Day 4~Animal Kingdom

This morning we got on the bus and headed over to Animal Kingdom. I was excited for Animal Kingdom because this was the day Isabelle got to wear the outfit I made! She got so many compliments on the bus and in the park! I was so excited!

Just like the other days, we got there right at opening. We went right to Camp Minnie-Mickey to see some characters. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald were the ones there. There weren't many kids down there so the characters were really spending a lot of time with the kids and playing around with them. This is also when Isabelle decided that she enjoyed posing for the "big" camera and really got into it! It was so funny to watch her!





Here is where she really started getting into posing for the camera!







After hanging out with the characters, we did the "It's Tough to be a Bug" attraction. Its another 3D thing, but much better then Honey, I shrunk the audience! Isabelle kept her glasses on for this one. She kept peeking out the top to see if the stuff really was right in front of her face! LOL!




And this is right about the time my battery went dead and we realized we didn't charge the battery last night! Woops! We got a disposable camera from a giftshop but haven't developed the film yet. I'll add those pics once we get them on a cd.

So, we headed over to Dinoland and road the TriceraTop Spin..another Dumbo type ride. We walked around Dinoland for a little but there really wasn't much else there so we went to Asia next. We grabbed fast passes for Expedition Everest and then went on the Mahajara Jungle Trek. Isabelle got to see lots of animals, but it wasn't that big of a deal to her. We figure its probably because we spend so much time at the Fort Wayne Zoo. The tiger exhibit was pretty cool though..ours are always hiding! Next, we went to Africa and walked through the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. We got to see some gorillas and hippos, but again, much like the zoo! By that time our fast passes were good so we went back to Asia to ride Expedition Everest. Jason rode first while I waited with Isabelle and then I went. It was really a good ride! In true Disney fashion, it wasn't just a plain roller coaster but was more of an experience. It was a lot of fun and I think it was a favorite for both of us.

We took a break to get some lunch after "Expedition Everest". Then we rode the wildlife express train to get to Rafiki's Planet Watch where they had a petting zoo and more animals. We didn't have too much time to spend there before we had to get back on the train so we could use our fast passes for Kilimanjaro Safaris. We had a good tour guide for this too and it was a lot of fun! Isabelle was getting tired though so she wasn't too excited about sitting on the seat and staying still.

At this point we were all pretty hot and tired and had seen pretty much everything. We decided to head back to the resort to get a good nap (and charge the camera battery!!) in before we went to the Fantasmic show at MGM that evening.

We all felt rested and ready to go after a good nap and Isabelle was happy to have some down time to play with her toys in the room. We ate dinner at MGM and then secured our seat for the Fantasmic show.




It was a really good show! Isabelle loved all of the characters, but got a little scared during some of the loud and scary parts. She just buried her head in my chest and I covered her ears. It had a happy ending so she was happy at the end and said that she loved the show! After the show we decided that I would go fight the crowds to get the stroller and then meet Jason and Isabelle at the entrance to the ampitheatre. We turned on our phones so we would be able to find each other. Well, I guess in the hustle and bustle mine fell out of my backpack! I walked up and down the road looking for it and was so nervous I wouldn't be able to find Jason and Isabelle (and more importantly, what if my phone was lost FOREVER!?!?! LOL!)! I went to the entrance of the ampitheatre and waited for them. Luckily they saw me and came over! Even luckier was that Jason called my phone and a worker, Larry, had my phone! YAY!!! My phone was safe and back in my possession! I was really quite nervous!

Then we headed back to the resort and off to bed it was for us!

Day 3~Magic Kingdom

Today we had a character lunch scheduled at Crystal Palace so we decided to do the parts of Magic Kingdom we didn't get to on Sunday. We got to all of the parks right at opening which I think may have been the smartest thing we did all week. It was amazing how empty the park was! We walked in and saw Daisy (one of Isabelle's favorite characters!) at Main Street so we went and got in the super short (like 5 people!!) line to meet her. Isabelle was very excited to meet Daisy!!


We headed over to Adventureland and rode the "Magic Carpets of Aladdin"..very similar to Dumbo so of course Isabelle loved it! Then we went on the "Jungle Cruise". We had a really fun guide on the boat ride so it was a lot of fun! Pirates of the Caribbean was next! Isabelle has recently become very interested in pirates so we hoped she would like this ride. She really did well! The only part she didn't like was the one section where they were shooting canonballs and it was kind of loud. When we were leaving the ride she said, "that was a lot of fun" so I guess the loudness didn't bother her that much!


