Disney

Because I know some of you are vacationing vicariously from me, and want every detail, here you go, plus 100 pictures to boot! :-) If you don't care that much, just skim or skip :-p


Saturday we drove down. We made good time and only stopped a few times to feed the baby. It was about 9 hours in the car, and we arrived at Disney around 6:30. We checked into the Caribbean Beach Resort (Pirate themed room) and added an extra night. Then we went to the Military resort on property to get our greatly discounted tickets. We got to our room and settled in as best we could.

Sunday we woke and made our way to Disney Hollywood Studios. Finally my kids early rising worked in our favor, we breakfasted in the room and made it to the park a little before opening. We rushed to Toy Story Mania first (I wanted our first ride to be one everyone could enjoy) hardly waited, rode the ride, got fastpasses for later. Then we sprinted to Star Tours to await the Jedi Training academy. Thankfully Liam was the last one picked for the first show, so we didn't have to wait an extra hour. He got to learn the ways of the force and fight Darth Vader. I'll post more details and video later. Then we rode Star Tours, Dom and I swapping out with the little ones and Liam riding twice. Next was the Muppet 3D show, which is awesome then lunch at pizza planet before returning back to Toy Story Mania. Dom and I rode Tower or Terror (again swapping with the kids) and we made our way to the Indiana Jones Stunt Show (cool!) we watched the Block Party Bash Parade, caught the Playhouse Disney Live Show and Journey of the Little Mermaid, did Tower of Terror again, grabbed some dinner, watched Fantasmic (very cool!) waited in line to see Buzz and Woody, saw the Christmas lights and fake snow on the back lot and let Liam ride Star Tours one more time before calling it a night! Pfew. day one: check!

Monday: Magic Kingdom: again we start the day early, breakfast in the room, pack lunch and snacks in the diaper bag and get to the park before it opens. We rode the monorail in, and Finn LOVED it. At the rope drop we ran to Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, and rode it 3 times in a row before the line got long (again I wanted to start the day with a ride everyone could enjoy) then Dom and I took turns riding Space Mountain *such a cool coaster* then we took the boys on the TTA (Tomorrowland Transportation Authority) a little "train" that runs through part of the magic kingdom. a fun ride because there is never a wait. Then we sprinted to the other side of the park to let Liam ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain, again Dom and I swapping with the little kids while Liam rode each twice. At this point we are starting to hit some lines (maybe 30 min) so we take a break to eat and then ride Pirates of the Caribbean followed by Jungle Cruise. We make our way back to the middle of the park and then we watched Philharmusic (super cool!) and wait our longest wait for Peter Pan (45 min) followed by Small World. We fast pass Pooh and go to main street to the bakery and eat a delicious snack. I had a cinnamon roll about the size of my head, we get a free cookie that is HUGE and relax a bit before heading back into it. We ride pooh and get fast passes for it again later, we ride Buzz again, play at the playground by pooh and ride pooh again and do Small World one more time. Then we found a spot for the fireworks enjoyed the cool show (Disney knows fireworks!) Did the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, the TTA again and Buzz one more time before leaving the park for the day (taking the monorail again) Pfew! day two, check!

Tuesday: at this point we are starting to wear out, so we picked Animal Kingdom since its a smaller park and closes earlier. Again getting there at rope drop Dom and I run to Expedition Everest, the newest coaster at Disney and take turns riding. Wow, that ride is cool! The nice part about getting there early is we got to ride it a few times before the lines got long. We then got fastpasses for Everest and ran across the park to ride the safari, super fun. We run back across the park to ride Everest with our passes and then we watched the Nemo Musical (super cool, especially for our Nemo fan Finn) And take turns taking Liam onto Dinosaur, while Finn climbs. Then the boys rode flying dinos and played in the bone yard. Next is the Tree of Life and Tough to be a Bug show followed by walking the Tiger walk, and the safari walk. We Finally catch the Lion King show as our last thing before leaving the park. Not as full, but still a long day. We are tired!

Wednesday: our much needed rest day. We spend this day taking our time in the morning and hanging out at our resort. We had lunch reservations at Whispering Canyons, a restaurant at the Wilderness Lodge that is very family friendly, and full of silly antics and great food. Then we swam in our cool resort pool before heading to Downtown Disney where I do a little bit of shopping.

Thursday is EPCOT. I love Epcot! Again there for rope drop Dom and I get the grown up rides out of the way first. We do Mission Space, cool! and Soarin, super cool! followed but Test Track (not as cool) Liam gets to ride the last two. Its been a long morning for Finn who hasn't done anything yet. We do the Seas with Nemo, okay ride and Journey into Imagination. Followed by Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Then we find the "cool spot" where you can taste soda from around the world and have fun with that. Then is Spaceship Earth (the big golf ball) I love the changes to that one and then Energy ride (whit Dinos) We now make our way into the world showcase. walking a bit. This part is lost on the boys, so we walk rather quickly. We rose the Norway ride though, which is neat!!! And caught the candlelight processional which I loved, but the kids weren’t so crazy about. Now its getting dark and the world showcase is really lost on the boys. So we eat some fish and chips, get in on and impromptu meeting with Father Christmas. We go back to the front, ride Spaceship Earth one more time and try some more soda before staking out our spot for Illuminations. Super Cool show! My favorite fireworks show ever! The night is done, Late, and we go back to the hotel.

Friday: Our last day on our five day pass and we decide to go back to the Magic Kingdom since they had the most family friendly rides. Again at rope drop we run to Buzz Lightyear, but are noticing increasing lines, so we only ride it once. Next is the TTA :-) followed by Pooh, Small World and Peter Pan again It starts raining this morning, and keeps going all day, its also cooler than it has been. We try Toon town this time and the boys get to ride Goofy's Barnstormer a few times in a row because the lines are short (kiddie coaster) then we wait in line to see Mickey and Minnie. Seamus is fascinated by Minnie! Then we return to our favorite bakery for some warm pastries and coffee and to dry off. We ride the carousel of Progress, and the TTA (again!) go back to the Barnstormer a few more times (still no lines) and take the train around the park. It is the afternoon now, and its still raining, we are wet and tired and have seen everything we wanted to see so we call it a day and return to the hotel around 5, take baths, and warm up.

Saturday: our Disney adventure is done and we make the long drive back home. When we pull into our driveway at 7pm Finn says "no, not this home!" I guess we had fun, I sure did!

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