Magic Kingdom - Day 1 of parks!

Thanksgiving day we decided to skip the meal and head to Disney! Our flight wasn't until 1:40pm so there wasn't really the big rush to get any where which was good. My mom drove up to meet us and we left for the Manchester airport at 11am. Seth was literally overjoyed to be on the plane. He was even psyched when he SAW this picture. They all watched TV on the portable DVD player we bought for the trip and Seth did some extra walking back and forth between our rows but all was well. The bus ride to the hotel from the airport was a little long, well only 35 mins, but for Seth he was pretty much done with the whole travel experience, plus it was past dinner time. We checked in at 6:30pm and to our surprise had a nice turkey dinner at the hotel!! Woo hoo, turkey day after all. The boys had a tough time settling down and bedtime, much to my dismay, wasn't until 8:45 for Seth and almost 9:30 for Cal and Ben!

I thought this picture with the balloons was right after check in but it must have been after our first day due to their clothing.

On our first day, The Magic Kingdom, we got to the gates at 8:20am. Tour Guide Mike (TGM) told me it was going to take 35 mins to get there from my hotel, ummm, no. Some jerk on the bus told Eric that the very large double stroller we had was going to cause us headaches coming home from the Magic Kingdom and had him all nervous. He told Eric it took him 4 buses to get back to the hotel because they couldn't accommodate the stroller...yeah, maybe after the fireworks when everyone goes home but not for us! Anyway, we got there kind of early but we didn't have to wait too long because Mickey shows up on the train and they do a little dance to open the park - does anybody know this? I had never seen it and it was really cute. Gates opened at 8:45 so we were in and off and running.

Waiting for Magic Kingdom to open

We decided to skip TGM's advice on our first ride. I didn't think Dumbo was worth it since we'd be doing two other similar rides and I was under the impression that they couldn't drive the cars at the Speedway so we skipped that too. Although I was told later that they probably could have. Oh well. Anyway, we did our first EIGHT rides with NO WAITING. Yes, that's right, we walked right on every single ride, no line, no wait. We started with Winnie the Pooh, very cute, and then on to Snow White's Scary Adventure. Ben had been worrying about this ride for some time before we went on the trip. He saw a picture of the peddler woman in a book about Disney and was convinced this was NOT a ride for him. But he was such a trooper and went on after we assured him it would be ok. Next two rides were the classic Peter Pan and It's a Small World and then to Prince Charmings Carousel. Umm, does that carousel really only go around once?!! Oh well, they didn't care.

This might be on Snow White?

Tea cups! Go Daddy!

Still cruising along, we headed to Mickey's Toontown Fair and Seth and I walked through Minnie's house while everyone else hit the Barnstormer mini-coaster. We had the time so I figured why not? After that we all walked thru Mickey's house and then hopped a ride on the railroad to venture over to Splash mountain. Ok, so you have me here, we waited a whole FIVE minutes for Splash mountain and then a whooping 20 minutes for Thunder mountain (our longest wait the whole day).

After a fun-filled morning of riding it was time for lunch and what I thought was the best meal at Pecos Bills. We all skedaddled to Pirates of the Carribean while Eric ran to get a fast pass (FP) for Mickey's Philharmonic. Again, just a 5 min wait for Pirates, can you believe this?! Go TGM! After lunch we did the Enchanted Tiki Room and surprisingly Seth got a little sleepy. Must have been that late bedtime. Right outside the Tiki Room was the magic carpet ride which I PROMISED Cal we'd do since we didn't do Dumbo. We started to wait (15 mins was the wait time) and then realized we wouldn't make it to the Mickey Philharmonic show so we booked it there instead. The show was really cute and the boys loved it! Seth did so well keeping the 3D glasses on and watching every second of it. We REALLY wanted to fit the Haunted Mansion in so we did this next and waited for 15 mins. Totally worth it and the boys loved the fact that a ghost rides with them in the end!! It was time to follow TGM's advice and get our prime parade spot and Ben decided the magic carpets wasn't for him. So Ben and I high-tailed it to the parade spot while everyone else went to magic carpets.

Here we are sitting next to other TGM followers (guy in the red shirt) waiting for parade to start.

Eric had secured us FPs for the Jungle Cruise right before the parade which was a good thing because we bypassed a 50 min wait once the parade was over and went right on! Unfortunately, it was raining when we got off the ride BUT as we were going toward the castle trying to leave the park, this AMAZING rainbow appeared above the castle....come on, how much more MAGICAL can you get??? It was really really cool.

I realize I have 3 pictures of the rainbow but seriously can you even believe how lucky this is?? Perfect ending to a perfect day!!

Animal Kingdom - Day 2 of parks!

This was our early EARLY day. We had to be at the bus by 7:15 to make it to the turnstiles for the 7:45 opening/preshow. Mickey, Minnie and Goofy opened the park in their jungle truck. It was really cute. We took TGM's advice and sent Eric for a fast pass (FP) for the Safari and everyone else headed to Dinoland where TGM assured us there would be no one and was absolutely RIGHT! It's funny to see people run off to the Mt. Everest rollercoaster or the safari and ride line-free all morning which is exactly what we did! Here's the picture at the Animal Kingdom tree...all the ornaments were cool animals.

