Disney Surprise- Part 2

Animal Kingdom was the first stop on our Disney adventure.  Since it closes around 6 pm on Sundays, we decided to do it first.  We figured it would give us time to come back and unpack at the resort, go to the pool, and do some exploring!  If you've never been to the Animal Kingdom, think of it as zoo meets Disney. We took the safari rides, looked at the animals, visited the dinosaur land, and ate stir fry in the Asia section of the park.  We even went into the Finding Nemo show.  The boys hated it!  I thought it was okay.  It had music, dance, and puppets.  Apparently, everyone else felt it was twenty minutes of their life wasted! Honestly, they have no appreciation for the arts!

Around 4, we headed to the resort to unpack the car and get settled in.  We stayed at Port Orleans- Riverside.  The rooms were roomy and well laid out.  My favorite part was the curtain separating the sink area from the rest of the room.  As the only girl in a family of boys, this came in handy getting ready in the mornings!  The boys insisted on going to the pool when we were unpacked.  We did need a few things from the store for Tyler, so he and Aaron took off to go find the nearest Publix.  I took the others to the giant pool with a water slide.

We had Magic Kingdom on the agenda for Sunday.  There are very few moments I feel bittersweet about not having a girl.  Visiting the magic Kingdom is one of those times.  No matter how many times you beg, Little boys do not want to see the princess shows or visit the Bippity Boppity Boutique.  Oh well!  We did not get to about half the attractions because we had plans to meet our niece and her boyfriend for dinner.  We drove to Smokey Bones where our neighbor's son works and had a great time visiting with everyone!  No matter where we go, we can't get away from those Miller's!  Our plan was to go back to the Park for the fireworks.  However, we were all pretty tired after dinner so we decided to call it a day.  

Do you remember the Campagnone's plan their vacations around food?  Yep,  Our Monday at Epcot was planned entirely around dinner.  Aaron found this German Buffet inside Epcot when he was planning our trip.  He talked almost nonstop about it in the weeks leading up to it, made reservations way in advance, and planned our Monday around it.  So while Epcot is easily one of our most favorite parks, the decision to do Epcot on Monday was based ENTIRELY on Dinner!  

We entered the park and headed straight to our favorite attraction.  We love Souring!  It is a great ride that makes you feel like you are hang gliding.  I think it is easily Tyler's favorite ride out of all the parks!  Joey's favorite ride at Epcot was Mission Space.  He has talked about it at least once a day since we got back!  Logan loved the Phinneas and Ferb Secret Agent mission.  You pick up Cell phones as you enter the World Section of the park.  Then as you walk around the different countries, you get calls that lead you on a secret mission.  It is a big scavenger hunt and Logan had so much fun.  He even let Joey help!  All in all, it was a great day at Epcot.  And dinner?  It was pretty tasty.

On Tuesday, we went to Hollywood Studios.  We usually do not do this park because it doesn't have a lot for small children.  However, as I am CONSTANTLY reminded, my children are not so small anymore.  There are no more toddlers in our house and we entered the strange world of teenagers this past year.  Additionally, Hollywood Studios boast one other key attraction- Star Wars!  Our boys, especially Joey, are totally in for all things Star wars right now.  They thought the Star Wars ride was amazing.  Afterward, Logan and Joey built their own custom light sabers in the star wars shop.  Tyler chose not buy one of those.  Later, he did find an R2D2 that lights up and makes ALOT of noise he had to have!  Even I have to admit, getting a custom built light saber is pretty cool.  They also register them so if a part breaks, you can call up Disney and they will look it up and send you a replacement.  Yeah, like that will ever happen at our house.  :)

Since there are four parks and we had passes for five days, we decided to let the boys decide on the park for the fifth day.  Surprisingly, everyone wanted to go back to the kingdom.

All in all, it was a great trip.  We LOVE Disney. (Yep, we drank the kool-aid!)   The employees honestly try to make the experience as wonderful as possible.  No matter how many times you visit, there is always new secrets to discover.  They also give us a handicap pass for Tyler so we skip the lines!  It wasn't super hot when we went which was a bonus and the crowds weren't too bad.  Is it too early to start planning the next trip?