Animal Kingdom

(I don't know what's going on with my blogger but it's not letting me rearrange my pictures!!! So...sorry...there is a chunk of pictures out of order!)

We woke up bright and early to get to Animal Kingdom right when it opened. The first place we headed to was Dino Land. The Triceratop Spin was a favorite of the kids. You could make your dinosaur go up or down, and tilt up and down.
Ben's ready to take off, I sat on the front of his Dino.

Tom and Elizabeth ready to go.

Elizabeth and Jackson were loving this gigantic dinosaur at the beginning of Dino Land.

This is right when we entered the park, Ben had gotten hurt right after we got here so he was trying to ignore the camera (not in the best mood!:)

This is the big Tree of Life that the whole park is centered around.

We saw Pooh on our quick walk to the Dino Land...Ben was still recovering from his injury so he didn't want to get up to see Pooh.

After Dino Land we went to Kilimanjaro Safari - it was a giant jeep that we all rode in on a safari throughout Africa. We got so close to all of the animals, that was the best part.

We were all loving watch the giraffe eat, we could have reached out and touched him!

After the safari we went to Pangani Forest Exploration Trail to see other animals up close - it was kind of like a zoo. After this we saw the show "It's Good to be a Bug", which was a 3D movie. We had heard that it was a little scary for kids because it's very realistic so it makes it feel like the bugs are on you at one point. The only one who got really scared was Ben, at one point I almost took him out of the show, but it was pretty short so we powered through and made it to the end! :)

After lunch the adults (minus Grandma) went to ride Expedition Everest, this big roller coaster. We loved it!

Next we walked back to Dino Land to the Boneyard - it didn't open until later in the morning. This was the kids favorite part. There was a huge jungle gym, things to climb under and over, water trickling, we played here for an hour and they could have stayed all day!

These foot prints are fun! Once you jump on them a dinosaur growls!

There's part of the jungle gym behind the kids.

There's Tom and the kids heading up to the top of the jungle gym structure.

Jackson and Ben in the Boneyard.

Last we went to Finding Nemo, the musical. It was fabulous! It went through the whole movie with people holding elaborate puppets, the whole thing in song. They were so talented, we loved it!

We went back to the hotel to hang out on the beach at our hotel. The sand was so beautiful and white, we just wished it wasn't too cold to get into the water!

At this point it was about dinner time. Ben wanted to stay on the beach (Cooper and Jackson were both playing here, too) and Elizabeth was ready to go back to Magic Kingdom. So Ben and I stayed at the hotel, ate dinner, and went to bed early. Tom and Elizabeth went back to Magic Kingdom until it closed. They rode a ton of rides and I think Elizabeth really liked having some one on one time with her daddy.

Tomorrow we head back to Magic Kingdom!

Day 4 - Magic Kingdom

On our 4th day of the parks we woke up and got to Magic Kingdom before it opened. We had reservations for a character breakfast for the boys this time (but we all went). We took advantage of no crowds and got some pictures in front of the castle.

The photographer had the kids pose this way. There was going to be a new show starting at Magic Kingdom that night where they picked pictures from the park that day and projected them onto the castle. She said if it was chosen she would put magic sparks or something in their hands. We stayed for the show that night because how could they not pick this picture out of the thousands that they take!? (they didn't pick it by the way!:)

My friend, Laura, made their shirts. We loved them!

Grandma and Grandpa let each of the kids pick out of pair of ears.

Elizabeth picked the princess ears, of course. (at least she didn't pick the bride ears - she had them in her hand!)

Here we all are at breakfast. We ate at Tony's, the guy from Lady and the Tramp who feeds the dogs spaghetti. He came out a little later with Mickey, Minney, Goofy, and Donald. They sang and did a dance and then came around and signed autographs.

The kids with Goofy.

Mickey

Minnie

and Donald. I guess we were tired of taking pictures at this point? :)

They then asked all the kids to get up and do the hokey pokey with them. Those of you who know my kids know they are not the most brave children out there. I was very proud of them on this trip. They ordered their food by themselves, got up and went with all the kids whenever they were asked to at a show or event - I was impressed by how independent they were being!

