Disney, Day Two

After watching High School Musical, we decided to split off from my parents and the kiddos so Mojo and I could ride the Great Movie Ride, a trip through the movie age.  It was really fun, and I realized that I have not seen near as many classics as I should….I think we will have to add some to our NetFlix Que.

My mom, dad, Button Boy and Girly Girl headed to the backlot and ran into the PowerRangers, and Button Boy got to meet the White one….I think he is called White DinoThunder (or something like that).  Girly Girl was not as amused by the PowerRangers.

We also saw Sully & Mike from Monsters, Inc. and watched the Voyage of the Little Mermaid (which was one of my favorite things we did the entire vacation — the girl who played Ariel sounded just like she did in the movie…it was GREAT!)…and we all enjoyed the Indiana Jones Stunt show!

I honestly can not remember the extent of everything we did in Hollywood Studios.  There were more shows than there were rides, and Girly Girl and Button Boy became restless toward the end of the afternoon.  Since we did not have any “sit down meal” reservations for that evening, we did leave the park early and did not see “Fantasmic.”  We were tired and Button Boy would not have handled the noise and dramatic effects from it as well as he had handled Indiana Jones.

That evening Button Boy had dinner with my parents at The Mara, the quick service restaurant in Animal Kingdom Lodge (it is where we had breakfast every morning).  Mojo, Girly Girl and I headed out to Downtown Disney’s MarketPlace to do some window shopping and to find a Christmas ornament.  Downtown Disney was a lot of fun…we got to go in a lot of stores and see lots of expensive scrapbooking items (which, most of you will be surprised to hear, I was frugal and didn’t buy any….in other words, I was a good girl!).  Girly Girl had lots of fun spending time with just me and her Daddy….and on the way back to Animal Kingdom Lodge, we got a glimpse of the Epcot Fireworks!  They were lovely!

Disney, Day Two

We spent day two in the magic of the realm of Disney by visiting the Hollywood Studios park.  We had once again planned on taking advantage of “Magic Hours” by getting there early — but Grandmommy and the kiddos had a difficult acclamating to the Daylight Savings time change and change to the Eastern time zone in the same morning….so, we got there at the time the park opened for everyone.

The first thing we did was get our stroller (one of my many suggestions to people who are traveling with children….rent a stroller @ the parks for your entire stay…it is $18 a day and you can charge it to your room, if you are staying in the WDW Resort….it is nice to walk in with your paid ticket and go to the front of the line because you don’t have to pay) — then we began searching for a  PhotoPass cast member.  A complaint, of which I don’t have many, is that I didn’t see near enough PhotoPass cast members…for the prices they expect you to pay for the pictures after you have seen them and fallen in love with them, you would think they would be every 5 or so yards, but they were not.  While looking for the PhotoPass cast members, we found Chip & Dale….stood in line and the kids got their autographs and pictures with them!

After seeing Chip & Dale, we lucked into the fact the High School Musical 2 show was being set up, so we sat down and got front row seats to see what we thought was going to be Gabriella, Troy, Shar-pay, Ryan, Chad & Taylor, but it wasn’t….it was just people up on a stage talking about the musical and singing the songs, which was fine….it was good!

Disney, Day One Photos

 MICKEY MOUSE!!!!

We spent the day running around looking at as much as we could.  Button Boy had some issues with being overwhelmed and intimidated by a lot….we did get to ride Dinosaur, and have a great 8 x 10 of Girly Girl riding with her eyes closed and my hand covering her face!  We also had our first snack on the Disney Meal Plan (which I recommend to anyone going!) — we all got pretzels…and they were GIANT!!!  The kids and I could have eaten one, instead we got one EACH! 

We loved “Nemo – the musical” and “Festival of the Lion King.”  They were both done very well….Mojo’s favorite was the Lion King, the actors were so talented!  My favorite was Nemo, the puppets and artistry in it was amazing!  The kids loved “It’s Tough To Be A Bug,” in fact they still talk about the stink bug in it!

I really wanted to ride Expedition Everest, but by the time we got to that part of the park it was time for our dinner reservation at The Yak and The Yeti.  WONDERFUL FOOD!  My dad had the baby back ribs, YUM!  Mojo had the shrimp tempura, looked YUM!  I had the maple glazed chicken, VERY YUM!  The kiddos had chicken fingers and an egg roll…and my mom had dimsum and pot stickers (Girly Girl loved them!)  With the Disney Meal Plan, in your meals adults get an entree, desert and non-alcoholic drink…for desert my dad and Mojo had this sinful brownie sunday thing….I had gelato!  The kids meals, on their Disney Meal Plan, must be ordered off the kids menu and they get an appetizer, entree, desert and drink….so they shared the brownie thing!  Much more food than any of us really should have eaten!!!

Animal Kingdom was great!  It is, I believe, the second smallest park behind MGM….and therefore; a half day was just about right….we could have spent another few hours to get to see a few other things, but the kids and my parents had begun to fade,

it was a long day!

 GOOFY!!! 

(notice in the Mickey picture I had to hold Button Boy, in the Goofy picture he actually got down and walked…still a little nervous, though)

The Animal Kingdom Parade had Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear, two of Button Boy’s favorite characters! 

an example of the neat floats in the parade, most of the floats were “people powered!”

Six Days in Disney, Day One

I was planning on blogging while we were in Disney World, but it was going to cost $10 a day for my father to be connected to the internet…and for the little amount of time we were actually in the rooms, it was not going to be worth it….so, over the next week or so, I plan on writing about our trip and sharing pictures. 

Our first day was really a partial day, and we chose to go to Animal Kingdom….for two reasons, one — we were staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge and checked in and it was logical to go to the closest park — two, Animal Kingdom closes earlier than the other parks, and it was their night for extra Magical Hours, it is open later for Resort guests.

The first ride we went on at Animal Kingdom was Kilimanjaro Safari.  We were told that we needed to go there first because the line can get rather long, but we were very fortunate and had less than a 20 minute wait!  It was fun…and we really enjoyed seeing the animals, even though we can see most of them at our local zoo.

I’M SOOOOOO EXCITED!

I have been updating my status on FaceBook with the following:

Emily is counting __ more sleeps — the kiddos still don’t know!!!

Well, it has peaked a bunch of interest….what does __ more sleeps mean?  What are we not telling the kiddos??  WHAT IS GOING ON???? 

At long last, I can tell everyone!  Secrets are horrible things…they eat at me….that is why most people won’t tell them to me….I can’t keep them to myself!  I get all excited and lose my head and begin the babble (don’t forget my Dad’s favorite nickname for me!).

Speaking of my Dad….he and my mother are treating my small little humble (and poor) family to a trip to DISNEY WORLD!!!!  It is absolutely thrilling to get to go with our babies!  I can not wait to see the magical world of Walt Disne through their eyes! 

We will be staying at the      lodge and spending at least one day in each of the four parks.

I hope to update my blog every day or so with what we are doing and maybe a picture or two…but I will not promise anything because I have no clue how tired we will be each day.

Many of you may know my dh’s warped sense of humor…well, he gave my Daddy the wonderful idea of keeping this trip from the children until the morning we get into the van to actually drive to Orlando.  So, I have been sitting on this secret for right at a month….AND IT IS KILLING ME!  I CAN FINALLY TELL SOMEONE…ANYONE!  YAHOOEY!

Thanks for putting up with my outburst, but I had to finally yell it from the mountain tops…okay, well….just yell it!