Disney: Day 4 Animal Kingdom

We ventured to Animal Kingdom on Wednesday. I enjoyed Animal Kingdom. I think we put it at exactly the right point in the trip. Davis was pretty worn out by Wednesday and so having just a half day morning at Animal Kingdom worked out perfectly. 

We started this day off by riding Dinosaurs. What a cool ride! I thought it was so creative and different. We also rode the Safari. Davis was less than impressed. I think by this point in the trip he was worn out and he had trouble getting started in the mornings. 

We started Animal Kingdom with breakfast at the Tusker House for Donald Duck's Safari Breakfast. This was perfect for Davis because he loves Donald Duck as much as he loves Mickey Mouse. We met Mickey Mouse, Donald, Daisy and Goofy at this breakfast. 

 Even Carter enjoyed meeting Goofy!

 Donald loved it when Davis showed him his min Donald Duck stuffed animal!

 Papa K, Jason and I headed over to Everest which is the roller coaster at Animal Kingdom. It was AWESOME. Very unpredictable and the perfect amount of speed and turns. The first time we rode:

Bill observed a couple of guys jumping on the ride with us and they let him in on a secret. If you ride as a single you bump to the front of the line. We all wanted to ride it again-so we went back through the line as singles and were back on within five minutes!

 Father and son:

The highlight of this day was getting to see my friend Mitzi from law school. I miss Mitzi so much! She is one of the greatest people I know and it makes me sad that she lives so far away. 

We had planned for Davis to ride a few things with Mitzi's son, Case.  However, Davis was exhausted at this point. He was basically begging to go back to the hotel to take a nap. The grandparents took Davis back to the hotel and Jason, Carter and I enjoyed a little time with Mitzi and Case. 

We spent that afternoon resting and enjoying the pool:

We had dinner at the resort that night and then headed back to Magic Kingdom for dessert. Jason found the ultimate dessert--cookies and cream ice cream sandwiched between two huge chocolate chip cookies. At dinner that night we saw a family walk in holding a plush Olaf. Jason and I knew that we HAD to find Olaf! We learned that they had a few left at a store in the Magic Kingdom. Before Jason could get his ice cream dessert he and I sprinted to the back of Magic Kingdom and found Olaf! Davis was SO PUMPED! I will never forget the smile on his face when we pulled Olaf out of the bag for him. He was so excited and has literally slept with Olaf every night since!

Most of the crew fell asleep as soon as we returned to the hotel. But my parents, Bill and I, all stayed up to watch the fireworks from our hotel balconies. 

Another perfect day!

Disney: Day 3

On Tuesday we headed over to Disney Studios (formerly Hollywood Studios). We started off by riding TOWER OF TERROR! Grammy volunteered to stay with Carter while the rest of us rode the ride. Davis talked about Tower of Terror for weeks leading up to the trip. I was a little concerned that he would be too scared to ride it. However, the day before at Magic Kingdom he rode the Haunted Mansion with no issue-so I felt better about his fear threshold. 

He did great:

He was fine just riding it one time. His motto seemed to be "I came, I rode, I conquered, what's next?" We also took a tour of the backlot--he was not as interested in that (because it was not a roller coaster).

We ran into one of the soldiers from Toy Story. I wish we would have headed straight to this area. This area had all the characters that Davis is interested in but by the time we made it to the area it was very crowded. 

 We waited to meet Woody and Buzz! We had to--we have watched Toy Story in some version (including the Christmas special) a million times.

 No doubt our very favorite ride was the Toy Story ride. We rode it once with a fast pass and then waited for an hour to ride it again. This was the longest we waited for any ride. Jason challenged Papa K that he could beat his score. The first time Papa K rode it he had character in his lap and had to play one handed. Jason whipped out the baby bijorn which we all decided was cheating!

 How Davis spent a lot of the trip....on the "Papa Express"

We did nap time and then headed back to the park for dinner and the big light/fireworks show they do at night. Another great day at Disney!