Disney Days 7 and 8

Hi there!  I hope all of our American followers enjoyed the weekend celebrating our country and freedom. <3  

I am back to almost wrapping up our 10 day Disney trip.  Day seven was Father's Day!  We spent the morning in Animal Kingdom.

We rode the Safari as soon as the park opened.  Isaiah enjoyed seeing all of the animals.  Since it was early, a lot of them were out eating.  We even got to see a 4 month old giraffe...who ran to his mom when our vehicle came near (according to our driver, he was still getting used to the vehicles).  

Funny thing, I don't remember it being nearly as crazy bumpy as it was this ride...Isaiah loved those bumps....but I was holding on for dear life him and busy trying my best to stabilize us the best I could...unless Isaiah requests to ride this one when he is older, I don't plan to ever bring him on again. ;-)

After the safari, we visited Isaiah's pals, Mickey and Minnie, again.

Never got old.

After that, we made our way to meet Dave's favorites, Baloo and King Louie.

To say that Baloo loved Dave's shirt was an understatement.  He just kept pointing and dragging Dave around to the other families and pointing to the shirt and himself...so cute.  While Dave and Baloo played, Isaiah enjoyed time with King Louie.  He couldn't keep his hands off his fur.  

He really loved the furry characters...even if he hasn't seen their movie yet...like Up.

Isaiah got to pet Dug and play peek a boo with Russell.  

After visiting with the Up characters, we met Tarzan!

I had fun with Tarzan.  I asked him how Jane was doing and he replied "Jane back at treehouse".  I asked him if they have any kids yet and he said "kids?" while scratching his head.  I replied, "yes, babies?" while pointing at Isaiah.  He was all "BABIES? BABIES????"  

I love talking to the face characters.

After meeting Tarzan, we headed to see The Lion King.

We had front row seats which allowed Isaiah to have an unobstructed view and to take it all in.  He loved the fast songs but could do without Can You Feel the Love Tonight.  We had a monkey man eat bugs off of us and lots of characters come right up and interact with and dance for us.  

After the show, we had lunch a meltdown...it was hot and I should have given Isaiah a snack before the show.  Once he had some lunch, we made our way back to the resort for a cool down, nap, and a little snack...

Once we were rested, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom! (Can you tell we love it there?)

We checked out the Tiki Room and Adventureland before heading to dinner at Pecos Bills (Disney friends, can we have a moment of silence for the hot cheese?).

After dinner, we made our way down Main Street, taking more castle pictures. 

 I am obsessed with castle pictures.  But, look, we got a smile!

It was a quick evening in the Magic Kingdom because we wanted to fit another swim fest in before the end of our trip...

We loved taking Isaiah swimming before bed.  He always sleeps so well for the night then.

Monday morning, we headed to 'Ohana for breakfast with some more characters.  Isaiah got to meet Stitch and Lilo and see Pluto and Mickey again.

The food is served family style at 'Ohana, which is a nice change from running around to get food from the buffet and fear missing a character.  'Ohana was the first place we had trouble setting up Isaiah's awesome travel high chair...but the staff was fantastic in asking what was going on and hunting for a better chair to suit our needs...they did by the way. ;-)  And we thank them for that.  

There is something about Isaiah being able to sit up on his own... not on one of our laps and not slumped and hidden in his stroller...the characters have more freedom to interact with Isaiah this way and it's wonderful.

After breakfast, we went to check out Downtown Disney.  Lots of construction and changes, but we were still able to add to our Disney Mr Potato Head collection and checked out the fun mirror in Goofy's candy store.

On Monday evening, we went back to the Magic Kingdom to play in Tomorrowland a bit.

We had dinner at Cosmic Rays (and Sonny Eclipse freaked Isaiah out) then rode Buzz Lightyear again...

After Buzz, we hopped by Fantasyland to ride the Winnie the Pooh ride.  Isaiah loved the rain room.  As a matter of fact, we now sing "And the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down" every bath. :)

The night went quickly.  Isaiah seemed pretty sleepy after Winnie the Pooh, so we made our way to the entrance...remembering we had a fastpass to see (talking) Mickey again.  Mickey woke Isaiah right up.

