Disney Round 2

As if we hadn’t been busy enough, we took off to Disney for the weekend. Call us CRAZY, I know, Easter, my birthday, Stacey’s pinning, now Disney….we were determined to drive ourselves to exhaustion! :)

We packed Friday night and woke up early Saturday morning. We actually put Ava in the car still in her jammies and headed to Disney. We had 2 more days on our tickets, so we decided to head to the Animal Kingdom since the last time we had been was when Ava was about 14 months old.

We had a great day and rode the safari, which Ava enjoyed seeing all of the animals. We also went and saw Finding Nemo, the musical, which she thoroughly enjoyed. While she took a short nap, we watched a show called “Flights of Wonder” and it was all about birds. I went in thinking I wouldn’t really enjoy it, but Adam really wanted to see it (which is a big surprise since he has this thing against birds!) We thought the show was excellent. They had all these different kinds of birds that would do different things on command- pretty amazing. Ava would have enjoyed it as well if she had been awake, but we knew she needed a nap!

Family picture in front of the Tree of Life- I just read where it is over 145 feet tall and carved with 325 reptiles, mammals, and birds in it’s trunk.

We left Animal Kingdom around 3:30 and went to check in to our hotel. We ended up staying at the Gaylord Palms. I hadn’t stayed at this hotel, but knew from others it was a nice hotel. We got a really great deal and decided we would try it out. Inside the hotel is a huge atrium and it has all kinds of really neat things. They also had a putt-putt course, that is free to guests, which Adam really wished we had made time for. We both said we could spend a day just playing around the hotel- we will remember for next time :) If we aren’t staying in Disney, this is the next best thing to it- it is literally across I-4 from Disney’s entrance and a very nice hotel- it’s a new favorite for us.

Ava liked looking at the waterfalls- I do wish we had spent more time checking it out- but we all know how Disney is and by the time we made it back to our rooms we were exhausted!

After we checked into our hotel and chilled out for a few minutes, we headed over to Hollywood Studios. It was the only park that was opened later. With Adam and Ava both having a fetish for Toy Story, the perfect place to eat was Pizza Planet in Hollywood Studios.

The main thing I wanted to do in Hollywood Studios was take Ava to see Beauty and the Beast. Her favorite princess at this moment is Belle and I knew she would just love seeing it. (It will be interesting to see if she sticks with Belle being her favorite since she just got Tangled on dvd). She loved the show and excitedly pointed out that the girls had ‘sprinkles’ on their dresses at the end of the show. (Just in case you couldn’t figure it out, she calls sparkles sprinkles.)

We waited around to see the water, lights, and fireworks show called Fantasmic!, both and and I (and Ava) wished we hadn’t waited. It was the most demonic thing we have ever seen. Ava sat with her eyes covered or her head buried in mine the entire time. Part of it was because the water would spray up into a fan shape and they would shine the lights on it like a movie screen, and the breeze would cause the water to spray on us (not anything near drenching, just enough to feel it). Of course, we understood that you can’t control the weather, so that isn’t what turned us off of it, but the storyline was that every single (and I mean EVERY) villan in the disney movies were out to get Mickey, which of course Ava didn’t like and it was scary, especially through a 2 year old’s eyes. We debated several times whether or not to leave in the middle of it (it was a 30 minute show), but both agreed that it might be best if Ava saw that Mickey was okay and saw the happy ending, rather than us leaving and her thinking something bad had happened. (Isn’t that just awful that we had to contemplate this at a Disney park?!)

We did buy her a light-up necklace that we hoped would ease her fears….

After the show, we both agreed, even as adults it wasn’t good, so kids that would be old enough to sit through it without being scared would think it was corny. In Disney’s defense, the pamphlet did say that it *May scare small children*. In my defense, I assumed it was talking about the noise the fireworks would make- not that the actual show would be scary! Oh well, we can now say, been there, done that and we won’t ever see it again!

We headed back to the hotel and quickly got showers since we had some visitors on the way. My Aunt Ann and Uncle Scott had traveled down to Kissimee to see my cousin Garrett. He was down for Spring Training and since they were in Florida for the week they headed down to see Garrett. All three of them came an visited us for a little while, which we enjoyed. We don't get to see each other as often as we would like, so we are grateful for the opportunities when we do have them. :)

The next morning we got up and headed to the Magic Kingdom. I have learned that the earlier you get there, the less crowded it is and you are able to do more things because the lines aren’t outrageous. I thought the parked open at 8, so when we stepped off the monorail at 8:15 and saw the gates still locked I thought it was odd. Well, apparently, upon further inspection, I saw that the park didn’t open until 9:00…oh well….

