Trip Report I Horsey again

We’ve been home from Walt Disney World for a little over two weeks now and the holidays have passed. It’s time for what has become my post-trip tradition of writing our trip report.

We always take our best photos at Hollywood Studio.


If you read our previous reports, you know that we have previously visited WDW in November. Given the amount of crowds last year, we decided to change to a December trip. We made sure to steer clear of the Holiday crowds however. I mean we are not crazy, even though we do enjoy a good country bear jamboree.


Our trip began on December 8th. My super-organized wife Sara (I say that in a good way – mostly) had worked the previous week or so packing up her stuff as well as the kids’ things. Here is a photo of our cat Oliver asking us if he can on December 7th.

Ollie gets his name because he came from a “free kittens” box at a yard sale in our development. He has a sister we named Jasmine who is harder to get to stay still for a photo. Much to Sara’s dismay, I have continuously put my foot down and forbidden our cats from coming on vacation with us. Taking care of two children tends to be hard enough.


On December 8th, I stayed home with an off-day from work while Sara and Makayla went to daycare (Sara is a teacher there) and Luke went to Kindergarten. Yes, Luke is our big Kindergartner this year. I took December 8th to pack my things, which hadn’t been started yet. Sara and I are very opposite in this way. Sara and Makayla came home around 1:30, and Sara and I loaded the car while Makayla napped. Around 3:45 Luke returned from school, and after a quick potty break for him we were on our way.


After a 40 minute wait to eat a Chipotle in Leesburg, VA, and a bunch of Paw Patrol episodes on our DVD player later (both kids’ current favorite show) we arrived at the Hampton Inn in Emporia, VA, our home for the first night.


We quickly settled in for the night and prepared for bed. Luke always enjoys spending nights away, he seems them as adventures. So it took a little bit of time to get him wound down, but we ended up sleeping well. The next morning, both kids insisted on “helping me load the car again.

After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we were on our way. Here is Makayla enjoying her yogurt.

Friday, December 9th was an all-day drive affair. It included a Pizza Hut lunch in South Carolina, and a stop at the Florida Welcome Center 10 minutes after it had closed – no free orange juice for us. Makayla was terribly afraid of this dolphin statue. She would not go near it. She kept saying “Dolphin bite me.” As far as we know, she’s never had a negative run-in with a dolphin before, so I’m not really sure where this came from, but she would not go near the thing. At least Luke was willing to take his photo here.

Once we were back in the car, we hit a little traffic around Jacksonville, then made our way to I-4. As we turned onto I-4, the navigation on Sara’s phone told us we were about an hour and 15 minutes away. About 15 minutes later, a recheck told us we were about an hour and 45 minutes away. It usually seems like Disney keeps getting further away from us due to our excitement, but this time we found out there was a massive accident on I-4 closing the left three lanes.


We ended up having a major delay through Orlando, and instead of arriving around 8, we ended up not getting to our hotel until almost 9:30. We had hoped to stay at the Hampton Inn near Disney (Hampton is a long-time favorite of our family), but found out they were booked for the night. So we ended up next door at the Quality Inn and Suites, which thankfully had an opening (though for a little bit more money). Both kids helped by pulling their suitcases this time.

Luke loved the fact that we had two rooms – it is a suite after all.

After a quick game of hide and seek – yes Luke deemed the room was big enough we had to play hide and seek, we got the kids to bed. We were ready to begin our Disney adventure the next day.

 

[Lyear]

Sometimes, cereal just hits the spot. (I went through a Cap'n Crunch cereal phase a few years ago--and that's as an adult!)

My husband is still in that phase.

I'm mostly a Golden Grahams girl. But others will do in a pinch.

Back when I was a teenager I'd eat 2-3 bowls of Lucky Charms before bed. Now I'm an adult, and I try to be healthy so we have Kashi cereal in the house. Yeccchhhk

I am loving your trip report and reliving our family's trips when my boys were that little. They are now 14 and 11 and even though the temper tantrums cause you stress in the moment, years later they are forgotten and only the good memories remain. I also vividly remember my older guy being enamored of the ducks and my thoughts: "I spent all this money for you to watch ducks!? We have ducks at home!", But, one of my favorite memories is sitting by Canada, waiting for Illuminations to start, eating McDonald's french fries (when they sold them in that area of EPCOT) and chasing away the brazen ducks trying to steal our fries with my son's Buzz Lightyear spinning light toy. It is worth every penny to have those memories - even if your daughter doesn't remember it, you will. Looking forward to the rest of the report.

