Epcot Day 4

On Thursday we went to Epcot.  I know a lot of people skip this with small children, but I was excited to experience the World Showcase. 

The first thing we did was Soarin' which was really cool.  Then we did Turtle Talk with Crush which was cute, and the Finding Nemo ride which was fun for Caroline.  

We walked our way around the World Showcase. After going into Mexico, we decided it wasn't worth lugging the kids in and out of the stroller.  So we decided to just stroll through.  I got a margarita in Mexico and Dianna got a tea in China.  We stopped for a picture in Germany.  The girls drank slushies and enjoyed the ride.  Dianna and I were talking about how much fun it would be to come back when we could really spend some time in each country when the girls were older.  That's when Belle (in her village dress) appeared out of France.  Then we saw Mary Poppins!  What a special treat.  This was the only time we saw characters randomly and stopped to talk with them.

Elizabeth instantly showed Belle that she was wearing her on her shirt.

The night before I changed our dinner reservation in Mexico for a late princess lunch at Akhersus in Norway.  So glad we did because the greeting princess is Belle, Elizabeth's favorite.  Elizabeth is very skeptical about what is "real" so she asked me a lot of questions on this trip.  When she saw Belle in her gown, she was amazed that she had changed out of her village dress in the last 20 minutes.  It was a magical moment to me that my analytical smarty pants was amazed by the magic of Disney!

Once again, Caroline was the first one to jump out of her seat to greet each princess.

After lunch we rode Maelstrom because I knew they were closing it soon to build the new Frozen ride.  Caroline loved the boat ride.  And I was glad that we did find some things for the girls to do to make Epcot more about them.

The best bus ride all week!  We had it all to ourselves.  If there were more rides like this, I might not have post traumatic stress riding the bus!  Ha!

After Epcot, we rested back at our resort and freshened up (it was a hot day).  We decided to go to Downtown Disney for dinner.  It was a beautiful evening!

Nanna and Elizabeth rode the tea cup on the carousel.

Caroline and Elizabeth rode the train by themselves.  They felt so independent (it just went around in circles).

Our favorites:

Elizabeth- Soarin'

Caroline- our princess lunch

Me- strolling the World Showcase (and slowing down for a margarita) 

Nanna- Soarin'

Animal Kingdom Day 3

On Tuesday night, Dianna wasn't feeling well and didn't get much sleep so she decided to rest on Wednesday and skip Animal Kingdom.  I hate that she missed it because this ended up being my 2nd favorite day of the trip.  It was really laid back and my girls love all things with animals so it was perfect!  In addition, the Mastins changed their fast passes so we were all together for most of the day.  The girls were on cloud 9 and so was I:)

Our wild animals were so excited about Kilimanjaro Safari.

After the safari, it was time for our lunch at the Tusker House.  It was a yummy open market style with an African flare.  The girls loved it too, and it was fun to see the characters again.  Elizabeth really thought it was neat that she was wearing safari clothes just like the characters:)

For some reason, Caroline was afraid of Daisy and Donald this time.  She said she didn't like their beaks.

After lunch we got on the train to head to Rafiki's Planet Watch.

There was a scavenger hunt for the kids to find certain animals.  Elizabeth was all over this!  She was determined to find every single one, and she did!

Caroline was content to just sit and doodle.  I was really loving this slow pace and watching them get so excited over the smallest details.  

They always love a petting zoo.

We left "Africa" and walked through "Asia" stopping for a picture at the tree of life.

We rode Triceratops which was similar to Dumbo.  

Caroline was not so happy about being on another ride:(

But she was super excited to see Finding Nemo the Musical!  We met back up with the Mastins for this, and the girls were bouncing off the walls.  They were fascinated with the musical and hung on every word.

Unfortunately, right after we left Nemo, Caroline started throwing up.  At first I thought it was something she ate, but later found out (when we all got sick) that it wasn't.  The good news is that the bug only lasted a few hours before she was back to herself again!  The best news is that the Mastins were there to help me which I never would've survived had they not been.  Elizabeth stayed with them and Riley while I took care of my sick baby.