Next, we headed over to Frontierland where Daddy went on "Splash Mountain". Isabelle and I waited on the bridge so we could see him go down the hill.
Here he is in his log boat


And here he is going down the hill! Weeeeeeee!!


We still had some time to kill before lunch so we headed back over to Fantasyland to ride all of Isabelle's favorites!
Here is Isabelle and Daddy in front of Cinderella's castle and then Mommy and Isabelle in front of the castle and also on the carousel.



And here is the Minnie toy that she suckered Daddy into buying for her. Haha!

It was time for lunch so we headed over to Crystal Palace. We were having lunch with Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet. Isabelle was really excited to meet Tigger and Pooh! Pooh and Tigger both really played around with her. Tigger kept coming back and tapping her on the shoulder and stuff. She would just giggle! Here are some pics from lunch







After lunch they were starting to do a parade so we stayed for that. One of the men in the parade pulled Isabelle and another little girl out of the crowd and started dancing with them. She was a little leary at first but then she started dancing around with him.



After the parade we decided to head back to the resort and take Isabelle swimming. Her are some photos of Isabelle swimming with Mommy and Daddy!






Then she wanted to go over to the beach and throw sand in the lake and chase some more ducks!





After we had our fun in the sun we got ourselves ready and headed over to Downtown Disney. We had to take the bus there and Isabelle fell asleep on the way. She slept the majority of the time that we were there. Then she woke up and she wasn't very happy to be there so we decided to call it a night and head home.

Day 2~ Epcot

After 2 late nights, we decided to let Isabelle sleep in as late as she could this morning. We had a late breakfast/brunch scheduled at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Resort for 11:00 so we just hung out in the room until it was time for us to head over there.

We got to the Contemporary Resort a little early so we just walked around the shops. One of the workers fell in love with Isabelle and gave her a special "Princess of the Day" certificate! Isabelle loved this hat so of course Daddy had to buy it for her! ;o)


This was our first character meal and it was with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto. Isabelle loved having all of the characters stop by our table to visit with her! I was really impressed with how much time they spent with each table!

Here are some pictures from our character brunch:











After our meal, we hopped on the monorail to Epcot. Daddy was very excited for Epcot as this is his favorite park! Isabelle was very excited about the big ball!



So, of course, we had to start off on the right foot by riding Spaceship Earth. Either they changed a lot of it to make it more enjoyable or I am finally at the age to enjoy the ride..either way it was actually fun for the first time! At the end they take your picture and then on your screen you get to create your future. It was really funny to see Isabelle's head bouncing around on this body on the screen.

Next we headed to the Nemo ride at the Seas. Isabelle loves fish so she really liked this ride! They had a lot of aquarium tanks set up throughout the building too. Isabelle got to see lots of different fish, dolphins and manatees. She really didn't want to leave the seas, but Mommy and Daddy were both excited to ride a childhood favortie, Journey Into the Imagination with Figment. Isabelle loves dragons so she was very into Figment..although I don't think she was as much as Daddy had hoped she would be! Haha! Then we went to "Honey, I shrunk the audience"..yeah, not as cool as we remembered it! Isabelle didn't really like this attraction and we were getting to naptime.

Here we are sportin' some super cool 3D shades!




Here we are in front of the fountains at the Imagination building




Isabelle took a nap in her stroller and Mommy read while Daddy waited in line for Soarin'. Then we swapped and I got to ride it. It was really cool! It simulates you hand gliding over California. It was really a lot of fun and very relaxing!

While Isabelle napped, we walked through the countries...Jason's favorite part of Epcot! When she woke up it was time for dinner so we ate at a restaurant in Italy.

Here we are at the restaurant in Italy

After dinner we had a little time for some more country exploring and then we settled in our spot for IllumiNations.



Jason was very excited about being able to walk around the park drinking beer.. it is the small things in life! LOL!


Isabelle in the giftshop of the Norway ride


We brought lots of glowsticks to keep Isabelle busy and entertained while we waited for the show to start. They really put on a great show! The fireworks seem to go on forever! We all really enjoyed it!




The park was closed when the show ended so we moved like a herd of cattle to the exits. It started raining a little so this helped move people along a little faster which I definitely liked! LOL!



We got back to our resort and it was off to bed for the little one.. ok, who am I kidding, I think we all passed out early that night!!!