Disney Deets - Day #5 - Final Day!

Day #5 - Epcot

Eh.

Not our favorite.

Lots of walking, not enough action. Dave and Hallie rode Test Track and we all went Soarin'. Those were fun. Also, HGTV was doing a huge garden thing, so there were amazing topiaries EVERYWHERE. They were probably my favorite thing about the park.

We met Rosetta (from Tinker Belle movies ), saw the Queen of Hearts and White Rabbit,
 

and then ate lunch at the Hacienda de San Angel.

It came very highly recommended and I can see why...sorta. The atmosphere was super cool. It was really dark and had mayan ruins and a volcano in the background. It felt like you were sitting outside in Mexico on a cool,d ark night. Which was really neat. Until it was time to eat our food. I would like to SEE what I am eating, thank you very much. And seriously, you couldn't see a darn thing. I was dropping stuff left and right and was just a mess. It screwed with my head! Being back out in the sunshine was the best thing EVER. I couldn't wait to get out of there. The food was really good though.

Side note: Dave loves churros.

We went back to the front of the park, to the Live Seas and did the Nemo and Friends clamride. Pretty cute. And then Turtle Talk with Crush - a neat interactive attraction thing.

What can I say? We were tired, and frankly I was ready to hit the road. We had already checked out of our resort and drove to the park that morning.

In fact, I was so ready to go home that I drove all the way to Litchfield - 14 hours. Go me.

I'm glad we did our half days at Hollywood Studios and Epcot, because we definitely had the most fun at the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. If Hallie was older, I'm sure the other two parks would have been good...but Magic and Animal Kingdom were just awesome, period.

Overall, I give Disney two thumbs WAY WAY WAY up. I am glad we drove, glad we stayed on site, glad we did the meal plan, glad we made dinner reservations in advance, glad we brought a stroller (big time, on that one!) and very glad that I planned the crap out of everything.

Having an obsessive personality comes in handy for stuff like Disney.

Disney Deets - Day #4 - AKA, MY BIRTHDAY!

Day #4 - Was super awesome.

I woke up early and sang Happy Birthday to myself while my family slept. I had to drag them out of bed and I mean that in the most literal way possible. Dragging. We were sleepy.

We had breakfast reservations at 8 o'clock at the super deluxe, ritsy 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian Resort. Pretty swanky, except with Disney characters.

We took some time to make mean faces to the camera while we waited for our reservation time. It was pretty cool that morning, so we bundled up and enjoyed the blue skies.

We ate breakfast with Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter (no Cheshire cat - darnit!), Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too. It was pretty awesome. The food was fantastic, even better when they brought out a giant cupcake and a candle to blow out! They even brought one out for Hallie. I thought that was so thoughtful.

After breakfast we rode the Monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. We got there again just as the gates had opened and following along with my itinerary (hee hee), headed for Adventureland this time. It was a cool (but gorgeous) morning and there were zero crowds. We walked on again (!) onto every, single ride. I thought we would have to FASTPASS rides like the Jungle Cruise, but nope! Right on. It was great. We rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc. and then headed to Frontierland.

Oh the fun of Frontierland. We loved it. We (okay, Dave and Hallie) got started riding the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (BTMR), while I did some shopping and got them a FASTPASS for BTMR since a line had started forming at that point. So as soon as they got off the ride, they got right back on it for another go-around. This time while they used that FASTPASS, I got them another FASTPASS for Splash Mountain. So when they got off the roller coaster they went immediately to get wet.

Which they didn't.

And Hallie was ticked off. Luckily, I had gotten them YET another FASTPASS, so she got to go again and got a bit wet this time. Thank goodness.

We went to Tom Sawyer's Island and it was so much fun exploring the caves, barrell bridges, wind mills and such. Hallie could have spent all day running around that little island. She absolutely loved it and so did we.

We took a break at lunch at Pecos Bill (quick, easy and good!) and went to Liberty Square to ride the Haunted Mansion for some good, scary fun. Hallie loved the spooky stuff and said that was her favorite ride. I love that kid.

We were getting pretty tired by this point and the crowds had finally showed up after lunch. It was stupid packed. We caught a Character Dance Party thing, bought some mouse ears for Hallie and decided to go back and swim. We were originally going to have supper at the Liberty Tree Tavern in Liberty Square, but decided that swimming and naps were more important, since we had a busy night ahead of us.

After swimming, naps and supper at the resort, we went back to the Magic Kingdom for the Electrical Parade and Fireworks.

It was magic.

Like, the best birthday I have ever had. I feel very blessed.

Disney Deets - Day #3

Day #3 - Loved it.

Roar.

We went to the Animal Kingdom.

We woke up and it was raining. Not a pour, but definitely a steady something. So we slept in, lazed around a bit watching cartoons and then decided to man up, put on our rain gear and just go. And I'm so glad we did. There was no one there!

Per my itinerary, we were supposed to get a FASTPASS for It's Tough to be a Bug and then head straight to Africa the Kilmanjaro Safaris. Totally unnecessary. We just went straight to Africa and got directly on the safaris. And our guide was fantastic. Apparently the animals love it when it rains, because they were out in full force!

From our safari, we hoofed it to It's Tough to Be a Bug and enjoyed the 3-D experience yet again. But it wasn't as awesome as Mickey's Philharmagic. Afterwards, Dave ran off to Asia to get a FASTPASS to Expedition Everest. Good for him.

And then we went to the production of Festival of the Lion King, which was awesome. We knew all of the songs and good grief, Disney really knows how to do a show. At the end one of the cast members asked Hallie to go and dance around with the dancers. She, of course, refused. We weren't surprised at all. Also, she didn't like these tall guys.

When we got out of the Lion King it had stopped raining - hooray! But there were still zero crowds, so we got to meet some characters and ate some lunch at the Flame Tree BBQ.

And then decided to head to Dinoland.

The TriceraTops Spin was lame - just like Dumbo and Magic Carpets of Aladdin. But it was still fun. I think we rode that a few times.

At some point, Dave ran off to ride the roller coaster, had a blast, so he got a FASTPASS to do it again, and then ended up riding it three more times. I was totally jealous. But apparently they don't let pregnant women ride super fast roller coasters. Whatever. Oh, how I wanted to ride that rollercoaster.

Hallie and Dave went on the Dinosaur ride, which was a "dark" ride and scared the be-jeezus out of Hallie. She apparently even cried at the end when the T-Rex came out of nowhere to eat them. Also while in Dinoland, we let our child get painted up as a Princess Kitty - and if you know Dave, then you are shocked. We actually spent money to put full make-up on our child. Very unlike both of us. But she loved, loved, LOVED it and spent the rest of the day meowing and purring like a cat.

At some point we veered off of my itierary and took the Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki's Planet Watch. Totally lame. The only redeeming thing about excursion is that Hallie got to touch a snake and meet Pocohontas.

Back to Asia we went to watch an outdoor bird show called the Flights of Wonder. Now, it must be said that I was super excited for this show. I mean, I really, really wanted to see it. And it was totally lame too.

After the lame-o bird show, we walked the Maharajah Jungle Trek to check out some Tigers and some pretty sweet birds. Our Princess Kitty enjoyed posing by the random asian decor.

Before our dinner reservations at Yak and Yeti, we headed back to Africa to explore the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. There we got to see some underwater hippo action and some bachelor gorillas.

Dinner was fantastic - my favorite meal of the entire trip, food wise. It was pan-asian food and we chowed on some mahi-mahi, honey sticky chicken and more. It was delicious.

And then we left. And actually got to bed on time that night.