My new plan is to start a theme park and just have ducks wondering around for kids to look at. It will be a success for sure!!

It's great to have that perspective. The tantrums can be hard to deal with, but we certainly made a lot of really good memories on this trip as well.

 

[Lyear]

When we awoke from our naps, it was time to head to Disney Springs. A lot of people walking around a bunch of stores is never my idea of a great time, but Sara loves it so I'm willing to go. This year, I was looking forward to the Christmas light show (Starbright holidays), so I was actually somewhat excited. Somewhat

Getting there, we did the thing that we know how to do when driving to Disney Springs, which is get to the orange parking garage. We figured it out last year, and have never made an attempt to learn how to get anywhere else.

We ended up entering near the Planet Hollywood and Coca-cola store area. For the first time this trip, we were going to be trying a new restaurant - Portobello's. I could not convince Sara to go back to Paradiso 37, even though I loved it last year, so we settled on Portobello's. It took a little while to get our bearings and figure out our direction, but we headed straight to the restaurant.

We were seated pretty quickly, and our waiter was right with us. I think our waiter's name was Larry, but I'm not positive. Anyway, he was easily the best waiter we had on our trip. He was talkative to the kids, even though Makayla was scared of him, and he was around a lot to ask if we needed anything and was quick to come back with it when we did.

Our drinks came quickly, and we took some photos as we waited. Our first time at any new place always seems to lead to a lot of photos.

It seemed to fit the mold of what we expect in an Italian restaurant. I was a bit surprised by how busy the place was. I never seem to hear a lot of buzz around this place, but there certainly were a lot of people here. Just about every table was full, and when people left, they were quickly replaced by more people.

For food, Sara ordered the lasagna

Luke got the cheese pizza (photo taken by Luke)
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And I ordered the blurry eggplant parmigiana.

I was a bit surprised to see blurry eggplant parmigiana on the menu, but decided to go for it.

Sara would soon become annoyed with my "action" dinner shots. And yes, Luke is learning to love the Eagles as much as I do.

Makayla was enjoying some of Luke's pizza.

I thought my dish was excellent, and Luke really enjoyed his pizza. Sara, unfortunately, hit her Disney food wall, and soon became stuffed after eating just a few bites. She said what she had tasted good, but just couldn't bring herself to eat anymore.

For dessert, Luke ordered chocolate ice cream, and I got the mango sorbet. It was delicious. While Sara didn't eat that much, the rest of us had a great time and enjoyed the food. It was a meal where there was no major meltdown for the kids (or adults), so that's a win.

 

[Lyear]

Following our meal, we felt the need to walk off a few thousand calories, so we walked through the new Disney Springs section.

Luke created a game where he only tried to walk on the red bricks. He had to be continuously reminded not to get in other peoples' way.

At one point, Sara stopped to ask for directions "how do I get to the water to see the light show?" is what I imagine she is saying.

I'm definitely not very into shopping, much to the chagrin of Sara, so I will say that the new section of Disney Springs didn't do much for me. The architecture is nice, and there's a few nice fountains, but it's sort of an outdoor mall, and not a place I imagine I'll be spending a lot of time in.

As we were almost to the west side, we found a Marvel merchandise store. We went in and saw these beauties, which Luke immediately wanted. Hooray for Captain America. Now how about a smile?

Then we made our way to the Coca-cola store. A few years back, Sara and I visited the world of Coca-cola in Atlanta, and this store reminded me of the gift shop of that one. On the top level they have a pretty nice bar set-up with some interesting drink creations. Sara and I chose not to partake since we had our kids with us. We did get some nice views from the roof however.

And a photo of the walkway on the way down.

At this point we went over to the west side water area for Starbright Holidays. I had been very interested to see just what Disney would do with drones for a light show.

To be honest, it was a bit underwhelming. I'm sure it's truly amazing what they did to organize and program the drones to do what they did, but after seeing Jingle Bell Bam at Hollywood Studios the night before and being immersed in the action all around us, Starbright Holidays seemed small and quiet by comparison. I'm sure this is simply a first draft of what will eventually be an amazing show for Disney.

