Disney, day 5: Animal Kingdom

Once upon a time, on Wednesday, July 26, it was hot as humanly possible. Oh wait, I think we've heard this one before. ;) It was Animal Kingdom day, and another scorcher. I managed to snag a first-thing Fast Pass for the Kilimanjaro Safari so we headed there as soon as we got into the park. The kids totally got a kick out of it (and Addison may have been a tinge nervous, because she kept her sweaty little hand on my thigh the entire time). 

Our other Fast Passes for the day were for the Dinosaur ride, which was air conditioned and fun, (though I was a little nervous that Carter might get motion sick. He didn't though.) and the new Avatar ride, Na'vi River Passage. We picked that one over the Flight of Passage which was a major mistake because the Na'vi River Journey was lame-o. The wait time would have been about 2 hours for that one and 3 for the Flight of Passage, which shows that new rides are all the rage at Disney. We heard the other one was really cool but it is virtual reality and in the "thrill" category so it wouldn't have been a fit for the kids anyway. 

We did the "It's Tough to be a Bug" show, which hasn't changed at all since I was a kid...and which provided us MUCH amusement as parents. We opted to not tell the kids a thing about the show, so it was going on and the kids were loving it. Things took a bit of a sour turn when the "stink bug" sprayed the audience from the squirters in front of us (we weren't sure why this threw them for a loop because MANY shows in the Disney parks do this). Then, when the mean bug started "attacking the humans" and the lights went out, things got bad. Very bad. Addison flipped and Carter hopped up on my lap, crying. Because I needed him to be in his seat when the "cockroaches" crawled under your butt on the seat, I sat him down and told him it would be ok. Cockroaches came. Kid number two flipped. Basically, we left the theater with two sobbing kids, two hysterically laughing parents, and a whole lot of stares. But....kids crying everywhere so all the parents were like whoops, parent fail. 

We had a lunch reservation at the Rain Forest Cafe, but we had some time to kill before we could go in so we hit up Dino Land, where we did some rides and played some carnival games because we are suckers. But we won every time, so the kids got cute stuffed animals for less than we would have in the shop.  

Ah, lunchtime. The sweet, sweet feeling of air conditioning. We decided that since our Fast Pass for the Avatar ride wasn't until 3 something, we would take our good 'ol time eating and shopping in their cute gift shop. The kids had money from Gram and Poppi that they were saving but that all went out the door when they saw the enormous gift shop at Rain Forest Cafe, and the collection of those big-eyed Beanie Boos. (We seriously looked like pack mules on the plane on the way home with all the souvenirs we got.)

We actually left Animal Kingdom by about 4 p.m. It was just so hot and I always have seen that park more as a "half day" kind of park. We went back to the condo, showered, the kids watched a movie cuddled in bed, Seth took a rest, I binge-watched Friends alone in the living room (silence is golden at Disney), and we ordered Papa John's for a later dinner. Then, we headed to the pool and the kids had a blast!

Disney, day 4: Magic Kingdom (again!)

Happy Magic Kingdom day 2! On Tuesday, July 25, we headed back to Magic Kingdom to do the other side of the park! We had fun Fast Passes this day: Big Thunder Mountain (which ended up being the kids' favorite ride of the entire trip!), Pirates of the Caribbean and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! 

We took some sweet pictures in the parking lot first. I am SO BUMMED that the humidity had the lens steamed up on this one of me and Addison and we didn't realize it until later in the trip. But the one of the kids together with the ears is probably my favorite picture of the whole trip! 

By the time we parked and did the madness that is the transportation center (which, we learned our lesson this time and walked rather than packing everything up for the tram) and got into the park, we were sweltering hot, so we ducked into the first Starbucks we saw on Main Street U.S.A. to grab some cold drinks. The kids saw these huge cookies with Mickey sprinkles and had to have it! 

The Swiss Family treehouse, which was fascinating to the kids! 

On this day, other than our Fast Passes, we didn't have anything we HAD to do, so we spent our day just doing whatever we felt like doing when the mood hit us. We did Dumbo, the train through the park, met characters all over the place, saw the Country Bear Jamboree, found the Dole Whip that everyone raves about, found a shooting archive, and more. Oh, and the splash zone, of course. The kids changed into their suits and all, and played in it for quite a bit to cool down. We packed it in, that's for sure! 

FACT: The longest we waited the whole trip was to meet Ariel! :) 

We TRIED to head out around 5:45 after our last Fast Pass, but one sweet little girl lost her Magic Band, so we had to wait in line at Guest Relations for a whole hour (Sigh...). Turns out, we didn't really need a replacement since I also still had our physical tickets back at the hotel, which we could use for our last day at Animal Kingdom. Bad news: no souvenir Magic Band for her. Oh well. Once we needlessly waited, we headed out a little before 7 p.m. and went back to the condo for a quick, easy dinner and then went right to the pool (which, let's be honest, is a kid's dream anyway!!). Another great day! :) 

Disney, day 3: Hollywood Studios

On Monday, July 24, we did Hollywood Studios. Since the night before was our late night at Magic Kingdom, we would have loved to have slept in. But nope...Carter's dream was to do the Jedi Training, and my research told me we needed to be there when the park opened to haul it to the sign up location to grab a spot. We got there about 5 minutes after opening, and pretty much RAN (ha...no pun intended) to the location. We waited in line for about 20 minutes and we were able to easily secure two spaces (Addison decided she wanted to do it too!) Even with being there that early, they did only have after lunch sessions available. 

