Disney World: Day 5

Magic Kingdom

When we initially planned our trip, we planned to do one of the water parks on our 5th and last day in Disney World. However, we were on a time schedule in order to be home in time for my niece, Samantha's baptism. We decided that we could only put in a half day at one of the parks, and in the end decided on Magic Kingdom. Matt actually stayed home and packed up everything with the baby, and I took the 3 older boys. It was a huge sacrifice on his part, though Bryson did have a major meltdown at one point that made me wonder if I would have rather switched places with Matt. (No, I know I got the better end of that deal.)

Bus ride

Bryson on the carousel, refusing to smile at me

Splash Mountain

Bryson's favorite ride that he wanted to do again and again.

In front of Splash Mountain

Pirates of the Caribbean ride

A kid's ride that I like a lot is Peter Pan. We have previously always used a fast pass for it, but we waited the 15 minutes in line on this last day. I'm so glad we did! Using a fast pass skips past all the details of the Darling house, and there are some really cool features! I was impressed by the rooms and attention to detail and loved the shadow bells and butterflies. (The shadow bells ring when you touch them with your shadow and the shadow butterflies land on your shadow hand if you hold it still.) Winnie the Pooh is another fun wait line with several activities for the kids to do as you wait.

The drive home was better than the drive up simply because we decided to push through and not stop. The baby still would only sleep in 30 minute intervals and then wake up and fuss--just not happy in his car seat no matter what because he hated being strapped in. We left our Disney resort at 12:30 pm and got home just after 2:30 am with only 2 stops. We made it home on fumes because Matt didn't want to stop and get gas and wake everyone up. I was able to doze some, but it wasn't worth it with the baby waking up so frequently. We were tired the next day, but we survived!

Fun trip, fun memories!!

Disney World: Day 4

Hollywood Studios

 Waiting in line for Toy Story

My favorite ride!!

 Austin meeting Olaf while everyone else rode Star Tours.

In front of Tower of Terror

Bryson's first time riding the ride. I would have opted out of him riding this one, but Bryson hated when he couldn't do a ride. Matt told him to "roar" anytime he got scared. Apparently he roared a few different times. :)

Carter was frustrated he wasn't tall enough for Rockin' Rollercoaster so he rode this one a handful of times.

Girls' turn

Fish face

We enjoyed the shows throughout the day. Matt was chosen to be part of the Indiana Jones show, which he was excited about. We enjoyed eating funnel cakes during that show. The Frozen show is well done, though I took a cat nap during it. This was our earliest night getting back to the resort around 7pm. 

This park is undergoing a lot of changes: new Tower of Terror, Toy Story land, new Star Wars section.

Disney World: Day 3

Magic Kingdom

We started out the day in Tomorrowland and spent most of the morning there.

Space Mountain

Buzz Lightyear

People Mover

(Great activity for the littles that couldn't do Space Mountain)

Seven Dwarves' Mine Train

Bryson loved it, but still gripped an adult's arm the whole time

Ever popular Tea Cups

Trying to pull out the sword in the stone

Flexing for good measure

We did a late lunch/early dinner at Be Our Guest. First time at the restaurant; we loved the ambience.

Austin napped during the meal--perfect timing

Splash Mountain

 Bryson's favorite ride! 

 This was our first time to do Belle's story time. Worth the wait in line!

Carter played Belle's father

And Bryson played the Beast. It was the cutest thing ever!!!

Probably my favorite memory from the trip was watching Belle dance with Bryson (aka the Beast)

We tried to head in earlier that night so we could all get a good night's sleep!

Disney World: Day 1

 The car ride to Disney World was pretty miserable. We had hoped and planned on the baby sleeping a lot more in the car than he did. Between his whining/fussiness, the older boys needing to go to the bathroom so often ("You do not get to drink water!"), doing homework in the car, and the flat tire we got on the way, we decided the extra money to fly would have been worth it. We drove around 9 hours on Saturday. We stopped for church in DeFuniak, Florida on Sunday morning and arrived around 5pm at Disney World. After unloading the car, we checked out the resort and ate dinner.

The boys excited to begin our week! They had been looking forward to this vacation for over 6 months!

Day 1: Animal Kingdom

We decided to do Animal Kingdom, which seems to be the least popular park, on Labor Day hoping for less crowds. It wasn't bad but still lots of people!

Waiting in line for the Safari ride 

On the Safari jeep

The Lion King show is my favorite show in all of Disney World. Bryson got to participate in it!

Waiting for the Bug's Life show

Austin taking a nap

(My boys did really well at staying close by. We really emphasized the importance of holding our hands or holding onto the stroller so that no one got lost.)

Riding the Triceratops Spin ride with Bryson, though he's too short to be seen.

We were really bummed that DINOSAUR was under refurbishment as that is one of my favorite rides in Animal Kingdom.

We ate an early lunch at Flaming Tree BBQ (very yummy). Around 3:30pm, we got on a bus to head to 'Ohana for some crazy good food. (LOVE the banana pudding dessert.) Then we headed back to Animal Kingdom for more fun.

It rained while we ate at 'Ohanas, so that timing worked out well.

Of course, the most anticipated and favorite ride for my older boys was Mount Everest. Carter was given a card 2 years ago that allowed him to go to the front of the line if he held onto it because he wasn't tall enough last time we went. He held onto the card and knew exactly where it was for those 2 years. He was SO excited to ride it and absolutely loved it. Bryson had a hard time with any ride that he couldn't go on. Caleb and Carter didn't care about anything else in the park except for this ride. They probably rode it a total of 10 times that day between fast passes, rider switch passes, and then riding it several times before we went home.

Tree of Life

Mt. Everest

Tree of Life at night, prior to the lighting

Picture with Minnie and Mickey--my nephew, Gavin, with us

When we got on the bus to go back to the resort, Bryson headed to the back with his Aunt. It wasn't long before he fell asleep...on a stranger's arm. The man was very nice about it.

Exhausting day, but also so fun! Everyone slept well this night. We hoped that trend would continue, but the next two nights the baby struggled some and woke a few times.