Magic Kingdom

We were up and ready to go bright and early once again....

....and played around in front of the entrance while we waited for the rope drop.

Once inside, we stopped for some family photos in front of the castle....

...and headed directly to Dumbo....

...and Ella's all time favorite - the carousel!

Sadly, It's a Small World was closed for renovation, but we did ride Peter Pan and Winnie the Poo - neither of which the kids enjoyed at all - the rides were both in complete darkness and scared the kids so much that Ella left in tears...bad parents!

We spent the rest of our time at Magic Kingdom exploring the park and searching out characters....

...and riding a few more rides, including a train!

And watching yet another parade! While Aidan was obsessed with the characters, Ella was obsessed with parades, carousels and the performances.

We even had fun with a few of the Disney photographers....

....at the end of the day, we left with a clear sign that the kiddos had a great time! 

Animal Kingdom

Although Ella and Aidan went to bed each night by 6:30 at the latest (they did not nap at all for the entire trip), they were early to rise each morning - which turned out to be a good thing. We made it to the parking lot of each park by 8:30 AM and parked in the front rows, thereby avoiding long walks to the park or "having" to ride the parking lot tram. I say "having" because in all honesty, this was sometimes Aidan's favorite part of the entire day!

So, this morning Ella and Aidan wore their special "safari" shirts....

...and off we went to Animal Kingdom!  After the ceremonial rope drop, we made our way directly to the Kilimanjaro Safari, hoping for a short line that would enable us to make it to our character breakfast at the Tusker House at 10:30 AM. We were in luck and got one on of the first few trucks that headed out onto the range.

We made a short trip through the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail where we hung out for a while with a family of these big guys....

....and came across the most amazing underwater viewing spot of a lagoon.  Can you spot what is floating in the water with all of the fish?

This big lady!

Then it was time to head to breakfast.  We ended up having a wait for our table, so I snapped few pics....

....and then it was off to the most amazing buffet I think we have ever had. At least, it was fun until Ella spotted the first character. As it turned out, she ate about two bites of a waffle and spent the rest of the time with her face buried on either myself or Mike's shoulder.

Aidan loved every second of meeting Daisy Duck (again), Goofy, and Mickey Mouse!

After lunch we made a brief stop in front of the Tree of Life for a family picture....

....then headed to check out the toddler-friendly rides down in the Dinoland section of the park which had an amazing playground in which the kids burned off a bit of energy playing.  This is also where Ella and Aidan rode their very first "roller coaster", which was really more like the Dumbo ride in Magic Kingdom. It was a flying Triceratops that they had a total blast making go up and down as we spun in circles.

Aidan spotted Goofy and Pluto off to the side and was immediately done with the ride and wanted to get their autographs, so off he and Mike went while I stayed and rode the ride with Ella over and over again.

We then made our way to what turned out to be the hit of the day for Ella - Finding Nemo, The Musical! On our way, we ran into Minnie Mouse.... 

....and then entered the theater to watch the show.

The kids were pretty hot and tired by this point, so we decided to call it a day. But not before we took the parking lot tram back to our car! 

PS - We also watched the show "A Bugs Life" - while Mike and I loved it and found it hilarious, I don't recommend it for the little ones - Ella and Aidan still talk about how they disliked that show - it was just a bit spooky for them.

Universal Studios

Like most of our days down at Disney, this one began bright and early. Mickey and Minnie made a special visit to our condo overnight and surprised the kids each with their own bucket full of goodies, ranging from a special shirt to wear each day to personalized autograph books!





Today's adventure was Universal Studios, so Aidan wore his special Buzz Lightyear shirt, while Ella wore her special princess shirt!

Upon arrival at the park, Mike took off to get fast passes for the Toy Story ride while I took Ella and Aidan to see their very first character - Donald and Daisy Duck. Aidan LOVED every second and was imediately hooked. From that moment on, his sole mission was to see any and every character and to get his/her autograph! Ella, on the other hand, was less than enchanted and literally cringed in fear at the mere sight of the characters from this point on.....needless to say, this made for a bit of a challenge wherever we went!







While we waited for our fastpass time, we went to see Playhouse Disney Live - which Ella absolutely adored and danced along with the entire show!

Then it was off to ride Toy Story Mania....

....funny thing - we had read that the ride tended to break every day at lunchtime....and sure enough, it was about 11:45 when we were in the middle of the ride, and it broke down. The good part is that we got passes to come back later that afternoon!

Any guess where we ended up for lunch? Is there really any doubt? Pizza Planet, of course! We sat outside in the plaza so that Buzz could watch over us as we enjoyed our pizza!






After a few more character greetings....

....we finally came across the highlight of Aidan's entire week - Buzz Lightyear and Woody!

This was as close as Ella would get to Buzz and Woody - doesn't Mike look thrilled to be stuck outside?

What could be better than meeting Buzz Light year and Woody in person....seeing them in a parade along with all of the other Toy Story characters! I had read that the Block Party Bash was one of the best parades in all of the parks - and the books were right - it was fantastic! Aidan loved every minute, and Ella enjoyed it as long as she was up high on Daddy's shoulders (keeping a safe distance from the characters!).

We wrapped up our day watching Voyage of the Little Mermaid on stage - and ignited a new passion for Ariel in Ella!

One final character autograph from Handy Manny and we headed home for the day with two very tired children who were sound asleep in their beds by 6:30 PM!