I thought I better get this written before I forget what happened! We had an absolutely wonderful vacation. All of us wish we were still there. Tayler actually cried when it was about time to leave, begging to stay just one more day. It was such a great time together as a family, definitely money well spent, or I guess it will be well spent once we have it paid for.:) Both the girls were absolutely fearless with all the rides. They both rode everything they were allowed to. For Tayler that was everything, including roller coasters that went backwards, upside down, 65 miles per hour, in the dark, etc. Aubree would have loved to ride all of them, unfortunately her size wouldn’t allow it. Aubree is 39”with her tennis shoes on, and most the decent rides require a 40” requirement. You’ll notice the pony tail on top of her head for most the pictures. This gave her a little boost. I also carried some platform sandals in the backpack. When we approached the 40” rides we would take the tennis shoes off and put the platforms on. It got her on all the 40” rides, but she could barely walk in them. Dave would usually have to carry her to the front of the line.
OK. On with the rest of the trip…
Aubree woke up Friday with no fever. Davey, however, was another story. He was chilled through the night and woke with a fever Friday morning. Just like Aubree, he was a trooper. Thank God for motrin. We spent the day at Hollywood Studios, which was our least favorite of all the parks. The whole day is show after show with hardly any rides. Some families probably really enjoy this, but we were "showed" out. This was also the largest crowds we had to face. It was ESPN weekend and they were broadcasting live with professional athletes on hand. This must have brought out the massive crowd. Although Aubree wasn't tall enough to ride anything here, Tayler rode the Rock'N Roller Coaster. It was her first upside down coaster and she loved it. Aubree's highlight of the day was the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground set. We had just rented the movie before we came. I did enjoy Indiana Jones and Fantasmic, which is quite the spectacular that closes the evening.
Picture with Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable- A Favorite for Tay
Photos from Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. Look at the size of that ant! The slide is a blade of grass.
On Saturday everyone was healthy and we had a wonderful day at Animal Kingdom. Expedition Everest was a huge hit with Dave and Tayler. It is a roller coaster staged to be on Mount Everest. Dave claims it is the best ride in all the Disney parks. My favorite was the Kilaminjaro Safari. It was unbelievable driving past all these wild animals in a natural habitat. We could practically reach out and touch elephants, cheetahs, alligators, etc. The park is absolutely beautiful. The tree of life in the middle is home to Its Tough to be a Bug 3D show- another huge hit with our family. We left the park early to go swimming back at the resort. Before we left we had to ride Dinosaur. It is an extremely scary ride in which life-size very real looking dinosaurs are after you. When we got off, Dave said he was surprised the girls weren't balling. A gentleman told me he couldn't believe my little girls rode that. He said he came out white as a ghost and would never ride it again. I came out scared for a different reason. The ride threw me all over the place. I was so scared hurt the baby. Definitely not a ride pregnant women should go on. Thank the Lord everything is fine. I didn’t ride one more ride with health warnings the rest of the trip after that episode.
When we got back from Animal Kingdom, we went swimming for a little while, but it was pretty cool. I wanted to check out Downtown Disney although we were pretty tired. Dave stayed back at the room to sleep while the girls and I headed to Downtown Disney for a little shopping. Our resort has a ferry that transports there, pretty exciting. It was so crowded when we got there, so we didn’t stay very long. It was very beautiful and the girls of course made some purchases. Aubree fell asleep on the twenty minute fairy ride back to the resort. We were all exhausted! It was quite the haul from the ferry drop off back to the room. Some how my pregnant body managed to carry Aubree all the way back. We all slept great that night.
Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day. Everyone was healthy and it was suppose to reach 80 degrees. The plan was Epcot, but Tayler desperately wanted to get back early to swim. Luckily, the crowds were small, so we rode everything we wanted with very little wait. Test Track is a roller coaster that goes from 0-65 in 2 seconds. Since there was only a 40” requirement, we let Aubree ride. This was her favorite ride in all the parks. Tayler loved Spaceship Earth. The ride is in the Epcot ball and takes you through all the stages of history and advancement. My favorite was Soarin’. It is a simulation of hand gliding over the state of California. It actually feels like you are hand gliding. The wind even blows through your hair as you go over the ocean, mountains, forest, etc. Amazing!
We had a one o’clock princess character lunch in the World Showcase country of Norway. What a great way to meet all the princesses and enjoy a great meal. After lunch Dave and I would have loved to tour World Showcase, but the girls wanted to get to the resort pool. What a great afternoon for the pool. We all had a wonderful time! That evening we went back to Epcot to ride our favorites again and eat at the Coral Reef. We sat right next to the aquarium. This was truly entertaining. We had shark, exotic fish, and divers swimming past us. One of the divers blew Tayler and Aubree a kiss. Personally, I was surprised anyone would swim with a shark, but Davey said it was no big deal. To each his own.
Monday was our last full day at Disney. The plan of attack was Magic Kingdom in the morning and swimming at the resort all afternoon. I told the girls they could each pick their four favorite rides. Davey thought eight rides sounded like a full day at Magic Kingdom. We actually rode all eight by one o’clock and we didn’t arrive at the park until close to ten. The picks were Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, The Haunted Mansion, Snow White’s Scary Adventure, Mickey’s Philharmagic, and Space Mountain for Tayler and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin for Aubree. This ride is a shooting/points game that I have to brag I absolutely wasted my husband on my third time through!
It was so sad to leave Magic Kingdom, but what a great afternoon at the pool. The weather was perfect. We were forced to leave the main pool after an hour because someone had an “accident” in the pool. We did find a smaller side pool. The girls enjoyed swimming lessons from dad, while I enjoyed my book all afternoon. What a great way to end a vacation. There were plenty of tears when it was time to leave. There was also threats to tear up our plane tickets so we would have to stay.:) This is definitely a vacation we will be taking again, maybe when baby brother is 2 and a ½.
Port Orleans Riverside Resort