 

[Lyear]

Following the show, we made our way to the west side boat dock and caught a boat over to the marketplace. It was starting to get pretty cold, and I was wishing I had brought a jacket. We put Makayla's on her, but Luke insisted he wasn't cold. After we docked at the marketplace, we did the stores we wanted to hit pretty much in order.

First was the Christmas shop to get our ornament for the year. Next was the D-tech store so I could get a new Iphone case. My current one at the time was being held together by duct tape. Now I have a Buzz Lightyear case that I love, and that also causes me to get some strange looks from adults as I'm using my phone.

Then we hit the mother of all stores - World of Disney. Luke really enjoyed the spitting Stitch at the entrance, and spent about 10 minutes dodging, and standing under, the water coming from above. I was more than happy to allow Sara to enter with Makayla while I stayed outside and made sure Luke was ok.

When we entered, Luke fell in love with a BB8 stuffed animal. He doesn't really know what Star Wars is, except that a main character is named Luke, but he really wanted this small stuffed animal. Yes, we got it for him. The rest of the items we purchased are now a blur. I know we got the kids WDW shirts, and we got Makayla a pluto hat, since "Pluto puppy" had been one of her favorites. Sara got some jewelry, and in the end we had purchased enough that we got the privilege of purchasing a Disney throw blanket for only $20 more. I turned away as the total was read and I handed over my card.

Given how much Luke had been enjoying fountains, and getting wet, on this trip, we were excited to take him to the Disney Springs fountain in the marketplace. It's the one where water shoots up from the ground. Unfortunately, once we arrived there we discovered the water had been turned off, likely because it was winter and cold outside. Luke was upset, so we told him that he could pick one of the rides to go on before we went back to the hotel. He wanted to do the train. So yes, we became that family that paid money to ride a ride at Disney Springs while we were at WDW on vacation.

We paid for the kids to ride, then the operator asked me if I wanted to with them. OF COURSE!!!!

We had oh so much fun going around that little circle. Luke and Makayla actually did like it a lot. Truth be told, I did too! After this, we made our way back towards the Orange Garage and the hotel. Our rest day had become one where we did a lot of things and did a great deal of walking. When we were back in the hotel room we all quickly fell asleep.

 

[sheriffwoody]

Makayla got to dress up as Belle, her favorite princess.

Smart girl!! I love Belle too

Really enjoying your report! Your little ones are adorable.

 

[LadyBelle]

Back when I was a teenager I'd eat 2-3 bowls of Lucky Charms before bed. Now I'm an adult, and I try to be healthy so we have Kashi cereal in the house. Yeccchhhk .

C'mon. If, as an adult, you can enjoy Disney, you most certainly can eat one bowl of sugary cereal!

 

[MegRuss626]

When we awoke from our naps, it was time to head to Disney Springs. A lot of people walking around a bunch of stores is never my idea of a great time, but Sara loves it so I'm willing to go. This year, I was looking forward to the Christmas light show (Starbright holidays), so I was actually somewhat excited. Somewhat

Getting there, we did the thing that we know how to do when driving to Disney Springs, which is get to the orange parking garage. We figured it out last year, and have never made an attempt to learn how to get anywhere else.

We ended up entering near the Planet Hollywood and Coca-cola store area. For the first time this trip, we were going to be trying a new restaurant - Portobello's. I could not convince Sara to go back to Paradiso 37, even though I loved it last year, so we settled on Portobello's. It took a little while to get our bearings and figure out our direction, but we headed straight to the restaurant.

We were seated pretty quickly, and our waiter was right with us. I think our waiter's name was Larry, but I'm not positive. Anyway, he was easily the best waiter we had on our trip. He was talkative to the kids, even though Makayla was scared of him, and he was around a lot to ask if we needed anything and was quick to come back with it when we did.

Our drinks came quickly, and we took some photos as we waited. Our first time at any new place always seems to lead to a lot of photos.

It seemed to fit the mold of what we expect in an Italian restaurant. I was a bit surprised by how busy the place was. I never seem to hear a lot of buzz around this place, but there certainly were a lot of people here. Just about every table was full, and when people left, they were quickly replaced by more people.

