Animal Kingdom

Our Thursday began with some very tired people! After getting back to the hotel after midnight, we were a little groggy! But since Animal Kingdom closes at 5, we needed to get started. This was also the day that Nathan and Declan celebrated their birthdays. They both wore their birthday buttons and we gave Nathan his present that morning. We let him start his pin collection with a lanyard and 2 pins. He was set for trading!! He did, however, get tired of everyone telling him Happy Birthday so he took off his birthday button.
The birthday boys


Buggy kids!

When we arrived at the park, we were all excited to take a ride through Mt. Everest. Before Everest,though, we went to a Bug's Life 3-D movie. Last time we tried this, my niece had us leave when the bugs came out and she started screaming! But this time she was ready and with Camden taking off his glasses, we were fine. At least until the bugs crawled under our bottoms. That was a little creepy!
The people who conquered Everest!

Goofy!!
Thumper!
Camden grabbing Thumper's tail!
Brer Bear!
Nathan and Ashton being serenaded by the guitar player...he sang a song with their names in it and said Nathan looked like he was a ballpoint pen!


We ended up loving Everest (all but Dave), and riding it twice. We also really enjoyed the Nemo and Lion King musicals. To end our day, we were able to participate in the Safari Experience. This is something that only Grand Gathering groups can do, so we took our family group to this African dinner. It started with a safari ride and then off to dinner. It was a buffet with, you guessed it, salmon, but with an African twist. I was very happy to have a pot of hummus to myself mainly. We had an African lady guide us through the experience and lead us in the birthday dance. We also got to meet more characters and some live animals. It was a lot of fun.
Mom and Dad at our Safari Experience
Dancing the birthday dance!!



Our dinner table
Dave and Amy at the Safari Experience at Tusker's Restaurant
Our true African hostess with her guests from the Lion King

After leaving the park around 7:00 (early!!), we went back to the hotel to swim and give out birthday presents. Declan got Legos and pins; Nathan received some camouflage clothes, a pin and Aerosmith Mickey. It was a nice evening with a somewhat early bedtime. Had to be ready for our last day!!!Riding at the back of the bus...everyone's favorite spot!!
Jennifer and Rob on the bus ride

Birthday presents
Hanging at the hotel!

Epcot

On Wednesday we made our way to Epcot. I was looking forward to this day because Epcot is considered to be for us more mature folks! and that I could finally ride Soarin'. The past two times we went to Disney we could not do this for various reasons. But this year we were successful and I rode it two times thanks to extra hours. We all got a front row seat and Camden really enjoyed this ride. He kept leaning over and I was a little nervous since it felt like we were hang gliding over the Golden Gate Bridge. It is now my favorite non-roller coaster ride.
Trying to catch the jumping water in their mouths...Dave taught them this!

Nathan and Camden at the Nemo and friends exhibit
Nathan in front of the birds that won't stop talking!
Everyone's favorite chipmunks-Chip and Dale



But our first ride of the day was the one inside the Epcot Ball! Although not super exciting, this was what Camden had been looking forward to. He has a puzzle with the Epcot ball on it and had been talking about seeing it is for months! So we rode it! And he enjoyed it!
Camden learning to read a map!


We also were able to eat a non-buffet meal (no salmon!) at the Mexican restaurant, San Angel. We had ridden the Mexican water ride before and had thought the inside of the restaurant looked super cool. So we got a table in front of the temple and volcano. And the food was superb!
Dinner at San Angel
Nathan inside the Mexican building
Where did we find these Vikings?!?!?

Nathan trying to be a cool Goofy!
Camden the alien!


Nathan, Ashton and Declan (with Dave and Rob) all participated in a Kim Possible Mission to save the world and their "scavenger hunt" centered in Mexico. They had a great time doing this while the rest of us were walking through the other countries. We saw Tigger and Pooh in England; Belle in France; and just missed Jasmine in Morocco. All the countries had interesting looking restaurants. Next time we need to plan on eating in Epcot every night at a different country!
The two crazy cousins in France!
The girls taking time to pose in England


So after watching the fireworks, we continued to hang out in Epcot (Soarin', Mission Space, Test Track, and shopping) until midnight. Dave took Camden back to the hotel. He was asleep on Dave's shoulder as soon as Dave picked him up!

