Disneyworld...the last day and a half

On Monday, Presidents Day, we went to Magic Kingdom. I had read that Friday -Sunday were the most crowded days at MK so we waited until Monday, forgetting completely about PD and most of central Florida was there! However, we got there right when it opened and had an hours worth of no lines and crowds in Tomorrowland.
Of course we had to get the obligatory picture in front of Main Street USA.



.....and the one at the entrance.

("Let the Memories Begin" was on every resort entrance, trash can, napkin,etc.)

One of the boys favorite rides was the cars.

Tate was my chaueffer

Grant and David were in the car behind us.

While David went to ride Space Mountain, the boys and I rode the Astro Orbiter. It went a little faster than we thought but we all liked it!

We found Buzz Lightyear! He was the only character we stood in line for, yes we aren't patient parents, there were miles of lines to stand in for all of the characters, but we didn't need to "talk" to them all, right?

The boys enjoyed high fiving Buzz.

Another area the boys enjoyed was Tom Sawyer Island. We took at boat over to it and their were trails, and forts to play in.

Later in the afternoon, Grant fell asleep on David so they went back to the hotel and Tate and I stayed. We had gotten fast passes that morning to ride Peter Pan's Flight at 3:00 so we got to do that- twice! Here we are about to get in our flying chariot.


We didn't have reservations for dinner Monday night so we went into Downtown Disney. It was really cool, if we go back again I would like to spend more time there. We went to a seafood restaurant that took the Disney Dining plan we had so we didn't have to spend more money. The boys were really tired.....

On Tuesday, our last day there. Tate and David decided they wanted to play at the pool all day. We had promised Grant the first day at Hollywood Studios, that we would sign him up for the Jedi Training Academy that our friends, Carter and Ben, had gotten to do when we were there. In order to do this you must get to the Jedi sign ups first thing in the morning to be assigned a time to come back later that day. Fortunately, we got to the park at 8:15 thinking it opened at 8 but it opened at 9. I was surprised to see so many people there an hour before the park opened! When they opened the gates G and I ran to the Jedi training center ( I was scolded by and employee for running.... he must not have kids!) They only do the training once an hour so I really hoped that our time would be before noon so we didn't have to stay there all day and it was! We got the 10:15 time! We had time to go back and ride the Toy Story Mania ride again!

Getting suited up

Getting ready to fight Darth Vader using what he learned

The class of 12 dwindled to 9 when Darth Vader came out, turned out a few kids were afraid of the Dark Side even though they asked when you sign up if you can handle it.

The whole class passed! We got a diploma and everything!

The last night we went to Epcot for dinner and a few rides. The boys were worn out by this point...and so were the parents!

At the Orlando Airport the morning we flew home. They didn't want to leave.

I actually told them to give me a sad face, this isn't really how they looked that day.

We had an absolute BLAST! Three of us would like to go back but the man who paid for it says that was it. We might be able to work on him, though!

Disneyworld....Part III

On our fourth day in Orlando we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom. Both the boys and David were looking forward to this park the most for one reason: The Kilimanjaro Safari. It is amazing. We were able to see most all of the animals on this twenty minute excursion into the Savanna of Africa.

Kudo deer

Wildabeests laying out in the field.

Its hard to spot the giraffes in this picture but there were many.

Elephants

All over we saw many types of African animals. Lions, cheetahs, hippos, rhinos, crocodiles to name a few. All out in the open (with a 20 ft moat around the lions and big animals that the public isn't supposed to see)

After the safari we walked through the African section of the park and saw lots of other animals and fish.

The gorillas and chimpanzees were my favorite. Here I am with my monkeys.

There is a chimp that David and Tate are looking at that turned two years old that day. She was so cute, she would stand up and beat on her chest and play around with her dad.

This guys was very popular that day. He was sitting like that the entire time we were watching him. Some thought he wasn't real but we saw him blink a few times, he was real. It's amazing how human like they are!

Along with "Finging Nemo: The Musical" the Lion King (above) was our favorite show. It was amazing, just like a broadway play.

(bad picture, they were moving so fast)

In front of the Tree of Life. Grant had had enough fun for one day and was tired.

The boys on the Triceratop Spin

David and Tate on the Primeval Whirl roller coaster.

Another show I loved was "It's Tough to be a Bug". David and I liked it but the boys were not crazy about the 4D effects. The show was from a bugs point of view and was trying to explain to humans that they do not care for the way we are always trying to get rid of them by spraying, swatting, fumigating, etc. When they would talk about these methods of abuse they would spray the audience with water calling it spray, fog the auditorium, and at one point the stink bug let out a gas smell and the whole auditorium stunk for about 30 seconds. At the end of the show they announced "all bugs leave the auditorium" and you could feel little movements in your seat that were supposed to be like the bugs exiting. My kids weren't fans of that but overall the show was great and David and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Later that evening we at our resort restaurant "Whisperin' Canyon'. Whenever you ask for ketchup the waitress yells "WE NEED KETCHUP!!!" Everyone that has ketchup on their table brings you their bottle. This was just the beginning, we had 16 bottles on our table. The boys thought this was great fun and couldn't wait to be called to bring their ketchup to another table.

Also, every hour at Whisperin' Canyon they blow a whistle that tells the kids to put down their fork, grab a stick horse, and parade around the restaurant, there was no sitting still at this place!

Bad phone picture, but look how happy they were!

Disneyworld...part II

On day 3 we took a water taxi over to the Contemporary Resort to eat at Chef Mickeys for breakfast. We had heard that this was a great place to see alot of the characters and it was!

When the characters first come out everyone in the restaurant swings their napkins, I guess to get their attention? At first I was thinking it would take forever for each character to come over and take pictures with each table but in Disney fashion, it somehow only took about 10 minutes and the boys loved every part...mainly Grant but Tate played along.

First Minnie came out. Check out Grant's smile, he loved it...even though she's a girl and he is anti-girl right now.

Goofy

David and Grant David

Donald Duck

Chef Mickey

After breakfast we rode the monorail over to Epcot.

The Walkers in front of "The Seas with Nemo and Friends". We loved going to Turtle Talk with Crush, the boys thought it was so funny.

Mommy and Grant in our Clam-mobile searching for Nemo.

At the "Innoventions" building in Epcot the boys loved making thier own video game.

At first they out you in front of this green screen and then ask you to pretend you are running, dancing and ducking down on the floor. Then you go to another kiosk and they have put you into an actual video game you can play. It was cool, they emailed it to us and the boys have liked playing it since we have been home.

In the World Showcase portion of Epcot we enjoyed seeing the different countries.

Morocco

Our least favorite. The boys kept saying "it stinks!" (They were burning inscence all over) But I do love these hats they tried on.

Japan

Germany

China


Later that evening we went over to the Magic Kingdom for dinner and some rides. We had heard it might be best to go there in the evening when the crowds leave. Well, unfortunately, that night MK was open until 3 am and LOTS of people came for the evening. We didn't ride anything but saw a show and the Electric Light Parade which seemed to be the same one that was there when I was 9. It was still very cool to see and the boys liked it alot.

Watching the parade