This was the interaction that Disney is all about...we wish we had videoed this trip to see Mickey.  As soon as Isaiah laid eyes on Mickey, he was grinning ear to ear.  Mickey sang two songs from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and it was just the coolest.  Isaiah was trying to sing along and kicking his feet like crazy.  When we went to leave, Isaiah started to cry as we sat him in his stroller.

Instead of moving on to the next family, Mickey came over to Isaiah in his stroller and sang the Hot Dog song again.  He held hands with him and basically made me a giant ball of tears.

Seriously.

Thanks Mickey.

Instead of walking back to our resort, we decided to ride the monorail.

We grabbed a quick late bite in the quick service at the Contemporary, where Isaiah still couldn't stop smiling.

and where Dave started to say "hey lady, put the camera phone down."

:-P

and we decided to book a trip for next May.

Oh snap.

Last Disney recap coming on Wednesday...focusing on our last two days...when some of the most magical moments from our trip took place. :)

Disney Days 5 and 6

We were back to the Magic Kingdom on our 5th day.  Our 5th day was Dave's birthday! (Sorry if I am confusing anyone.  We are home now.  The posts that I put up about prepping/Father's Day were all written before our trip and published while we we were away to give us family time.)

So, along with the amazing surprise for Isaiah from my wonderful scrapbooking friends, Dave also received a package on our first day of the trip; it included these awesome birthday Mickey ears, a ton of chocolate bars, lollipops, and even a Vinylmation.  This gift came from Disney!  I had called Disney Vacation Club before our trip and told them we would be down there for Dave's birthday.  I explained that Dave plans 99.9% of our Disney trips and that he is such an amazing guy...the woman I spoke to said they'd put a note on our reservation and that amazing package is the result!  Isn't that super sweet?

Along with that phone call, I also emailed who I thought was the manager of the restaurant (Crystal Palace) that we were planning to have breakfast in on Dave's birthday (thanks to Tom for that email!)....she had a note put on that breakfast reservation and Dave was surprised with a signed birthday card and yummy cupcake! (Disney, you rock. Thank you.)

Isaiah says, "A cupcake for breakfast? OK!"

We had a great time with the characters from Winnie the Pooh....and Isaiah enjoyed his bacon, pancakes, and puffed french toast (if you ever eat at Crystal Palace, try the puff french toast. YUM...also, I should mention he had already started the day with a fruit/veggie puree, so all those carbs are completely ok. haha)

After breakfast, we rode the Haunted Mansion and oh my goodness did Isaiah love it.  He squealed, babbled, and giggled when we went down into "the graveyard" backwards...and getting on was great too.  If you've been to Disney, you know that a number of the rides have a moving sidewalk, which was intimidating.  Thanks to having our stroller marked as a wheelchair, the Cast Members had us go through alternative entries and offered to slow down the moving sidewalks if we needed that.  We didn't need a change in the speed but it was nice to have the option.  Also, it was nice not to have the other guests rushing around us like we'd typically experience getting on the rides.  We needed to go our own pace and Disney gave us that ability.

After our fun ride on the Haunted Mansion, we made our way over to Tomorrowland to ride Buzz Lightyear, Isaiah's favorite ride of the trip.  Oh my goodness he loved the laser gun and joystick that spun the car around...he couldn't take his hand off that joystick.  

After Buzz, we went on the TTA.  Another favorite.  Isaiah was full of smiles whenever it would "zoom" off to the next destination.  Once we were done with the TTA, we checked out the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, where I really wanted Dave to be that guy...maybe next time. ;-)

After a busy morning, we made our way back to the resort, stopping at the Confectionary to grab Isaiah a yummy snack.

After that, a good long nap and late lunch, we headed to Animal Kingdom.

Look, it's Pascal from Tangled! :-P

We had fast passes to meet the Adventurous duo, Mickey and Minnie.

Minnie may have fallen in love.  She kept making hearts with her hands and blowing so many smooches...but my favorite moment was when we were going to leave...

and Minnie wouldn't let us go!  LOL

Once we explained that we had dinner reservations, we made out way to Yak and Yeti

It was insanely delicious. Maybe we felt that way because we were hungry, but man on man, lettuce cups, egg rolls, honey chicken, BBQ ribs....all delicious!  And Isaiah ate over half an egg roll, and chicken and rib meat before going to his travel foods.  

