Since this blog's purpose is to document key events in our lives, I really want to commemorate this awesome family vacation :) So, for the sake of remembering the key parts of the trip for going again someday, I wanted to share some of our best memories of Disney. We left on Tuesday morning and pretty much took all day to drive down to Orlando... we stopped for an hour for lunch at the Columbiana Mall, stopped several times for quick potty breaks, and made an hour and a half stop at dinner at Carraba's in Daytona Beach. The total trip took about 11 hours... very long; but I think it helped to have some long stops! We had downloaded movies and shows on the iPads and mounted them to the headrests so the boys were exceptionally good! They didn't nap much in the car, but watched their movies and enjoyed the ride.
We stayed at the Art of Animation Resort on the Disney property, and we had a Nemo Family Suite, meaning we had a separate little bedroom/bathroom, and two beds and another bathroom in the common areas.. On the first full day, we got up early, went to breakfast in our resort food court (which was a little hectic, I won't lie! The rest of the mornings we decided to eat granola bars in our room!) and headed to the animal kingdom. We had fast passes for the Kilimanjaro Safari and did it first thing - it was AWESOME! It was like a safari through the African Savanna and the animals (elephants, giraffes, lions, flamingos, etc) were just grazing and out and about. It truly felt like an authentic African safari! It was one of my favorite attractions of the whole week, and the boys LOVED it! We also did It's Tough to be a Bug (Liam was super scared - NOT recommended for small ones!) We wore 3-D glasses and watched the Bug Show, and things (bugs) "jumped out" at us, sprayed at us, and it even simulated bugs running under our legs at the end! John Parker and the adults enjoyed it, but Liam did not. Then Liam fell asleep in the stroller and John and I took JP to the Finding Nemo musical. It lasted about 40 minutes, and was so good! The talent was very impressive, and JP enjoyed it so much! After our last fast pass of the morning, we had a lunch reservation at the Tusker House... It was so good - very culturally diverse food, and we met ALL of the Mickey Mouse characters (except Minnie)... They stopped for a few minutes at each table, hugged and kissed the kids, and let us take photos. It was such a good experience. Liam was scared when the first character arrived at the table, and he even cried a little, but Mickey kissed and hugged him until he felt better and the rest of the trip he LOVED the characters! We went back to the room for naps from 3-6 and headed back to the park in the evening... We really enjoyed the evening hours in the parks each day... We didn't do the park hopper, so we went back to Animal Kingdom the first night, ate at a quick service place called Yak and Yeti Cafe (Asian food), and went over to the Dinoland part of the park where the kids were able to ride a few kid friendly rides (Triceratop Spin) and we waited in a 15 minute line to meet Goofy and Pluto. John was able to ride the Exhibition Everest roller coster... Overall, we loved the Animal Kingdom!
On the second full day, we went to Hollywood Studios. We had fast passes for the Toy Story Midway Mania (one of our favorites of the WHOLE trip!), the Little Mermaid Musical, and the Disney Junior Live on Stage show. Between the first fast pass time slot and the second, we took the kids to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area, and it was so much fun! They had huge slides that looked like leaves, tunnels that looked like they were actually burrowed through the dirt, and huge bugs they could climb on. It was one of the boys' favorite things... The shows were really good too - and a good way to rest and cool off! We also were able to jump in a quick line to meet the Car's characters (Lightening McQueen and ToMater) and the boys really loved that! JP and Liam were kissing the cars and talking to them!! We had a lunch reservation at Hollywood and Vine where they had a typical American style buffet, and we were able to meet the Disney Junior characters - Jake, Sofia the First, Doc McStuffins, and Handy Manny. The kids LOVE watching all these shows, especially Jake and the Neverland Pirates, so they really enjoyed this character lunch. After naps, we came back for the evening and ate a quick service meal at ABC Commissary (fish and chips, etc). We tried to get in to the Fantasmic night show at the park, but by the time we finished dinner, it was standing room only, so we opted against it and John rode Rockin' Roller Coster while we watched. John was also able to ride a Star Wars simulation ride (John Parker was tall enough, but backed out at the last minute!)
