Disney Vacation 2014: Part 4

 On Thursday of our vacay, we went to the Animal Kingdom.  We underestimated how much there was to do there and we ended up running out of time.  Guess we'll just have to go back! :)

 We got pictures by the Christmas tree when we walked in. 

 A whole family pic!

 We also got pictures by the Tree of Life too.  The kids were like, "Seriously? More pictures??"

 We headed straight to Dino Land.  The kiddos loved the playground area. 

Especially Charlotte!

 While we played in Dinoland, we took turns going on DINOSAUR!

That ride is pretty darn cool, if I do say so myself.  They took this picture right at the big money moment.  Some crazy, scary dinosaur pops out at you.  I totally screamed.  Loved it. 

 Then Andrew, Mom and I went on Mount Everest.  That was crazy! I screamed on that too! Backwards roller coaster what??

 It was then time to see the animals.  Tommy was so excited to see the tigers! They actually prowled around for us.  Amazing!

 On the way to the safari, we saw King Louis and Baloo had a short line for pictures.  Tommy recently started watching Jungle Book so he was excited.  Baloo signed our book but King Louis had a little trouble with his incredibly long arms.

 The safari ride was AWESOME.  How did they get all those animals to come out when we passed by? Coincidence or Disney Magic? We saw tigers, antelopes, giraffes, I can't even remember. So cool.

 Charlotte loved it.  Nap time!

 Tommy did too! But for real. :-)

We raced over to the Festival of the Lion King show quickly after our safari.  It was pretty awesome.  We've never seen the Broadway show but this is similar I guess.  The monkeys were definitely our favorite part.  They were hilarious!

 This was probably Charlotte's favorite attraction of the week.  She really enjoyed it. 

 We sat in the lions section right by Simba.  Whoo hoo!

Tommy was scared to stand by him because he's so giant. 

Until he waved at him directly.  More Disney Magic!!

After that, it was time to leave the park.

  The kids were kind of besides themselves but we still had plans to go to dinner that night.  Yikes!  We had called the Comtemporary Resort's restaurant, Chef Mickey's, the day before and got a reservation.  Whoo hoo! We didn't think we could get in there. 

We got to the Contemporary a little early so we played around in the hotel before our reservation. 

 Then it was time to eat and meet! GOOFY was first!

 Pluto was next.  These guys are old news.  We met them at the swan in 2012.  Haha!

 Then it was time for Minnie.  Minnie was the only one Charlotte was okay with.  All the other characters freaked her out. 

"Don't forget about me!" Donald says. 

 Then it was time for the big man himself.  MICKEY! Tommy didn't even get to SEE Mickey at any of the parks the last time we went. So this was very exciting.

 He even got to hug him!!

He was so excited meeting Mickey that he jumped into Andrew's arms for a huge hug afterwards.  Adorable. 

It was a long day that day so mama needed a drink.  Tommy asked, "Mama, why is there salad in your drink?"  I told him it was because I started looking at our credit card bill from Disney.  Ha!

We got another professional picture after dinner.  The kids were cashed out at this time. 
Hence this picture...

For having such a busy day and very little to no naps during the day, the kids did really well.  We had an awesome day on Thursday.  Plus we got to MEET MICKEY.  Are you kidding me???? Best Day Yet!

Disney Vacation 2014: Part 3 and Tommy's Birthday

We stayed WAYYYYY too late at the Magic Kingdom on Tuesday (midnight, to be exact) so we decided to take it easy on Wednesday instead of getting up early and going back to the Magic Kingdom again.  It was Tommy T's birthday so we decided other plans would be better.

Tommy wanted to swim on his birthday so that's exactly what we did.  It was the best weather that week.  Perfect for swimming. The sun was out! It made all the difference.  The only people in the pool were us Hoosiers and some people from Philadelphia. 

 Later we went to the park to play.  We go swimming in our swimsuits and then wear sweatshirts to the park.  Ha!

 We went to Downtown Disney for shopping and dinner.  We went to T-Rex for dinner, right up Tommy's alley.  They had a great dino dig in the front of the restaurant.

 They had a pterodactyl flying in from the ceiling and a mastodon on our other side.  Just like Rain Forest Cafe, they had a meteor shower every 20 minutes.  Tommy loved it!

We got Charlotte to wear her dino hat for 2.3 seconds!

