Disney: Day 4 Magic Kingdom round 2

We planned for two days at Magic Kingdom and two at Epcot becuase of the size of both of those parks.  These first pics are actually from our first day.  We went to a character lunch at the Crystal Gardens Restaurant and had lunch with Pooh and his friends.  Did I mention age almost-9 was the perfect age to take your kid to the World?  Kendra was beyond thrilled to meet the Pooh-meister and his crew.  She was especially excited about Eeyore knowing that he is a fan fave of two of her grandparents (my mom and dad).   Another cool thing was Kendra wore this button that proclaimed her birthday (even though her bday isn't until July, this was her birthday present).  So in addition to everyone in the park telling her happy birthday all day long, she got special treatment sometimes at restaurants like this one.  She loved the cute cupcake!

That's one big Pooh!

How cute, they matched!

I'm also pretty partial to the lazy donkey, myself.

Birthday cupcake!

Now, for the second trip.  We hit Tomorrowland first thing, and loved the Buzz Lightyear ride!  You got to shoot targets from your car---we liked it so much we got a fastpass and did it twice.

Sparkly mouse, ready to shoot the evil Zurg.

Another ride we did was the Indy Speedway and Kendra drove.

Here we are waiting in the queue ready to drive.

Here we are with Kendra driving.  Good thing I have 7 more years before she gets behind a real wheel!

I learned quickly that lunchtime needed to be in a sit-down restaurant where I could cool off for a decent amount of time.  We ate at the Liberty Tree Tavern, where Kendra got a turkey dinner kids meal that was HUGE!   Mashed taters, turkey, salad, fresh green beans, and a fruit cup.  Wowie!  I had a mean hamburger (yum) and the birthday girl was treated to another cupcake! 

We headed to Toontown (so cute), toured Mickey and Minnie's houses and Kendra rode her first tiny rollercoaster.  For those that know her, she has issues with motion sickness, so she is a tame ride person.  The little Barnstormer was a kid's rollercoaster, and I talked her into going on it!  She LOVED it!  So much that we went on it twice that day!

Nearby there was a pretty short line to see some characters, and since Cinderella wasn't at the princess lunch, we decided to wait to see her.

We also got to see one of the afternoon parades.  It was hot to sit and watch it, but it was fun.

Cooling off with the spray fan...this thing was a lifesaver! 

Waving at Chip.  Or is it Dale?  Who knows!

We had stayed for the night-time lighted parade the last time we did MK, so we decided to stay at the hotel and swim this night.  What a great day! 

Disney: Day 3 Animal Kingdom

I can't believe I forgot to get a picture of Kendra with the Tree of Life.  Bad mom, bad, bad  mom. 

It felt very appropriate to enter the "jungle" with the weather here in Florida.  It has been really quite hot, and very muggy.  But that is Florida in June and was expected!  We bought one of those squirty fan thingys at Target and it has been worth every penny.  Too bad Kendra left it in the car for this day!!!  Argh!

We headed straight for the safari ride hoping that the "cool" morning (already 85 at 9 a.m.) would allow us to see some more active animals. 

Awww...cute little giraffe!

Mama and baby elephant.  I love babies!  The coolest thing was the refuge recently had a birth of a black rhino baby and we got to see it!  It was out with Mom, but this Mom couldn't angle the camera exactly right as the Jeep thumped along the bumpy road so we didn't get a picture! 

We never ended up seeing the Head Mouse and his posse at MK, but we got to see them all here at the Animal Kingdom! 

Pluto is still eluding us---we've seen him a few times but his line for pictures has been too long for us! 

Our favorite things at Animal Kingdom:  the safari ride, the Lion King show (this is truly spectacular) and lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.  Kendra got a souvenir cup there that has proven to be a great investment!  We take it with us to every park, get ice to fill it up and drink the icy water as it melts!  The ice is free!  It also has a great handle that attaches to my pack, so its hands-free!  One thing Kendra didn't like at all at Animal Kingdom was the It's Tough To Be a Bug show, which is a 4D experience inside the Tree of Life.  Some very angry bugs "attack" the audience and she screamed the whole time!  We also chose to pass up the drenching water ride in favor of  a really yummy waffle cone!!!  The park closes at 6, and we found out the reason for that is that they bring in ALL of the animals in the refuge!  It takes about 3 hours to do it!  Oh my!  We really enjoyed seeing all the neat animals around the park!