On the third and fourth days, we went to the Magic Kindgom. Our first MK day was a little CRAZY! We had reservations at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort for breakfast, and by the time we rode the monorail from the resort to the park, the lines just to get in the park were outrageously long! We knew then it was going to be crowded day! Chef Mickey's was great; the food was very fresh and tasty - Mickey waffles, french toast, biscuits, bacon and eggs, fruits and bakery items - and we got to meet all the Mickey characters - Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, & Pluto. After we waited to get into the park, we had to rush to our first fast pass area for the Buzz Lightyear ride. The ride was great! But the park was so busy it was difficult to even maneuver around the park. I heard several people in different lines mention that it was busier that day than they had ever seen it! We had fast passes for Dumbo the Flying Elephant and the Barnstormer. We ended up just waiting in the Barnstormer line because it was only 20 minutes and Liam was napping in the stroller with Nana - and we figured we could use our fast pass for something different later. The Barnstormer is a small roller coster, and JP LOVED it! I was worried he might be a little afraid, but he wasn't at all! We used a snack at Gaston's Tavern where we ate Cinnamon Rolls, pretzels and hummus, and fresh fruit. Before we went in for naps, we went through the Swiss Family Robinson tree house -- basically you just climb up through this elaborate tree house and then back down. JP really enjoyed it - but Liam wanted to climb all the steps with no help - therefore was holding up the line a little :) It was definitely his nap time by this point of the day! We went in for naps and JP and Liam got to swim in the pool for a while after they woke up. We went back to the MK for a quick service dinner at the Columbia Harbor House (Chicken, Fish, Lobster Rolls) and went to get a seat on Main Street for the Electric Parade. If there is one thing about the whole trip I wouldn't do again, it would be this parade. It was soooooo crowded, and we were all herded into a very small areas on the sidewalks to watch the parade. We arrived an hour early so we got decent spots to watch, but by the time the parade was about to start, some last minute viewers were pushing their way into the small areas all around and we were getting pushed and shoved a little! It was a little unpleasant, but after the parade, the crowd cleared out a little and we watched the laser show on the Castle and the fireworks show. The boys were really tired by this point (10pm!), but they enjoyed it, and both of them slept on the bus the whole way back to the hotel.
On the last day (Saturday), we went back to Magic Kingdom, and it was so much more enjoyable! The crowds had thinned noticeably, and we were able to do so much more! We had fast passes for Peter Pan's Flight (so much fun!), Pirates of the Carribean (a little creepy for little ones!), and the Jungle Cruise (a nice, cool boat ride where we saw very real looking animals! They boys really enjoyed it.) We also were able to ride It's a Small World, the Carousel, Aladdin's Flying Carpets, the Walt Disney World Railroad, and John was able to ride Space Mountain. We had a lunch reservation at The Crystal Palace, which had all the Winnie the Poo characters. The boys really enjoyed meeting them - the character meals were definitely some of the highlights of our whole trip! That evening we drove to Downtown Disney, and it was very busy! We had to park a long way away... maybe next time we will ride the bus and go on a week night (not on a Saturday night)... but it was fun! The shops were nice, and we ate at a restaurant called Earl of Sandwich, and I know this might sound crazy, but it was probably one of my favorite meals the whole time! The sandwiches were delicious. We had told the boys we would buy them one gift at the end of the week, and Nana had told them the same, so they were able to pick our their souvenirs. After dinner we had snacks left on our meal plan, so we had ice cream cones from Ghiradelli Ice Cream shop before heading back to the resort.
Sunday morning we left around 8am and traveled home all day, making a few quick stops... we arrived home around 6pm. We had such a fun time. I would definitely recommend the meal plan. Even with the boys not getting their own meals, we had plenty of food (one sit down meal, one quick service meal, and one snack each day - plus a refillable mug to use in the hotel). The fast passes made the trip so enjoyable because there were 3 guaranteed rides we would get on each day, no matter how busy the park was. I had set those up on the App ahead of time, and the Disney App also gave us accurate wait times on other rides, so that was super nice! It was also nice to be able to stay on property and go in for naps and pool time each day for a few hours. We will definitely be traveling to Disney World again sometime in the next few years. It was truly MAGICAL!
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