She woke up in time to watch the Festival of the Lion King which was AMAZING!  Caroline and I sat on the end near the exit in case we had to escape, but Elizabeth got to watch with the Mastins!

C fell asleep on the ride home.

But by the time we got there and bathed her, she was back among the living and ready to play!  And so was Nanna!

After bath time, we all went straight to bed without any hesitation!  

Favorites from the day:

Elizabeth- Kilimanjaro Safari

Caroline- Finding Nemo the Musical

Me- Festival of the Lion King

Hollywood Studios Day 2

On Tuesday we went to Hollywood Studios.  We decided to push back our flash passes to sleep in a little and then stay until we were completely done instead of heading back for naps.  This ended up being the best way to do it for us.  We didn't feel rushed out in the morning, and the girls were rested enough to skip naps.  

Caroline tucked her head like she was tired in just about every group picture we took.  She wasn't tired, just  a cuddle bug.

Our first ride was Toy Story Mania.  Elizabeth absolutely loved it.  Caroline had a death grip on me the entire time, but loved shooting at stuff.

After Toy Story Mania, we watched Elsa and Anna's Royal Welcome.  This was serious business for the girls.

We had an early lunch scheduled at Hollywood Studios.  Early lunches also worked well for us because we just grabbed cereal bars and pop tarts for breakfast in the morning, then had a big (early) lunch.  Again, Caroline was the most excited to see the characters.  Elizabeth was really into analyzing their signatures.

My kids love Disney Junior so I knew they'd love meeting these characters.  Elizabeth was a little skeptical since they weren't "real" people.  She wasn't a huge fan of the plastic heads, but they did love the interactive dancing and sing alongs they did with them.
Sophia the First is Elizabeth's favorite Disney Junior character.

Caroline loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates, especially Izzy.

Handy Manny

Both girls love Doc McStuffins.

After lunch we went to the Muppet 3-D.  It was fun watching the girls jump out of their seats because they thought things were coming at them.  Afterwards, we let them play at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground.  They both had a ball with that.

We were excited to watch the Disney Junior Live Show.  The girls liked this, but I was a little disappointed.  I thought it would actually be LIVE, but it was puppets and we sat on the floor so my legs fell asleep after holding C in my lap for 30 minutes.    At this point, Elizabeth was begging for a ride. 

Surprisingly the girls never once asked me to buy them a souvenir.  What they did ask for over and over again was to have their faces painted.  Melissa gave them a Disney gift card so I let them use that to paint their faces.  They were thrilled!

Anytime C gets her face painted, she gets so relaxed she almost falls asleep.  It's like getting a facial or message for her.  Ha!

Happy girls!  Thank you Mel!

After face painting, we went to the Frozen sing along.  I was a bit disappointed in that show too, but Caroline loved it!  It was basically the sound track played in a huge auditorium and the kids sang along with it.  The hosts were pretty fun, but definitely adult humor not intended for kids to understand.  Elsa and Anna made brief appearances which made the girls happy!

Dianna and I took turns riding Rockin Rollercoaster.  We loved it!

Somehow I let me little thrill seeker talk me into letting her ride the Tower of Terror... MISTAKE.  She was truly terrified, but it didn't stop her from begging me to ride every other "real" rollercoaster she saw.

The girls waiting outside of Rockin Roller Coaster.

Tuesday night we had dinner by the pool, then watched a little bit of the poolside movie.  Tuesday was also Nanna's birthday so her sister and brother-in-law who live in Orlando surprised her at the resort.  It was a nice way to unwind for the evening.

Our favorites from Hollywood Studios:

Elizabeth- Toy Story Mania

Caroline- Frozen Sing Along

Me- Rockin Roller coaster

Nanna- Rockin Roller coaster