Animal Kingdom

02.19.

Walt Disney Family Trip (Part 2)

As I was sitting here thinking about how I was going to start this post,

I began to tear up.

Now that I am a parent and know how it feels to want to give your kids everything they want….

I know how it hurts when you feel like you can’t.

Back when I was little, my parents used to take us camping at the beach all the time.

It was kind of our family thing.

Some people camp at the lake or the mountains, but the Wall’s would always camp at the beach.

In fact, it was normal for us to go for 2 weeks at a time during the summer.

Well, they didn’t have the internet then with all the great deals flashing in your face everytime you hopped on it.

My Mom and Dad always wanted to take us to Disney and it wasn’t until literally about 5 years ago, that my mom realized she probably always could have.

She just assumed that it was something that was too expensive for them to take a family of 5 to, so she never looked into it further.

Everytime I talk about our trip, she shares with me how much it breaks her heart to know that with what they would spend on our

family camping trips to The Outer Banks every summer, she could have taken the whole family to Disney World.

However, that was then and this is now and who knows…..

maybe one day I can take her to The Happiest Place on Earth. ; )

Our first actual day at a Park had to be no other than …….

Magic Kingdom, of course!

And the first thing we did when we got there was get in line for “Enchanting Tales with Belle”.

This wasn’t a ride, but actually a storytelling adventure where they have the children be involved with helping reinact how

Belle and the Beast met.

Two of the kids were happy in this picture and one wasn’t….. can you guess which one?

The only problem was everyone else had the same idea we did. LOL!

It took us 60 minutes to get in.

We thought this was going to set the mood for the day, but luckily it didn’t!

I have to say that it was well worth the wait,

because…..

Because my little baby was chosen to be “The Beast”!!!

He was adorable…. and shy…… and TERRIFIED!

He was fine until the Pretty Belle started to talk to him.

The shoulders went stiff and he couldn’t speak a word.

He did manage to come out of it at the end and smile for the pictures, but they said no flash

photography, so unfortunately, this is the only shot I got.

You can, however, go online to Disney’s PhotoPass and order their pictures they take.

I probably will, but I haven’t yet.

From there, we quickly learned that if the kids are asking about something A LOT, then you best

take them to the ride and get it over with in order to maintain your sanity!

SO!

Our next stop had to be ……

The Haunted Mansion!

We loooooove that movie. Eddie Murphy is hilarious and the dead Master of the house doesn’t hurt the eyes either.

Anyhoo!

I love all the props leading up to the entrance. They even have interactive things to touch along the way.

I have to note that from here on out, the lines weren’t really bad at all.

I think the 60 minute wait at Belle’s was just the fact that everyone wanted to be in Fantasy Land.

Even Mr. Moose got in on the action.

BOO!

We went to Magic Kingdom on two different days. I have to say that I am soooo glad we did.

It is by far, the biggest Park and we really needed two whole days to do the whole thing.

Our AMAZING travel agent, Kim put together an itinerary for us to have in the parks.

I’m talking Major Itinerary!!!

She told us where to go first, second and so on. She told us what time to be there to do that first, second and so on.

She told us when the best time to get a Fast Pass would be.

It was like we had her next to us, holding our hand the entire time.

I gave a link to her site in my earlier post, but in case you missed it, here it is again.

I loved seeing the excitement on the kid’s faces everytime I turned around.

Even the “Big Kid’s” too!

On to our next adventure, Animal Kingdom! (*MOO!)

I have to say that this was probably our favorite Park.

It was definitely smaller than the other ones. (Atleast it felt that way.)

Which, by the way, we didn’t mind.

Since returning, I have heard from a lot of other people that it was their’s as well.

We started off the day with a Safari.

This, by the way, took no time at all to get to the front of the line.

They must have had a million of those cars, the way they came up so fast.

We saw Giraffes….

Elephants……

What I hoped would be followed by a fence…..

Then we rode this (Mt. Everest), which I thought I would only have to do once…

until my 9 yr. old said, “Hey mom! We still have two Fast Passes!”

Then my stomach began to roll and then we got in line again.

Can I just say that Animal Kingdom has it goin on!?!

In the center of the park, there is a big playground with ONE entrance and ONE exit!

And the BIGGEST SANDBOX I have ever seen where you can “dig for fossils”!

We rested there while the kids just ran crazy!

This was probably my favorite thing in The Animal Kingdom.

I’m pretty obsessed with Trees. When I say obsessed,

I mean REALLY CRAZY OBSESSED!

The Tree of Life is what they call this tree. It is just breath taking.

I almost felt like I was in a scene from Avatar.

If you look closely, you can see all the animal’s faces that have been carved into the side of it.

AMAZING!

We decided not to go with a stroller, so this is a scene that occurred quite often.

Z didn’t mind though. Just a Daddy and his little boy.

By the last day, we were all tired. Especially the smallest one.

We saw very little of Hollywood Studios because of this.

If I had to make a suggestion, I would say this…..

If you have smaller children, maybe think about taking a break in between a few days.

By that, I mean hang out around your Hotel.

Maybe go see a movie.

(We didn’t do this.)

So, by the last day, when little ones who are used to getting a nap during the day and didn’t……

finally had a meltdown….

we decided that next time we would not only take a break,

but we would incorporate a pit stop at the beginning of the trip and one at the end.

I’m so glad we did this trip. I do not regret one single thing.

Except for maybe the nap thing. 🙂

It truely IS the Happiest Place on Earth!

Until next time…….

Love,

Esther

*I want to note that we went during January and during the week when the lines are not as long and it is considered their “off season”. Some of the eateries inside the parks

were closed, but not enough to really notice. Lines are always longer during Holidays and breaks when children are out of school. Please keep this in mind

when planning your trip.