Our Last Day - Animal Kingdom

Photos: The Festival of the Lion King; Olivia's farewell chalk drawing outside Pop Century Resort; making music at AK; Expedition Everest; white rhino with baby at AK.

Our last day (well, our last non-travel day) was spent at Animal Kingdom. Olivia got up early and went to AK with Grammy and they met the Lunds for breakfast with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. John, Emery and I lingered a little longer and met them at the park opening. We headed to the safari first which was really an amazing way to start the day. The animals are roaming free as if you bump through "Africa" in a jeep. You get to see some animals close up that you would never see otherwise (unless you actually went to Africa.) The highlight was probably seeing the white rhino and its baby really, really close up. After the safari, we headed to the Kali River Rapids where everyone got soaked. Now before I tell you what we did next, let me tell you about my brother-in-law, Dan. Dan fears no ride. There is no drop, dip, loop, splash, or zoom that could make him think twice about getting on a ride. Dan had picked up enough Fast Passes for John and I to ride one of the main attractions -Expedition Everest. I had already chickened out of a couple of rides that I really wanted to go on (Tower of Terror) and it was our last day, so I agreed to go on Everest with my niece, Mykiah, Dan and John. Kim had already ridden it, and she's not a big roller coaster person, and she promised me there were no major drops. That is what I hate the most - the click, click, click, click up the hill and then that anxiety of waiting for the drop. So off I went because it did look like a really cool ride.

The ride starts by taking you up a huge hill (see photo) - it really was huge, I couldn't look because we just kept getting higher and higher. Dan and Mykiah were in front of us and as we neared the top, I'm yelling "Dan, do you promise you don't just drop straight down the other side of this hill" because if we did, I knew I would die of a heart attack. He assured me that we would just drop a little and then turn really fast. Well, we did a lot of fast turns and lots of drops that really weren't so bad and then you reach a point where the track is gone. It's of course been pulled up by a Yeti. So our car stops and Kim had told me you go backward at one point - guess this is it since there's no more track. Then I have a horrible thought - Are we going to go backward down that huge hill we just came up? So I start to panic again: "Dan, are we going backward down that big hill?" "No, it goes a different way," he assures me. "Well what does it do?" I scream. "I don't know; it's in the dark," and he laughs his crazy Dan laugh. Mykiah is looking pretty amused as well. Honestly, after that I remember very little. I know I screamed like a crazy woman the rest of the ride. At some point the car stops again, at this animotronic Yeti comes out and roars and grabs at the car. Now I should know that it wasn't real but at this point I was so freaked out you could have stuck a sock puppet up there and I would have been screaming. When the ride ended, my head was pounding from the screaming and I needed water bad. John asked if I wanted to go on it again, and I said "Maybe when we come back to Disney in four years." But certainly not that day. I did get myself a stuffed Yeti for a souvenir of my bravery however.

We saw "The Festival of the Lion King" later that day which was a great show. We also stopped and watched some musicians who pulled Olivia up to join in the show. That evening we ate at Boma, a restaurant in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It is an African-inspired buffet and John says the best buffet he's ever seen (which is a huge compliment from Chef John). I didn't know what half the stuff was, but we all enjoyed experimenting and they had great desserts.

That night, John and I left the sleeping girls with Grammy and headed to Magic Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours, when they stay open 'til 1 a.m. for resort guests. I was like something straight out of Night of the Living Dead, but John got to ride Space Mountain which was majorly important to him because it's the one ride he remembered from when he went to Disneyland when he was little. Then we did a bunch of shopping on Main Street USA and hit the hay at 1 a.m. The next day was check-out day - pretty sad - but it does always feel good to be home. Can't wait 'til next time!

Spectro Magic Parade

So we're in c Kingdom, catching the few rides we hadn't already done and waiting for dusk, to see the SpectroMagic parade. One of my big memories of our trip to Disney World when I was 11 was the electric parade at night. I thought it was so cool. So I definitely wanted Olivia to see this. It was about 8 p.m. - parade time is 9 p.m. and I knew we needed to start getting a seat soon. Main Street was already packed so we decided to look for a good viewing spot near Cinderella's castle. A really nice cast member let me know that if I wanted a really good seat I could sit on the concrete (you must be seated to sit that close) and they would rope it off for the parade and we would literally have front row seats as the floats passed by. Sounded good to me. Except there was no way I was going to be able to keep Olivia sitting on concrete for an hour waiting. But I figured Olivia is only going to be a 5 year old who believes in the magic one time, so I sat down and saved two seats for John and Liv while they continued to ride rides. The castle lights up in all different colors as the sun goes down, so that gave me some pretty scenery to look at. They also had hula hoops and limbo and beach balls to help the waiting kids pass the time. Finally, it was 9 p.m. They turned out all the lights in the park to add to the atmosphere and announced that night was Walt Disney's favorite time in the park. There is a little bit of extra magic after the sun goes down at Disney World. And the parade began. The floats were so close you could make eye contact with the characters. It was really fun, and I'm glad we stayed for the parade. We decided not to push and stay for the fireworks at 10 p.m. but we could see them as we waited for the bus back to the resort. The bus was so packed, and to get it on it, we were going to have ride standing up. But Olivia was an awesome trooper and rode standing up between me and John all the way back.

