Our Disney Spring Break, Part 2

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In 2nd place - The Animal Kingdom

The Animal Kingdom was amazing! Every part of it. But overall, it just barely came into 2nd place for me. For others it was number 1. But this is about ME people. Okay, maybe not.

Anyway, The African section had really fun, live entertainment and music.

Some of us were brave enough to get in on the dancing.

We went and saw Festival of the Lion King, which had the Broadway show style puppets, dancing, singing, acrobats, etc. It was really well done, and almost nobody fell asleep ;)

Cora specifically wore her Lion King shirt this day, so she felt a kinship ;)

The Safari was pretty cool too. It was fun to ride around in an open jeep, looking at the animals. There were a lot. And they seemed to be in nice big open areas....not that I'm an expert on animal enclosures. I'm sure that PETA doesn't approve....not that I care about PETA. In an case, it's a 110 acre Wildlife Reserve, so that's not too shabby. 

A few of the animals we saw were:

Hippos - the picture below shows a mamma and baby, the newest baby to the animal park. Can you find them? Up above you can see rope bridges. These are for VIP tours, where guests, who pay a LOT more money, get a little more up close and personal with some of the animals.

Crocodiles - these are not to be confused with alligators, which do not live in Africa...but do in fact live on Disney property, because they are EVERYWHERE in Florida...but not in this spot. Was that too confusing?

Signs in Swahili -

Giraffes - Just out roaming around the savanna, alongside wildebeests, springbok, and ankole cattle

Elephants - I'm not posting any close-ups of these animals, because you already know what they look like. I'm just trying to show the areas that they live in, and how big and open they are.

Flamingos - in front of a lot more elephants.

Lions - sans the tigers and bears, oh my.

Okay, I had to do a close-up of this guy, because seeing him sleeping there, I just want to go and give him a good cuddle. "I will name him George, and I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him..." (name that monster). But seriously, how cute is he?

And last buy not least, Zebras - well, technically not last either, because we saw a lot more animals than just these. It was a good little ride.

Animal Kingdom also has an Asian Section, but we didn't explore that section as much as we did Africa. Actually, we missed a lot of Africa too. We spent a full day, and then some, at Animal Kingdom, but I'd need at least another day or 2 or more to really do it justice. But I did get a couple of good pictures in the Asian Section.

It's all the attention to details that I really appreciate about Disney. Like this tree (below) decorated with scarves, bells, and garlands as a tribute to the spirits for wishes and prayers that have been granted. This is something I remember seeing in Korea. Disney is the master of transporting you to a different time and place....even if it is fake, hahaha ;)

Joe took Cora, Joseph, and Alex on Expedition Everest. We had fast passes, but Madelyn got too nervous, so I stayed with her. Probably a good thing, because Cora got a little sick on that ride, so I'm sure I would have too. Madelyn and I went to get a Mickey pretzel with cheese, and ended up getting 2 for free (probably because the park was closing soon). Awesome!

We went to "It's Tough to Be a Bug". We didn't really know what to expect from this 3D movie experience, but it was a lot of fun.

First, nobody was expecting to feel bugs crawling behind and underneath them. Shocking ;) Second, it wasn't a long wait time, and (as is usual in Disney), there were a lot of interesting things to look at in line - it's near the Tree of Life, which has the most incredible carvings, as well as other trees nearby.

At some point in the middle of the day, we found the train over to Rafiki's Planet Watch, which is where the veterinarian clinic is, as well as a petting zoo. When we got over there, I was done. I mean, I was SO tired! Marie had given me some medicine for motion sickness (I'll mention that later), and it was making me beyond drowsy. While everyone else walked around, I went off to a dark corner where they were showing a film, laid down on the floor in between the benches, and fell asleep. Not sure how long I was there, or how much of a weirdo I looked like, but I totally didn't care because I felt so much better when I woke up! :) Meanwhile, the kids had fun petting animals, or whatever else they were doing (thanks Marie!)

One of the last things we did was the Dinosaur ride, which turns out to be very similar to the Indiana Jones ride in California....minus everything to do with Indiana Jones ;) We went on this one night during the night show, so there was no line. Ride, walk to the front of the line, ride, walk to the front of the line, ride. Twice for me and Joe, once more for the kids.

Finally (but not really, because we went there first) was Pandora. The thing that we were all looking forward to the most was Pandora. We even watched The Avatar with the kids beforehand so that they would have the proper context. It was amazing!....the place, not the movie....but I'm also no hater of the movie.