We were finishing up eating when Ben looked out the window and saw Snow White standing outside signing autographs. He hadn't been to the princess breakfast so he hadn't really seen any of the princesses in person yet (except on a float). He was so cute! He gasped really loudly and came running over to get Elizabeth, and on his way yelled back to me, "She's real!" He was in utter disbelief!

After breakfast we headed to Fantasy Land to see Michey's Philharmagic 3D show. It was so fun, it felt like things were flying at us! The kids were ducking all over the place. Then we headed over to Thunder Mountain. On the way we saw the Haunted Mansion had a really short line so Tom and I stopped with Cooper and Ryan to go on it. My parents took our kids. I was so glad they didn't come (and I'm sure Ryan was wishing that Cooper didn't see it!) It was pretty scary for kids. Lots of ghosts, things popping out at you. At one point the ride broke for probably a minute or two and Cooper and Ryan's car was stopped right at a point where this ghoul thing kept popping in and out of a box - over and over for a minute! Luckily Cooper is a brave kid and thought it wasn't too bad.

We saw Cinderella's Fairy Godmother on the way to a ride. (Ben didn't care to get that signature).

And look - it's Peter Pan!

(my TX friends, does he remind you of anyone else? I'm curious to see if anyone else sees what I see?)

After the Haunted Mansion we met up with everyone for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Our first roller coaster with the kids. You had to be 40 inches to ride so luckily Ben and Cooper were 42 or 43 - we all loved it! I never thought my kids would love roller coasters, but Elizabeth especially did. My mom sat out with Jackson, she is NOT a roller coaster person.

After the roller coaster we explored at Tom Sawyers Island and saw all the forts and caves.

We really liked the long bridge - you could get it swaying back and forth.

There's the view of Thunder Mountain from Tom Sawyer's Island.

Here's Ben in one of the forts. He was very intrigued by the cannons.

The big fort.

After the island we headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap (our first time this trip). We all slept and made it back to Magic Kingdom for our dinner reservations. We went back to the same place we went earlier on our trip and saw all the Winnie the Pooh characters. Tigger is definitely Ben's favorite. I love this expression as he sees him!

Tigger was being super goofy with the kids, flipping spoons with his nose, tickling them, they were loving it!

More Pooh Bear.

Good ol Eyore. We were commenting that we were so glad Jackson wasn't scared of all of the characters. It would have made for some very miserable meals if he was screaming through them at all the scary characters! He did really well, letting them all hug him. I think he really liked it all!

Grandma had gotten the boys different toys along the way and didn't really see anything for Elizabeth, so she got her a reservation at the Bippity Bobbity Boutique. It was very fancy schmancy with all the women who were working there addressing the girls as princess. Elizabeth loved it!

The unicorn look!

There were 3 hairstyles to choose from. Elizabeth chose the traditional princess. I took copious notes so I could recreate the hairdo at home! Number one tip - use about a gallon of gel!

They did her nails and makeup. She was very excited that she got to take home the leftover makeup and nail polish.

Last step was getting magic fairy dust sprinkled all over. It was a magical experience!

Here's her hair all finished.

Princess Elizabeth!

We brought her dress from home to wear to the Cinderella breakfast - it came in handy for this, too!

When we were finished Elizabeth couldn't help but do some beautiful poses for us.

We rode the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and then met up with the rest of our group.

Daddy thought Elizabeth was so beautiful! Cooper and Ben were so funny when they saw her. I heard Ben kind of gasp and they both ran up and hugged her. Then I saw Ben lean down and kiss her on her arm - it made my heart melt!

Next we headed back to Big Thunder - our favorite. We rode it a few times (the hair held up beautifully - it's the gel!) and then headed to the courtyard to see the new show. After the show we watched the fireworks and then the park was closed!

Animal Kingdom tomorrow!