Our Disney Vacation- Day 6- Magic Kingdom

On Thursday, day 6 of our Disney vacation, we went back to the Magic Kingdom. The day started out a little chilly, but it was a great day! It was the coldest day of our entire trip, hence the jeans and sweatshirts, but we were able to lose our sweatshirts by the end of the day. We rode the Monorail over in the morning and did the following things:

Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor show- this comedy show is hosted on a digital stage by Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc. It's an interactive, stand up comedy show where you can even text message your own jokes as suggestions that could be chosen for the show!

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin ride- you jump into your own space cruiser and shoot targets to rack up points while you battle the evil Emporer Zurg. Loved by all!

Tomorrowland Speedway- Aaron got to drive (with Tim as his passenger) his own Indy 500- style race car on the guided track. He loved every minute of it!

People Mover- this one lets you sit down and take a leisurely tour of Tomorrowland.

Mad Tea Party- the kids were pleased to go around and around in the tea cups again!

Astro Orbiter ride- this was a dream come true for Aaron- spinning around up high in a rocket with his dad! Tim looked a little green after the experience, but Aaron was over the moon!

We stood in line for about 10 minutes to meet Buzz Lightyear. Maggie was just waking up from her nap, so she watched from afar, but even she thought it was cool to see Buzz. The boys were so excited!

Dumbo the Flying Elephant- Aaron, Maggie, & I rode way up high in our Dumbo!

Mickey's Philharmagic movie- in this 3D movie, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck sweep you into the scenes from classic Disney films as Donald chases the Sorcerer's hat that started all the trouble! This was a really fun movie- we all enjoyed it very much!

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh- this takes you on a ride in one of Pooh's hunny pots through classic Pooh scenes.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad- I accompanied Aaron on his first roller coaster ride and he had a blast! Ride this rollicking runaway train that rushes through the gold-mining, Old West town of Tumbleweed in Frontierland. Beware when the rails go clackety-clack because your car's about to run over treacherous terrain!

Tom Sawyer Island- Amy, Chris, & Asher didn't join us to the island on the first trip to the Magic Kingdom, so we joined them and showed them around.

Country Bear Jamboree- this was the absolute worst thing that we saw while at one of the Disney parks and the only thing that I can honestly say was horrible! It's a bunch of animatronic bears singing terrible, twangy songs. So bad.

Flying Carpets of Alladin- this was just as fun the second time!

Pirates of the Caribbean- yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me. This was also enjoyable the second time!

We had dinner at the park this evening so that we could go to the Electric Light Show in the evening. It was a definite wild card for us to stay past the kids bedtimes, but we decided to risk it and we were so glad that we did- we LOVED the parade! We positioned ourselves near the exit so that we could leave just before the end of the parade and beat the crowds out. The plan worked like a charm and we jumped on the ferry right before the parade was over. The kids were asleep within minutes of being buckled into the car!

Our Disney Vacation- Day 5- Gatorland

On Wednesday, day 5 of our vacation, we took a day off from the Disney parks to explore some other Orlando sites. We started the days a the Worlds Largest McDonalds, which ended up being pretty disappointing! We were envisioning a really big kids play area, but instead got kind a bunch of carnival/arcade games. The McDonalds did have a ticket agent working at a kiosk where you could buy tickets to other area admissions. We talked to this woman who recommended that we try Gatorland, so we bought our tickets and headed there for the day.

Gatorland was a lot of fun! We saw tons of gators, watched a funny show where they brought out a bunch of different critters (tarantula, snakes, etc), road a train around the grounds, watched the kids play in the water/playground area, went to a petting zoo, and watched the Jumparoo show, where they tempt the gators out of the water with huge pieces of chicken! Gatorland was a riot and was a nice break from being around the big crowds of Disney.

We relaxed at the hotel in the early evening, let the kids play at the playground, and fed them dinner. Amy, Chris, & Asher stayed with Aaron and Maggie for the night while Tim and I had a date night! We went to downtown Disney for dinner at an Irish Pub called Raglan Road. The food was amazing and we got to listen to an Irish band and watch Irish dancers while we were there. After dinner we walked around Downtown Disney and visited a few shops before heading back to the hotel.

Our Disney Vacation- Day 4- Disney's Hollywood Studios

On Tuesday, day 4 of our trip we visited Disney's Hollywood Studios. We didn't know a lot about this park, but had a great time.

Here are the things that we did:

The Great Movie ride- this ride took you through realistic recreations of memorable film moments, from old gangster movies to contemporary sci-fi classics.

Honey I shrunk the kids play area- the kids loved this play area where they were viewing things from the eyes of a bug, just like they were shrunk in the movie! Climbing, crawling, exploring- what's not to love?!

Muppets 3D movie- this was a hilarious, short 3D movie featuring the Muppets. There were surprise bursts of air and real bubbles- Maggie jumped in surprise a few times in this one!

Lunch with the Disney Jr characters! The kids LOVED seeing all of their favorite characters from the Disney Jr shows- Special Agent Oso, June from the Little Einsteins, Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and Manny from Handy Manny. The characters came around while we were eating so we could take pictures and then they had little mini shows where the kids could come up and dance and sing with the characters. This was a hit and we were really glad that we planned this! (At first, Maggie wasn't sure about the characters. She didn't want to touch them and didn't really want them near her either, but she liked seeing them from afar. By the time it was over, Maggie was chasing June around wanting to stand beside her and touch her!)

Toy Story Mania- this is an interactive 4D ride where you get to use your shooter to play along in midway-style games with the characters from the Toy Story films. Needless to say- the boys loved this!

Disney Junior- Live on Stage-the kids loved this show featuring all of the Disney Junior characters and their songs.

Everyone was a bit tired out this afternoon, so we headed back to the hotel to relax a bit. We hit the pool for a little swim and then let the kids play at the playground on site.

For dinner that night we went to a cool restaurant in Downtown Disney called T Rex. Yep- you eat dinner surrounded by animatronic dinosaurs! They also had a dino dig area, where you could use little brushes to "uncover the fossils" that were covered with little tiny pebbles.

After dinner we visited a huge Disney store where Aaron and Maggie used their "Disney bucks" to buy some toys. Aaron got a Cars 2 Spy Plane with a couple of little cars to hide inside and Maggie got a great stuffed Mickey Mouse.