This was our first ride, the Triceratop Spin. There was only one other family on the ride. TGM suggested we ride this more than once so we did. Eric got back in time for the second ride and away we went!

Next we went on the Dinosaur! ride. Oh my! This was one of my favorite rides. I'd never been on it before and I'm not even ashamed to admit I closed my eyes a couple times! It was dark, loud, and scary! The boys said they liked it but wouldn't ride it again even though they complained most of the day about the lack of rides at this park. Below, Seth is hanging with the dinosaur while we went on the ride; he was too little to go and would have been terrified anyway.

Next Eric and Cal went to ride on the Kali River Rapids. Ben was big enough but I knew he wouldn't like getting wet so he stayed with me and Seth. We thought the Dinosaur! ride was so cool that we made my mom go on it by herself, it was that worth it! While Ben, Seth, and I waited we had a snack and watched some monkeys tool around. Eric and Cal came back not as wet as they could have and we headed off to the Maharajah Jungle Trek...

Cool! The tiger is right there!

Above the boys are wearing their 3D glasses for the It's Tough to Be a Bug show. This was a little scary for Seth since the bugs come at you but he managed. We got a little wet, got "stung" and had bugs crawl under our butts! Fun!

Up next was the Safari...I thought this was really cool. Seth really liked it too...the boys kept asking when we'd go on another "ride". Unfortunately, not too many rides at Animal Kingdom.
Baby giraffe

Just hanging out in the open

After the safari we went on to see even MORE animals on the Pangani Forest Exploration...

Seth loves his fish!

This guy was a foot from the glass in his thinking pose.

Below - Seth thinks he can dance with the best of them.

Tree of life picture

Close-up of tree

We headed off to lunch, got FP for Mt Everest, and then to the Lion King show. All you need to know in the picture below is that Eric got to be an elephant in the show!!!

While Eric went to ride the Mt Everest coaster, we headed back toward Dinoland and saw that we could meet Pooh, Eyeore, and Tigger!!

Then my mom and I went to ride the roller coaster while Eric took the boys to the Boneyard. It's a playground with slides and a big sand pit where they can dig for fossils.

We ended the day with Mickey's Jungle parade - twice! I meant to get there for the second time around but we didn't have anything better to do and Cal was upset that he didn't get a lot of people to give him a high five. So after it went by the first time and literally EVERYONE cleared out, we grabbed a snack and stayed put and waited the 15 mins for the parade to come through again! This was a long day - didn't head back to the hotel until 4:30!

The floats were really neat!

Donald made "snow" from bubbles.

Saying hi to Pluto

Hollywood Studios - Day 3 of parks!

Here are the boys and Eric in front of the tree outside Hollywood Studios. It's the beginning of our last day at the parks! We got there early per Tour Guide Mike (TGM) and were disappointed by the dumb opening. No Mickey here like the other two parks. This was also the only park that didn't open 15 mins before it was supposed to and the packed crowd was a little terrifying. I had visions of being trampled right as the park opened but that didn't happen.

We took off and headed straight for the Tower of Terror! Like most rides, we didn't talk about them before they happened so Ben and Cal were unaware of what this ride entailed. The cast members here ARE a little creepy and I'm fairly sure we got on one of the first rides so luckily they didn't hear any screaming. They had an inkling that it was a "scary" ride but we assured them it would be fun. Ben held on to me like a baby koala but didn't scream or cry! I think he was to scared to do anything once it started dropping! They both said they loved it after it was over...
Next we headed to the Playhouse Disney show where, to our surprise, we happened to see my brother and his family. We stopped for a group photo with Rocket outside. Seth was very happy to see this show and all his favorite Playhouse Disney characters!

We missed our next show, Little Mermaid, by minutes so Eric took off to get fast passes (FP) for the roller coaster (or maybe rode it, I can't remember which) while we took the boys to a silly little animation show as a time filler. After that we all met up for the next Little Mermaid show which Seth was terrified of. He didn't like the booming voice of Ariel's father or the sea witch. Cal liked that it rained on you during the storm portion of the show. Overrall, this was NOT the best show we saw.

My mom and I headed off to ride the Aerosmith roller coaster while Eric took the boys to a Narnia show (again, a silly little time filler). We hadn't planned on doing the adult roller coasters but it worked nicely into our schedule and with the FP we didn't have to wait AT ALL. Afterwards, we all headed off to lunch and then to...


Beauty and the Beast. This was probably my favorite of all the shows! It was really something. I think the kids really liked it too!

After, Eric, my mom, and Cal went off to use their FP for Tower of Terror AGAIN. Ben decided to skip it the second time around. He said he didn't want to see the lightening on the people which happens right before you drop. So Ben, Seth, and I decided to take a walk and secure some seats for the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. This was probably the only hiccup as far as behavior goes. It was day 3 and Seth was tired and it was around 1:30pm, nearing exhaustion and a much-needed nap...we went to sit in a bleacher-type seat row and Seth freaked out. I'm pretty sure everyone person around me thought, "Please let this woman get up and leave". But Eric and Grammy came back in the nick of time and I was able to walk with Seth up and down the stairs until right before showtime which appeased him and he did fairly well throughout the rest of the show.

