Well, our vacation has come and gone, and now we have all summer to look forward to. It was fabulous! We left on the 4th, and drove to Columbia, SC to spend the night. We were up at ready to go around 9 the next morning, and continued on to Disney World. How'd we do it with a baby and two seven year olds...lots of DS games, videos, snacks, and mommy in the back to entertain the baby...It was a fairly uneventful drive and when we got to Animal Kingdom Lodge-Jambo House, we were very excited. It was a beautiful hotel. Some of the rooms viewed a savanna, with giraffes, zebras, and other animals roaming around. The lobby had a huge totem pole in the lobby, and our view of the pool was very gorgeous.
We unloaded at the hotel, and got settled. About an hour later, we headed to Hollywood Studios, formerly known as MGM. It was Star Wars Weekend, so of course we hit the Star Tours ride first. There was Star Wars music playing all through the park, and Stormtroopers guarding the entrance. There were also many characters from the movies to sign autographs. The boys were totally in their element. We walked around and they rode Star Tours twice, and then we hit Pizza Planet for dinner. I wanted to eat there last time we went, and we couldn't. But this time we were able to. Afterwards, we did Toy Story Mania-a VERY cool 3 D ride, and we did the Studio Backlot Tour. We also saw Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, which was very good. After all that fun, we headed back to the resort. I took the kids to the pool while Derrick finished settling our room down and ate.
The next day, we headed back to Hollywood Studios. We did Star Tours two more times, as well as the Toy Story Mania ride again. We saw the Star Wars Motorcade..complete with an Annakin Mickey and many other Star Wars characters. It was HOT! So we got Buzz and Woody's autographs, went back to the resort for some rest and pool time.
Monday was our first day at Magic Kingdom. We did a lot of rides, like Aladdin's Carpets, Space Mountain, The AstroOribter, and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. When it was time for some air conditioning, we hit the Carousel of Progress to cool off and give Natalie a bottle. After lunch, she started to melt a little, so Derrick took her back to the hotel and let her rest while I took the boys around Magic Kingdom. We did Dumbo, the Tea Cups, and the Tomorrowland Speedway, as well as Stitch's Great Escape. We met up with Derrick and Natalie at the hotel later and then went to Downtown Disney to do some shopping and to eat. We went to the LEGO store, and also to the Christmas shop to get some ornaments.
Tuesday we went to Epcot off and on. We did the Spaceship Earth ride, got some autographs, and rode The Land. We did lunch and walked around Innoventions, where the boys and I starred in our own video game. It was very cool. Epcot is so fun, if you let it. It is all about learning. We also did the Nemo ride, and saw Turtle Talk With Crush. We also rode Figment's Imagination Ride. We took a break from the park for a few hours, and headed back in the evening. We did the World Showcase, like the 3 Cabelleros ride in Mexico, and I had to have a German pretzel in Germany.
Wednesday we went to Magic Kingdom again. We rode Pirates of the Caribbean, and when we unloaded the right, which of course was right into the gift shop, Lucas decided he was going to pose like Jack Sparrow..or his version of Jack.
We also rode It's a Small World and saw the Country Bear Jamboree. We did the Jungle Cruise, and Matthew got chosen out of the audience to drive the boat. He thought that was WAY cool. We rode Aladdin's Carpets again, and this time Aladdin and Jasmine were on our ride. Afterwards, Natalie got to meet Jasmine..her first Disney princess. We walked through Frontierland and had lunch at Pinocchio's Haus in Fantasyland. We did Mickey's Philharmagic..which is VERY cute. Then we head to Mickey's Toontown Fair to go through Mickey and Minnie's houses
, and to meet Mickey and Minnie of course. We had lunch and rode a few more rides again. Then we went back to the hotel for a rest and pool. After dinner at the resort, we went to Magic Kingdom to repeat any rides and for the fireworks.Thursday was our last day. We went to Animal Kingdom. Here we saw the Festival of the Lion King, rode the Kilimanjaro Safari ride, and the boys dug in the Boneyard. We also scored some great autographs from Terk, Baloo and King Louie, and Flick.
After lunch we headed to check out from the resort and started our way home. We made it home Friday afternoon, around 4 pm. We stopped for the night somewhere in Virginia, and then made our way home Friday morning. It was a great vacation, and there is so much more I could tell....can't wait til next year!