Disney: Day 2 Epcot

Our second day at Disney was at Epcot.  The tour guide books say that this park is not as kid-friendly in terms of entertainment, but Kendra absolutely LOVED it.  She loves learning about different cultures, and she actually liked the World Showcase part even better than the Future World (where the main rides and attractions are located).  We got through 3/4 of the countries in World Showcase, and rode one of the two main headliners.  We plan to go back another day this week for the rest!

What a cute girl with a big ole ball behind her head!

We arrived at opening, and the crowd surged toward The Land exhibits, which included one of the aforementioned headliners, the ride called Soarin'.  We decided to move away from the pack and go to The Seas first.  Kendra got eaten by a shark, but he nicely gave her back.  We also saw Turtle Talk With Crush, an interactive movie type experience in which the animated characters talk to the audience.  Turns out we BOTH got to talk to Crush.  Here was the conversation:

Crush:  Let me talk to the little girl in pink with two sets of eyes (Kendra's sunglasses were on her head)

What is your name?

K:  Kendra

Crush:  Who are you here with, Kendra?

K:  My mom.

Crush:  Would Kendra's parental unit please raise her hand?

(I raised my hand)

Crush:  You are Kendra's mom right?

Me:  Yes

Crush:  How many kids do you have?

Me:  Just the one, just Kendra.

Crush:  Dude, I've got you beat.  I have 65.  Don't you think it is totally awesome to be in charge of the raising of these little people?

Me:  Totally

Crush:  (after a pause)  Did you feel that?  (pause)  We totally shared a moment. 

Probably not as funny in type!  What fun!

So then we went over to The Land and walked right up to get our FastPass for Soarin'.  It was perfect timing---we were scheduled for a little while after our next big event:  Lunch with the Princesses!

We had lunch at the Akershus restaurant in Norway in the World Showcase.  We started with a picture with Belle that they took professionally then printed out a whole package for us that was complimentary!  Wow!  Then as we ate four Princesses came and signed Kendra's autograph book and took a picture with her.

Then another really neat thing happened.  Our waiter told me that he got to pick one table out of the whole restaurant in which to do an extra special thing.  He said he picked Kendra!   She got a special chef's hat and got to paint a cookie with special edible paint and decorate with white chocolate chips.  It was in the shape of a troll, which has some significance in Norway but I am clueless to know why.

The finished painted troll.

We made our way back to The Land, and road the AAAAAMAZING Soarin' ride.   If you go, get a fastpass because the line is insane!!!  But the ride is super cool and definately not to be missed.

After that, we headed back to World Showcase.  Kendra was especially interested in going to Mexico because she is getting an American Girl doll (from my mom) whose culture is Mexican.  She intends to throw her a welcome party (really???) and so wanted to learn more and get Josefina (the doll) some stuff.  She ended up buying her a mini Sombrero and a maraca.  Cute. 

Our favorites of the day:  Soarin', all of World Showcase, Turtle Talk.  We are going back later this week to see the rest!!!

Disney: Day 1 Magic Kingdom

WARNING!!  There are going to be A LOT of pictures in the next several posts!  Those of you only casually interested may skim on by!  But, I intend to turn this blog into a published "blog book" and this will be my scrapbook of our trip, so picture-palooza here we go!

The traditional "Main Street Castle Shot"

Ready to ride Adventures of Winne the Pooh, sitting in a honey pot.  Kendra loved this one.

Everyone sing along..."Its a Small World After All...." 

3D'ed up for Mickey's PhilarMagic.  LOVED this one!  So fun!

Dancin' on Main with the stilt guy.  Well, she was supposed to dance.  I danced!  Probably to the embarrassment of the young one, but oh well!  Mama loves me some dancin'!!!

Lookin' cute on the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse

Another cute castle shot with the new fancy set of ears!

Thems some fancy ears!  Wowie!!!

The favorites of the day:  Adventures with Winnie ride, lunch with the Winnie characters (pics of that in another post later), the carousel, and the lighted parade in the evening.  SO cool!