After Indy, it was the perfect time to get some ice cream and grab a spot for the Block Party Bash parade. My trip advisor, TGM, told us this was the worst of all the parades but I disagreed. We got a PRIME spot and lots of the characters came right up to us. The boys loved this! Plus it was interactive dance party and well, we all know Cal, Ben, and Seth like to shake their thang!

Being silly while waiting for parade

High 5's from Woody!

Come back Jesse!

Dancing with one of the dancers

Seth had a blast!

This was nearing the end so Ben was getting into posing. A true diva here.

Pics with Lightning and Mater! Lightning would rev the engine every so often. Scared the heck out of Ben right as we were leaving. Very funny.

We also did the Muppet Vision 3D show and the Great Movie ride in the afternoon. We were getting pretty sick of the one food court in the hotel so decided to stay at Hollywood Studios for dinner and wait for the lights to come on...glad we did!

The Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights was amazing! I've never seen so many lights in my entire life. A whole street worth of buildings all lit up and real snow to boot! I think they said something like 5 million lights!

We got home at 6:30pm this last night. The older boys got some promised lemonade and arcade games for being good while Seth and I went up to get ready for bed. Seth woke up at 1am from a nightmare on our last night, no wonder with all the dark rides, scary gunshots, big dinosaurs and other stuff he'd experienced throughout the trip! But overall we had a really great trip. Tour Guide Mike was awesome. He really only steered us wrong the last day at Hollywood Studios. There's a Toy Story Mania ride that he NEVER EVEN MENTIONED which I thought was strange. We went to get a FP for it and they were gone for the day and the wait was over an hour long. So we skipped that ride but it would have been nice to do it since I'm sure the boys would have loved it.

The plane ride home went smoothly. Thank goodness for the DVD player and our new movies! Seth fell asleep for the last hour which helped a lot too! Our flights were at perfect times and we got home in time for the boys to unwind and play with toys, eat dinner, get a bath and get to bed in a timely fashion. Everyone was refreshed and ready for school this morning!

Oops, didn't see this picture here. I think they said over 100,000 lights on this tree alone!

So long, Farewell!

I'll sleep with you Pip...

No, really...I will.

Clean that jelly out of my hair, Pip! Who needs a bath?

Oh, you scrubby little thing...let me squish you!

I'm glad in these pictures it LOOKS like the dog is having a fun time. Probably it was the best day of her life. No, we aren't getting rid of the dog (if you were thinking that from the title) but Seth has saved her on more than one occasion. If you want to know the truth, most times Eric and I can't stand the dog. We've given up on trying to house train her because no one has the time. I'm sure it's going to be a long, depressing winter for her...I don't know what else to say. We got her two of those beds in the top picture and she absolutely loved them, LOVED THEM. It got to the point where she was being so good in the bed that I didn't even have to put her in the crate...that lastest until yesterday when she literally tore apart and shredded the whole bed! I was thinking, "Pip! You freakin' love that thing, why on earth would you do that?" Well, no more bed. Oh well.

Mostly this post is about our journey to FL and that magical place called Disney World and please PLEASE let it be magical....I don't think I can handle it if it's not. I've pretty much done EVERYTHING possible on my end to make this a successful trip. I don't often give endorsements but I'm just going to go ahead and say, Tour Guide Mike, I love you! Please visit http://www.tourguidemike.com/ before you even book a single thing for your disney trip. The guy is a certified genius....now, I MIGHT be singing a different tune when I come back but I highly doubt it. He provides some very valuable information for a mere $22. Might just be the best $22 I spent in a long while...and I mean that. I know what you Disney freaks who've been there a 1,000 times are thinking...you know exactly how many dining reservations you need (every hour) and what rides NEED to be done first but I guarantee this guy knows more than you and I'm hoping, for my sake, that he does. He's virtually told me where to sit/stand for every parade so that we meet the most characters, what rides to do when and which to get Fastpasses for and which ones not to bother with and he's even told me where to sit so that my kids get picked as volunteers for shows!

At this very minute, I have all the major things packed. I'm still a little stressed about the whereabouts of my camera case which I literally NEED but it couldn't have gone too far. Batteries for the camera, cell phone, and portable DVD player were all charged last night. Snacks and gum have been bought. Neighbors have been given a key to the house and pet sitters for the dog and fish have been secured. For those of you that know me, planning is MY top priority in life...yeah, really it is. So this is why I love Tour Guide Mike. It's like he was made for me. And this is why in October my children went to Sears to get pics taken for holiday cards...why holiday cards were then picked out and printed in October and why my address list for the holiday cards has been updated. At naptime today I finished wrapping the last of the chanukkah presents. In some ironic twist of fate, we just HAD to plan a trip to Disney over thanksgiving the year that Chanukkah starts on December 1st. But not to worry, I am all set! It's my goal that by the end of tomorrow, I'll be totally stress-free and just let this vacation happen! And when I return home, to be totally prepared for the holidays and come back to a clean house!!! Almost there...almost there....wish us great weather and short lines!!!