Day 4 - Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios Friday the 13th Party - Family Vacation Disney Edition 2013

On Friday the 13th we headed for  Animal Kingdom first thing!  This isn't always my favorite park, but we always end up having a blast when we get there.

We stopped in for a quick breakfast at Pizzafari and it was pretty delicious and completely EMPTY. Great stop!  Then we headed straight for the safari.  We always pick this first as early in the day you will see the most animals.  The elephants and lions are always our favorite.  The boys were especially excited to see the lioness up and moving around.  They are almost ALWAYS asleep.

 

 The beginning of our safari!

Who doesn't love a good elephant?  It's so cool to see in real life :)

 After our safari, we headed to Rafikis planet watch.  It's a train ride out to the middle of nowhere, where you can explore different things.  Kailtin and Burke did a little scavenger hunt, we met Rafiki, saw surgery going on on a bird and learned about other things.  They also have a petting zoo with sheep, etc.  The boys elected to skip it to get to the Dinosaur Dig Playground faster!

 Kaitlin and Burke looking for all of their items in the scavenger hunt.

My silly boy!

The Dinosaur dig playground is the boys favorite thing at AK hands down.  I don't mind it, but it does stress me out a bit, because the boys are so young and I hate to take my eyes off of them.  It's a huge playground with tunnels everywhere.  I also don't love it when its so hot out! After too long at the playground, we stopped at Yak and Yeti for lunch.  I've never eaten at AK before (other than Tusker House) and I was very impressed. It was a great quick service and we will likely go back!

 After our AK adventure, we headed to our NEW hotel.  We switched over to the Art of Animation after 3 nights.  We couldn't get a suite for the whole trip so we split it.  It was by far the best decision ever!  We had an awesome suite and the boys LOVED it.

The Nemo pool is the largest pool on Disney Property and we really enjoyed it!

The Pool

The "road" through Radiator Springs was great.  Disney themes things so awesome.

 Sally and McQueen were right outside our room.

Our kitchen table that also turned into Burke's bed.  He LOVED that it was a table too :)

 Living room and Kitchen - there was a TV, etc also.

 Hallway bathroom/boys bathroom

 Master bedroom

 Master Bathroom

We stayed in the suite for 4 nights.  The ONLY downside was EVERY time we walked by the cars (and they have EVERY car from the movie) the boys had to stop for a picture.

 After a rest in our new suite, we headed to Hollywood Studios for the Friday the 13th party.  All I can say is, it was a MISTAKE.  I have been to Disney on 4th of July, Christmas, New Years, etc. and I have NEVER seen it that crowded.  I guess that's what you get when you do a free event with characters you can't normally see??  I am thankful that we had fast passes thanks to fast pass+ so we could do some things.  We also got word that some characters may just pop up, so we were waiting and very excited to meet Hook!!!

 We headed back to the room relatively early because it was just too crazy, but it was a great day!

Day 3 - Sea World Surprise!! Family Vacation Disney Edition

On our 3rd day at the Happiest Place on Earth, we headed to Sea World for a family first!! Each trip I try to find something new for us to do and with Burke loving the ocean I thought it would be perfect! I've never taken it on before because we don't rent a car and I don't want to deal with carseats, but with my sister living here, it was a no brainer!! We also found tickets for $50 (almost half off!) so I jumped at it. I actually bought brand new carseats from Walmart and has them shipped. Cost me $40 total, much cheaper than a rental car or taxi! 

Anyway, we headed out to be there at opening and boy were we excited!! 

Our first stop was to see the penguins! I'm glad we did, because when we exited it was already a 40 minute wait! It was a great first stop and the boys really liked it. 

We then made our way to the dolphin slow. Brian and I were very impressed! The boys really enjoyed it too, but not the wait.  They did a good job of mixing acrobats and a story with the dolphin jumping. 

We then stopped by to see the turtle show and manatee. The manatee were awesome but the turtle show scared the boys so we left a bit early. 

Campbell could have watched for hours.

We slowly made our way through the shark exhibit, which scared my kids to death. Not the actual sharks but the fake ones.  It was kinda funny and sad at the same time. Then we were off to see Shamu! A huge must do at Sea World. I loved it!! I was surprised they had so many whales. This was by far Burke's favorite!

By the end of Shamu, we were getting tired and hungry. We are NOT 12 hour park goers. Many people are, but we do mornings then rest then a few more hours. We can not handle all day! we decided we definitely wanted to see the polar bears and stingray before we left. 