What a day! And we still did not have time to explore all the country exhibits. Guess we need to go back!

Disney Hollywood Studios

Our Tuesday in Disney...Hollywood! and a storm!

Hollywood Studios has the best roller coaster and the scariest ride at Disney. And Nathan had to do them both! Rockin Roller Coaster introduced him to Aerosmith (he now has an Aerosmith Mickey) and the Tower of Terror caused me heart failure! It is not enough to drop you...it has to keep you going up and down; with a view! Yikes!
Rock on!!


But we survived and had lots of fun seeing Beauty and the Beast, the Muppets show, and Toy Story Mania. The parade, however, was cut short due to inclement weather. Which in turn cut our day a little short, but allowed us time to shower before dinner. And one note about Hollywood. If you have the opportunity to go to the Drew Carey thing, don't. It is so not worth the time you spend in there.
The kids got whipped into shape by the green Army men!
Dave always finds a pharmacy wherever he goes!
The Jedi training show was rained out, but Nathan still got to meet Darth Vadar!

We had to meet Buzz and Woody! At least the line had various picture spots to stop at and of course take more pictures!!


Lunch was at Pizza Planet! It was there that Camden and Josiah perfected their bump and fall game! It entertained them when they had to wait for the older kids to finish their rides
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Dinner was at the Grand Floridian with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the wicked stepmother, named Lady Jermaine, and the ugly stepsisters who were quite funny. It was a nice ending to a wet day. And of course we were able to eat our salmon!
Jennifer and me with Anastasia...who knew they had names!

Camden must have thought she really was wicked! In reality, she was very nice and entertaining that night. She wants to marry off her daughters and was questioning mom on how both of her daughters got married already!
Another fun day at the Magical Kingdom!

Disney...at last!

Well, after saving for almost a year, we finally had our week at Disney! It was AWESOME! My sister's family and my parents went with us and we has a blast! We had a 6 day pass to the parks and 6 days worth of meals and we used every minute of our time there to do all that we could. Although we bought Dave a Grumpy shirt and he did get a little tired at times, he has yet to wear it! I think he is turning into a Disney fanatic!?! In fact, on the day we left, he mentioned "the next time we come..."

Dave about to kiss the hand of the Queen!

What is neat about Disney is that they make everything so special. It is truly magical! But having said that, Dave and Rob (my brother-in-law) thought it would be great to video all the "happy" people talking. Although they didn't do this, we did get some examples. I guess if you keep your children up until 11 or 12 for 3 nights straight, you might say things like this too. One mom was caught telling her child that they couldn't cry because this was the happiest place on earth. We heard lots of children crying at random times during meals, waiting in lines, etc. The funniest thing we heard, however, was one dad telling his child "do not touch her; do not get near her; do you hear me!" We just had to laugh and hope that noone heard us saying similiar things to our well-behaved children!!
3-D movies were lots of fun! At least the glasses were fun to wear; Camden was hesitant about objects flying at him and took off his glasses during the movie!




All that aside, our children did great! Yes, we kept them up to insane hours for 5 days straight, but there were smiles when we finished and tears when we had to leave.

Since we did the dining plan, our week revolved around meals. They were good meals, but I am really tired of salmon! We went to Downtown Disney the first night for dinner and ate at Wolfgang Puck's Express. It was delicious. The salmon was cooked to perfection. Then for the next 5 meals, we had some type of salmon in all but one meal! There was even salmon at the breakfast buffet! At least we got our omega-3's that week!


After going to Hollywood Studios the first night and riding the Tower of Terror and trying to see Fantasmic (our first mistake of the week was waiting until the last minute to go to this and being told it was full!), our first full day began at Chef Mickey's for a 9:50 breakfast. We celebrated my Dad's birthday that day and the kids danced with Goofy to do so. After breakfast, off to the Magic Kingdom.




We took Camden on his first water/log ride, Splash Mountain. He loved it!


Nathan is more into roller coasters now and enjoyed Thunder Mountain the best that day. He didn't care for the Country Bear Jamboree and I have to agree with him on that! We saw the day time parade, the night time parade, and the fireworks. Camden learned that he really likes parades! He and Josiah had to both be carried back to the hotel because they were asleep. It was a great beginning to a great week!

Ready for Disney!!!

I thnk we need some real mouse ears!!! See you at Disney :)