Animal Kingdom

Day two brought us to Animal Kingdom.  We did have a wild time!

There was something to see in every direction.  Check out the fake tree!

 

I loved the themed Christmas trees and wish there was more of this one in the picture.  Instead, it looks like there is a lion breathing down Dan's neck.

Is there anything better than a expedition themed Christmas set with Explorer Donald??

We caught a really early safari and were in luck... all of the animals were out!  And, I mean all of them.  It was very cool.

 The park itself was beautifully done.  I could have wandered here all day.

We ended up on a train that we thought was just a loop, but it turned out that it dropped us off at this learning station.  Ryan's love of odd posed pictures continued...

And, here he is holding elephant poo. Every mother's dream.  Yuck!  I hope he remembered to wash his hands.  I don't care if it is shellacked... it truly was elephant poo!

There weren't many rides in Animal Kingdom, but there was one roller coaster and it brought the worst moment of our trip.  My only explanation is that even though it was only our second day, we were already exhausted from getting up at 4:00am the day before and then hitting the park as soon as we landed.  So, Tyler spotted the Everest ride from afar and exclaimed that he wasn't going on.  To be fair, it was on a fake mountain that was rather high, but it isn't like it started at the bottom and went to the top.  It started at the top and stayed at the top.  Overall it was very mild.  But, Tyler decided he didn't want to go on.   We knew that if we allowed him to sit out or if we did a child swap that we would spend the rest of our trip doing that so we dragged Tyler on the ride kicking and screaming.  It was awful and I'm sure those around us thought we were the worst parents ever.  He stopped making a fuss as soon as he was on the ride and knew he wasn't getting off, but he refused to enjoy it as you can see in this pic.  It sure was something sitting next to him and listening to Ryan hoot and holler behind me.  While I regret how we got him on the ride, I will say that he didn't fight us on any other ride which is amazing.  Granted, we didn't even attempt any ride that had a 48" minimum.

The good news is that the Everest incident was not what Tyler said was the worst part of Disney.  The next ride is... Dinosaur!  This picture was before.

This picture tells the story.  Ryan was completely freaked out by the robot dinosaurs and Tyler kept his eyes covered most of the time.  See him peaking out from behind his hand?  Whoops!

 

We decided to tone things down and head for a show which the boys really did enjoy.  Thank goodness!

Overall, Animal Kingdom was our least favorite park, but we did enjoy it before Everest and after Dinosaur.  So sorry to the mom who asked Dan if her child would like the ride... Tyler answered a vehement "NO!"

That night we headed to Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Hotel for dinner.  Before we booked the trip I asked each boy if there was something they wanted to do and Tyler picked this meal.

 

Somehow I messed up the reservation time in my head.  I thought it was 5:45pm.  Imagine my surprise when Dan said that he thought we were going to be late at 5:10pm on the way to Magic Kingdom where we planned to catch the monorail to the Contemporary.  Why would we be late?  We have a 1/2 hour... no, we have 15 minutes.  WHAT!?!  Needless to say, we skipped the monorail and ran to the restaurant.  Literally.  We were only 3 minutes late.  Phew!  Unfortunately they snapped or picture as soon as we got there.  Looking a little rosey, huh?

While the food wasn't the greatest, the experience was.

The boys couldn't have been more pleased.

I loved how some of the characters signed the books on their faces.  Too funny!

Pluto was a favorite of Ryan's all week.

Check out this Mickey dessert.  Yum!

Ryan really got into the characters.  They all endured his hugs.

 

The boys were treated like royalty wherever we went because we had let Disney know that we were celebrating their birthdays.  At Chef Mickey's they were given a yellow napkin to let everyone know they were celebrating.  At the end of our meal they received special cupcakes!

It was a great day overall, so we decided to check out Magic Kingdom before heading back to the hotel.

Epcot

Epcot was the first park that we visited and that was a wise move.  I picked up my favorite accessory of the week... my photo pass card!!  I have to say that was one of my favorite things because I got a ton of pics and I was actually in a lot of them.  This is my favorite picture:

Christmas was everywhere that we turned in the parks, but I have to say that it felt all wrong in shorts and t-shirts!

Epcot is home to Test Track which we were lucky enough to ride multiple times thanks to 6 Fast Passes each day!!

Every ride at Disney is more than just a ride.  At the beginning of Test Track you get to build your own vehicle.  Here is Ryan's first design.

And Tyler's.  The options were crazy... you could customize everything and the boys sure did.

They loved everything about this ride including the car outside for those with disabilities to practice getting in and out of.

Something else fun about the photo pass is getting your ride pics which I would never buy.  This is my favorite.  All smiles in the front seat!

After taking your vehicle through a variety of tests, you are taken outside for quite a fast ride.  It was awesome!

Once we got off the ride there was a variety of other activities that the boys loved plus they got to check out the new Corvette!!  This pic is for your Grandpa!