For food, Sara ordered the lasagna

Luke got the cheese pizza (photo taken by Luke)

And I ordered the blurry eggplant parmigiana.

I was a bit surprised to see blurry eggplant parmigiana on the menu, but decided to go for it.

Sara would soon become annoyed with my "action" dinner shots. And yes, Luke is learning to love the Eagles as much as I do.

Makayla was enjoying some of Luke's pizza.

I thought my dish was excellent, and Luke really enjoyed his pizza. Sara, unfortunately, hit her Disney food wall, and soon became stuffed after eating just a few bites. She said what she had tasted good, but just couldn't bring herself to eat anymore.

For dessert, Luke ordered chocolate ice cream, and I got the mango sorbet. It was delicious. While Sara didn't eat that much, the rest of us had a great time and enjoyed the food. It was a meal where there was no major meltdown for the kids (or adults), so that's a win.

Fun fact....the lone table you took a picture of is the table our party sat at this past September! Glad you guys had a great waiter! Ours was less than Disney standards which kind of put a damper on our meal.

 

[Lyear]

Smart girl!! I love Belle too

Really enjoying your report! Your little ones are adorable.

Thank you, we think they are quite cute too! Makayla's favorite color, as she was learning them, was yellow, and out of that her love of Belle was born.

C'mon. If, as an adult, you can enjoy Disney, you most certainly can eat one bowl of sugary cereal!

Ha, unfortunately my adult self has replaced a nightly bowl of cereal with a nightly bowl of ice cream.

Fun fact....the lone table you took a picture of is the table our party sat at this past September! Glad you guys had a great waiter! Ours was less than Disney standards which kind of put a damper on our meal.

That's nuts. Sara took that picture. She must have taken it quickly between guests because I don't ever remember it being empty. Waiters and waitresses certainly have quite a lot to do with how much we enjoy our meals. I'm sorry you had an experience that was less than you would hope for.

 

[Lyear]

Following our late night at Disney Springs (it's still hard not to write downtown disney) no one wanted to get moving on Thursday morning. I'm usually the first riser, and I must have hit snooze at least 3 times. Sara was especially hard to get up this morning as both kids beat her out of bed. Our plan had been to be at Magic Kingdom near opening, but as we walked out of our room at 8:30 it was clear we weren't going to make it.

Our journey from the room to the bus stop included what had now become the standard stop at the food court to get our mug refills. When we arrived at the bus stop, it was yet another very long line for MK. There was a school group in front of us that took up about a whole bus to themselves. But just as had happened a few days ago, we quickly had several MK buses arriving, so overall it wasn't that long of a wait. We made it to MK around 9:15. As an added bonus, they had just opened the extra set of bag check lanes, so we had our fastest trip through bag check for the entire vacation.

Our plan for today was to do Adventureland and Frontierland. We made our way up Main Street and made a left near Casey's, and crossed in front of Crystal Palace. Sara reminded Luke that last year they had watched Wishes from the balcony of Crystal Palace, to which Luke responded with genuine disinterest. He was ready to ride rides.

Since Luke had drank his entire mug already, we made a quick stop at the Adventureland bathroom, the the first thing Luke wanted to do was the Treehouse. You may have read our report from last year and remember that Luke LOVED the treehouse. He instantly remembered it and wanted to walk through it again. This year Makayla was old enough to go on it as well. What followed was, in my opinion, the cutest brother-sister interaction in treehouse history as Luke explained everything to Makayla. About halfway through, I had to get my camera out because it was just too much not to capture.



And here they are appreciating the water wheel and bucket system.

Once we had finished our treehouse fun, Sara took the kids over towards the flying carpets while I grabbed the stroller. When I caught up, I found this.



During their play, I was reminded of how much more there is to do at Disney than simply the rides. The spitting camel is something I always walked past as an adult, but here Makayla, and especially Luke, were having a great time playing with it. Because I happened to have my video camera out, we'll now always have the memory.

After the camel, we didn't get too far before Luke found the misty, spitting tikis.



The kids played first, then I joined in the fun. And yes, the tiki got my butt.



Lots of video. I guess I was making up for barely taking any so far on our trip.

Once we finally broke away from the water fascination, we took a ride on the flying carpets. Luke wanted to sit with my in the front.

