Animal Kingdom

On Thursday we went back to Animal Kingdom. The kids had their picture taken with Goofy and Pluto. We also had pictures taken with Tigger, Pooh, and Eeyore. The line is much shorter for Pooh and his friends at Animal Kingdom than at Magic Kingdom.

Wesley rode Dinosaur while Lydia and I rode TriceraTop Spin (aka Dumbo without the wait) three times. Wesley loved the Dinosaur ride. Here he is looking cool on this dinosaur statue.

We saw Finding Nemo - The Musical which is a must-do at Disney in my opinion. Dianna rode Everest with Chris (I rode it on Saturday with him). We had lunch and then saw Festival of the Lion King. I love the arobratic monkeys. We had pictures taken with Mickey.

We went to Animal Kingdom on Thursday because Touring Plans predicted a low crowd level. There was no wait for Kilimanjaro Safaris. We literally walked right on the ride. The bumpy ride put Lydia right to sleep. She continued sleeping in the stroller while Wayne, Dianna, Wesley and I did th Safari a second time.
Here are the wildebeest. And yes, I spelled it correctly.

As we walked along the Pangani Forest Exploration Trial we saw several gorillas. Even after a day and a half at Animal Kingdom, I still wanted more time there so we went back on Sunday morning before our flight home.

Chris took this cool picture of a spider and its web.

That night we had dinner at Chef Mickey's. The food really is good for an American Buffet but I liked the food better at Crystal Palace. After eating at Chef Mickey's for three years in a row I think we will skip it next year.
The kids really do enjoy seeing all the characters.

After dinner we went to the pool at our resort. Dianna went swimming with us and Wayne was our photographer. I will post a few of those photos later.

The Pool At Our Resort

This year we stayed at the Beach Club. With this view from our room, we heard every morning, "Can we go to the pool?" So, on Wednesday morning we hit the pool.
Every morning we saw ducks in the pool and one morning a couple of them stayed in the pool even after we got in.

The two best features of the Beach Club? A short walking distance to Epcot and the pools! The pools have sand in the bottom. It isn't real sand; it is better than that. It isn't as fine and it doesn't stick to you as bad. It is like the perfect sand.

In this area of the pool, there is a whirlpool that was fun to float or swim around in.

This was the highlight of course. It is a little bit of a walk to the pirate ship and then up the stairs but the waterslide is a lot of fun.

We were thrilled that they let Lydia do it with her backpack on (and once with a swim vest when I forgot the backpack).

We all enjoyed the waterslide. Here is Wesley cruising down.

After everyone had showers we gave the kids some lunch in our room (a sandwich from the very small counter service area at the hotel) and headed to Epcot. Sure enough, Lydia took a nap in the stroller. Wesley didn't nap at all Tuesday through Friday.

I love getting a German bratwurst and beer and I really enjoyed it on Wednesday. Since I was using the dining plan I also got a diet coke (the plan covers soda not beer) and a dessert. I chose a pretzel since they looked so yummy. Wesley ate almost the entire pretzel but I did get a few bites.

Wesley asked us to take this photo in Norway. Later in the day, Dianna picked up some nice perfume for both of us, Laila, "the essence of Norway." I love it! The Beauty and the Beast

I really like seeing the Chinese Acrobats at Epcot. I am amazed every time. This guy jumped rope while doing a handstand.

I was also impressed with their pyramid stunts.

Lydia woke in time for the boat ride through Mexico. Next the kids had their picture taken with Mexican Donald. Then a ride in the "big ball."

The kids enjoyed the Nemo ride, Turtle Talk, and the aquarium.

That night we had dinner at the Coral Reef. It was fun to watch the fish and scuba divers while we ate. Wesley got to ride Test Track twice right before the rides closed. We saw the fireworks as we walked the long way back around the countries (as opposed to taking the most direct route) to exit the park and walk back to the Beach Club.

Gotta go play Toy Story Mania on the Wii!!!

Mania

On Tuesday we went to Disney Hollywood Studios. We got a fast pass for Toy Story Mania and then we got in line for it. We waited less than 30 minutes to ride it the first time.

After the ride was over, we walked across to see Woody and Buzz Lightyear.

Here is Wesley ready to blast off.

We all love the Toy Story movies and these characters.

We saw Playhouse Disney and Voyage of the Little Mermaid and then we rode Toy Story Mania using our Fast Passes. At the time, Chris had the third highest score of the day and Wesley improved his score to over 40,000.

After lunch and a quick stop at the playground, we saw the Extreme Stunt Show.

The fire stunt was a little hard to explain to a four year old.

While Lydia napped and stayed with Grandma and Grandpa in the air condition, we rode two bigger kid rides with Wesley. The first was Star Tours. He said, "I didn't like that robot telling us what to do." He didn't really get the theming of the ride.

Next we rode Tower of Terror twice. He liked it a lot except for the lightning that they show as the elevator shoots up and down.

We saw the Pixar light twice. It is really cute.

On the Studio Backlot Tour, we saw the special Herbie car that "splits in half" during the stunt show.

Wesley and Lightning McQueen

We did Toy Story Mania (with another set of fast passes) one last time before heading to dinner. That ride is addictive because of the carnival games. I normally don't like video games but I love those games. We found out that it came out as a Wii game on Tuesday. When we got home today (Sunday) the game was here waiting for me!!! David and Amanda sent it to me for my birthday.