Ryan was in a bit of a mood the whole time we were in Disney.  His face in the above picture was very intentional.  As soon as I took it, he came running over to see.  I'm ready for this faze to be over.

Another favorite was talking with Crush from Finding Nemo.  It seems that I didn't take any pictures of Crush except for this video.  This was our second time with Crush and this time, Crush picked Tyler out of the crowd.

So, as you heard, Crush asked Tyler who he was with and instead of saying his brother who was sitting right next to him, he said "my mom and dad" which resulted in Crush calling on me to raise my flipper.  Fun stuff.  I never thought I'd be bonding with a turtle over having all boys.  He explained that he has 67 sons.  Yikes!  After a few back and forths, I thought I was off the hook until a little later when Crush was explaining all the different ways to use the word "Dude."  At one point he asked everyone to put their flipper on their forehead and exclaim "DUDE."  I did not participate and Crush caught me.  Why couldn't Ty have just said he was with his brother??

Here are the boys after the first Crush experience sharing their best "Dude" face.

They had to have this picture.

Another Epcot shot.  Love it.  

In addition to some great rides and fantastic food, Epcot also offers lots of character interaction.  This pic is from our last day while eating at the Garden Grill, a rotating restaurant with a singing waiter and endless food.

These pictures are from our first day in the park.  The boys loved getting autographs.

I love this picture.  Could Ryan get any closer?

We spent a few minutes watching this Santa as he told stories and sang songs.  Little did I know that he freaked Tyler out a little bit.  On our last day I wanted to get a picture of the boys with Santa when Tyler told me it was a no go if Santa was green.  Ha ha!

I would go back to Epcot.  For one day.  So I can get coconut ice cream in France.

We enjoyed Epcot on three separate days, our first in the parks, our last in the parks and on Friday night where we met up with Sara's family to enjoy illuminations.  How lucky are we?

Disney

After months of planning and anticipating, early on a Tuesday morning we hopped a plane to Disney World!! 

Overall, it was a fabulous vacation.  It could not have gone better.  The weather was mid to high 80s every day with no rain... probably because I had 2 ponchos per person ready to go.  Nobody got sick... probably because I lugged a pharmacy worth of various medication with us.  We had just enough clothing... probably because I brought detergent and dryer sheets.  Nobody got a blister... probably because I had band-aids, ointment and moleskin ready to go. Yes, I over-packed.

Favorite Park: Hollywood Studios (because the boys like to watch things blow up!)

Favorite Ride: Test Track at Epcot.  Yup, sponsored by Chevrolet... shocking.

Best Meal: Rose and Crown Pub at the UK Pavilion in Epcot.  So Good!!  We had steak with fried fish and yorkshire pudding with mashed potatoes and yummy green beans.  Oh, and dessert was sticky toffee pudding.

Best Snack: Coconut ice cream in a waffle cone in the France Pavilion in Epcot.  Best coconut ice cream I've had since we went to St. Croix in 7th grade.  Seriously.

Worst Moment: Dragging Tyler kicking and screaming on to the Everest Rollercoaster and then pulling the lap bar down on him so he couldn't escape.  

Second Worst Moment: Being pulled over by TSA in the airport for the Pirates of the Caribbean Gun in our carry on.  Oops.

We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort and our sections was called Martinique.  The resort was huge, but we were within a short walk of the amenities so it didn't feel all that big to us.  The boys had a great time everywhere we went including the pools with slides!

The room itself was basic, but more than adequate.  We experienced some pixie dust a number of times including towel animals left by mousekeeping.  The boys loved it!

They also enjoyed looking for Hidden Mickey's.  They found these on our last day.  Hidden Mickey's right in our room!! Unfortunately the search for the Mickey's didn't stay in Disney... last weekend Tyler found one in church.  Seriously.

I need a place to put our pictures from the last day in Downtown Disney so here they are.

Even the shopping was fun!

I was so excited to check seeing Santa off of our list.  Tyler was ok with going because he was a red Santa.

Having said all that, I have no need to go back.  Ever.  We've been home almost two weeks and I'm still tired.  Our next vacation had better involve my toes in hot sand gazing at the ocean!

Nine

On December 3rd our Tyler turned nine.  Can you believe it??  He's halfway to adulthood which scares the pants off of me.  We only have 9 more years to ready him for the world.  Think the world will be ready for him??

I do believe Tyler had cake 9 times to celebrate this birthday as we left for Disney on that day. He had cake after cake after cake.  Lucky boy.  But, we started with an early celebration at home.  He didn't mind.

His cake was small due to our impending departure, but it as made from scratch and enjoyed with Grandpa W and Aunt Donna which made it perfect.

 He is a very happy boy.

Very, very happy!

Isn't NERF supposed to be a toy?? Ummm... yeah... this thing is a bit crazy.

9 more years.  Look out world!