Archives for April 2012

You can read The Disney Diaries: Day One HERE.

You can read The Disney Diaries: Day Two – Magic Kingdom HERE.

You can read The Disney Diaries: Day Three – Epcot HERE.

I was so excited to finally see Animal Kingdom.  I have a serious obsession with giraffes and the kids knew I was eagerly awaiting the Animal Kingdom’s popular Kilimanjaro Safaris Expedition.  After checking out the amazing Tree of Life, we went straight to Africa to FastPass the Safari.  The Africa landscape design was so breathtaking.  I felt like I was there.  We walked through a downtown marketplace complete with old buildings and open air restaurants.  It was really cool.  And it turned out that the Safari line was short so we didn’t need to FastPass at all!

We boarded the jeep and off we went in search of animals.  I saw my beloved giraffes!  They crossed the path right in front of us.  And the other animals were pretty amazing too.

After the jeep tour we continued on and did a walking tour of the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail.  The kids loved the birds and we saw a Mama and baby gorilla.

We stopped for a quick snack and then went to Finding Nemo – The Musical.  It was one of Annabel’s favorite shows so we let her buy a Nemo stuffed toy and she didn’t let go of it the entire day.  We then visited DinoLand U.S.A. to check out the The Boneyard play area and ride the TriceraTop Spin.  Daniel then wanted a dinosaur toy as his Animal Kingdom treat.  We got that and then went to our lunch reservation at Asia’s Yak & Yeti restaurant.  We were starving!

Yum-O!  I highly recommend this place.  It was also a nice change of pace to enjoy some table-service Asian food.  Hubbie and I shared some Ahi tuna and pot stickers and then I had a delicious crispy honey chicken dish.  They saved the best for last because the fried wontons for dessert were AMAZING.  Daniel loved the vegetable lo-mein and Annabel loved the kids ice cream sundae.  Note:  We were on the Disney Dining Plan which allowed us to get appetizers and dessert at our meals.  It was fun to sample everything.  The plan also includes daily snacks and most of the places we went to did accept the plan.

After lunch we noticed the character meet-and-greet tent did not have a long line so we took a second to meet the adorable Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger.

I don’t know why we went to see the Bug’s Life “It’s Tough to be a Bug” 3-D movie because I had read that it was scary for the little ones.  And it was!  It was dark and there were stinging hornets and big black spiders falling from the ceiling. Everyone was screaming and the kids hated it.  Thank goodness it was only 8 minutes long.  Then Hubbie had to leave to use his FastPass for the Expedition Everest roller coaster so the kids and I went to the Festival of the Lion King.

Lion King was another great live performance show and we had the perfect end seats to enjoy all the beautiful set changes and acrobatics.  It was raining when we left, so Daddy met us at the exit with some Disney rain ponchos.  The cloud burst lasted five minutes, but we were tired and decided to head out and spend the rest of the afternoon lounging around our Wilderness Lodge resort.

Annabel and I found some comfy pool chairs and I enjoyed a cocktail while she enjoyed an orange smoothie. Daniel and Daddy spent an hour in the pool and Daniel went down the water slide about fifty times.  Then we used some of our Disney dining points for a room service dinner in our pajamas.  It was the perfect ending to another fun day.

 

You can read The Disney Diaries: Day One HERE.

You can read The Disney Diaries: Day Two – Magic Kingdom HERE.

Daniel was very excited when we rode the Disney monorail to Epcot because the monorail is one of his favorite “rides.”  We arrived at Epcot around 9:30 AM and went directly to “Future World.”  First on our list was to FastPass the Test Track ride.  Then we went to check out The Seas with Nemo & Friends.  We rode in a “clamobile” through the deep seas looking for Nemo. Then right next door we had some Turtle Talk with Crush.  It’s a live show where kids can have a conversation with the cool turtle from “Finding Nemo.”  It was really amazing and the kids went nuts for the “dude”-talking turtle.  He even answered Annabel’s question: How old are you?  (Answer: 150 years old.)

Then it was time for Test Track.  It’s a high-speed vehicle simulation ride.  I always get a little nervous when I see the “heart condition” signs next to a ride so I asked the attendant if it was scary. He said “No.”  But I would say it was a LITTLE scary but definitely a whole lot of fun.  We all loved it.  It’s now Daniel’s favorite ride.  The lady sitting next to Annabel could not believe how brave she was.  All Annabel said the entire time was “Wheee!”  She also said the ride messed up her hair.

We were lucky to be in Epcot during the International Flower and Garden Festival.  There were lots of cool character topiaries to check out and some fun garden mazes.  There was Bambi’s Butterfly House which the kids didn’t want to leave.   But we were on a mission to visit all eleven countries in the World Showcase!

We managed to visit every single country.  (We stayed in some countries longer than others.  Italy!  Japan!) I promised the kids they could pick out a small token from each country we visited.  It was tough to find ANYTHING under ten dollars so we collected a lot of flags, magnets, and pins.  Annabel did pick up a really cute Hello Kitty doll from Japan and Daniel loved the gummy candies from Germany.  We all loved the pretzels in Germany too.  Oh, and I loved the German beer.  We also had a delicious lunch in Italy with an amazing bottle of Italian white wine. This might be why we ended up with 2 flags from Norway and nothing from Morocco.  Ha.

