Disney Trip Day #5

Disney Day #5

Summary:

·         Animal Kingdom

·         Swimming pool

·         Magic Kingdom – Tony’s town square and Electrical Parade

Today was our last day of vacation.   We wanted to take it easy and go with the flow of things.  We headed to the Animal Kingdom.  We hoped to be there for about 2 hours, but it ended up being a very good morning and the boys were really enjoying the park.   We did the Kilimanjaro Safari first thing, as always a big hit for the kids.   After that, we did the Kali River Rapidsand Sam loved it!  We were soaked.  I did first with my mom, and than again with Aaron and Sam.  We walked to the new area- Dinoland and Aaron and  I Rode the triceratops Spin.   Then, we headed to lunch at the Rain Forest Café, which the kids loved it and ended up being a very nice lunch.

In the afternoon, we just went to the pool for a little bit and got ready for the night.   The time flew today.  We had 6 PM dinner reservations at Tony’s Town Square at the Magic Kingdom and wanted to stay for the parade and fireworks.   The kids were tired, so we rush through dinner and  did a little bit of shopping/walking.   Sam and Aaron decided to head back early to the hotel and my mom, Noah and I stay for the electrical parade which was very cool.  Noah loved it.   It was too late to stay for the fireworks, maybe next time.  What a fun week!

The next morning, we got up early and did our check in right at the hotel and headed to the airport, bye bye Orlando.

Disney Trip Day #4

Disney Day #4

Summary:

·         Magic Kingdom

·         Swimming pool

·         Epcot Center – Les Chefe de France

Today Magic Kingdom had their extra magic hours for the resort residents, which means that you can get to the park one hour before it regularly opens and stay 2 hours after it closes.  So we wanted to arrive early to finish some of the rides we wanted to do.  Our resort breakfast was packed so I think everyone had the same idea. I think we were able to get there by 8:30 AM, which still pretty good.   We did the Peter Pan ride, the jungle cruise (Noah loved it), pirates of the Caribbean and the Aladdin ride. Again, the lines were pretty quick and we even had more time to take pictures and everyone was collaborating. 

We also did the Toy Story ride at the Tomorrowland and Sam got to meet Buzz Lightyear, such a sweet moment.   We had a good lunch at Cosmic Rays Starlight Café in Tommorrowland with an alien DJ, the kids loved it.  Aaron and I took the advantage again of the kids being tired and rode the Space Mountain Roller coast.

We went back to the resort and hit the pool again, we wanted to tire out the kids since my mom would be babysitting tonight. The kids and my mom had dinner at the resort and Aaron and I headed to Epcot Center for a date night.

It was such a pleasant evening to walk around and take pictures. We had dinner at the French place called “Les Chefs de France”.  It was nice to have a date night with Aaron after all the craziness.  Our waiter Gael was French and we just felt we were in France too. The food was very good, we had wine and steak and we got to see the fireworks from our restaurant and it was so cool and so romantic.

Disney Trip Day #3

Disney Day #3

Summary:

·         Chef Mickey’s

·         Magic Kingdom

·         Swimming pool

·         Downtown Disney

Today was a very special day, it was Sam’s 4^th birthday.    We got up early and got a cab to Chef Mickey’s which is located at the Disney Contemporary Resort for our 7:30 breakfast appointment.   So, you think maybe that early wouldn’t be that much people, but the place was packed.  The resort was the luxury one and it was beautiful with awesome views. The Disney monorail train when right through the restaurant high above our heads.   The breakfast buffet was very good, with so many choices (Aaron loaded up on the smoked salmon, he always says to go for the high-value items on a buffet :) ).  The birthday boy had a yellow napkin and the rest of us had a blue napkin. When the characters would come in, we would all wave at our napkins, so cool.     Sam had a special cupcake for him and got extra attention.   All the characters (Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Pluto…) took their time and went in every table for pictures and hugs.  Sam was in heaven.  The boys were so excited.   We almost didn’t eat because that was so much excitement around us.

Chef Mickey's to celebrate Sam's birthday

Sam loved seing all the characters, especially Mickey

Hello

Noah loved the Mickey Mouse wafles

Special cupacake for the special boy

Sam blowing his candle

Noah wasn't totally sure about the characters

Papai and Sam

The family enjoying this special day

After breakfast we took the train to the Magic Kingdom.   Once again we used the book’s touring plans and we headed straight to the new Fantasyland and rode the Dumbo twice, Winnie the Pooh, Little Mermaid and It’s a small world.  We took a pit stop for some fruit eating at the shade, which felt very good. Disney does a very good job of having tons of healthy snack options all over the parks.   Then we rode the Riverboat around Tom Sawyer Island and boys fell asleep at this point, so Aaron and I got in line to the Splash Mountain, and it felt awesome.  Sam got to pick out a toy and he picked out Duffy the bear.  Every night at the hotel they had a show with Duffy the bear telling good night stories and the boys were really into it. We had lunch and went back to the hotel.    Sam really wanted to go to the pool, so since it was his birthday we headed to the pool!   The pool was very nice, so relaxing.

Sam doing number 4 with his fingers

Dumbo ride

Little mermaid ride



They had 4 shows during the day, it was very cool.



what a special day!

After the pool, Aaron volunteered to watch the boys while my mom and I headed to Downtown Disney for some shopping and dinner.  We ate dinner at the Wolfgang Puck express.  We were all in bed by 9 PM.

