Day 4 - 2 in a day

Friday we started out at Animal Kingdom. 

This isn't one of our favorite parks - we only go for a few things - Lion King show, ride Mt Everest and the playarea in DinoLand.  We started our visit at the Lion King show, which is one of the best things to see.  Jason actually got called to go up and represent our section as the elephants.  We were really hoping Brody would be our representative, but it was pretty funny that they chose Jason.  He gave a really great elephant call in the microphone - we were quite impressed and so was the guy (he wasn't so impressed with his first try which thankfully wasn't for everyone to hear).

We tried to visit the characters after the show, but the lines were very long so we headed to the safari.  The last time we rode it, we didn't see too many animals, but this time it was much better and the boys loved it. 

AK has a petting zoo area which you have to take Rafiki's train too.  We had never done this before so we thought we would give it a try.  The train was nice but the petting zoo was pretty sad - only a few pigs and lots of goats.  Inside the "Discovery building", were all kinds of bones, small creatures (always my favorite lol), touch animals and even picture opportunities.  I think my mom enjoyed this area the most being that she was a science teacher for a LONG time. 

Trevor's favorite animal - Rhino

 With Rafiki

With Jiminy Cricket

Some strange animal that I can't remember the name of

We really wanted to ride Mt. Everest and thought we could get Brody on it but he wasn't feeling too excited to ride it so we didn't push it.  Off we went to the Dino area for the one ride that they can ride and mostly for them to play in the play area.  They absolutely love this area.  Trevor was not a bit timid, he ran around everywhere and it took all we had to keep up with him.  Thankfully all 3 of us were in there. 

Before we left, one last stop to see a few friends.

We headed out to Epcot around 4:00.  I'm amazed at how long we stayed at AK seeing that we didn't do that much.  Well, on our way to Epcot, the boys took a little nap and thankfully they continued to sleep through the transport to the strollers.  Boy am I thankful that they can sleep anywhere.

We immediately went to grab fast passes to Soarin' but we just missed it so if we wanted to ride we would have to wait almost an hour - needless to say we never rode it.  However, we were able to grab the fast pass for Test Track which up to 6 people get in a convertible type car and it takes you through different conditions like bumpy roads, hairpin turns, breaks and then out in the open air to drive 60 mph around a track - what a rush!!  Brody loves it.

We got a little crazy while shopping.

Checked out Turtle Talk with Crush and a little play time with a shark.

Of course no visit to Disney is complete without a meeting with the fabulous 5.  Trevor was not scared AT ALL to go up and see the characters.  He was so excited and loved it.

Back in our hotel room and here's how housekeeping left Mickey.

Brody loves to ride the big golf ball, which I think is a little boring so I did a little shopping while they all rode it.  We were finally saying goodbye to the parks at around 9:15 that night.  Whew, what a day/week.  The boys were exhausted and definitely ready for bed and ready for the big surprise on Saturday morning.

Day 3 - Magic Kingdom

Since we had gone to the Christmas party Tuesday night our 2nd time at Magic kingdom was a bonus. The boys were still pretty excited. We made our way through the whole park and rode just about everything we could minus Splash Mtn & thunder Mtn - the lines were just too long & Thunder Mtn even closed at one time.

Of course we spent a lot of time in FantasyLand. Trevor's favorite was the merry go round. I got sad when Brody didn't really want to ride it because it told me he was getting big. Sad day.

However as Brody gets bigger he gets to ride different things like Space Mountain which is one of my favorite rides. We really weren't sure if he would since he has to sit by himself but he seemed pretty pumped about it so off we went. Brody loved it and actually rode it 3 times. Thankfully there were really no lines to ride. What a great day when the only wait is the time it takes you to walk to the ride.

Oh yeah, I let Trevor drive the car - with me holding the wheel.

Riding one of our favorite rides - Buzz Lightyear - and Trevor wearing the glasses his way.

Like I've said before, Brody can sleep anywhere.  What was funny is that we were sitting about 20 feet away and so it looked like no one was around him to watch him.  Someone actually tried to find a cast member to let them know that it looked like someone had left him alone.  Well, he got over an hour nap in this spot.

When we arrived to the park I noticed the electrical parade was going on that night do I was pretty excited. I haven't seen this parade in about 25 years. Wow that makes me sound old. The one thing about parades is that you have to get a spot so early which is not fun when you have kids. We didn't get a spot so the boys couldn't see that well which meant we were off to ride. I was quite disappointed but realized the trip was for them. We quickly learned that Trevor loves the people mover and could have ridden it all day.

A day at Magic Kingdom isn't complete without a fireworks show. However I think my boys could do without it.  A few pictures that don't even come close to showing how wonderful the fireworks are at Disney.

Day 2 - Hollywood Studios

Day 2 of our trip started off way EARLY because we were headed to Hollywood Studios and had 1 thing on our mind - Jedi Training Academy.  Hollywood Studios has a show every hour where there are 15 kids ages 4-12 who go learn how to be a Jedi and eventually fight Darth Vadar.  Brody didn't really know what we were doing but we were hoping he would like it.  Boy does it fill up fast because he was able to sign up for the 5:30 show and we were only there about 30 minutes after the park opened.

After that we were off to the new Star Wars ride and Brody was so excited.  This was one of the few rides he asked to ride again.  Our favorite ride is of course Toy Story where you shoot stuff like pie plates, balloons and it's all in 3D and you try to get the highest score.  I always beat mom but couldn't quite get as high as Jason.

One of the favorite spots for the boys is the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area.  Of course they wanted to stay a LONG time but it was pretty crowded in there, so off we went. 

sWe watched the Pixar Parade which is always pretty good since it has all of the Pixar characters.  As we waited for the parade to start they had a street dance going on so Jason and Brody joined in on the fun - once again what we do for our kids.

We saw a few shows - Playhouse Disney, Beauty and the Beast and the Stunt show (which we left 15 min into it because it was a little boring for the boys - too much talking and not enough action).  Thankfully the boys are able to take a nap in strollers because they really needed one about this time - Brody took his during the Beauty and the Beast show.  Once he woke up we were off to learn how to be a Jedi.

The only issue was that Brody woke up a little sluggish so we were feeding him sugar to get him excited about what was coming up - yeah I know crazy but I had waited a long time in line that morning so I wanted him to enjoy it.  Well, he wasn't too crazy about the whole idea because he didn't know anyone and he just wasn't so sure - as you can see in the pictures.

Once he got out there he did fine (still doesn't look too excited though).  All 15 kids were on stage and were taught how to use their light saber to fight off the dark side.  Then a visitor showed up "Darth Vadar".  Let me just say that he was pretty realistic.  Each child came up and used their learned skills to fight Darth Vadar.  Brody did really well with it and I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it even though he doesn't look too happy in the pictures.

It was then time for the Osborne Christmas Lights to come on - LOTS of lights fill the Streets of America and they move to music - a beautiful sight to see. 

We then stood in line for 40 minutes to ride Toy Story one more time - this was quite interesting with a tired 5 and 2 year old.  Thank goodness for a bag of snacks.

 We said our goodbyes and headed to Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney to grab a sandwhich to take back to the room.  Nothing like eating dinner at 9:00 at night.  We had to get our rest for a big day at Magic Kingdom on Thursday.