After we signed up, we looked around and saw that the Star Wars rides had no lines so we quickly hopped in the line for Star Tours, a 3D virtual reality ride. The ride was fun but as soon as it ended (but before the door opened to let us out) Carter looked pale and told me he really needed to get off and find a bathroom. I was so terrified he was about to barf on the ride so as soon as the doors opened, Seth grabbed him and ran off. He did not throw up but we quickly realized many of the rides there just weren't going to work. He already has a tendency to get motion sickness, but add in the insane heat, and it was just a little dangerous. Oh well. We had Fast Passes for the Frozen Sing Along (SO cute), Toy Story Mania (SO fun), Voyage of the Little Mermaid and then later, right before we left for the day, we pulled one for the Great Movie Ride (lame and so glad we didn't wait; but it was looking like it was about to storm and it's closing soon so we opted to try it). We also walked right in to meet Olaf!  

After lunch, we explored the park a bit (I hadn't been there since it was MGM years and years ago), and headed to Jedi Training. By this time, it was well past 100 degrees. Those poor kids then had to add a robe to their outfits! Addison was the littlest so she got to hold the banner as they walked to the "temple." 

The kids both enjoyed the training but I was so nervous the whole time. Carter was so flushed, with visible sweat pouring off his face. He told me he had fun but he seemed so overheated. He loved watching the video of his battle once it was over and he had a nice, cold slushie in his hand. :) 

After the Great Movie Ride, we opted to head out for the day. It was about dinner time and we had done everything we wanted to anyway. We headed back for an air conditioning break and showers and then went to a local Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner. My face below represents two VERY hyper kids paired with two VERY tired parents. HA! 

Disney, day 2: Magic Kingdom

Day two of Disney (Sunday, July 23) was Magic Kingdom, probably the most anticipated park of our trip. This day was only like 92 degrees with insane humidity (rather than 105 with insane humidity), and it was early in our trip, so we decided to make this our "long day." We knew our kids (super early risers) weren't going to be made for really late nights every night, so we decided that we would just pick one definite late night, and any others would be bonuses. So we picked this one! When you stay off property, traveling to Magic Kingdom is a process and a half. Car to transportation center parking lot, where you take a tram to the monorail line, where you take a monorail to the park, where you wait in security lines and then the ticket lines. From the time we left our hotel until we were at the gate, it was probably a little over an hour. Sheesh! Addison was very excited to see the castle on the monorail ride to MK! 

We started our day in Tomorrowland because we had Fast Passes to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin! We did the People Mover, Carousel of Progress, Astro Orbiter and a couple other fun things in Tomorrowland before we headed into the other parts of the park. (Since we had Fast Passes for things on the "left" side of the park, we opted to stick more to the right/middle on this day.) We were SO impressed with the crowds (or lack thereof) at this park, and at all the other ones through the week, too. We never waited more than 30 minutes for anything we wanted to do/ride. The longest we waited was to meet Ariel. When we walked past Cinderella's meet and greet, it was only at 20 minutes, so we hopped in line! :)

For lunch, our kids wanted to eat packed lunches from the condo (fine by us!), so we packed them a lunch and Seth and I ate at Pinocchio Village Haus and had really yummy pizza. On this day, we also rode It's a Small World (the kids said "boy, that was weird." HAHA), Peter Pan's Flight (mommy declared that one weird.), the Barnstormer (a kids' coaster they both loved), Dumbo, and a bunch of other ones, too. We had a Fast Pass for Enchanted Tales with Belle, which was so cute. It was a little skit where a couple people from the audience of about 25-30 were picked to "act" with Belle and Lumineer. Carter got picked to play the beast, Seth got picked to play a guard, and Addison got picked to play Mrs. Potts. SO precious. Carter was definitely a bit shy (especially when everyone laughed at his amazing roar! It was so cute!). 

By this time, we needed to post up for a good spot in the parade. Because I research everything to death, I knew exactly where we were going. I asked a Cast Member a question about the parade when we were sitting at our spot and he said "Don't move. You have an amazing spot!" The kids spotted Mickey ice cream while we waited so of course we had to get it! 

We spent the afternoon watching shows (Mickey's Philharmagic and a bunch of others), perusing Main Street U.S.A. and drinking 650 cups of water. We had a dinner reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern, which is a family-style dinner of pork loin, beef roast, and some other meats, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, salad, rolls, corn, cranberry relish and more. It was SO GOOD, and totally worth the money, in my opinion. It was definitely expensive but it also afforded us 90 minutes in amazing air conditioning and a bit of a time-killer until we had to go park it for the fireworks.

Because we were throwing caution to the wind on this trip, we went far down Main Street U.S.A. toward the castle, RIGHT beside Casey's Diner and had an absolutely amazing spot. We knew for a fact it would take us a year and a day to get out of there at the end because there were thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people between us and the exit. But we knew the view would be great so we stayed. And I am so glad we did. We were a straight-shot view to the castle and the new nighttime show "Happily Ever After." The kids were exhausted and a little impatient to just be sitting to wait (this is when we were VERY thankful we had the stroller, and one of the only real times Carter sat in it) but they perked up when it started and stared in awe the entire time. They say Disney is magical and this show literally made that true. I could have cried just watching them experience the magic.

Afterwards, we did a big turn with the double stroller, told Carter to get in, and headed toward the exit. And the craziest thing happened: the streets seemed to have split and we had a great, straight walk out, really not having to dodge much traffic at all. Of course we waited for the monorail for a little (maybe 20 minutes??) but all-in-all, we were back to the transportation center and walking to our car all within about 25 minutes. Score!! We got the kids RIGHT to bed because the next day was Hollywood Studios and I knew we'd have to be there right when they opened to get the kids into Jedi Training! What a fun, MAGICAL day at the Magic Kingdom!