Day 3 evening

After dinner we walked around and shopped. It started to rain, so we decided to not go to Magic Kingdom for fireworks.

We took some fun pictures.

Here are my little dancers.

And Gibson and Haven next to some huge Lego figures.

Above are our only pictures with princesses. Also, a picture of Haven trying to figure out which ONE shirt she wanted as a gift. It was a very difficult decision for her.

Day 3

I was really looking forward to Animal Kingdom. Here's tip 3. Everything I read and researched said to go to the parks during the extra "magic" hours. There is one extra hour in the morning on certain days and three extra hours on certain evenings. We never did the evening hours b/c the kids were way too tired. We did try the extra morning one for Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. I don't think it's worth it, because EVERYONE who stays at a resort goes that morning and day to that park. The shuttles we so full and we had to wait a lot longer. One bus driver said to me that these are the worst days to go. (He was driving a bus to Animal Kingdom on the day Magic Kingdom had the extra morning hour. NO ONE was on his bus!! Everyone was waiting for the Magic Kingdom shuttle)

So, we got up early and headed to Animal Kingdom.

This is Turk. (The kids don't even know who Turk is, but there was a really short line, so we said Hi anyway.)

So, we got our Fast Pass for the Safari Ride and walked around the Monkey, Bird, and Gorilla trail. There were fantastic opportunities to see the Gorillas!! It was so cool!

Next was the Safari ride. I was looking forward to this for a long time. The problem was that all the signs said PREGNANT WOMEN SHOULD NOT RIDE. It was not a good lesson for my kids, but I used my bag I carried around to "hide" my belly. I had to warn the kids ahead of time that they may not let mommy on the ride.

Afterwards they asked how did I get on. Andrew told them I was being sneaky!!!!

Unfortunately, my camcorder was dead that day, so I couldn't get good video. It was really neat to see the Giraffe so close to the truck!!
Below is a sleeping Lion on the rock. Can you see it?

While waiting for daddy and Gibson to get lunch, Haven and I spotted a beautiful butterfly.
We could see the Mt. Everest ride from out table. I can't wait to go on that one day!

We saw the "Bug's Life" 3 D movie. Did I already say that the 3 D movies were always worth the wait! The kids loved them! I won't ruin surprises, but there was always something to scream at at each movie. The bug one really got me good!!!!!
Gibson and his daddy did the big Dinosaur ride that Haven and I could not go on.
Afterwards he said, "I didn't love it very much."
Andrew said it was way to scarey for him. He didn't cry, but he held on tight to his daddy.

While they were on the ride, Haven and I played at a very cool Dinosaur playground where she got to get very wet.
She even climbed a very big slide! I was so impressed!

Above are some pictures of our resort. It was nice, but I won't stay there again. Too much walking to get anywhere and we were one of the closer buildings.
They did have bunnies that were fed alot and used to seeing people so they didn't run away. (unless chased by a 5 and 4 year old)
Since we learned our lesson, we made dinner reservations the night before and headed on the ferry boat from our hotel to Downtown Disney.(after a short swim and nap) The kids fell asleep on the boat ride.
Once we got there we headed to the Irish Pub Andrew wanted to eat at. It was very good, but I should have gotten the Fish and Chips instead of the Chowder.
We walked around and shopped since it was our last night there.

Day two(also Leave Elam alone post 6/14)

Day two
(also, I added "Leave Elam Alone" post) 6/14

On Day two, we finally made it to Magic Kingdom. (On day one, we went to MGM instead by accident)
The kids got their autograph books so any characters we meet could sign them. It's different than it used to be, you have to wait in line to see them at their scheduled time. Here's my first tip, it's worth it to make a reservation and pay to eat at a character meal so that the kids can meet all the characters and get their autographs. That way, you won't waste time waiting in lines to see them.
We saw quite a few, the first was Pluto.

And, Haven saw the fairy godmother.

We didn't meet any princesses, but we did take our picture by the Cinderella fountain.

Next was the Snow White ride. It was scarey.

Then we waited, and waited and WAITED to see Mickey and Minnie.

After that, we got the kids faces painted.

My princess and pirate!!

We rode the Peter Pan ride. This was a ride that the Fast Pass came in handy so we didn't have to wait in line very long.

I'm not sure why I look so scared in the kid rides!

We ate and then met Captain Hook and Smead.
We also saw a little show on the street with Captain Jack Sparrow. He sounded just like Johnny Depp. I just knew he would pick Gibson for a special part since his face was painted, but he didn't.
Then we went on the Jungle Cruise after climbing in the Swiss Family Robinson's tree house.

By the time we made it to Tomorrow Land, Haven was exhausted. Gibson's face paint was just about gone too! The stroller really came in handy.

While Haven was asleep we went on the ride that goes around Tomorrow Land while we waited for our Fast Pass for the Buzz Light Year ride.
She woke up for Buzz Light Year and then went on the ride around Tomorrow Land again.

Before we left the Magic Kingdom, we saw the Princesses dancing on the stage.

We didn't have dinner reservations anywhere. Here's tip number two, have dinner reservations! We got in so easy the day before, we didn't think we'd have trouble, but we did. We ended up eating at our resort which was not very good. We had an early night, which helped us get up a little easier the next day for Animal Kingdom!!!

Day one

Hard time waking up

We actually got on the wrong shuttle and ended up at MGM studios instead of Magic Kingdom, but it turned out ok.

The kids got to meet several characters. The first one was Donald.

We saw a Highschool Musical performance. The kids didn't really "get it." They wanted to see the real stars of the show.

Then we saw The Little Mermaid and Playhouse Disney.

We even saw Lightning McQueen and Mator for a minute.

Our special treats for the day were hats, sunglasses and lollipops.

While we waited for the parade it started to rain, but we stuck it out and got really good spots for the parade.

The parade was so much fun! All the Pixar characters were in it. The queen Ant from A Bug's Life gave a high 5 to Haven!
After the parade we headed to Epcot. All the different countries were very neat to look at.

Morroco

Outside of France we saw a short acrobatic show.

He kept going higher and higher!

I love this picture of Haven!! That's how we all felt watching him going higher and higher!

In Japan we made mask and the kids names were written on them in Japanese!

We ate at a yummy Italian restaurant and then went to the Nemo ride and aquarium.

At the aquarium we saw Crush the turtle. He gave kids the opportunity to ask him questions. He was really funny.
We also let Gibson and daddy go on a "Trip to Mars" ride. Haven and I weren't allowed to ride. Gibson LOVED it!! He wanted to do it again and again!!