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

Disneyworld....Part I

On Thursday, February 16th, we got up EARLY....3:45! We packed up the car and drove to the airport for a 6:15 flight to Houston and then onto Orlando. We were really excited, the boys especially. We had no problems getting them out of bed. This is by our gate at the Tulsa airport. Grant kept saying "I want to go to Disneyworld again!" We guess he liked getting up early.

The boys enjoyed watching the luggage being loaded onto the plane. Tate remembers flying to Denver and Gulf Shores, but Grant hasn't flown in a couple of years so he kept thinking this was his first flight and he really liked the Tulsa airport.... we assured him he would like Disney more!

Our hotel was the Wilderness Lodge. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I got but it was beautiful! The boys thought the outside looked like Cabelas. It is supposed to be modeled after lodges in the Pacific Northwest. It even had a manmade Geyser that went off every hour.They enjoyed swimming in the pool and hot tub most days and we enjoyed that is was onsite and so close to everything. We took the water taxi alot to the Magic Kingdom or the Contempary Resort for dinner and breakfast.

DAY 1- Waiting for the bus to take us to Hollywood Studios. We were up early but later found out not early enough!. Disney guests are serious.....getting there up to an hour before the parks open!

Our great friends from Austin, the Merrimans, were there too! Their grandparents live there so we knew they would be in town for a few days and we planned to meet up with them at HS. The boys had a blast playing with Carter and Ben and we enjoyed seeing Angie and Ryan and Ryan's parents. We were so happy to have Disney veterans with us the first day....Ryans's mom, Andrea, told us what to see and what we could miss, plus she knew where all the bathrooms were which was good for us! (it was Carters birthday, hence the Dark Maul face paint....)

Each park has a mid day parade. We loved this one at Hollywood Studios, mainly because it had a lot of Toy Story characters in it which Grant loved. Here is the dancing Mr Potato Head.

I just love this little wave...he learned it from the Queen. Grant enjoyed the parades the most, he always waved at them and danced along...if he wasn't sitting down.

Playing in the "Honey we Shrunk the Kids" play area.

Grant loved the Toy Story Soldiers that walked around and took pictures with guests.

Carter and Grant giving hugs to the Soldier....check out Grant's hand placement.

Tate and Ben ready to board the best ride in Disney- TOY STORY MANIA!!!This is so much fun! We had to get a Fastpass as soon as we got into the park to ride it and we couldn't get on until 4:00. All of us liked it, the kids wanted to ride it again but no one wanted to stand in the hour long line.

Grant and Carter on Toy Story Mania earning points for their car.

When you are riding TSM you want a sharpshooter in your car. Lucky for me I'm married to one. David had the highest score out of the four adults. It was also 3D, David didn't get new sunglasses.

Disney is REALLY into 3D. IT. IS. EVERYWHERE. Here, we are about to board the Star Wars Star Tours virtual reality ride.

We ended the day at the Sci Fi Drive In Dinner Theatre. It was really cool! Each table is set into an old convertible and they were playing old black and white movies along with some old Looney Toons movies. Grant wished they were playing Toy Story or something more modern, but it was a neat concept and we really liked it.