Oh, and fried wontons?  Heaven.

After stuffing our faces, we caught the Finding Nemo musical.  So cute!

Once the show was over, the park was closing and it was time to head back for the night.  We thought we'd get a good night's sleep, but Isaiah decided it was morning at 3am that day.  Yup.  By 4am, I figured that he was just way too energetic so I took him to the lobby so Dave could at least get some sleep.  I laid him on a chaise lounge they have in the lobby and he just rolled around playing and yelling...all the while the cast members that were cleaning were laughing away at him.  (Disney never sleeps.  I learned that is when they polish the elevators and clean down the lobby.)  I'm glad some one found him cute at that moment.

With little sleep, we headed back to Hollywood Studios at 8am for what we called Disney Jr day.  We first had breakfast at Hollywood and Vine where we met Jake (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  Isaiah's second favorite tv show), Doc McStuffins, and Sophia the First!  Isaiah had a toy camera that is themed to Jake and when he saw it, he about died.  He started taking selfies of himself and cracking up.  So funny!

The picture of Doc with her hand over her mouth kills me.  

After breakfast, we made our way to the Disney Jr show.  We were early and noticed that Jake was doing a meet and greet right outside (man, that Jake moves quick) so we had to jump in line to say hi again.

Isaiah giggled while I embarrassed myself yelling "YO HO" and "Ahoy Matey!".

After seeing Jake, it was time for the adorable Disney Jr show...

Isaiah's eyes were glued on the stage...and when it would snow, rain bubbles, or rain gold doubloons...on MAN! He was in awe.  It was so stinking cute!!!

After the show, we went back to our resort, had a little downtime and a looooooooong nap before heading to dinner at another resort/campground, Fort Wilderness, at Trail's End.  In order to get there, we took a ferry boat over Bay Lake.

The food was insanely yummy and the boat ride back and forth was wonderful.

After some more down time, we decided that even though it was drizzling that it was a good night to check out the parade at Magic Kingdom.  We are so glad we did that!

Thanks to the rain (oh, it rained on and all all afternoon/evening), Magic Kingdom really seemed to have cleared out.  We got an insanely prime parade viewing spot by the entrance and just took it in.

Isaiah loved the lights and took notice whenever a character or cast member would talk to him.  Cinderella blew him a kiss!

It's not every day that a princess blows you a kiss. ;-)

It was a perfect night for the parade.  The rain had brought in a cool breeze and all that exhausted Isaiah, which made for a great night's sleep.
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Ok dokie, that wraps up days 5/6...half way through the trip!  Next week, I'll post about the rest of our trip (get ready for more pictures.  We seriously took over 2000.)

Disney Days 3 and 4

Are you ready for more Disney?  Oh hey, did I tell you that our trip was 10 days long?  So far I am only able to cram two days worth of photos into a post at a time (so basically you are going to be Disney-ed out by the time I am done posting about our trip)...I know I could do more, but with all of the organizing photos from my phone, from Dave's phone, and Photopass....and then having to go back and watermark them all...it's a lot of work!

Our third day in Disney brought us back to Magic Kingdom.  We spent a lot of time there....it's so big, most toddler/baby friendly (in my opinion), walkable from our resort, and my favorite.  Ha. 

Upon entering, we headed straight for one of the new areas, Storybook Circus.  We went to Pete's Sideshow to see more characters (FYI, lots of characters this trip, since Isaiah loves them so much).

We first stood in line for Donald and Goofy and then for Daisy and Minnie.  All of the characters were so sweet.  

Isaiah actually made a Donald-like noise when meeting Donald Duck and they had a great time playing Peek a Boo.  Isaiah was all about Goofy's ears and whiskers.  Daisy made lots of kissy sounds toward Isaiah and he just loved playing with her beak....and man, he was in love with Minnie's nose (wait til you see more pictures with Minnie later in this post...oh my goodness!).

After we were done visiting the characters, we went on It's a Small World.  

