Animal Kingdom Part 2,,,,,The African Safari

One of the neatest things at Animal Kingdom is the African Safari. You get into this jeep and ride through the "African Plains." There are no fences...the animals just roam around wild. It is so neat as some of the animals are really close while the more dangerous ones are not so close to the path the jeep takes. The kids really enjoyed seeing the animals in their natural habitat.

Rhinos


A hippo


A bunch of alligators


I don't remember what these are called but look at those horns!


A beautiful giraffe


Elephants


See the lioness on top of the rock


This ostrich was very close...watch your fingers!

Animal Kingdom Part 1

Animal Kingdom was on the agenda for day 2 at Disney! We were really excited about Animal Kingdom....the safari and Mount Everest were 2 things we really couldn't wait to experience. Mount Everest is a roller coaster that everyone said was a must. There was also a dinosaur area that Caleb was super excited about as well as the Kali River Rapids which is a raft ride. Madison wasn't tall enough for Kali River Rapids so Nana and Peepaw sat out this ride. We talked my dad and Matt's mom into riding though and they got soaked! Had there been a wet shirt/pants contest they would have tied for 1st place! They had water dripping off them. The funny thing was we saw all these people getting off in ponchos and we kept saying "you can't get that wet", boy were we wrong! NaNa and Pops were such good sports!

We also knew that Animal Kingdom was a great place to see lots of characters and since it isn't as big of a park we were told the lines wouldn't be as bad...people were right, the lines for characters was super short. I think the longest we waited was maybe 10 minutes max!

Winnie the Pooh


Eyeore


Tigger


This huge tree called "The Tree of Life"...is has all these neat carvings in it!


Chip and Dale


Donald Duck


Minnie Mouse


Mickey Mouse


Mount Everest...very cool roller coaster!


The kids got their faces painted!

Taylor chose Tinkerbell


Madison wanted Tinkerbell too!


Caleb wanted a dinosaur :)


My sweet girls!

Magic Kingdom Day 1

Our first full day in Orlando we chose to head to the Magic Kingdom. We knew there was so much to do and we couldn't wait for the Caleb and Madison to get their first view of the place. We weren't disappointed in their reactions. Even Taylor who has been there before was in awe. There is something so magical about the place every time you go! We kinda had a plan.....do some rides, see some characters, repeat.

The girls at the entrance!


We started our adventure on Main Street,USA. Right after entering the park a employee approached us and offered to take a picture of the whole family.


We immediately spotted our first character...Pinoccohio. The line wasn't too long so we hopped into it and waited less than 5 minutes to get his signature/picture.

Caleb getting Pinoccohio's signature.


The girls getting a picture with Pinoccohio!


The girls on Main Street USA in front of Cinderella's castle.


Me and the kids after riding Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin :)


Exploring the Swiss Family Robinson's Treehouse...this was so neat!


One of our favorite rides (it will get a post all to it's self)


Our "guide" on the Jungle Book Cruise....this was another of everyone's favorite!


Everyone loved "It's a Small World" so we rode it a couple of times.




The girls and "The Sword and the Stone"


Madison and I riding Dumbo The Flying Elephant...I look a little rough after being rained on and I didn't realize Matt was taking a picture so I wasn't smiling.


Cinderella's castle at dusk...so magical!


Next stop.....Animal Kingdom!

Trunk or Treating

We interrupt the Disney posts for a short post about Trunk or Treating this year at Laurel. The kids were so excited to get dressed up this year as we were able to get exactly what they wanted to wear (well Madison's was her 2nd choice since we couldn't find her 1st choice in her size). Caleb has become obsessed with Pirates of the Carribean. He loved the ride at Disney and had been saying he wanted to be Jack Sparrow for months before Halloween. Taylor came up with Cleopatra from I don't know were. Madison wanted to be Ariel with the fish tail costume. We looked everywhere for that costume in her size but only could find a 4-6x which was way to big. She settled for another princess....Sleeping Beauty.

Jack Sparrow


Sleeping Beauty


Cleopatra Queen of the Nile


Me and sweet Clara who was dressed up as Darby


Madison and Melanie


Caleb, Will and Sam Taylor


Sweet little Piglet enjoying a sucker :)


Jake Russell and Caleb matched down to their make-up :)


The next few pictures are rare as I am not real happy with the way I look right now so I choose to be in pictures much right now but I would like to have some pictures of me with the kids to put in their scrapbook.

Me and Jack Sparrow


Me and Sleeping Beauty


Me and Cleopatra

Bonnet Creek

We are so lucky that Matt's parents have a wonderful timeshare that they love sharing with their kids and grandkids. Wyndham has the only non-Disney owned resort that is on Disney's property. Matt's parents booked a 3 bedroom unit for our stay at Disney and it was so nice. His mom requested a unit that was high up and that looked over the lake so we could see the fireworks that were done every night at Epcot. It was great to see the firework show but not have to be down in the crowd :) We had numerous pools to choose from and each one had a lazy river around it which was great. My parents had a blast floating around the lazy river! One pool had a sprinkler park attached to it while another one had a bigger water park attached to it with slides and all! There was a mini golf course, arcade room and craft room that had stuff going on every day. They even had an ice cream social one afternoon! We had a beautiful view of the whole resort from our 7th floor unit. The people there are so friendly...we never wanted for anything while there. I can't wait to go back and am already planning our next trip :)

This was the view from our balcony...it is one of the other complex's.


The view to the left...there was a playground under these awnings!


The view to the right....this resort is huge!


Night time view (the stuff above the buildings is the nightly fireworks)


The beautiful golf course at the front of our unit.