We went to the kids play area to ride the train and playground. After a while we headed towards the polar bears. I'm sad to say we were there the last day he was alive :( we found out Friday morning the Bear died in his sleep. I'm glad the boys got to see one though! 

After the polar bears, we stopped by the sting rays. Burke was pretty scared to touch them!!

We had to have a picture with the shark teeth ;)

We absolutely loved Sea World! Burke asks to go back everyday. I hope we can take them again next time! 

After Sea World, we stopped by the outlets for lunch and a lil shopping. We actually bought NOTHING. We met up with Kaitlin and Reid after and she took me behind the scenes to some special cast member stores. It was pretty cool.

After a little rest, we headed to Downtown Disney for dinner and shopping. Fun day!!

Day 2 - Family Vacation Disney Style

I had EVERY intention of sleeping in. kids had other plans! Since everyone was up early and no one wanted to go to the pool (I know I know, we're at Disney World! but I wanted a low key morning)  We instead headed to Magic Kingdom

I decided to see if we could do haircuts at 915a instead of 130p. It would make our day work better and in true Disney fashion, it was no problem! 

Before:

After:

I'm actually devastated as she cut way way way more than I asked, but it will grow back! And they're so so so good with the kids! And budget friends, it's only $15 (with tax) and you can have pixie or pirate dust (my kids don't like)!

Burke needed one too!

After haircuts, we had to do the Buzz ride, 3 times. We then made our way over to Peter Pan and its a small world. After a few rides, we stopped in for pizza and some AC. After lunch, we headed for the Haunted Mansion then naps!! We pretty much go back for a nap everyday. It helps all of us so much.

After nap time, we went back to MK  to meet up with Kaitlin and to eat at Be Our Guest. After our last trip (We were all sick and no one really ate) we were dying to try it again!

I almost cried when I saw her!!! So excited to be visiting!!

Beast's Castle - waiting for dinner Burke refused a picture. He was exhausted!

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner. Brian had steak and I had chicken. The sides are amazing!! I skipped dessert but everyone else enjoyed theirs!

After dinner, you get to visit the Beast. Its the only place you can see him.. I love the picture Burke got!! 

Campbell went to visit and "roared" at him. The Beast jumped back pretending to be scared and that scared the crap out of poor Campbell!! He was scared to death!! But it was funny ;)

After dinner, we rode the Buzz ride 2 more times (in 2 days we've ridden it 11 times - obsessed). We then convinced the boys to head to the racetrack and dumbo.

My driver. Scary.

 After the playground and ride at Dumbo, we decided to call it a day.. But not before a Starbucks treat from Main street USA!

Apple juice 

Venti nonfat Pumpkin Spice Frappe  - 1 snack credit! In full disclosure, I only ordered a Venti because of peer pressure from the cashier (1 credit no matter what size),I couldn't finish it!

We ended the day with FaceTime with our favorite girl Em and then bath!!

I'm so excited for tomorrow!! Surprise trip to Sea World!! We've never been! 

Day 1- Family Vacation Disney Edition 2013

Day 1 was a great way to kick off the vacation!! We flew out of Richmond per the norm, since my parents are gracious enough to drive us to the airport and the flights are quite a bit cheaper than Roanoke. Tip 1: Book through Southwest (not Airtran) to get free bags!! So worth it. jet blue rocks too. And you get TV.

"This is what we do if we fall out..." 

Peace and quiet. Love TV time.

We made it to Orlando around 1p, headed to the Disney buses and at the hotel by 2! Our room was ready so we checked in and had a nice rest before hitting the parks for fun!!

When we got to the hotel. Kaitlin and Reid had left the boys treats!! I love lil magic moments!

We booked Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party for our arrival day. We were so excited! But also glad I added costumes last minute to our carry-ons  since our luggage didn't make  it in time! 

MNSSHP is the BEST event disney does. I love it! Candy, parades, fireworks and characters!!

 

We always stop and see Buzz, since my kids love Buzz. I love him too. When we saw him today, Campbell ran so fast to him. It was the cutest thing ever. He did stop and look for me when he realized how big he was!

After a pic with Buzz, we headed for the Monsters University Dance Party. Sully!!! 

  

After some Trick or treating, we hit another DanceParty (with woody, Jesse and Bullseye, rides and fireworks! It was fun to see Capt Jack since he's Campbell's favorite these days.

Hallowishes are my favorite Fireworks at Disney World!! We have the best spot we always watch them. 

 We did skip the late parade this year, which I do love, but Burke fell asleep and Campbell was on his way. We did however stop in to see Mickey and Minnie..  

Fun times were had by all. And both boys were asleep before the buses stopped! Day 1 - Success!