Disney World - Part 4 - Update

I forgot to post these super cool pictures of us on the Buzz Lightyear ride at Magic Kingdom. It's a mix between a ride and an arcade game where you have to hit the targets with your "laser canon." Chris kicked our butts and got the highest score of course, but Jay and Lulu didn't have much of a chance since Sam was steering their car. You can see his hand on the red joystick which controlled the car in the picture below. You can also see from the looks on all of our faces how serious we all were about getting a high score!

Disney World - Part 4 - Magic Kingdom and Lulu's Birthday

The second day at Magic Kingdom was, without a doubt, the best day at Disney. It was Lulu's birthday so she got special FastPasses for our whole group. Normally you can only have one FastPass at a time, and it's usually issued for one or two hours later, though some rides like Peter Pan's Flight could be many hours later. With the special birthday FastPasses, you could have six FastPasses at one time and they were immediately available for use.



We got to the park right when it opened and hit the popular rides that didn't have FastPasses, like Pirates of the Caribbean. We got on the Jungle Cruise as soon as it opened with our FastPass.



Sam was having a blast and kept asking, "what's next?" Chris still wasn't feeling that great, so between that and moving from ride to ride without really waiting, we don't have many pictures from this day.



One ride that we did have to wait in line for was the Dumbo ride. There are no FastPasses available for this ride and the line is pretty much always about 45 minutes long unless you go straight there in the morning.



Sam didn't seem to mind waiting since everything else had moved so fast. He REALLY wanted to ride Dumbo.



Here's a picture of Sam playing with a robot in Tomorrowland.



This is the map of all of the rides that we did that day. I can't believe that we got to do so much in one day. We even finished early so we could go back to the room for naps and playing in the pool.



Later that night we went to the Moroccan restaurant in Epcot for Lulu's birthday.



Sam was very excited that Lulu had a birthday cake with candles.



A birthday kiss for Lulu.



Here's a video of us singing Happy Birthday to Lulu.



After dinner we got to watch the Illuminations fireworks and light show again.



Here is a picture of Sam on DeeDah's shoulders on the boardwalk walking home from Epcot that night. Sam even had his own ice cream cone and ate it all by himself.

Disney World - Part 3 - Animal Kingdom

We spent our third day at Disney World at Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom is like a zoo/safari with rides and shows. It also happens to be the hottest and most humid park at Disney. According to the people that work there, it's due to the rainforest effect with all of the plants. Poor Chris woke up sick that morning with what seemed like a cold at the time, but we now think it was probably the flu. He's just now starting to feel better.



We got a FastPass for the Kilimanjaro Safari, so we looked a the animals along the Oasis, Discovery Island, and Pangani Forest trails while we waited for our time slot.



This is what a fit at Disney World looks like. We're not quite sure what this one was about, but it had something to do with leaving the parrot exhibit.



Flamingo





Okapi



Hippo



Safari



Giraffe






Elephant







Lions (enlarge the picture and look in the top left for the male lion)



Gorilla






Baby ducks





After the Safari ride we headed over to the Festival of the Lion King show. Sam absolutely loved it. He made us all clap the whole time. We were in the Lion section and had to roar like a lion. Here are some pictures of the show ...










and a video



We were on our way to lunch when Sam saw Lilo and Stitch. He insisted that we wait in line to see them (again). Unfortunately, by the time it was our turn, Lilo was on a break. Sam turned super shy and ran away from Stitch. I'm not sure how I managed to grab him and actually get a picture. After the picture was taken Stitch started tickling Sam and playing with him and Sam loved that.



One of the street performers had all of the kids join in and follow along with the beat.



After lunch we went to the Finding Nemo musical. Sam really liked that too. Here are some pictures from that show ...







and a video.



After the Nemo show we were all pretty hot and ready to go back to our rooms. Chris really needed to get some rest. I figured that Sam and I could play in the pool again, but Sam fell asleep on the bus ride home and didn't wake up when we got to the room, so we all got a nice long nap that afternoon. We had dinner at Boma in the Animal Kingdom Lodge that night. It was a really good buffet with lots of different types of African food. The resort had huge walls of windows with great views of the storm that rolled in that night.



Here is a map of all of the rides/shows we did at Animal Kingdom. We could have done more trails and animal shows if it hadn't been so hot, but like Epcot, most of the rides have at least a 40 inch restriction.

Disney World - Part 2 - O'hana and Epcot

Sam coughed all night long and woke up the next morning with a fever, but he still wanted to go to the character breakfast at O'hana at the Polynesian resort. I think it was the one thing he was most looking forward to. He REALLY wanted to meet Lilo and Stitch. They are definitely his favorites. We gave him some ibuprofen for the fever, but we didn't have anything to give him for the cough.



Meeting Mickey and Pluto was an added bonus.



Stitch and all of the other characters lead all the kids on a parade around the restaurant. They played the theme song from the Lilo and Stitch movie and gave all of the kids maracas to play.



Sam was soooo excited to meet Lilo. When she finally got to our table he was really shy.



Lilo and Stitch came to our table at the same time.



He finally got to meet Stitch!



Sam had a sticker for him and everything. You can sorta see the stickers on the edge of the table and Sam is trying to pick which one he is going to give to Stitch. We had to go find Lilo again because he had forgotten to give her her sticker. We didn't take a picture of the food, but part of the breakfast was Mickey Mouse shaped waffles, which Sam loved!



One of the street performers at Epcot: The JAMMitors.



We met my Mom and Jay at Epcot after breakfast. They arrived the night before. Here we are looking at one of the aquariums in the Nemo and Friends pavilion.



Marlin and Nemo (orange clownfish)



Dory (Regal Blue Tang)



Aquariums



Epcot has Kidcot Fun Stops all over the park. They are basically little arts and crafts activities for younger kids.



Posing with Marlin



Playing in the Imagination pavilion. There were different squares with different musical instruments that would play when the squares were lit. Sam loved running and jumping everywhere.


Here is a map of all of the rides, shows, etc. that we saw at Epot that day. We got there late because of the character breakfast and didn't stay very long because we wanted Sam to get a nap. Honestly, other than the areas we visited, Epcot is not very appealing to a preschooler, especially when it's hot. Most of the really cool rides have at least a 40 inch height restriction and Sam is at 38 inches. Most of the country pavilions in the International Showcase are restaurants, stores, and shows targeted at adults.



We headed back to the room, took a nap, played in the pool, and then headed back to Epcot for dinner at the Mexico pavilion. The Mexico pavilion does have a little boat ride which features Donald Duck, so Sam liked that.



Before leaving Epcot that night we got to see Illuminations: Reflections of Earth which is their fireworks and light show. Here are a few shots of the fireworks ...





Sam was feeling a lot better by this point. He ran all the way back to the room that night.