When it comes to rides, we had planned to use our carrier, but it's so hot down there, and I rarely use it....it just wasn't natural for us.  We found it easier for me to get on most rides carrying Isaiah, I'd hold him for the ride, and then Dave would pick him up as soon as the safety features released and he'd carry him off the ride.  

Isaiah was very interested in everything in It's a Small World until the very end, when the boats stopped moving.  Combined with that and the music getting louder for the finale, Isaiah was ready for it to end....like most people. ;-)

Here's a moment that Dave caught on video while he was enjoying it. :)

After Small World, we checked out Frontierland and saw the Country Bear Jamboree...Isaiah was so entertained!  Every time a bear would pop up behind a new curtain, Isaiah excitedly turned toward it.  His eyes were glued.  He clapped his hands!  It was so cute!

After the show, we went back to New Fantasyland, where we checked out the Beauty and the Beast store before our reservation at Be Our Guest.  (Oh hey, if you set up reservations for quick service lunch for here, totally put your order in before your trip.  This sounded insane to me when Dave had us do it...like, how do I know what I'll want?  I picked the turkey sandwich, figuring it was a safe bet...and so glad I did!  It was yummy and we avoided standing in a huge line waiting to put in our order.

Isaiah loved Dave's roast beef sandwich and stole lots of roast beef (which was a huge surprise to us!).  Oh, and get the gray stuff; it's delicious! (Don't believe me?  Ask the dishes.....had to!)  The strawberry cupcake was by far our favorite, but all three cupcakes were yummy.  The three of us split them and loved every bite.  

After lunch, we made our way through the stores (avoiding the sun), bumping into the Fire Chief of Main Street!  He was super sweet and introduced us to some local ladies....who freaked Isaiah out. LOL (Wish I had a picture of his reaction, but the one lady stated "that's how most of the boys respond to me").

After a great morning, Isaiah took an insanely long nap, had a snack in our room, and we headed for the pool.  Fun fact about the pool at Bay Lake Tower....it's completely in the shade after 6pm....which is the most amazing thing for our sun-loathing boy!  (Plus no worries of sun burn!)  It is also zero-entry, which meant Isaiah could sit up in the pool!  He loved playing with the fountains/water sprayers.

They had a great little splash zone that Dave ran through with Isaiah, too. He couldn't get enough of that.

"I'd like to do that again, please!"

After a swim and a good night's rest, we were ready for Epcot!

We had Fast Passes for the Character Spot, where we got to meet Mickey, Goofy, and Minnie (again, and it never got old lol)...

I love the picture with Mickey!  Hooray to all of us looking at the camera!

Oh my gosh, I can't handle the fact that I am posting these pictures of myself on the internet, but look at Isaiah!  He was SO excited to get to Goofy.  

and his face when squeezing Minnie's nose! PRICELESS!

When we left the Character Spot, Chip and Dale were meeting outside, so of course we had to jump in their line!

Do you know how to tell the difference between Chip and Dale?  Check out their noses- Chip is the one with the "chocolate chip" nose.

Once we were done meeting characters for the morning, we went to The Seas, where we chatted with Crush from Finding Nemo.  He called Isaiah a little hatchling.  LOL...my favorite is when he says "look at all the humans in the human tank!". If you have kids, go check it out, dudes.  It's super cute, dudes. ;-)

Once done there, it was time to head over to the World Showcase, Mexico (to be specific), for lunch at my most favorite place...San Angel Inn.  YUM!  Before our lunch, we rode the boat ride.  Isaiah was excited to see Donald throughout the ride.

After the ride, Isaiah enjoyed the chips, some chicken, and some beans...but he mostly loved the dark atmosphere and air conditioning. ;-)

(So apparently I forgot to add a picture to the bottom right corner. ha.  Blogger fail.)

After lunch, we met Mexican Donald (is that the politically correct?).  Isaiah loved his giant hat and beak....loved!

And that wraps up days 3/4.  Are you loving how much Isaiah loved meeting the characters?  Also, did you notice our DIY shirts while in Epcot?  Thanks to youtube and my cricut, we had some one-of-a-kind shirts that were easy to make....I will likely make many more in the future. :)