a great start to our trip! Here are a few of our many many pictures from the day!

Everyone inside the gates in front of the Ball:

Marc and I



Marc, Christina, and David


The Guillemettes


A few shots from around the park:






"Mater, like Tamater without the Ta"



Look who we ran into




Mickey Mouse Ice Cream Treats!!!


Nemo




Some sights from around the world:



















Awkward prom pose


In one of the areas you could look up your last name and read some history about it. Look what I found...


Some yummy sweets




And then I think everyone got a little silly from the heat




All in all it was a wonderful day at Epcot and a great start to our trip!



Up next Blizzard Beach...

Florida!

We spent the last week in sunny Florida with the Guillemette family enjoying the sun, the pool, Disney World, and family time and it was a blast!!!

7 years ago the Guillemettes started a change collection in a large water jug and last year they came up with the idea to use the now full change jar for a family vacation. So last Christmas the Guillemettes counted and rolled over $1000 worth of change and the plan was set in motion. A vacation home with enough room for all 7 of us was rented with the change jar money and finally last week we got to cash in and hit the road for Florida.

Marc and I decided to make the 16 hour drive from Houston to Orlando so that we could take along Romo for the fun. I absolutely love road trips so I was pumped for it and it turned out to be a fun drive, I had never been through most of the states and it turns out that I absolutely love the scenery in Louisianna, although I will say the last leg was a little painful and it turns out Florida is a very long and very boring state.

Before we left, Romo, the creature of habit that he is, put himself in his invisible kennel after his real kennel had already been packed away in the car. He was quite confused. (Where he is sitting in the picture is where his kennel usually is and he ran there as soon as Marc came home from work because its usually where he goes while we go to the gym when Marc gets home from work)



After the invisible kennel incident and a little bit of fear that we were leaving without him, Romo did awesome and slept the entire way in the back seat that we made into a comfy bed area for him, like the bum he is.





So on Friday night we left in the early afternoon after Marc got home from work. That night we made it to Baton Rouge, Louisianna where we spent the night. It was Romo's first hotel stay and he did great, thoroughly enjoying our free room upgrade to a suite. And by the way if anyone is traveling with a dog ever take a look at bringfido.com when looking for hotels it was awesome for us!



The next morning we were up and ready to tackle the rest of the trip. We passed through Mississippi and Alabama suprisingly quickly, and then we reached Florida and had to make it through the hardest and longest part of the trip. After lots and lots of Florida, and one large detour due to a huge accident we arrived at the vacation home in Davenport, FL to be greeted by the entire Guillemette family!







We were so excited to see everyone and had a huge week ahead of with 5 parks to visit including Epcot, Blizzard Beach, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios and a few surprises Marc and I had cooked up for the last day at the vacation rental!

Due to how much fun we managed to pack into our 7 day vacation I have decided to split the trip up into separate blogs and post one a day! So up tomorrow is Day 1, our first full day in Florida which we spent at Epcot! Here is a little sneak peak...