 After dinner, the wait staff came and sang to Tommy for his birthday.

 They brought him an allergy-friendly dessert.  Raspberry and peach sorbet! You can see it to his right.

He was not comfortable with the peach sorbet because he thought it looked too much like real ice cream.  So we took it off his plate and he was happy to eat the raspberry by itself.  Too funny.  Charlotte wanted the peach sorbet in front of her!

 Tommy LOVED his dessert.  What a treat!

Our waitress took our family picture.  Not the greatest picture but it's not a Disney Photopass Professional so what did we expect? :) 

We had a great time at Downtown Disney for Tommy Hawk's birthday. He had 2 parties before this but now he's officially 4 years old!! What a great way to celebrate! 

Special Bonus: No puking at a theme restaurant unlike our Rain Forest Cafe Experience.  Vacation Redemption! 

Disney Vacation 2014: Part 2

We stayed late enough at Hollywood Studios on Monday that we were really glad we didn't have plans on Tuesday morning.  The plans were to just go to Mickey's Merry Christmas Party that night.

 It was 60 degrees in Florida that day so what do Hoosiers do? We swim, of course! The pool was heated.

 It was a little chilly when we got out but worth it!

Tommy is a little water bug so he lurved it.

That night it was time for Mickey's Xmas party!! Obligatory pic in front of the castle!

 We watched the parade when we first got there.  Hey look, it's the Little Mermaid!

 Charlotte saw all kinds of things that she loved.

 Another pic of Tommy's fave!! This dragon was so dang cool.  It has a spinning wheel inside of it! Wowzers.

The Host/Hostess with the Most/Mostest!! Our kids were enthralled to see the power couple! :)

 We decided to try some rides because Tommy kept requesting it.  It's all he wanted to do.  Sorry about your Christmas Party, Mickey.  Tommy wants to get on those rides!

 First ride was Prince Charming's Carousel.

Then it was time for Dumbo! Charlotte and I were supposed to ride it at the same time as Andrew and Tommy but something got messed up and we didn't get on the same round. Oh well.

 We had fun by ourselves!

 Then we decided we were hungry so we partook in Christmas Party Festivities (hot chocolate and cookies, allergy free cookies and apple juice for the Tomster).

 Then on to more rides! This time the Astro Orbiter.  None of us had ever been on it before.  Sheesh! That almost made us sick.  Round and round and faster and faster! Tommy loved it.  He kept saying, "I see Planet Earth!!!"

 Then before the fireworks show ended, we decided to hop in line for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train.  This quickly became Tommy's favorite new ride.  There were many things to do while we stood in line and the ride is a super awesome roller coaster.

There's always something magical about Disney when I go where we can't figure out how they did something.  This was that situation.  We checked our photo pass account when we got home from the park that and these pictures plus slow motion videos were in our account!! They somehow connected our Magic Bands with our account when we rode the ride.  Normally you have to scan your band to get the pictures but they just showed up... magically!! Amazing! Loved it.  Loved it as much as Tommy loved this roller coaster!!

They took two pictures of each of us on the ride!! Love it!!

 Among other rides, we picked Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Adventure.  I love this ride.  It's so fun.  I think it's better than Toy Story Mania.  It's very similar but I like how this one works better plus they take your picture! Look how serious the T-burg boys are about shooting the alien invaders!

 Charlotte was a little scared of the aliens and how loud it was but she did great! My score wasn't too bad despite the fact that my controller stopped working and I was holding a baby (that's my excuse anyway).

 My dad was trying to figure out how to beat my mom's score in this picture I think. ;-)

We locked our kiddos up in Zorg's Prison cell and took off for Space Mountain!! They were not happy, I guess.  

 But we were! Just look at our faces.  Yikes Morg.  Scary eyes! I LOVE ROLLER COASTERS!! Ha!

 We didn't see the show with Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Olaf when Elsa puts her magic ice touch to the castle but we did get a picture with the Frozen Castle.

 We also got pictures in front of the castle before it was frozen.

 It would change colors all night.  So cool.

 Did I mention we rode "It's a Small World"?  Did I mention it was definitely Charlotte's favorite ride?? She loved it!

One last mention... The park is always completely decorated for Christmas.  It definitely put us in the Christmas Spirit.

Especially when it snows on Main Street!! Yay Christmas at Disney!