Disney World - Joey's Top Ten

We went to Florida for 8 days with 4 of Joey's 11 siblings and their families so 10 adults and 20 kids.  I know that you are thinking that we are spoiled because didn't we just go to Disney World last year?  Yes, and yes.  But don't judge us cause we heard all the plans being made to go with these fun families and we just couldn't help it - we had to join them.  The Mckays, Songers, Malmborgs and Wilsons.  They are all just too fun to be missed.  We also got to see a new park that we'd never been to before - Universal Studios Islands of Adventure.  It hosts probably the coolest thing I've ever seen - The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  I guess since these are the dudes that made the movie - they are pretty good at making that world.    Our kids don't know who Harry Potter is but it was so fun to be there with our die hard Harry Potter fan nieces and nephews.

So - I'm going to give you a little taste of our trip through Joey, then me, then Luke, the Lucy.  Just to split it up a bit.  I now give you -

JOEY'S TOP 10 FROM FLORIDA TRIP

(in chronological order)

1.  BILL FREDERICK PARK.

So we arrived in beautiful Orlando and I found myself whisked away to the magical world of.... disc golf.   Yeah, not super magical for me but it was fun to tag along with my crazy disc golf enthusiast while we waited for our check-in time.  Also, the beautiful weather made me excited for the week.

 2.  FAMILY

Joey loved seeing his family.  Living in next door houses and chilling with his 4 sisters and his brother-in-laws.  The bros and nephews played a little mini disc golf between the back patios and he and his bros threw some drives in a nearby field.   Joey organized a dinner at an Indian Restaurant with the 10 adults and that was so nice to be able to spend a couple hours talking.

3. DANCING WITH LUCY

... while waiting for the Pteranodon Flyers ride (Universal Studios).  It was the longest line of the day but Lucy and Joey danced to jungle bongo music for 40 minutes and he said he loved it.  (Video by Mike)

4.   HOGWARTS CASTLE

He loved the whole Harry Potter world but this ride (Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey) was super cool.  Just waiting in line you go through Hogwarts and see talking paintings, statues, a dragon skeleton, Ron, Harry and Hermione talking in a classroom and it's all just an architectural treat.  Joes liked the line better than the ride and was sad we didn't have to wait in line longer.  :)

  

5. ROPE PLAYGROUND 

Camp Jurassic (Universal Studios) had this fun rope playground and Joey took Luke and Lucy.  I didn't get to see it but I guess it was really fun and you could squirt people walking down below and stuff.

6. THIS WIFEY

Just guessing but I'm sure one of his favorite things had to be dealing with me being sick.  This is how I felt 3 out of the 5 days at the parks.  Along with it came me whining to him all day.  He is one lucky guy.

7 & 8. ICE CREAM & STREET PARTY

At the end of a full day at Magic Kingdom, we treated ourselves to some ice cream and got a surprise dance party.

   

9.  Toy Story Mania --- MANIA.

Toy Story Mania is a ride in Disney's Hollywood Studio and you ride in a little thing and shoot stuff and get a score at the end.  This was definitely one of Luke's favorite rides last year.  This year Joey thought it would be fun to inspire a little competition and have a Hale Family Toy Storia Mania Tournament.   For prizes he custom dyed a frisbee for the top scorer in adult division.  (18 yrs. - infinity).   He got a $25 Disney gift card for the middle catagory (11-17 yrs old) and a humungous bag of candy for the kid category (0-10 yrs old).   He had an awards ceremony at the end of the trip for the winners.  And this was not taken lightly.  This was a very popular ride so there was a lot of fastpass bartering and standing in line.  A special new category was created called the Spirit of Toy Story Mania award - going to the person with the cumulative highest score (so the person who rode it the most).   So, are you just dying to know who won?   The winner of the adult category with a score of 197,300 was..... (wait for it).... MIKE MALMBORG!!  By the skin of his teeth.  Casey was a very, very close second.   The winner of the teen category with a score of 160,700 was .... (drumroll)...... BRIGHAM MCKAY!!!!   Who swooped in and stole the title at the last minute.   The kid winner who might need to come see Joey after eating said humungous bag of candy  is..... (trumpet)...... MEREDITH SONGER!!!!  with a score of 62,000.  ANd the spirit of Toy Story Mania goes to ANDERSON SONGER!!  Whose determination and hard work did not go unnoticed.  Here's Mike's winner score and his costomed dyed disc prize (a shout out to Huntsville)

  

 10. STAR TOURS WITH LUKE

It's weird to think that Luke didn't even know what Star Wars was last year.  This year Joey said his very favorite moment was going on Star Tours with Luke and watching him squeal with delight when Star Tours crashed into spaceships and sea monsters.  He was in heaven.