Max, can you hear?

On the plane home Max's ears clogged. His reaction was hilarious.

Favorites

Ok, I have been asked a lot what was my favorite things. Personally, I loved Soarin', Tower of terror and Hal of Presidents. But- my favorite was just having family time, and experiencing the park through the eyes of a 3 year old. Watching Max's response to just about everything was priceless. Seeing him work up the nerve to meet Chip and Dale, and watching him react to actually seeing Mickey Mouse was awesome. Someday, we will definitely go back. These are some of my favorite moments.

Towel Animals and the Grand Floridian

In my research and planning, I found out there is a group of obsessive Disney Fanatics at the website disboards.com one of the things they obsess about is towel animals. Apparently, it is a totally random thing. Some get one, some don't. Sometimes, people will get multiple towel animals on a stay. We had a Mickey Head when we checked in, then had 4 more on our visit.

I also read about the Teddy Bear lady and the Grand Floridian. The GF is a very stately resort (some say the most snobbish) that has a beautiful lobby and in the evenings, a live band plays in the lobby. There is an older lady who goes almost every day. Some of the GF regulars get mad because they say she looks homeless. Most have no problem with her. She brings in a giant rolling suitcase of teddy bears. The story is she and her husband were regular visitors to the GF for dinner and music (they lived in orlando) and when he passed away, she continued her visits alone because she misses him and it reminds her of their visits together. The uproar over her visits became so crazy online at one point that her sister explained whe she was and why she went there. She also said she brings the teddy bears because she collects them and she likes to talk with children. We actually saw her, and before we left I spoke with her a bit. She did not look homeless, but did strike me as a very old version of Tammy Faye Baker. But she was very nice. It's sad to think some would get their panties in a twist because she wants to come hear music.

Epcot- World Showcase

We spent our last day in Epcot's World Showcase. It was really cool. They have some really neat kids activities where they work on masks in each country. There are also restaurants, cultural displays, and -of course- gift shops for each nation. It was the perfect last day of our trip. We started in Mexico then made our way through Germany and Norway before being blown away by the beauty of China. We had a discussion at the USA portion. With an hour to go before our reservation at LeCellier in Canada, the last nation on our loop, I felt we could skip the USA portion, since we did Colonial Williamsburg and the Historic triangle last year. Heather felt I was being un-patriotic. Max decided that he needed a potty break, and by then we were really running behind so we raced through Morrocco, Japan, France and the UK (we definitey need to get back to see them someday) and then we had our late lunch at one of the top restaurants in Disney. They are famous for their steak and it was very good.

Hollywood Studios

This park is excellent for movie buffs. Or, big fans of the Disney Channel and American Idol. We saw a stunt show, and the Muppets in 3-D. We also did the backstage studio tour and saw lots of props and movie stuff. They have a jedi training center and we ate at a neat restaurant called the Sci-Fi Diner where you sit in old cars and watch movie clips from bad 1950's sci-fi movies. When Max took his nap, Heather and i too turns on the Tower of Terror. It was AWESOME!

Wilderness Lodge

We stayed at Disney's Wilderness Lodge Resort. It was beautiful. We were able to take a water taxi to Magic Kingdom or the Contemporary resort, which was very convenient. We were upgraded from a woods view to a water view. One afternoon, it was raining so we explored the lodge instead of swimming. Max got to see Walt Disney's personal train set. They also have a fake geyser that shoots off every hour. Heather was unimpressed with the geyser. But Max, who hasn't been to Yellowstone twice, thought it was pretty cool.

Magic Kingdom, again

Magic Kingdom has so much o do we alloted 2 days for it. We started the day by catching the opening ceremony. I held Max and the camera for this, Heather was with the stroller and couldn't push as far forward. Mickey and many other characters pull up on the train, and the mayor, a group of singers and the family of the day open the park with a countdown, pixie dust and streamers. Max quivered with excitement and just giggled and squealed the whole time. The video (included in the highlight reel) is pretty shaky but you can still get the gist. His expression and reaction was just awesome.

We saw Chip and Dale as soon as we got into the park, and I waited in line to get his pillowcase signed. We rode the train to see the Hall of Presidents- it was super cool. We rode the flying carpets, Pirates o the Carribean, and the jungle Crusie and watched the Enchanted Tiki Room show. Then grabbed a bite and H and I did The Haunted Mansion while Max napped. We headed back to the room for some R&R, beause we wanted to catch the fireworks. Rain had other plans for us though. We did get to catch the Monsters Inc Laugh floor show, and they even told Max's joke we texted in. "What's the forecast in El Paso? Chili today, Hot tamale"

This is the highlight reel

ok, here is a 30 minute summary of our week at WDW. It has a Disney Soundtrack, so turn your speakers up if you can. I will try to finish the blog soon. There are also a couple more video clips that i need to add. I left them out of this movie so you can hear he original sound. 2 of my most favorite moments are in this video. Max chasing streamers at the opening ceremony, and being tickled by Chip and Dale. Truly, the expression on his face and the excitement of those moments made every bead of sweat, every dollar, and every step worth it all. Enjoy!

safari and petting zoo

Day 3- Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom covers the most acerage of any Disney World Park. But most of it's for animals. It also tends to be 3 degrees warmer than any other park. It was the hottest, most crowded park we visited. We went straight to the tree of Life, then did the Kilamanjaro Safari, Rafiki's Animal Rescue, lunch, and Finding Nemo the Musical. That is really all we managed to do. The other 2 rides we would have liked to try were out of fast passes. A Fast pass holds your place in line. You plug in your daily ticket, and it spits out a special ticket with a time range to come back and go straight to the front of the line. We felt a little guilty when we would pass hundreds of people to go straight to the front, but it sure was a nice perk. Anywho, we didn't want to ride those 2 rides bad enough to deal with the long waits in the heat.

The tree of Life is the centerpiece of AK. It's pretty cool, carved with all kinds of animals. Rafiki's is the animal hospital and there was a petting zoo and lots of scientific-y displays. Oh, and you got to ride a train to and from it. Th safari was really cool, taking you through the Jungle to see the wildlife closer up. By far though, everyone's favorite of that day was Nemo, the Musical. It is done on stage with puppets. It was very colorful and cool. Max loved when the bubbles fell from the ceiling. WHen this was over, we had trouble locating our stroller. The employees move them around to help with traffic flow, so they aren't always where you leave them once you leave an attraction. By the time we found it, the intense crowd had squeezed us to the front of the park, so we decided to take a pool day for the rest of the day.

Minnie Mouse

Here are a few clips from our brunch at Chef Mickey's!