The Flight of Passage, which is the main attraction in Pandora was definitely amazing - beyond anything that any of us had imagined - unfortunately, it made me slightly sick (I had to close my eyes through part of it), but it was still enjoyable. We were not able to get fast passes for this, so we had to do a rope drop (get there early, and as soon as they open, you go as fast as you can to the ride, along with hundreds of others who are doing the exact same thing). It was a bit chilly that morning, so Ava and Alex huddled up together in her blanket.

We ended up waiting 90 minutes, which was the longest we waited for anything, and is definitely my limit. But the line was never that short again. It got up to almost 4 hrs. I would never. Never.

The Na'vi River Journey, also fun. At night, everything glowed - black lights everywhere. No pictures, sorry.

The food in Pandora was my FAVORITE!!! Cora and I were really looking forward to this, and it did not disappoint.

On the left is the Cheeseburger Steamed Pods, or Bao Buns, with a vegetable slaw and veggie chips. The slaw was....different, but actually a really nice compliment to the pods, and the veggie chips were super yummy. The star of the show was on the right, the slow roasted Grilled Beef Bowl (cooked perfectly medium rare). Cora and I shared both of these dishes, and in our beef bowl we chose a red and sweet potato hash with a creamy herb sauce. Joe had a beef bowl with rice and beans and a black bean vinaigrette. I tasted his too, OF COURSE, and I honestly can't say which one I liked better. They were SO good. I could seriously eat that Every. Single. Day. Of my life.

We also got the famous non-alcoholic Night Blossom, which is just a glorified apple and pear slushy with passion fruit boba balls. Not bad on a hot day. Actually, it was Madelyn and Alex's favorite thing.

Favorites:
Joe - Flight of Passage
Ruth - Safari, but only because I got sick on Flight of Passage :(
Cora - Flight of Passage
Joseph - Flight of Passage
Madelyn - Flight of Passage
Alex - Flight of Passage

And that was Animal Kingdom. And this post was kind of long too, so I'm going to do a third one to cover the winner.

Our Disney Spring Break

We needed Spring Break like we've never needed it before, so we went big - Disney World!

We've never been there, so to say we were excited was a gross understatement. Planning our trip became my new hobby.......okay, my new obsession. I looked up everything I possibly could, read blogs, watched videos, looked at maps, and took notes on it all. I didn't plan out every second of each day - I'm actually very flexible with the execution of my plans - but I was prepared, and I think it paid off magnificently! I should be a tour guide. Just ask Marie and Antoine.

Oh, did I mention, Marie and Antoine flew out to Orlando with their kids to go to Disney World with us! Probably, mostly, because they think I'm a good tour guide. Obviously.

Oh, and I have to warn you, there are going to be a lot of pictures of food, because in all my planning, that was probably my biggest focus. I've always thought Disney food is hit or miss, so I didn't want to take any chances - I wanted good food! And I got some :)

Okay, I'm going to take this a park at a time. There are 4 parks at Disney World, and I liked them all, but I'll go my least favorite to my most favorite. Let's get started

In 4th place - Disney's Hollywood Studios

I love Antoine's pose in the picture below :)

Disney's Hollywood Studios is somewhat similar to Disney California Adventure, except it doesn't have Cars Land. There just isn't a whole lot to do here, although that's going to change in a HUGE way with the opening of Toy Story Land later this year, and the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in 2019 - crazy! But for now, their biggest draw (for me anyway) is the Tower of Terror, which happens to be one of my favorite rides, and was replaced by the Guardians of the Galaxy ride in California (although it's the exact same structure and ride system, so.....). Anyway, our kids are not a fan of the Tower of Terror, and neither is Marie's family, with the exception of Jada, our brave 8 year old (or is she 9 already?) niece. So it was just me, Joe and Jada on the Tower of Terror, and it was even BETTER than the one in California!

On our way back, we ran into some storm troopers.

Everybody else went to see the Indiana Jones Stunt show, and they said it was good. Then we had our first treat - the classic Mickey ice cream bar. Surprisingly good.

 Joseph went for the Mickey ice cream sandwich.

And a curious duck joined us....but we didn't share.

I think we went to Muppet Vision next, which is exactly the same as in California. Then we went to Toy Story Mania - again, the same, but always fun. Antoine crushed us all with his score.

