Disney World Vacation Recap Day 3

Day 3 began with breakfast at Hollywood and Vine, located in Hollywood Studios, with 4 of the Disney Junior characters.  Not only was the food absolutely delicious at this all you can eat buffet, but the kids got to spend a few minutes each with Sofia, Doc, Jake and Handy Mandy (they make sure to visit each kid at their table so no waiting in lines).  There were also several different opportunities for the girls to get up and dance with the characters.  If you have kids who love love the Disney Junior channel then I absolutely recommend you sign up for this character meal experience.

Addie refused to pose with Handy Mandy, so Papaw stood in her place since he is our expert builder!

We scheduled our breakfast before the park opened in hopes that we could head straight over to Rock N RollerCoaster (this is the Aerosmith Roller Coaster) and get on it without a fast pass.  I had no idea there would be a mad rush and within minutes of the park opening and finding our way over there the line quickly reached the hour mark.  We decided to opt out because I didn't want to make the kids wait in line for a ride they weren't even tall enough to ride just because mommy wanted to ride it!  So instead we made our way over to Disney Junior Live on Stage for a show.  It was a cute audience interactive show which the girls loved.

After finishing up at Hollywood Studios we headed back to Fort Wilderness for a little relaxation by the pool and hopefully a nap for the girls because later that night would be our first trip to the Magic Kingdom!!!

After meeting Tinkerbell we dined at Tony's Town Square, which I strategically picked because they took reservations and because the electrical parade passes right by so you can get up and go watch it when it comes through.  Once the parade passed and we finished eating we headed out to see the fireworks in front of Cinderella's Castle.  Magic Kingdom seriously has the best fireworks show and you absolutely don't want to miss any part of it.  The kids were completely mesmerized!

Disney World Vacation Recap Day 2

Ready for another fun day the girls dressed in their Mickey Mouse princess ears and we set off to Epcot where we began our day in Norway with Breakfast at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, often know as breakfast with the Princesses. 

I have to say this was a great meal and not only because the girls got to meet 5 princesses (Belle, Cinderella, Ariel, Snow White and Aurora) but also because the food was delicious.

Princess Belle greeted us upon arrival.  The girls were able to get her autograph and pose for some pictures.  At the end of the meal Disney World gave us 4 printed pictures to take home, which was included in the cost of the meal.  I thought it was a very nice touch.

Once everyone had been served their breakfast the other Princesses started arriving.  Each one of them stopped by every table and talked to all the children, signed autographs and posed for pictures.  To be honest, I was impressed because they never rushed any table.  They were also very good at answering and talking to the girls on the spot.  Addie was really hoping Princess Tiana was going to make an appearance so she asked Aurora where she was and her response was, "She is spending the day with Naveen in the glades."

When Snow White stopped by our table she looked at the tiara on Lexie's princess mouse ears and said, "Oh I see you've been to the diamond mind, I do hope the dwarfs were behaving themselves!"  These actress' are spot on.  I couldn't have been more impressed with how they completely committed to their character.

The girls also got to participate in the princess parade while at breakfast, where they walked through the banquet all with the real princesses and waved at everyone.  They of course jumped all over the opportunity, who doesn't love getting to be in a parade!

After breakfast we toured through some of the countries in Epcot and then headed over to Future World to ride Soarin (probably one of my favorite rides of the vacation), Living with the Land, and The Seas with Nemo and Friends.

We lunched in "Mexico" where churros were served with the meal (Addie ate more than her share) then headed back to spend the afternoon swimming and relaxing in Fort Wilderness.  

Disney World Vacation Recap Day 1

We started our great Disney World adventure at Animal Kingdom.  After reading several blogs with multiple recommendations of staying away from Magic Kingdom on the first day, because that’s where the crowds would be the highest, we decided to go into a park with a low crowd expectation.  Animal Kingdom ended up being a fantastic first choice.

Our first ride of the day was It’s Tough To Be A Bug.  Now if you know anything about my girls then you know they are TERRIFIED of bugs!  Several Friday nights ago our movie choice was A Bug’s Life.  Our thoughts behind this strategic choice were if they saw a movie about “friendly” bugs then they would be less intimidated and also better prepared for this ride.  Now I think it’s important to note we told them nothing about the ride so they had absolutely no idea what to expect.  Things started out smoothly at first because Flick (the main character from A Bug’s Life) came out and narrated the whole 3D experience.  However, once the “interactions” began (vibrating seats, sprays of water and air blasts) they started having less fun and once the giant spiders dropped from the ceiling Lexie was OVER IT!  However for us as parents, we thought it was hilarious and had a great time on the ride!  Addie’s favorite part was the butterfly at the beginning and end.  As expected neither wanted to go for a second time.

Moving on from there we Fast Passed the Kilijamangero Safari.  On this ride you board an off-road type jeep and go through an animal preservation.  I have never been so up close and personal to so many different animals before.  If you ever visit Animal Kingdom this ride is a must see.  Both Addie and Lexie’s favorite animal was the Elephant.

From the safari we made our way to Dino Land USA.  This section of the park had a very old school amusement park feel.  We rode the Triceratop spin (similar to Dumbo), Primeval Whirl and the girls played in the Bone Yard, while Trey and I experienced DinoSaur - smart choice in not taking Lexie.  She would have totally freaked out, especially when the dinosaur jumps out and scares you at the end!  Super fun ride though.

Our last two rides of Animal Kingdom consisted of Expedition Everest and Kali River Rapids.  Papaw sat out Expedition Everest with Addie since she wasn’t tall enough to ride, and afterwards Nana wished she had opted out as well!  This was a fantastic roller coaster and I was honestly surprised how long the actual ride was.  

We love this picture and I just had to make it big enough so you could appreciate the facial expressions!

The entire crew was able to ride Kali River Rapids and let me tell you…smartest decision of the day was to ride this one last and another great use of our final fast pass+,  because we went home drenched!  Addie won the title of being the wettest.  

Addie's prize for being the most wet was a Mickey Mouse Ice Cream, which she clearly enjoyed!

We ended our first day in Epcot with dinner reservations at Teppan Edo, a habachi grill.  Before going any further though, I have to point out that the rain clouds opened up and dumped on us just as the bus pulled into the park.  With our ponchos on we braved the rain because seriously whose going to want to miss out on Japanese???

Aunt Allison and Nana just happened to mention to our waitress that both Mimi and Trey had birthdays at the end of the week and subsequently they got to end their meals with hats and the birthday song.  If you know anything about Mimi then you know she absolutely hates being sung to in public!  This was a priceless experience!

After finishing dinner we headed to Malestorm in Norway, which the kinds found scary.  They didn’t really like being in the dark and the trolls kind of freaked Lexie out.  Next we made our way into Mexico and road the Grand Fiesta, which is similar to It’s A Small World in Magic Kingdom.  Both girls LOVED this one.

We finished the night at Spaceship Earth, which both girls loved so much they insisted going on twice.  We stayed in the park late enough to catch some fireworks before heading back to Fort Wilderness.  

Addie talked the entire way back to the campground to Teddy, Aunt Allison’s boyfriend.  She seems to have become enamored with him, and it’s completely precious.  The child didn’t stop talking until her head hit the pillow.  We went to bed hoping they slept in a little the next morning because they were up at 6:00am, which is almost 2 hours earlier than they normally wake!

It was a GREAT start to the week!