Disney Trip Day #2

Disney Day #2

Summary:

·         Hollywood Studios

·         Epcot

We woke up early and had breakfast at the hotel, after breakfast we took the bus to Hollywood Studios that opened at 9 AM.    We went straight to the very popular ride “Toy Story Mania”.    We read the book “The unofficial guide to WDW” and we followed all their recommended tips, like which rides to do first thing in the morning, so it was nice having a plan and everything just worked out.  We almost never had to wait in line.  The boys had a lot of fun on the Toy Story ride.   After the ride we went to see Disney Junior Live on stage, which was probably one of the favorites of the whole trip.    Sam and Noah were so excited to see their favorite TV characters right there.    We explored a little bit of the Honey I shrunk the Kids playground, had lunch and headed to the hotel for some rest.

Toy Story Mania ride

Noah and vovo with 3D glasses

Papai, Noah and Sam watching Disney Junior Live!

Holllywood Studios

Noah and Jake!

Later afternoon we headed to Epcot, we had dinner reservations at the Biergarten at the Germany pavilion.    We did the Nemo and Friends ride, which the kids loved it and we also did the Tres Caballeros boat ride at the Mexico pavilion.  We walked around the park, we had such a good time of the year with the mild weather and the parks not being very crowded.  We were able to notice more details and just hang out more.    The Biergarten was very nice, probably one of Aaron’s  favorites. It was desined to look like a German village platz.  They had live music, good food, and good beer but…the kids were overtired at this point and literally screaming the entire dinner.   We had to basically eat pretty quickly and get out of there as soon as possible.  At least Aaron and I will be planning a come back to Epcot for our date night on Thursday.

Jose Carioca boat ride at the Mexico Pavillion

The boys enjoyed the ride

Biergarten

Duffy the Bear

Disney Trip Day #1

Disney Day #1

Summary:

·         Check into the Resort

·         Magic Kingdom

·         Downtown Disney –T- Rex restaurant

Our Disney Trip was finally here after months of anticipation. This trip was a surprise for the boys and we were planning to celebrate Sam’s 4^th birthday there. After months of planning, researching, speaking code words (Disco was for Disney), it was here.  Our flight was very early in the morning (6 AM) direct to Orlando.    We woke up the boys and headed to the airport.  We just planned to tell them whenever a good opportunity arose.   After getting in line and waiting for Southwest to open, Sam finally asked: “Where are we going?”  Aaron grabbed the IPAD and we did a little video moment telling them that we were going to Disneyworld to see the castle and Mickey’s house.  It was such a sweet moment, they were very excited.  The flight went smooth (only about 2:15 minutes to Orlando from STL).  Our bags went straight to our room which was very nice using Mickey’s Magical Express.  

Just arrived at the Orlando airport

We did our check in to the resort., Port New Orleans Resort- Riverside,  Which was beautiful.  The grounds were very nicely landscaped to look like a southern bayou with palm trees, azaleas and flowers.  Our building was right across from a pool.   We had lunch at the resort main building (designed to look like an old port and water mill) and headed to Magic Kingdom on the shuttle service for a little bit since we had some time before our dinner reservations.

Sam's bed

Our hotel room

Port New Orleans Riverside

The boat that goes to Downtown Disney

It was a little bit hot for us (it was the hottest time  of the day) and I think we were all tired from traveling, so we just walked around a little bit, did the haunted mansion (the boys loved it), and took some pictures of the castle.   Sam was amazed and then we headed back to freshen up.

The boys are ready to party

We took the boat to Downtown Disney which was a very pleasant boat ride down the river.   We had a 6 PM dinner reservations at the T-Rex restaurant.   It is just so nice to have the Disney meal plan.  We just pay for tips.  All the restaurants at Disney were included in the plan.  It is better to have reservation ahead of time because the waiting could be 2 hours if you don’t have any.    We walked right into the restaurant and sat at the “Ice Age room”.   Noah was astonished with everything; he is a BIG dino fan. 

T-Rex restaurant at downtown Disney

Chocolate Extinction for desert

Aaron at the ice age room

 Sam slept halfway thru the restaurant but woke up just in time for desert.    The food was good and the Dino show was very good, the kids loved it.   We had the big desert “chocolate extinction” with smoke going all over, it was very good.   They had a Build a Dinosaur Workshop store and Noah got to pick out a dinosaur.   After dinner, we headed to the Lego store and Sam got to pick out a toy there.    It was fun; we walked around a little bit more and headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest.   This was just the first day!

Lego Store

Buzz and Woody made of Lego



Walking thru downtown Disney



Easter 2013

We started our Easter Sunday going to mass early in the morning.  The boys were good (or good enough!).  Sam yelled in the middle of the service "Jesus died???".  He goes to Sunday school and he really pays attention in everything they say.  After mass, we headed to Columbia to spend easter with the rest of the family. 

The boys did some egg hunting outside, the weather was beautiful.  They had a blast.  Dinner was very good and we also got to celebrate my birthday with cake made by aunt Meghan (my sister in law), the cake was delicious.  It was fun full day.

Sam and Noah with their baskets



Noah



Sam



Sam and Noah with their grandparents



Easter table



Noah, my mom and I enjoying dinner



The boys desert table setting

Happy Birthday to me!

Easter cookies made by aunt Meghan

Birthday cake made by Aunt Meghan



Family picture- Easter 2013