Everyone went to Star Tours, except for me and Marie, and we went to the live Little Mermaid show, which was ridiculous, and got us very wet, and then we went to Walt Disney Presents, which was WONDERFUL, and was all about Walt Disney's life and what inspired him as he was growing up. They had some great displays, including some original drawings of different movies and characters. I need to print this one and hang it somewhere :)

Finally, we watched Fantasmic, which is okay, but I actually thought the one in California was better, as long as you can get good seats. That was pretty much it. We only stayed 1/2 a day at Hollywood Studios, and we felt like that's all we needed. We had 3 fast passes, but honestly, the only one that really made a difference was Tower of Terror, and that actually made a big difference in wait time. But even without the fast passes, we still could have done everything we wanted in 1/2 day. The only other thing they really have to offer is the Rock and Roll roller coaster, but almost nobody wanted to go on that, so we skipped it.

Favorites Rides:
Joe - Tower of Terror
Ruth -Tower of Terror
Cora - Star Tours
Joseph - Muppet Vision
Madelyn - Star Tours
Alex - Star Tours

In 3rd place - Magic Kingdom

We spent a day and a half at the Magic Kingdom - not enough time to do EVERYTHING, but enough time to do everything we wanted. Magic Kingdom is the park most similar to Disneyland, with a few notable differences. I wanted to make sure we hit all the things that they don't have at Disneyland, like The People Mover, Carousel of Progress, Mickey's Philharmagic, The Barnstormer, The Hall of Presidents, the Muppets Present in Liberty Square, and the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (which we all loved). I loved them all, even the cheesy ones. We had fast passes to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train one day, and another day we had the Peter Pan ride, Space Mountain, and meeting Mickey Mouse. Mostly we stuck together, but a couple of times we split up.

The Hall of Presidents was surprisingly good. Although Trump has been added, it is NOT about him, and I thought it was really well done.

The Haunted Mansion was fun (even though we got booted out of line when it broke down the first time we tried it), because it had some fun interactive things for the kids to do while waiting in line.

It might sound silly, but I loved the Winnie the Pooh ride :) The car thing you were in moved so that you were bouncing with Tigger, and floating in a boat during the Rainy Day - so much fun!

The train that just goes around the park is always good for a nap.

Meeting Mickey is always a MUST in my book, but we also got to meet Goofy and Donald this time too.

Splash Mountain was another one that is way better here - so much longer and more details. It was raining that day, off and on, so we had brought some plastic ponchos, but we sure were glad to have those on Splash Mountain, because Joe and I were in the front seat, and we would have been completely drenched without those! Bonus - if you look closely, Joe and I are wearing matching Mickey and Minnie shirts that say Dad and Mom....because we're that big of Disney nerds.

 We loved the Tangled area with the lanterns....

 ...and the bathroom in that area had Rapunzels paintings  - it's the little things ;)

Now for the food. I love the turkey legs at Disney. They are huge (we only got 2 for the 6 of us), flavorful, and fairly cheap. They are the perfect food to help you pass the time in a long line. Thanks to Antoine we got plenty of pictures of us eating turkey legs, hahaha.

 

Cora and I also decided that we NEEDED to try the macaroni and cheese hotdog from Casey's Corner. We got the footlong to share, and oh my word, it was huge. Was it the best hotdog I've ever had? No, partly because the bun itself was SO much, but it was still really good, and was more than enough to feed me and Cora.

We took our food from Casey's and we all found a fake grassy spot and sat down for a while to rest.

 

Right as we were about to leave, they announced that there would be 3 high school bands marching by down Main Street, and wouldn't you know it, one of them just happened to be Papillion-La Vista high school from Nebraska - OUR HIGH SCHOOL! So of course we had to stay and watch and cheer them on. There was one kid there from our ward, but we didn't spot him. We don't even know what instrument he plays, honestly ;)

We had to stop by Gaston's Tavern, and we shared some very large and delicious cinnamon rolls.

And, of course, you can't go to Disney without partaking of a Dole Whip. We tried both the Dole Whip and the Citrus Swirl to see which we liked best. The votes were split, but I sided with the classic Dole Whip. Love me some tartness ;)

These were perfect on the one kind of hot day that we had there. They were perfect while we waited for the kids to go on the Aladdin Magic Carpet ride, which they came back to when the fireworks were going off because there was NO line, and they literally rode it over and over again (I lost track of how many times), and got a good view of the fireworks from up above.

Favorites Rides:

Joe - Space Mountain

Ruth - Splash Mountain (honorable mention to Winnie the Pooh)

Cora - Splash Mountain

Joseph - Splash Mountain

Madelyn - Mine Train

Alex - Mine Train

Oh my gosh, is this totally boring for you? Sorry if it is, but I'm mostly just documenting this for us anyway ;) I feel like this is getting long though, so I'm going to put the other two parks in another post. Which will come in 2nd place and which will be 1st? Stay tuned....