Day 5: Magic Kingdom

We kept the streak alive arriving at the Magic Kingdom for rope drop. Since we have 2 days planned for Magic Kingdom our first day we planned for Fantasyland and Frontierland. We started in Fantasyland with Peter Pan as the lines get long quickly. The girls could have stayed and played with Tinkerbelle all day...the queue line for this ride is awesome!

The sass was strong on MK day.

We hit up It's a Small World, Pooh's Honey Pots, the Mad Hatter and some of the other smaller rides with no waits and then headed over to Big Thunder Mtn for our FP. It's a favorite. We then had lunch at Pecos Bills. If you’re not on a meal plan and you’re looking for quick, cheap (for Disney), yummy food in the park…look no further than this place. Major bonus, it’s air-conditioned, has lots of seating and offers more than just mac n cheese and chicken nuggets for kids. The girls loved their nachos with their own fixins bar.

After lunch we headed back to Fantasy Land for the rest of our fast passes. We had never ridden the 7 Dwarves Mine Train so we were excited to ride that one. The wait was at 75 minutes by the time we arrived for our fast passes so we were glad to be able to walk right on. It was a bit of a disappointment. After Big Thunder, it was far smaller and less of a thrill. There is no doubt our girls love amusement parks for the thrill rides and though everything at MK is fun, the girls are past the magic of princesses and are looking for the excitement of the big rides. I think we were under the impression with the long wait lines that it would be similar to Big Thunder, but it fell short.

We finished out our afternoon in Fantasyland since Splash Mtn was all we had left and the wait was over 80 minutes. We were able to ride all the rides in Fantasyland, Adventureland and Frontierland  multiple times with the exception of Splash mountain. 

Poncho or princess dress? She's got her curtsy down!

We had to battle a few afternoon showers, but that didn't slow us down. We threw on our ponchos and continued our adventures! We even got to ride the Tomorrowland Speedway in the rain...it was so much fun! We finished out the rest of the rain in Ariel's Grotto and Belle's house until the showers broke up and took the heat of the day with them. It was a relief as we were at MK on a hot one! 

Enchanted tales with Belle. 

We grabbed some dinner at Pinoccios (a fantastic, air-conditioned spot to rest and eat some delicious flat bread) and then jumped over to Adventureland to ride the Jungle Cruise in the dark. We then headed back toward the Castle to watch Tinkerbelle fly (so cool) and see the lighting of the castle and fireworks. Though the park stayed open until 1am, we decided 10:30 was good for us, no shutting down MK this time. By the time we caught the bus, showered, and goofed around it was still after midnight before heads hit the pillows.

You can't visit MK without visiting Mickey!

I love magic photos! Welcome to the family, Tinkerbelle!

Day 4: Hollywood Studios

There were no early magic hours at Hollywood Studios, so we enjoyed an extra hour of sleep and then caught the bus to HS. We were once again there for rope drop!

Ready for a full day of fun in HS!

We started our day at Toy Story Mania before the crowd arrived. With no fast passes and usual long waits, we wanted to make sure we got a chance to ride before things got crazy. We walked right on and stayed ahead of the crowds most of the day. 

There are new Sheriffs in town...

We missed the opening of Toy Story Land by a few weeks so we were bummed that it hadn't yet opened, but it looks super cool in there! The girls want to go back sometime and ride the Slinky Dog..it looked pretty cool! Of course, since we were in Pixar Village we had to stop off and see our friends Buzz and Woody.

The girls don't get too excited about characters anymore, but Norah was still a fan of Woody!

Afterward, we headed to the most talked about ride leading up to vacation: Tower of Terror! Norah was so brave riding it multiple times! There were so many adults shrieking in fear that I think she felt like pretty hot stuff walking around telling people that she rode it. 

5 thumbs up for ToT! We all survived the infamous Hollywood Hotel. 

From there it was off to Star Wars. There are some super SW fans out there, but I'm just not one of them. We checked out the Storm Troopers, watched Jedi Training, rode Star Tours (hello, motion sickness), but the girls just wanted to get back to the rides. So, glad we experienced it all, this "highlight" for most people at HS, just doesn't get our family too excited. 

That doesn't stop us from eating Darth Vader waffles though! :)

 After lunch at Backlot we headed over to ride Rockin Rollercoaster. We had fast passes coming up so we rode it once without passes and then got off and got right back on again with our FP. Our thrill seekers could have ridden this all afternoon!  

Yep, Emma is getting ready to smash her guitar in the pic!