Day Four - Epcot / Magic Kingdom

Well, I'd better get back to the Disney journal before we forget the details. On Saturday of our trip, we started the day off by meeting the Lunds at Epcot Center. There were a couple of "thrill" rides I really wanted to check out, and you have to be there in the a.m. if you don't want to wait in line forever. So we did a few small rides and then Kim, Dan, Brady, Mykiah, and Grandma went to check out the ride "Soarin." You are seated in these hang-glider like seats and then you raise up in the air. Then you are watching this IMAX type film that takes you over oceans, mountains, orange groves (you can smell them!), etc. and it really feels like you're flying. Now, none of the women in my family are particularly crazy about heights but since you aren't literally flying, I figured it would be fine. So Grandma comes off the ride..... "How was it?" I ask. "It was awesome," she replies. So now it's our turn - me, John, Chesney, and Olivia go board the hang gliders. It was awesome. We meet up with everyone at a restaurant for lunch. Kim tells me, "Mom hated it. She didn't open her eyes the whole time." "No, she told me she loved it," I say. "She lied. She just didn't want you to chicken out." The other ride we did was Test Track which turned out to be my favorite ride of any we went on. I'd put the picture of us on it up but Disney won't let me copy it.

So instead I put a picture of Olivia sleeping on her dad's shoulders while we check out the huge aquarium at Epcot. There's just so much to do in that park, we couldn't possibly get it all done. So we headed back to the hotel for some R&R before another big night at Magic Kingdom. John, Olivia and I were headed there to watch the parade at 9 p.m. Grammy stayed at the hotel with Emery (thanks Grammy) so the three of us could have a really magical evening. I think I can do a whole other entry about the parade evening so I'll leave that for next time.

My Nephew's a Teenager

Yesterday, my nephew Brady turned 13. I still remember very well my sister telling us she was pregnant with him in the Oak Park Mall. I remember the night he was born seeing him about 2 a.m., and how Mom and Dad and I drove all over Kansas City looking for a motel room and finally wound up sleeping on the floor of Kim and Dan's apartment. I thought he was the most wonderful baby I'd ever seen, and I think it's probably the first time I really knew (had some physical proof) that God existed. He's always up for playing ghost or monster with the girls he's surrounded by (two sister and two girl cousins), and Uncle John loves playing XBox with him. Happy Birthday, Tater Man.

Olivia's Vocabulary

I thought I'd give you a break from Disney to tell you a couple of funny stories about Livvy's vocabulary. This morning we took Emery to the Dr in Topeka (both ears are infected again!), and we were in the bathroom changing her diaper. Olivia said, "Mommy, I saw one of those things hanging on the door. You know, apricots?" I was a little unsure what she was talking about - apricots hanging on a door?? "You know, apricots. They were green suits and yellow shirts." Now I'm getting really confused, and Olivia is getting increasingly frustrated with my inability to follow her. "Well, I don't know if it's called apricots but it sounds like that. You know, they pick clovers." Finally, the light bulb goes on. "Oh, a leprechaun?" I ask. Of course. It does kind of sound like apricots, now that she mentioned it.

This afternoon while Emery napped we were playing hotel. I was checking in all of the various dolls and stuffed animals who were visiting the hotel, and Olivia was the maitre'd. We have a cash register with a microphone, so I would get on the microphone and page Olivia "Maitre'd, can you please show Elmo to room 216" and so on. Later on, Olivia was tired of being the maitre'd and wanted to be the front desk clerk. So she said "Mom, can you be the Sandra Dee for awhile, so I can check people in?" That was a good one too. That girl.

"My Disney Vacation" by Olivia

I thought it would be fun to hear about Disney from Olivia's point of view, so I'm going to type while she talks. She's going to pick the photos for the post too.

"The picture is of the Barnstormer. The ride was very, very fast. It made me go "Wah, ah, ah, wah!" It made me scream kind of. It was fun. I want to ride it again the next time we go to Disney."

"I want to tell you guys about when I went on Test Track. Test Track was very fun. You should get on it because it was fast and fun. My mom did it."

"Emery was very unique about Disney. She didn't ride on Big Thunder Mountain or anything. Me and my mom and my dad went on that. Emery loved Winnie the Pooh."

"In the picture of Grammy and Daddy, they were drinking mint tea. We were in Morocco. I loved the belly dancer."

"My favorite ride was Splash Mountain. It had a very special drop that my mom didn't know about. She was really, really scared. But I wasn't, I loved the drop. You got wet."