There were also some neat street performers and musicians to entertain us as we strolled along.  We were definitely exhausted after leaving the last country, but we wanted to go back to Future World for two final rides:  Journey Into Imagination with Figment and Soarin’.  The Figment ride was cute and has the iconic purple dragon that Annabel just loved.  But I wish I would have skipped Soarin’.  Annabel and Daddy loved it. Mama and Daniel did not.  It’s basically a movie that makes you feel like you are hang-gliding.  I almost vomited my pasta from Italy.  I kept my eyes closed most of the time.

All in all, I would recommend Epcot for kids.  It can be fun for little ones.  We picked up the Epcot Passport at the entrance gift shop so the kids could get a stamp from each country.  We had to find the “Kidcot” stand and the country representative would stamp their book and write a fun note too.  It’s a great keepsake from our first visit to Epcot.

Now I can’t wait to go back and sample more of the food and beverages.  I didn’t get a chance to get my sweet pastry treat from France.  Next time.  Definitely.

 

You can read The Disney Diaries: Day One HERE.

We woke up really early Monday morning and had a small breakfast at the Roaring Fork snack shop in our Wilderness Lodge resort.  We then jumped on the boat to the Magic Kingdom.  The boat service is so easy and convenient and the boats run about every 15 minutes.  I booked Annabel an appointment at Magic Kingdom’s Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for 8:30 AM, so we entered through the Magic Kingdom gates before everyone else.  It was awesome and I highly recommend the early appointment for this reason.

On our way to the boutique, which is inside Cinderella’s Castle, we stopped to take some photos of the kids on Main Street.  It was just us and a few other families milling around.  Perfect.

We arrived at the boutique and the first thing Annabel did was pick out her princess dress from the big wardrobe in the entrance.  Now this was a BIG decision.  She finally decided on Ariel’s dress, which is an adorable mint green color.  We purchased the “Castle Package” which included the dress and the salon service.  (It DOES NOT include shoes and we made the mistake of letting Annabel fall in love with a pair of silver sparkly slippers before we realized they were EXTRA.  Ooops.)

Annabel put on her dress in the dressing room and was then brought to her salon chair for hair, make-up, and nail service.  Now, I know what you might be thinking, “Isn’t this a little too Toddlers & Tiaras?”  It really isn’t.  It’s truly magical. Annabel was wide-eyed the entire time.  It was a really sweet experience.  The makeup is just some play eyeshadow, blush and lip gloss and a glitter sticker for her cheek.  I’ve never put makeup or nail polish on Annabel before, so she really felt like a princess. They even ended the experience with a pixie dust sprinkle.  The only cringing thing was watching them put an entire half bottle of gel into her long, curly hair.  She loved it, but it took two days to get it all out.  The things we do for some magical Disney fun!

After the boutique experience, we had brunch reservations at Cinderella’s Royal Table inside the castle. Cinderella does not do the rounds inside the restaurant.  You meet her in the lobby before you enter.

During the breakfast we met Aurora, Belle, Jasmine, and Ariel.  Annabel loved that she was wearing the Ariel dress when she met Ariel.  It was super cute.  Daniel was thrilled to eat two cinnamon rolls and a plate of pancakes.  Hubbie and I loved the food and the endless cups of coffee.  They gave all the girls a princess wand and all the boys a sword.  Everyone also received a wishing star.  We had a great view of the park from our table.  All in all, I highly recommend Cinderella’s Royal Table, even if you don’t do the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.  And if you make an early reservation (before 9:00 AM), you can enter the park early (like we did) which is a very nice perk.

Then it was finally time to go on some rides! Fantasyland was first with Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Goofy’s Barnstormer, Peter Pan’s Flight, The Carousel, It’s A Small World, and Mickey’s PhilharMagic.  The kids made me go on Barnstormer two times even though I’m not a fan of roller coasters. (At least it’s a short ride.) There were some technical delays with the PhilharMagic show, but we stayed until they fixed it.  It was nice to rest in some air conditioning and it was worth the wait.  The 3D experience was really neat.  Then, we headed to Adventureland for a snack: The famous Disney World Dole Whip and Dole Whip float!

 

You can only get the Dole Whip at Adventureland’s Aloha Isle snack window.  The verdict?  Very yummy, but Annabel and I prefer the Dole Whip ice cream while Daddy and Daniel loved the float with the pineapple juice.

We spent some time in Adventureland riding Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, and walking the entire Swiss Family Treehouse (Daniel’s favorite.)  The lines were getting long so we decided to head back to Main Street to get some good seats for the 3:00 PM parade and grab a quick lunch.  We love the “Celebrate A Dream Come True” parade.  It’s definitely one of our Magic Kingdom not-to-miss experiences.

After the parade, we took the boat back to our resort for some rest/naps and then we were back at the Magic Kingdom by 5:30 PM.  We grabbed dinner at Tomorrowland’s Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe. (Annabel went bonkers for the piano playing puppet.) Daddy and Daniel rode some race cars on the Tomorrowland Speedway while Annabel and I strolled around looking at the shops. We met up at Cinderella’s Castle for dessert and the 7:30 PM “Dream Along with Mickey” show.  Dessert was the famous Mickey ice cream bar (they are AWESOME) while we watched the show.  The sun began to set and it was the perfect ending to the day.

Quick note: We did rent a Disney double stroller for the week.  We received a week of vouchers that we could show the stroller attendant each day.  It didn’t matter if we left and came back later either.  And they were good for any of the Disney parks.   It is expensive, so you need to budget for it.  But it was worth it.  Even four and five-year-olds get tired of walking and Daddy didn’t want to always have someone on his shoulders.