A Little Out of Order...

Sunday:  Downtown Disney to get geared up for the trip (not literally, I don't think we made any purchases). This is where we got our first taste of food in Disney and were quite pleased with the fresh wraps/burgers we all got.  Note to self: at any official Disney store, the employees (cast members) have pins to trade...so bring pins to trade.  We napped, swam, and had dinner at the pizza place at the resort.  Then we went over to the resort, Art of Animation.  We had friends stay there and wanted to walk around and see the real life Radiator Springs set up!  It was a free and wonderful thing to do to get geared up for the parks!

 Wall of animated cells from Nemo

 Nemo Pool

 Wow!  Jacob had no shame in his game while posing for any of these shots with his Cars heroes...here they are with Ramone.

 I was reallly into the potted plants at Downtown Disney

 Outside of the Lego store

Chatting on the phone, no doubt informing someone that we had made it to Florida.

Friday:  We went to get Krispy Kreme donuts that morning, then came back to the resort to swim and enjoy the very nice pools.  We played some putt putt, played on the playground and napped.  When it was time for dinner, we headed back to Downtown Disney and decided to do a special last dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.  That night was also one of my favorite times at Disney...it was relaxed and the boys loved waiting for our table since the restaurant is really an attraction in and of itself.  Plus, they had had their faces painted at the resort that afternoon and got to wear their tiger and lion selves out in public!  That was a fantastic amenity of the resort...it was complimentary, so we left a few bucks tip...Jacob had wanted to get it done earlier in the week at one of the parks but it was $15 and $18 depending on what you wanted!  Crazy!  

 This sure made us miss Va Beach and our numerous trips down the road to the KK there!  

 Still enjoying the potted plants.

 Putt putt was complimentary too!

 Gift shop waiting for our table at Rainforest Cafe

Wednesday:  Hollywood Studios.  The main reason we decided to go to Hollywood Studios was because they have Cars stuff there and Toy Story.  I personally wouldn't go back to Hollywood Studios...it was all shows basically.  Tommy and I rode Toy Story Mania like 3 times with fast passes that Jeff had gotten earlier in the day and then he and Jacob ended up not being able to use since they were in a Cars Stunt Show.  Toy Story Mania is one of the BIG DEAL rides of all of Disney World and it was ok in my opinion.  I would NOT ever want to wait in line for it.  Fast Passes for this ride allowed us to walk right up and maybe wait 5 minutes tops to get on...I don't think we even waited that long.  Otherwise, we saw Beauty and the Beast, Playhouse Disney (I forgot, that's the big reason we went to Hollywood Studios), The Muppets Show, the Car Stunt Show, the Behind the Scenes Tour...and then we went in the animation area.  Playhouse Disney was a bummer because you sat on the ground and our seats (which you have no choice over because of the way they corral you in there) were in the very front side...where you couldn't see up on the stage!  What poor planning on Disney's part!  The other shows were neat, just not as cool as Magic Kingdom.  The upshot of Hollywood Studios was that we met TONS of characters that day.  The longest line we waited in for anything the whole trip was to meet Woody and Buzz...it took 45 minutes, and again, not a word of complaint the whole time!  We got to meet Sorcerer Mickey here as well, which was really fun...Thomas was VERY excited about this.  A really neat part that I want to remember from this day was that Thomas and I were playing on an animation computer thingy right outside of the area where Mickey was meeting and greeting, when out of nowhere (not really), Mickey walked back in from taking a break, and came over and played the animation game with Thomas!  There was no way for me to get my camera out in time, but it was so neat!

Thursday:  Magic Kingdom again.  We had been warned by...oh, I don't know...everyone, that we should NOT push it and do 4 days in Disney, but should keep it at 3...but honestly, we don't take advice well, so we did what we wanted and did 4 days.  We had planned to do Animal Kingdom, but there are only like a handful of rides there, and after seeing that the boys had the most fun riding lots of rides, we decided to go back to the only park that has more than 10 rides!  In retrospect, I wish we had tried Animal Kingdom or hit up Epcot because the crowd level at MK was ridiculously high on Thursday as compared to our first two days on Monday and Tuesday.  We didn't get to do nearly as much on Thursday, but the good thing is we had already done so much between the other two days that it wasn't a huge disappointment or anything.

Our parting view from the park!

A Glimpse Back to Disney World

I can only imagine the gratitude that yall each feel when thinking back to our Disney trip at the end of April and the prompt posting of pictures that Jeff did in the evenings.  I am grateful as well...but now, it's time to get busy sorting through the thousands of pictures that we have from our week's vacation.  I also remembered thinking at the time that I should blog some details from our trip so that I remember them (good luck having me remember any of them at this point!), particularly for the time that we may head back down south to visit Mickey again.  So just scroll through things that bore you to death, and stop at the pictures.