Following this, Luke really wanted to do the treehouse again. Since we had time before our first fastpass, we made our way back to do that again. Luke gave Makayla the same tour as he did before. We then took another quick bathroom break before our first fastpass at Pirates.

Pirates probably made Luke the most scared he has been at Walt Disney World. He didn't like the loud noises ,and I think he honestly thought we were in some kind of danger. He was very relieved when we made it to the exit. The ride did not affect his love of pirates though, as he wanted everything when we made it to the gift shop. He asked for a sword, then an eye-patch, then a pirate hat. We explained that he had all these at home. He finally settled on some pirate handcuffs, which he kept trying to place me into the rest of our morning.

The fear of pirates and the joy of shopping at the gift shop had apparently worked up Luke's appetite, so we made a stop at a popcorn stand, followed by a Dole whip since we were in that area.

Really dad???

The dole whip was a big hit. After the first few bites, Luke was trying to see how big a spoonful he could get, which of course meant a good bit or ours ended up on the table.

 

[PrincessL]

That dole whip looks sooo good! I could go for one right now We've always skipped the tree house but may have to put it on the list for our upcoming trip!

 

[Lyear]

Following our mid-morning snack, we once again had to take a bathroom break. We became very accustomed to the Adventureland bathrooms on this day. Once everyone was good, it was time for our 2nd fastpass at Big Thunder Mountain railroad. This would be Luke's first time trying Big Thunder Mountain, and we were interested to see how he did. He had been on a few small roller coasters, and usually has been hesitant to get on them but really likes them once he tries. Today there was no hestitation, he was ready to go. We got a rider swap, and I stayed behind with Makayla.

While Makayla and I waited we walked over and looked at the loading area for Tom Sawyer's island, then watched a few boats going down Splash Mountain. Just as we went back to Big Thunder, Sara and Luke were already exiting. Luke had loved it and was excited that he got to go again with me. We loaded in again, with Luke giving me the information on how the line and ride worked .

He really enjoyed it again, and remarked how fast the train seemed to go on the second half of the ride. As we exited Big Thunder, we decided to grab a quick lunch at Pecos Bills since it was nearby and we knew that we liked it. We all got the same thing as we had gotten a few days before. We're not the most creative bunch.

After lunch, it was time for Luke to try another new ride, Splash mountain. This was a ride he has watched on youtube a couple of times, and really likes listening to the song from the WDW soundtrack that Sara keeps in her car. He was excited to try it for real. Sara once again went first with him while we got a rider swap.

After Luke and Sara had went into the queue, I turned to Makayla and said something along the lines of, "what are we going to do?" Makayla instantly replied "I horsey again." The wheels started turning in my head. I knew Splash Mountain was a pretty long line, and they would probably have to wait in line just a while. Meanwhile, the carousel goes quickly, and usually loads quickly. I decided to go for it, and sent Sara a text, just in case they finished and couldn't find us.

Off we went, I was holding Makayla, weaving through the crowds. Past the ferryboat, past Haunted Mansion and It's a Small World, over the carousel. Sure enough, we were on a horse in no time.

And a selfie, that really didn't come out.

Makayla was really happy to be on a horse again. After we had finished, we quickly walked back over to Splash.

Meanwhile, once Luke had gotten into the boat, Sara explained to me he had become very nervous about the big drop. He was always concerned about when it was coming, and she was assuring him they were going to be ok.

And there they go.

Can't really see Luke, but he was holding on pretty tight.

As we met up, I asked Luke what he thought. He said he had liked it, but wasn't interested in going again. He and Makayla were interested in playing in the little play area near the exit however.

After a while of playing on the play area, we made use of the train which was operational again to take us to the front of the park. It was time to head back to our resort. Luke was very excited that we got to ride in one of the accordion style buses. He thought it was the neatest thing ever to see it bend in the middle.

When we made it back to the hotel, we got Makayla ready for her nap. But since Luke had slept good last night and seemed to be awake, I decided I would stay awake with him, and we would check out the pool one more time.

 

[Lyear]

That dole whip looks sooo good! I could go for one right now We've always skipped the tree house but may have to put it on the list for our upcoming trip!

Like so many other people, the dole whip is a must do for us while we are in WDW. The tree house has become can't miss entertainment for our family!

 

[MinnieM123]

The treehouse video was precious. Luke was the perfect "tour guide" for Makayla!

