Disney Vacation - Day 3

On Sunday, we planned to have a relaxed day to recover from the marathon day at Magic Kingdom and also to enjoy some fun outside of the parks.  My mother-in-law and I went to Walmart in the morning (what vacation would be complete without a trip to Wally World?) to buy ponchos just in case we were caught in another tsunami.  While we were there, I was able to find some bargain priced souvenirs for the kids that were about 1/3 of normal Disney prices.  Sweet!

When we got back to the condo, we packed up our swimming gear and headed to one of the seven pools located on site at the condo property.

Of course, when you're swimming with two little ones, there's not much time for picture taking, so I don't have any pictures that depect just how much fun we had.  At the particular pool we went to, there was a giant splash pad area for the little ones, but of course, our kids wanted to jump in the deep end and swim where they couldn't touch.  It was still a great time... until it started raining.

We camped out under one of the poolside pavilions and snacked on some Frosties that Jaja picked up for us.

By this time, the rain had really picked up so we went back to our room for some afternoon downtime.

Sunday night, since it was Father's Day, we let the men pick our dinner restaurant.  And if you know my husband at all, I'm sure you can imagine where we ended up.  We went to Lone Star Steakhouse, and it was really yummy.  Of course the stereotypical Texas memoribilia was a little over the top for this native Texan, but I'm sure all the Floridians and tourists think it's appropriate. (Side note: I think it's kinda funny that there's not one of these restaurants actually in Texas.)

After dinner, we went to Downtown Disney.  [If you've never been, you should definitely check out the link.]  Downtown Disney is just down the road from the parks, situated right on Lake Buena Vista.  It's an area full of unique shops, restaurants and it just happens to be where the Cirque de Soilel show is located.  It's also home to the largest Disney store in the world.  However, I would definitely NOT recommend taking a double stroller with two small children into this store.  I also wouldn't recommend taking a husband who happens to get a little anxious in crowds and stores with no clear exits.  Oh and no matter what, you should never succomb to the pressure to buy one of these suckers:

Take a guess at how I know these things.

We spent the rest of the evening leisurely strolling (no pun intended) throughout the area with about nine hundred thousand other people.  We took in the sights at the Lego Store...

 jammed out to a man playing his didgeridoo...

and gazed up at the Characters in Flight hot air balloon.

It's not your average hot air balloon as it is tethered to the dock below.  And I really couldn't tell you what the view was like from up above because these prices?...

{click to enlarge}

not conducive to a family of four on a vacation budget for 20 minutes of fun.  Plus it's not like I could have convinced Carter to go up there anyway, but maybe next time.  When he's about 18 or so.

While walking around, Nick was introduced to his new favorite store, Ridemakerz.  Described as a "supercharged interactive experience lets kids of all ages dream up, build and customize their very own radio controlled car or truck", it's really a Build-A-Bear for grown men.  Except there's no bears, only radio controlled cars.  It actually was a really neat concept, and the next time we're lucky enough to go to Disney, I'm sure we'll set aside an extra two hundred bucks to make one.

After we had all the crowds fun we could handle, we decided to wind it down.  But on the way back to our car, we stumbled up some sort of street party.

And this guy:

And we did the complete opposite of winding it down.  In fact, we showed up just in time for the Cupid Shuffle...



Lucky for our children, they were born to a couple of young and hip parents that were probably dancers in a former life.

That or they have two folks who have been to one-too-many open bar weddings in their day.  

Whatever the case, our children had a blast on the streets of Downtown Disney, and it's definitely a place we'll visit again.

Next up? - Day 4, Animal Kingdom. Rawr!