My Favorite Day - Magic Kingdom

For me, Magic Kingdom was the best park. Each park has a lot to offer, but for pure family joy, this park was it. We had such a great time at Magic Kingdom. Olivia rode her favorite, favorite ride - Splash Mountain. Emery loved all the rides she went on (which was all but two). Grammy enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean with Capt. Jack Sparrow. My favorite ride was

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad 'cuz it's basically a roller coaster for wimps. It was gorgeous weather, and we rode most of the rides with little wait. It was just so much fun watching the girls experience it. That evening offered up the most magical moment of the trip - Olivia meeting Cinderella. We went to dinner at 1900 Park Fare (big thanks to Aunt Kim for setting it up) and all of the Cinderella characters were there. Cinderella was going table to table greeting the guests and it took her quite awhile to get to us. Olivia was getting more and more excited as she got closer to our table. Finally, she got to our table and greeted Olivia and Chesney. Olivia was being kind of shy. Grammy said, "Olivia, did you tell her you love her more than any other Princess?" And Cinderella just lit up, hugged Olivia and gave her a kiss. That was it for Liv - she was over the moon. She got Cinderella's autograph and pictures taken with her. As Cinderella walked to the next table, Olivia couldn't contain it any longer -- she jumped up and down and clapped her hands and squealed. John and I both got misty-eyed over that. The pictures tell it better than I can, so I'll let them do the talking now.

Photos from top: Olivia crashed out after a long day with her new Disney friends and her dog, Fudge. Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse in front of Cinderella's castle. Emery's first pair of Mickey ears - she's thrilled. Chesney and Olivia meeting Cinderella. Olivia's first pair of ears. Kim, Emery, and I meeting Prince Charming. Grammy and Olivia on the Buzz Lightyear ride - you had lazer guns to shoot targets and I kicked John's butt! Emery checking out everything during the It's a Small World ride.

Day Two - Disney MGM Studios

Our 2nd day was spent with the Lunds at Disney MGM Studios. It was John's favorite park, as far as the look and atmosphere went. He loved all of the old Hollywood stuff. The restaurants were good too. We started the day with a Playhouse Disney breakfast where Olivia got to dance and meet the stars of Jojo's Circus and Little Einsteins. Olivia and Jojo are pictured above. Then John and Dan rode Tower of Terror, but I chickened out. John's favorite ride of the day was Rockin' Roller Coaster -actually, it was his favorite ride of the whole trip. Olivia had fun at the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground, especially since she got to play with Chesney there. We got lots of attention for our Incredibles shirts, but the highlight was definitely when we got to get our picture taken with the actual Incredibles. That was fun. I included one more pic, of Olivia and Emery taking a break and enjoying frozen lemonades. They really look like they're having a deep conversation, don't they? I liked The Little Mermaid show and our dinner at 50s Primetime Cafe. The seating areas actually look like your in your mom's 50s kitchen, and the waiters make sure you use your manners and eat your veggies. Olivia's favorite thing that day was Star Tours. It was a lot of fun to meet up with Grammy and the Lunds and spend the day together!

Our First Night - Epcot Center

Our first night in "The World" was perfect. The weather was perfect - the crowd level was perfect. When we arrived in Epcot Wednesday night, we walked straight on to the Finding Nemo ride. Then we hopped over to see Turtle Talk with Crush, where Crush from Finding Nemo interacted with the kids in the audience. It was a fun show. The best part of the night, however, was walking around the world showcase. Epcot is so fun and interesting, and we didn't begin to scratch the surface of what they had to offer. But we did like touring the countries, especially Morocco. That's where we had our dinner reservation for the evening, and you truly felt transported to a different place. The food was good, the atmosphere was amazing, and the service was excellent. John, Olivia, Grammy and I pigged out and Olivia had fun dancing with the belly dancer later on. It was a great way to start our vacation, and I think it was everyone's favorite meal while we were there. In Japan, John just had to buy a glass of sake. It took him about three drinks to decide that was $5 down the drain. That stuff tasted like poison. Oh well, we enjoyed the music in Japan anyway. We headed back to the hotel to get some sleep, but I was too wound up from finally getting there to actually sleep. The pics are of Olivia and the belly dancer, my family outside the restaurant in Morocco, and the Epcot ball (which houses Emery's favorite ride - lots of pretty lights!). Tomorrow....an Incredible day.

We're baaaaack!

Walt Disney World was amazing!! Olivia cried when we left this morning, cried on the plane, and I wanted to (but I didn't). I'll be blogging a lot in the next few days with lots of pics from the trip, but I wanted to post a few of our highlights tonight. Top Photo - Olivia meeting Prince Charming at our 1900 Park Fare dinner. I have lots more great stories and photos from this event. It was one special night!! 2nd Photo - The Incredibles gather at Disney MGM Studios for a day of fun and food. This was taken outside 50s Primetime Cafe where the waitress repeatedly called John "Mr. Elbows" because he always had his elbows on the table. 3rd Photo - Emery with Mickey antenna on. This was taken at MGM. I always like to buy silly headwear when I'm in Walt Disney World. 4th Photo - I just posted this because I can't believe I survived it. This is Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom. It's really tall and really frightening. The coaster goes forward and backward - in the dark - with a scary Yeti screaming at you and grabbing for your car. But I lived!!