Afterwards, we hit up some shows to stay out of the heat (Indiana Jones stunt show, Little Mermaid, etc) and then headed back out to re-ride a few more things. We once again were able to hit up everything in the park, with the exception of Beauty and the Beast which we didn’t much care for last time we were there, so we had a little dinner at ABC (super disappointing) and then headed over to Fantasmic! We grabbed a fast pass for the show so it was nice to show up last minute, not fight the crowds and still have awesome seats. This is one of my favorite night time fireworks shows in all the parks and a definite must if you’ve never seen it before. After the show then we caught the bus back to our hotel and called it a night. 

Mickey and his magic!

Day 3 – Animal Kingdom

We woke up and grabbed a quick bite of continental breakfast at our hotel (Quality Inn and Suites on Turkey, I couldn't recommend them more highly) and then took off early so that we could arrive at our Disney resort early enough to check in, park and catch the bus to Animal Kingdom. We got all checked in (Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort: Aruba) and hit the bus stop. We sunscreened, grabbed our daybag and strapped on our magic bands transitioning us over to Disney Time!

Magic bands ready!

We arrived at Animal Kingdom in time for rope drop and headed to Pandora. Even with the early magic hours Flight of Passage was a crazy long wait. Mark and the littles headed over to ride Navi River while Grace and I waited in line. By the time they got out we met back up and were ready to ride. It was definitely worth the wait as it was one of our favorite rides. By the time we got out off, the wait had soared to 210 minutes! It’s a great ride…but that is just crazy!

Pandora was awesome!

We left Pandora and headed counter-clockwise around the park to cash in on our fast passes. Norah was super excited about riding Expedition Everest so we rode that one a few times, hit lunch at Yak N Yeti and then cooled off at UP! Bird Adventure. Though outside, it was shady and breezy so it was nice to escape the heat a bit as it was HOT on Monday.

She might look scared before Expedition Everest, but this girl is BRAVE!

We then headed for our Safari. This is one of my favorites at Animal Kingdom and the girls were amazed at all of the animals roaming around “free.” It is pretty cool to see so many animals not contained and the use of natural barriers to keep the animals safe. Our driver was hilarious and though the lions were escaping the mid-day heat, we got to see tons of our other favorite animals munching and playing. 

Tons of animals, living and prehistoric!

After the Safari we watched the African dancers and the girls were invited up to participate in the Harambe Wildlife Parti! They had fun learning some African dance moves and were in awe of the dancers and their crazy climbing and balancing skills! 

All 3 girls on the left side learning the moves.

Mid-afternoon we knew we would be hot again so we planned a cool down at the Lion King show. It was just as magical as I had remembered it (a must if you’ve never been to AK). It gave us a chance to rest our feet a bit, cool down and rejuvenate for more thrills.

Of course, when it's hot a little frozen lemonade is a must!

By dinner time we had ridden everything, most things 2-3 times, so we headed back to Pandora where we started our day to ride one last time and take a final photo in front of the Tree of Life before we bid farewell to Animal Kingdom for the day. We figured we would catch the bus back to our resort and get settled in since our room was ready and then come back to AK at night for the Rivers of Light show.

We settled into our room and the girls' curiosity got the best of them so we explored our resort and took a dip in the pool. Since our resort was so close to AK we decided to watch the “River of light” fireworks show from the pool instead of heading back to the park to watch. The fireworks were incredible and we didn’t have to catch the bus or be among all the people. It was an awesome night.

After seeing the fireworks from AK we also got a glimpse of the Fireworks at Epcot (maybe?).

Disney On Ice

In 2013 we experienced the magic of Disney World and have been fans ever since. Since a trip to FL each year isn't top priority for our family, in 2014 we decided to keep Disney alive by heading to Disney on Ice - Passport to Adventure. It was an incredible show and the little taste of Disney we needed right here at home. This year, the US Cellular Center brought, Disney on Ice - Dare to Dream. Again, we couldn't wait to experience the magic. With our same Mickey pals to open and close the show, this year they were joined by Tiana from Princess and the Frog, Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Rapunzel. Complete with fireworks, floating lanterns, and acrobatics, it was tough to choose which show was better. However, after being invited for a "behind the scenes" chat with a few of the skaters, learning all about the 37 ton set, the 250+ costumes, and the awesome light and sound work that goes in to making a show, we left, once again, in awe of the Disney magic.

Ready for the show to start.

Em and I thought we'd keep our coats on...it was cold by the ice.

Cinderella's castle was pretty spectacular.

Getting ready to meet some of the skaters for a look "behind the scenes"