Time went by pretty fast and because we arrived earlier than it opened we were able to get a great park, like 3rd row great park! Plus, we were able to see them open the park- something I hadn’t ever seen or known about. A guy comes out and tells everyone the train is about to pull into the station to open the park. They select a family to help them (not sure how they select a family) and moments later, Mickey and all his gang as well as all the princes and princesses come in riding on the train. It was really neat.

The pictures don’t show all of the characters, but trust me, they were all there- all of them. So neat- Ava was excited so to see them.

Another plus to us getting there and being among the first to entire the park was that we were able to get into the first group for the Tangled characters greeting. During our last visit we had tried, but they were standing in line 2 hours early and we weren’t even guaranteed a spot in that one, so we decided to skip it. While we were standing out in front of the park, I had told Adam if we went straight there we might be able to get in, if we didn’t I wasn’t going to be upset, but I knew this would be our only chance, and the first time was 9:15, so it would work out perfectly- if it would work out at all.

We made it in and the kids were able to color some pictures and then after a few minutes Rapunzel and Flynn Rider came out. They both played their characters really well and Ava was excited to see them, until she started walking up to them… It was so funny, we had to keep telling her, just a sec, wait a minute, it isn’t our turn yet, we’re next…. because she was trying to walk up to them before it was our turn, well, as soon as it was our turn and she started to walk up to them she turned around and wanted me to hold her. So guess who got a picture with Rapunzel and Flynn- yep- mommy! ;)

They were both so good with her and I know this is their job, but even Flynn did very good with her, to me he did a great job acting as Flynn.

Our next stop, which Adam was probably most excited about, was the Tomorrowland Speedway- Ava isn’t tall enough to ride a lot of the bigger kid rides, but she can ride this, so Adam was excited to take her- she was a little hesitant to get in the car, but once she did, she loved it!

Riding the teacups!

The teacups are probably my favorite childhood ride, I remember riding it with my dad.

We also rode Cinderella’s Carousel and It’s A Small World, where we tried to take a family picture, but every time we cut Adam’s head off, no matter how we adjusted ourselves or the camera- haha!

I mentioned the last time we went to Disney that neither Adam nor I had ridden the Jungle Cruise (well I hadn’t in a very long time). We both loved it the last time we rode it- just a cute ride, so we jumped in line for it as well.

I tell ya, Ava is all girl! She covered her face when we were coming up on the waterfall, she was so afraid she was going to get wet!

After the Jungle Cruise, Ava and I rode Aladdin’s carpets. She loved this ride the last time we rode and I knew she wouldn’t want to miss it. She is still very timid about rides, but you can tell each time we have gone she has become a little braver about the rides.

The last ride we rode was Pirates of the Carribean- poor Ava, she hates this ride- she says she’s ‘fraid, mommy’, but Adam wanted to ride it, so off we went. She almost fell asleep right before we stepped on the boat, but she stayed awake through the ride and we told her we would get something to drink and snack as soon as it was over.

We ended up finding a spot that was shaded and took a breather while we all had a small snack and I checked the times for the shows in front of the castle. Ava liked watching the shows the last time and I knew we had ridden most everything she would have cared about so before we headed home I thought we should try to catch one of the shows and the parade. (Hoping she would nap in between). We had a great view and stood with only one other person between us and the bottom of the castle and Ava fell asleep- of course!

Adam and Ava found a cool spot to sit while Ava took a nap and I went on a search for a picture frame. Mom and I were both looking for a specific frame and neither of us had found what we were looking for, so I thought they might have what we wanted in one of the stores. I also took that time to buy Ava another charm for her Disney charm bracelet. She’s already got quite the collection, we counted it up the other day, she’s been to Disney 8 times in less that 3 years!

About 30 minutes before the parade was scheduled to start Adam found us a place to sit on the side walk, somewhat in the shade, and where we could feel a little of the AC coming out of one of the shops and we got some ice cream to keep us cool. The weather was actually great- the only time we were hot was when we were waiting on the parade.

Disney is always busy, but we didn’t use a single fast pass and we didn’t wait any longer than 20 minutes for anything we wanted to do- that is a successful day at the MK in my book. Since we were there when the park opened, by the time we watched the parade we had done everything we really wanted to do and we knew that the earlier we left, the earlier we would get home- and we both had to work on Monday. So, after the parade, we gave Ava her “princess card” which is really a Disney gift card, and let her pick something from the store to buy. She is so funny when she does this. She is very particular- she walks through the whole store and we limit her to buying only 1 thing. If she picks out 2 things, she studies them and decides which one she likes best and once she has decided- that’s it- she’s ready to pay for it and she knows just how to do that part as well!

We ended up pulling out of the park at 4:00 and made it home at a decent time, which made for a great ending to a great day! I’m sure it won’t be too long before we are back in the land of Disney, but we usually wait until the weather is a little cooler, which means the months of June-September are out! haha!