 

[fractal]

Following our late night at Disney Springs (it's still hard not to write downtown disney) no one wanted to get moving on Thursday morning. I'm usually the first riser, and I must have hit snooze at least 3 times. Sara was especially hard to get up this morning as both kids beat her out of bed. Our plan had been to be at Magic Kingdom near opening, but as we walked out of our room at 8:30 it was clear we weren't going to make it.

Our journey from the room to the bus stop included what had now become the standard stop at the food court to get our mug refills. When we arrived at the bus stop, it was yet another very long line for MK. There was a school group in front of us that took up about a whole bus to themselves. But just as had happened a few days ago, we quickly had several MK buses arriving, so overall it wasn't that long of a wait. We made it to MK around 9:15. As an added bonus, they had just opened the extra set of bag check lanes, so we had our fastest trip through bag check for the entire vacation.

Our plan for today was to do Adventureland and Frontierland. We made our way up Main Street and made a left near Casey's, and crossed in front of Crystal Palace. Sara reminded Luke that last year they had watched Wishes from the balcony of Crystal Palace, to which Luke responded with genuine disinterest. He was ready to ride rides.

Since Luke had drank his entire mug already, we made a quick stop at the Adventureland bathroom, the the first thing Luke wanted to do was the Treehouse. You may have read our report from last year and remember that Luke LOVED the treehouse. He instantly remembered it and wanted to walk through it again. This year Makayla was old enough to go on it as well. What followed was, in my opinion, the cutest brother-sister interaction in treehouse history as Luke explained everything to Makayla. About halfway through, I had to get my camera out because it was just too much not to capture.



And here they are appreciating the water wheel and bucket system.

Once we had finished our treehouse fun, Sara took the kids over towards the flying carpets while I grabbed the stroller. When I caught up, I found this.



During their play, I was reminded of how much more there is to do at Disney than simply the rides. The spitting camel is something I always walked past as an adult, but here Makayla, and especially Luke, were having a great time playing with it. Because I happened to have my video camera out, we'll now always have the memory.

After the camel, we didn't get too far before Luke found the misty, spitting tikis.



The kids played first, then I joined in the fun. And yes, the tiki got my butt.



Lots of video. I guess I was making up for barely taking any so far on our trip.

Once we finally broke away from the water fascination, we took a ride on the flying carpets. Luke wanted to sit with my in the front.

Following this, Luke really wanted to do the treehouse again. Since we had time before our first fastpass, we made our way back to do that again. Luke gave Makayla the same tour as he did before. We then took another quick bathroom break before our first fastpass at Pirates.

Pirates probably made Luke the most scared he has been at Walt Disney World. He didn't like the loud noises ,and I think he honestly thought we were in some kind of danger. He was very relieved when we made it to the exit. The ride did not affect his love of pirates though, as he wanted everything when we made it to the gift shop. He asked for a sword, then an eye-patch, then a pirate hat. We explained that he had all these at home. He finally settled on some pirate handcuffs, which he kept trying to place me into the rest of our morning.

The fear of pirates and the joy of shopping at the gift shop had apparently worked up Luke's appetite, so we made a stop at a popcorn stand, followed by a Dole whip since we were in that area.

Really dad???

The dole whip was a big hit. After the first few bites, Luke was trying to see how big a spoonful he could get, which of course meant a good bit or ours ended up on the table.

great videos!

 

[Lyear]

The treehouse video was precious. Luke was the perfect "tour guide" for Makayla!

It was probably my favorite moment of our trip.

great videos!

Thanks

 

[Lyear]

Since Luke had really enjoyed swimming in the pool the day before, and since he had slept well, I decided I would take him back to the pool this afternoon while Sara and Makayla napped. Luke obviously didn't object to this plan. For the first couple of minutes we found a table by the pool and made an entry in his kidwriting journal for school (something we were supposed to do more than we did on this trip), then had some time in the water.

Luke was trying to collect as many beach balls as he could, and was assigning points to them to try to get some type of high score. I can't say I truly understood it, but we played along. When other kids came asking if they could use a beach ball from Luke's pile of seven, I decided Luke could get extra points for sharing beach balls, and he went along with it. They were having some type of organized activities for children around the pool, but Luke wasn't the slightest bit interested in that. He just wanted to keep swimming.

