Disney professional character & group shots

I have to say, spending the money to do the Memory Maker was WELL worth it for our large group!  We ended up with over 300 pictures that we own digital copies of, including character shots, group shots, ride shots and even some ride movies.  Here are some of my favorite character ones and group ones!  We got some from Animal Kingdom...

 And some from Epcot...

 Some from our anniversary date night...

 And a variety of family group shots from Magic Kingdom...

 The hoop dee doo ones are my absolute favorite!

 I still can't believe how this one turned out, all 20 people looking (no blinking) and smiling!  Definitely going to have to do something with this one!

Disney Day 6 and trip home!

Friday, June 19th was our last park day in Disney.  We ended with return trip to the Magic Kingdom.  We had an early breakfast for all 20 of us at Crystal Palace, so we headed in and got some nice group shots in front of the castle (since it was before the park opened).

 Crystal palace with it's Pooh and Friends was a huge hit!  Delicious buffet and super cute characters!

 After breakfast, we went over to Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain for the big kids.  Sam and I stood on the bridge by splash mountain to watch our groups go down.  Then we split (some stayed on for another round of Big Thunder Mountain).  Our group went to Mickey's PhilHarMagic, which was  really cute 3D movie!

 We hit up Small World again since it had a short wait!

Our group merged again and did mine train, this time Sam went and was scarred for life!  We also hit Buzz Lightyear again and had lunch all together.

 After lunch some of the big ones did Space Mountain (Noah included) while others did Winnie the Pooh again.  It was another HOT day so we headed back to the hotel to cool down!

 That Friday night we had one last meal all together at Pops and JoJo's condo, it was so special to be able to have all 20 of us together, what a great memory!  The next morning, we headed out for our trip home.  We made it all the way to Hopkinsville, KY on the first day and then the rest of the way home on Father's Day.  It all went well until the last 2 hours...

But we made it home to Ellie dog by Sunday afternoon and with all 5 of us intact, I'd say that was a success!  Great trip, more of the other photos to come soon!

Disney Day 5!

On Thursday, 6/18/15, Mike and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary!  We went to Hollywood Studios, isn't that how you mark a decade of marriage?  The boys were up and ready early (as usual), Isaac had a turn trying on Bamma's visor.

 Matching Jake and the Neverland Pirates shirts for today!

 CJ and Noah on the parking tram, ready for a day together!

 One group took the boys over to sign up for Jedi training, while another crew headed to Toy Story Mania.  The "boy" crew hit up the great movie ride after getting signed up.

 We all met back up to do the Star Tours ride together.  It's a 3D ride where you're in a rebel spaceship flying around with C3PO and R2D2.  Pretty fun!

 Phil was shown on the screen for the ride as the rebel spy, he is pretty shady looking!

 Then the Rodriguez/Hewes crew hit up Toy Story Mania, it was very fun.  Mike had the high score, even with Isaac in his lap!

 Our group of nine had lunch at Hollywood and Vine with some Disney Jr characters.

 After lunch, we got ready for the Jedi training experience!

 Sam was pretty darn excited when he got his robe!

They wisely had the kids wait under umbrella's and drink water before heading on stage.  It was 90 some degrees that day with a heat index over 100!

 The Jedi master came out and began the training.  Sam took it VERY seriously, that's him standing there with his hands behind his back, listening intently.

They were given their training lightsabers and began practicing a sequence of moves.

 Cue the dramatic music, and here comes Darth Vader!  Each kiddo got a shot at crossing lightsabers with him, they all did great!

One final force push to send Vader on his way. it was such a fun experience!

Mike and I headed out with the little 2, while Noah hit up Tower of Terror with Josh, Dad, and Kjersten.  On the way out, we were trapped by the Frozen parade.  You can see how thrilled Sam was, but there was fake snow!

That night, Mike and I celebrated our anniversary with a nice adult meal at Epcot.  Of course we were so tired, we were still back by 9pm.  But it was nice to have a calm meal with just the two of us!