Itinerary:

Monday:  Magic Kingdom, day 1.  We got there when the park opened at 9, which was cool to get to see the grand opening show right inside the gate where Mickey and his crew pull up on the railroad and get out and sing and dance and then there's a countdown to opening the gates of the Magic Kingdom.  It was really exciting for our first day to get to be there and anticipate the opening...it was also really busy with other people who wanted to do the same.  But I guess, not actually that busy considering how many people end up in the park by the end of the day.  Once inside we were instructed by friends to head to the left on Main Street and pick up our "First Time Visit" pins for the boys.  They are free and there are pins for all sorts of occasions!  Jacob lost his pin sometime that first day, and the nice thing about Disney is, we just went back by and grabbed another for him later in our trip...no hassle.  We had used a day planning website that our friend from church had let us use to design our day down to the minute.   So that ended up being our plan.  We would go along and do the rides that we had scheduled, in the order (more or less...certainly for the first day), pretty strictly for the first day.  We went back home in the afternoon...after lunch I think...and we all took naps.  I honestly think that being pregnant, I was the most tired and cranky of anyone during this trip.  Thankfully I wasn't sick though, because if I had been sick then this trip would have been MISERABLE.  But we all napped nonetheless.  We headed back over to the park and got there around 5-6?  We ate dinner there for sure, so I think that was about right.  Our goal was to stay for the fireworks show that night, which didn't exactly work out since there were storms and it kept getting pushed back...and eventually we just went and did something else.  I believe this first night was the night that it was thundering and scaring lots of little kids, which caused Jacob to get scared and cry the whole way out of the park.  Thomas wasn't phased.  Of course.  That night pushed it a little too far for me...I think for all of us, and I had a sort of bad taste in my mouth after that first realllly long day.

 Thomas was the cheesiest child ever during this trip.  He was happy!

 On "It's a Small World"...which Jacob really loved!

 Enjoying his Mickey ice cream bar while Jeff and Jacob rode Splash Mountain.  This is also the end of his pristine shirt I made him.  Note to self:  chocolate aint easy to get out.  

 Shirts I made before we went...lots cheaper than a shirt there.  

 Thomas shooting the boats as they came over the edge of Splash Mountain.

 Really loving Dumbo.  PS, the couple weeks leading up to our trip (which was a surprise), I "made" them watch Disney movies while I made dinner...so they were well versed in the classics and able to more fully appreciate the rides:)

 Welcome show at MK

 The photo pass people would gladly take a picture of you with your camera, as well as their own.  They charge like $15 for a 5x7, so we knew we wouldn't be purchasing any pictures through Disney, but I had read earlier that it was sort of "common courtesy" to let them take your picture with their camera and then ask them to use yours.  

 Waiting in line to drive a car at the Grand Prix.  Jacob learned that he needs some practice driving.  

 At the shooting range in Frontierland...we had no cash on us (since all rides are included in price of ticket and food places take cards)...and the girl working this area just turned the gun on and let Jacob shoot and shoot and shoot when she realized we had no coins...we eventually just left because the gun was never ending!

 First character of the trip, Jacob was good with Pluto, but after Pluto tried to tickle Thomas, Thomas was not into him anymore.  

 Beautiful shot by Jeff of the castle at night

Carousel...we rode this probably 3 times throughout the trip.  Even if it looked like it was a long line, there are so many people let on each time that you never had to wait.  Thomas and I rode this by ourselves a couple times while we were waiting for the other boys to ride something.  

Tuesday:  Back to Magic Kingdom.  After sleeping on it, deciding that we wouldn't be early morning park goers, and rethinking our game plan, we went back and had what was probably our best day on our trip.  We knew our way around the park better  on day 2 which saved a lot of map reading time, we had ideas about where we wanted to eat, and what good wait times were for rides, so we knew when to stop and take advantage of a short line and when to get a fast pass and come back later.  Fast passes were awesome.  We rode soooooo many rides this day and everyone had a fantastic time.  Between going there a little later in the morning (I think we got there around 10-10:30) and just deciding that we weren't going to force ourselves to break up the day with a nap unless someone absolutely needed it, everything was great.  Just thinking about how great this day was makes me miss this vacation so much.  Thomas and I had lots of time together while Jeff and Jacob rode the "Moutains"...Splash, Big Thunder, and Space.  Our time together was so fun too though, little people can ride EVERYTHING except 4 rides at Magic Kingdom!  That was such a pleasant surprise for us.  Considering children under 3 are free, I think it was awesome to take a 2.5 year old.  He got to do practically everything (and besides, I wouldn't have been riding the mountains in my "condition" anyway) and thought that it was all so magical!  We waited in line to see a few characters this day too, and the boys LOVED doing this.  I wasn't thinking anyone would really want to wait in long lines to see a character, but BOTH boys wanted to and there was NEVER a complaint the ENTIRE trip about wait times.  It was just that exciting.

 Outside the Tiki Room (where the animatronic birds sing).  Also a hit with Thomas.  This was more of our Thomas and Mommy time.  

 Swiss Family Robinson treehouse

 Riding Aladdin's magic carpets...another favorite.

 After seeing the parade in the middle of the day (which was really fun since you got to see all the characters in one place), we went in to see the Country Bear Jamboree, and we all liked that and appreciated a place to sit in the AC!

 Look how sweet Jacob is...he is hugging Goofy!

 Tommy trying to get Pooh Bear's hunny pot!  

 Meeting Tigger and Pooh- this was a much anticipated meet and greet.  Thomas was SCREAMING to them pretty much the entire wait!

 He was thrilled to finally get to meet them!  And I believe these were the ones that he didn't want to leave.

 Ariel/Prince Eric's castle

 Aladdin ride again

 In the store outside of Mickey's Philharmonic...which was a really neat little show

 Meeting Peter Pan

 Meeting Ariel...they were the only boys in line for this one, but I mean, who doesn't want to meet Ariel!!??  Well, Thomas doesn't want to meet Ariel.  He wasn't interested in Pluto (the first character we met) or Ariel (the last)...otherwise, he loved them.  The teenage girl in front of us cried when she met Ariel she was so excited.  It was really funny and also kind of sweet, because I remember how much I LOVED the Little Mermaid when I was little...I didn't cry, but it is neat.  

 The weather was questionable.

Ride home on the ferry