On a side note, Dianna and I had been talking about how much we liked the bath products, from H2O Plus, in the hotel room. We especially liked the shower gel. Well, guess what? My other sister-in-law and her family sent me a gift collection of the bath products from H2O Plus for my birthday! That box was also waiting for me when we got home. So, I got two great surprise gifts that remind me of our wonderful Disney trip!

Tuesday night we headed to the Polynesian Resort for dinner. As we walked by a golf cart, that I didn't even notice at first, Lydia said (mostly to herself), "Maybe I can drive" and then preceded to walk toward it! I think she would have tried driving it if I had not picked her up.

We got to the Polynesian right before six so we got to see the fire lighting ceremony.

We enjoyed having dinner at Ohana's with John and Erica. You might recognize them from their magical wedding.

Because I wanted the kids to be well behaved so we could all enjoy dinner, I ordered their milks in special cups that came with light up toys. Lydia got Tinker Bell and Wesley got Lightning McQueen. They loved them and they worked as well as I hoped. Lydia didn't eat but about two bites of dinner but she was very good. Normally I don't give the kids dessert if they don't eat their meal but I relaxed my standards since she was fairly well behaved.

"I Love You Piglet!"

On Monday we went to Magic Kingdom. I really dislike having to take a tram from the parking lot to the Ticket and Transportation Center and then waiting for either the boat or the monorail. Yes, once you get there it is worth it but I would prefer to park and just walk right on in.

Our first stop was for iced cappuccinos to make good use out of our snack credits. Later in the day Chris and I split an iced cappuccino float.

A quick stop to see Frontier Donald.
Chris and I have hyped Splash Mountain to Wesley for the last year and he could not wait to ride it; however, it wasn't opened yet. He had to settle for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. He LOVED it. Since there wasn't a line (but you did have to exit and walk back around) he rode it over and over. Here he is with Grandma.
Wesley finally got to ride Splash Mountain and loved that also. What did Lydia do during all this? She ate candy that Grandma gave her.

Next we rode Pirates twice in a row because we all love it. Here is Grandpa.

Maybe Lydia needs this for dress-up?

Right before Grandma took this picture of us, she accidentally dropped her magnetic sunglasses, that clip on her regular glasses, in the water under her magic carpet. After we got off the ride one of the ride operators fished them out with a "grabber" and then dried them off for her with a towel. I really appreciated that he went the extra step. Most of Disney's employees are top notch.

Wesley and Lydia love getting spit on by the camel.

After lunch we did the Jungle Cruise and then the Hall of Presidents and then the Haunted Mansion. Chris rode with Lydia and said she seemed to like the Haunted Mansion but near the end of the ride he realized that she had fallen asleep sitting up. She slept through getting off the ride and then slept for almost two hours in her stroller. Wesley slept for about an hour or so in his stroller.

The kids got to see one of their favorite characters after riding his ride.

Lydia was thrilled that she was big enough to ride Goofy's Rollercoaster.

I spun that teacup as fast as I could. The kids were laughing so hard.

We had dinner at Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom. It is a buffet but I was very pleasantly surprised by how good the food was. I had several different salads and prime rib. The kids loved seeing Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet.

Lydia told Piglet, "I love you Piglet" and then she blew him several kisses as he walked away. We had no idea that she liked him so much.

Sunday in the Parks

On Sunday we went to Epcot. We usually choose which parks to visit on which days based on the crowd calendar on this website.

It was a big day for Wesley because he got to ride two rides that require riders to be 40 inches tall. He LOVED Test Track and Soarin'. Test Track is the fastest ride he has riden and 64 mph feels pretty fast.

This was also the first year for us to see the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Characters in Epcot. In the past the line has been 40 to 45 minutes but on Sunday it was only 15 minutes. So far the crowds have been very light this year.

Wesley really likes Pluto.

We are seeing lots of lizzards, very exciting for the kids and me.

While we were eating our fish and chips, Wesley said, "Look it is raining." I think Chris and I both said something about it not raining but he was right. Fortunately the big umberella that was protecting us from the sun also protected us from the rain. At times, rain blew in on us a little so Wayne used a smaller umbrella.
We had rain covers for the strollers and ponchos but we still got a little wet. Bell and Aurora were inside one of the French stores and no one seemed to know they were there to get out of the rain. One of the photo staff told me that Pooh was in the back of the toy store in England. I didn't know that he was there so I was happy he gave me the tip. While we were waiting for Pooh to "have a bite of honey" the kids played with this Thomas set.

We waited behind one other family to see Eeyore, Pooh, and Tigger.

Next it was nap time and by now the rain had stopped. Chris and I walked around the World Showcase two and a half times before Wesley woke up.

We had dinner at Mama Melrose's in Disney's Hollywood Studios. It was very good.

Lydia did well sitting in a booster seat between Chris and me.

After dinner we went to see Fantasmic. Everyone gets there early and to help the kids pass the time I bought them cotton candy. Chris didn't even mind this time since everyone was already dirty and needing showers.

It took Lydia a little while to fall asleep in her crib that night. When I went to check on her before going to bed I noticed that she had her legs in her sleep sack.