After a while our time was up, and we headed back to our room to wake up the rest of the family. In short order we were up and ready to go to our evening park - Animal Kingdom.

Our early plan called for us to watch Rivers of Light on this night, but unfortunately that show still has a TBD opening date. We had to improvise, and decided we would still head to AK and try the nighttime safari.

As we arrived at the bus stop, we see a coach bus rolling through the park bus area and he comes to rest at the AK stop. Turns out they have coach buses making trips to and from the parks. I hadn't been aware of this until that evening. Luke was very excited to try the new bus. Everyone tried to sit towards the front of the bus, except Luke who insisted we go to the very back. Once we arrived, we took a picture to remember our trip.

On the way in, of course we had to stop by Luke's favorite bridge

And run on it.

 

[Lyear]

Our first stop was pizzafari. After our experience with pizza rizzo, we wanted to make sure we got here in time, so it was first on our list. Sara and I each ordered the cheese flatbread, and Luke got the kids cheese pizza. Makayla shared our meals.

Luke helped me pick up the food. Sometimes when I ask to take his photo, I get a nice smile. Other times, I get a blank stare.

While we ate, I pulled out my camera and did some action shots, which Sara was starting to come to hate.

This trip to pizzafari will forever be known as Makayla's meltdown. Makayla ate about 3-4 bites of her meal and decided she was done. She then became very frustrated that we weren't getting her out of her high chair. What followed was a bout of screaming that had everyone in the restaurant staring at us.

It's always a tough line to walk when your kid is having a tantrum in public. Our usual response is to let our kid have his or her tantrum and not give in. This becomes harder when you are in public and its clear your child is affecting other people around you. On this night, we tried to distract her by giving her small toys to play with, but she never truly calmed down until we had finished eating and gotten her out of her chair.

Once we left Pizzafari, we made our way to the nighttime safari. We had heard many reviews of the safari at night and were excited to try it for ourselves.

One thing we had heard are that the lions are more active. And this is true. Instead of just laying there, the lions were laying there with their heads up in the air.

Our guide explained early on she was not allowed to stop the vehicle at night. I'm not sure what the reasoning is on that, but it led to less time seeing the animals. It was cool to see hyenas and some other animals. Overall it felt like we saw less animals at night than we did in the daytime. It was neat to try the nighttime safari, but I think overall the daytime one is superior.

As we trekked back into Africa, they were having a dance party. It took a little convincing, but the kids were eventually willing to dance.



For the next and final song, they handed out steamers, that got everyone involved including yours truly. My favorite part is when the one performer comes up to try to interact with Makayla, forcing Makayla to do a quick turn and run right over to me



Unfortunately the dance party ended our time in Animal Kingdom, for tonight and our trip as a whole. 7pm came very quickly and the park had closed. We made our way to the exit and then to our bus.

Once we arrived back at our room, we broke into the Butterfinger cupcake from Starring rolls we had purchased two days earlier. YUM!!!! I will never wait two days to eat a Butterfinger cupcake again. Of course I had some help from the rest of the family finishing it.

Otherwise we watched some Disney Jr, played with the bubble wand, and had an early bedtime. I know for Luke and myself an early bedtime was needed with the heavy amount of swimming we had done in the afternoon. It was hard to believe, but the next day, Friday, would be our last full day in the parks.

 

[Lyear]

Friday morning we had a breakfast reservation at Chef Mickey's. We were out the door and on a bus to MK early. Once we arrived, we went straight for the monorail station and caught a monorail to the Contemporary.

Sara really liked the Gingerbread house in the lobby.

Our reservation was for 9:15, and we made it with plenty of time to spare. Thankfully they called us shortly after we checked in and we didn't have to wait a long time to be seated.

On the way to our table we passed by Donald and Makayla started freaking out. We decided we would ask for a booster seat and seat her in the side part of the table so she wasn't so close to the action.

She liked that idea.

Our breakfast story this morning played out very similar to our Hollywood and Vine experience a few days earlier. Makayla really like seeing the characters from far away, but would start crying when they would come to our table. Luke enjoyed meeting everyone though.

Makayla in her safety position, sucking on her finger. We attempted to frame her in some pictures with the characters as they came by.

