Disney Wrap Up..

The first thing he said was "Where is my Buzz Shooter Thingy?"

Don't worry, she was sleeping in between us after she ate at 7:00 for about a half hour, and we were packing up on the same bed below, watching her closely :)

Sleeping Beauty...in a Cinderella nightgown :)

 

Friday morning we packed up as much as we could, headed to the pool for a final swim, came back and got dressed, checked out, and headed home...

We had an absolute ball. It was everything we hoped and MORE!! The kids were great, considering they are preschoolers who nap and were on sensory overload from Sunday morning on!  Emory was the Best Baby Ever and had a blast, herself, I'm pretty sure.  Everyone did a fantastic job sleeping in the same room, and we just can hardly believe what an amazing trip we had.  We are so glad we came back on Friday, because it gave us all weekend to recover! We are already looking forward to going again..but this time with no strollers or naps needed! Okay, maybe just no strollers ;)

(from It's A Small World)

Day 5: Magic Kingdom!

Well, Thursday was our last day of the 5 day passes and we went out with a bang!! We stayed all day~hard core for our crew! Josh and I were "celebrating" 10 years since our first date, Sept. 13th, 2002 :D 

We started out in Tomorrowland, where we rode Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Bin, Saw Monsters Inc Laugh Floor (twice~ it is an improv comedy show based on the audience and it is very well done!), rode the Astro Orbiter with a great view of MK, and had a tragic visit to Lilo and Stich's Great Escape.  Wow that was terrifying and Liam was screaming his head off~ I don't blame him I was scared, too! We actually had to be let out of the interactive show/ride in the middle of it. :(  Boo Hiss, our only sore spot in all of Magic Kingdom! After Tomorrowland, we headed to Adventureland for all things Pirate, Arabian, and Tinkerbell!! We rode a Pirates of the Carribean ride, Flying Carpet roller coaster, Jungle Safari boat ride, and went to the Enchanted Tiki Room which was just a room with mechanical birds "singing and talking" which was SO Boring but Emory LOVED it and watched the birds like crazy~so cute!! It was worth doing for that. We had lunch at Tortuga Tavern, and then headed to Frontierland for a train ride around the park as a "nap break"...Then we grabbed a snack and sat in the AC at Pecos Bill's before catching the latter half of a character parade.  Then we headed to Liberty Square for our final Table Service meal at Liberty Tree Tavern~much like Dan'l Boone Inn. It was delicious!  After dinner it was back to Fantasyland for Peter Pan's ride, It's a Small World, and shopping with the $$ Josh's grandparents gave the kids. *So Generous and GREATLY appreciated!!* We also scooted back over to Tomorrowland to get Liam's Buzz costume, gun and swords, and did the second of two trips to the Monster's Inc thing :D  Shopping was our last stop..it was dark and we had saved that so we didn't have to lug purchases around all day. We walked out to the beautifully lit Castle and Main Street before catching our last bus back to the Beach Club!


The one "with makeup" haha! guess she had more on than the snow white at breakfast!

Main Street!

trapped by Emperor Zurg (sp?)

riding on the Astro Orbiter!

 Watching Move It Shake It Celebrate It!

Lunch at Tortuga Tavern~yummy taco bar!

Funny Jungle Cruise boat ride in Adventureland

Watching Beauty and the Beast movie in the Baby Center :)

Two Strong Kiddos!

Castle at Dusk all lit up.. so pretty!!

Last Family Pic at the Castle!

Modeling her purchase choices!! So proud of her smart shopping :)

A Leetle bit excited about the buzz costume and gun!!

Gnawing on her baby princess dolls. Cuteness.

Day 4, Part 2: Epcot (final visit)

The last time we spent at Epcot was Wednesday night. It was fantastic!! We had a Table Service reservation at Tutto: Italian Ristorante. It was incredible..yummy! We dressed up a little bit since we didn't think we were riding anything (although we did ride "Malestrom" in Norway but it was a giant boat slow moving ride (think It's a Small World), and walked around to see the rest of the countries in more detail. We got Liam a "Kung Fu Panda" stuffed panda he promptly named "Po" in China..where we watched "Reflections of China", and saw some of the inside exhibits in several countries. I will say, America is definitely done so well~it will make you proud to live in our great country!! We saw "The American Adventure" here and enjoyed the gorgeous surroundings.

 

Tutto!

Italy was just so pretty. :)

Josh's cannonelli (sp?) with cinnamon sugar dusted fork and knife :)

In China :)

 

 

Day 4, Part 1: Animal Kingdom (round two)

We hadn't seen nearly all that Animal Kingdom had to offer on Monday, so we headed back over!  We arrived right around the time Emory was due for her 2nd breakfast, so I'll touch on the babycenters now. They are incredible!! They have private nursing rooms, a room with a tv playing Disney movies, a little store if you need to buy baby supplies, a room with like, 12 changing tables, and a full kitchen. THANK YOU, DISNEY! It was super helpful. Plus, sitting in the AC was a nice change from the heat and humidity of hurricane season in FL :)

On the train (which was the best part) to Rafiki's Conservation Station. It sounds exciting, but the best part was the effort they put into the front of the building..It is a school trip about taking care of the planet, and a small petting zoo.. Thank goodness we'd been to the Greensboro Science/Nature (? name?) which was a zillion times better..

Pigs

shorn sheep

Really cool front to the building

Riding Kali River Rapids!!

Two giant bats on the Maharajah Jungle Trek!! Or maybe it was on the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail..we did both! A very neat up close and personal view of some architecture and animals in Asia and Africa, respectively.

Flights of Wonder bird show. We didn't stay for the whole thing ..they were hungry and lost interest. They will probably get more into it when they are 5 years older ;)

 

We had lunch at Flame Tree BBQ which was delicious!! TGMike recommended a great place to eat and also to sit in a certain area where we had a cover from a brief rainstorm and a beautiful view of the bridge from Africa to Asia and the big volcano rollercoaster~gorgeous!

 

After lunch we headed to "Dinoland, USA" a random-ish part of AK which is adjacent to/includes the Finding Nemo Musical~it was awesome!!  We hit a couple of little roller coasters the kids liked in Dinoland before heading back to the Beach Club

Day 3, Part 2: Hollywood Studios (take two) & Epcot

So, apparently, we had so much fun at Hollywood Studios that we didn't stop to take any pictures!! But what we did do was have a great lunch at Rosie's Cafe, see the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, ride Toy Story Midway Mania (using the fast pass system, which is great but we barely needed due to the time of year we went and using TGMike's suggestions of ride order), See Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage, and go to the Fantasmic interactive "movie" show!! It was a blast!!

 

Our evening included another hop over to Epcot! (our resort was a 5 minute walk along the waterway pictured below)  This was our view as we came through the gates of Epcot each time: the beautiful scenery, water, and a view of "France"  :)

 

Mary Poppins in England!

On the bridge headed towards France and Itlay

Perhaps my only in person view of the Eiffel Tower ;)

Too Cute! This was my screen saver for a while :)

That is my first babe. Look at that beauty.

My two handsome Hunks!!

Off to check out where we would eat the next night in Itlay!

Kids were fascinated with the fountain in France.

View across the water..

Our spot to watch Illluminations before the sun set

Hopefully we'll see this in person one day!

 

Since we'd had a lighter lunch and dinner, we thought this was a good night to splurge on a French dessert..it was RIDICULOUSLY good~adults split something amazing called a Napoleon and the kids had a chocolate mousse. :)

Home sweet home every evening!