The characters all came in pretty rapid succession. Minnie and Donald both came to our table at the same time and a little "argument" over who would get to see us first. Donald ended up going across the aisle to another table. Sorry Donald.

Goofy took special care in trying to come up slowly to say hi to Makayla, but it still produced the same result. After he posed with Luke he waved goodbye. Since he was leaving, Makayla composed herself and said "bye bye Foofee." This prompted Goofy to turn around with both hands over his heart as if it was the cutest thing ever. Once the characters left our tables, they greeted the tables behind us. Makayla really enjoyed seeing them there.

And she really enjoyed the song with waving of the napkins, with some help from me.

Meeting the characters went about as expected. As far as the food, we all thought it was pretty good. Chef Mickey's is another restaurant that seems to get some harsh reviews on the food, but we enjoyed it. Sara and I both enjoyed the Tofu scramble.

As we were wrapping up, Sara got into a small conversation with the mom beside us who remarked how cute Makayla was in her Minnie dress. They started talking about characters we had met, and we talked about how we had a fastpass to meet Cinderella later today. The mom, a mother of two boys, lamented that her boys had no interest in meeting princesses. The character her sons most wanted to meet was Chewbacca.

Once our meal had ended, we caught the monorail and rode it around to the Magic Kingdom.

 

[bee]

Great report! Forgive me if you already mentioned this, but is your family vegetarian? You seem to be ordering mostly (only?) veggie meals.

 

[Lyear]

Once we were inside MK, our first stop was the Chapeau to pick out ears. Luke had already gotten his captain america ears. Makayla picked a little mermaid set, and Sara got a Disney animation one. There was some concern with getting Luke's ears embroidered. Sara wanted to get the year 2016 in the back, but since they didn't sell the Captain America ears in their shop, they were hesitant to do it to Luke's for fear that the machine might catch and ruin the hat, and then they couldn't replace it. They asked us what we wanted to do, and we decided to go for it. Thankfully, everything ran smoothly.

While the mouse ears were being completed, Luke, Makayla, and I played tag in the empty area between the Chapeau and Tony's. In all honesty, this may have been the highlight of Luke's day. The kid loves to run.

Once the mouse ears were complete, we went to the other side of the square and got our photo on the Roy Disney bench. We did this last year, and hope to make it a yearly tradition so we can see the kids grow.

Talking to Minnie

Now it was time to head towards our first fastpass, Peter Pan's flight. A quick photo on the way, looking directly into the sun.

We did Peter Pan, then did the standby line for Its a Small World. It was the first time for both Luke and Makaya on this ride.

Makayla was wearing her ears.

Everytime I go on this ride, I'm reminded of how uncomfortable the seats are. Both kids liked the ride, though it wasn't their favorite thing.

Following it's a small world, it was time for what would become Luke's favorite ride of our trip, 7 dwarves mine train. We once again did rider swap. Sara got to go first.

Meanwhile, since we had some free time, Makayla wanted to "horsey again."

For something different, I decided to try to take a video of her on the ride. Pretty Monotonous.



When we exited the ride, Luke and Sara were waiting for us. Luke was jumping up and down with excitement over 7DMT, and couldn't wait to go again. We quickly headed for the line. As we waited, Luke was telling me what to expect. I learned that the ride goes really fast and we get to see the dwarves and snow white. the fastpass line went really quick and soon it was our turn to ride.

I don't know why, but Luke always finds the camera to look at.

And while we were riding, Makayla got to "horsey again."

This time Luke and I met Sara and Makayla at the exit of the carousel, and Luke declared he wanted to ride. Since it was a short wait, we all got to "horsey again"

Sara then noticed no one was at the sword in the stone, so we took our turn trying to pull it out. I love how small Makayla looks in this photo.

and Makayla's turn

It was now time for us to head back for our nap. On the way out, more attempts at Castle shots while looking into the sun.

Since we had snack credits to use, Sara stopped at the food court of All Star Music and got a cupcake for Luke and Makayla, ice cream for me, and a mango smoothie for her. After we ate the snacks, it was time for bed...for everyone but me. Before I went to bed, I called to book our bounceback trip for next year. Since Makayla will be three, we will now have to pay for her . Little kids can be so expensive! After the next trip was booked, I joined the family for a nap before beginning our final evening.