Animal Kingdom

We got up in the morning and, after lovely Mother's Day cuddles and surprises, packed up - very sad to be leaving such a beautiful hotel. Once the luggage was collected we jumped on a bus to Animal Kingdom. Even before we headed into the park we met Tarzan - very cool. 

Our first fastpass was for the safari, but we were able to wander slowly to get there. Charlotte found a Junior Safari station and signed herself up. She got a book and had to go and find different station  and perform activities or answer questions there to get "badges" (stickers) for her book. 

The safari was pretty amazing - we saw so many different animals and birds. Hippos, rhinos, giraffe, zebras, special types of cattle, elephants, lions, ostriches, flamingoes, and more. Once we get the photos sorted we can see exactly what we saw. The safari had different vegetation along the way, and it was amazing seeing the HUGE ant hills on the Savannah plains. 

After the safari we went to the Festival of the Lion King. This was an awesome show - phenomenal singing, great acrobatics and dancing - well worth seeing. 

Next up - Expedition Everest. A roller coaster ride set in the Himalayas with the Yeti. Charlotte loved the roller coaster bit, but wasn't thrilled with seeing the Yeti. However, the enjoyment of the roller coaster won out, so she went on a second time, with Michelle this time. 

By then we were hungry so headed off to dinosaur land for lunch. It was packed, but we found a table quickly and sent Michelle off to stand in line for hours for food. Well, really only about half an hour, but it felt like hours to everyone :)

After lunch it was time to get wet at the Kali River Rapids. James didn't like this ride very much - he didn't like the water - but everyone else appreciated the opportunity to cool down. 

We then walked through the tiger sanctuary and saw a beautiful tiger, before heading back to the bus stops. On the way Charlotte stopped at the Junior Safari station and showed them all the badges she'd earned. She was sad that she hadn't completed the book, but they told her it never ran out and she could do it next time too. They gave her another badge for telling them what her favourite animal was that she'd seen (the giraffe of course) and that made her happy again. 

We jumped on a bus and headed back to the Magic Kingdom where we had reservations to eat at the majestic Beauty and the Beast castle. The decorations on the restaurant were absolutely beautiful - it was even snowing outside the window. The food was yummy - and although we really wanted to "try the grey stuff" which apparently was "delicious, if you don't believe me ask the dishes," we were just too full. 

After dinner we were able to go and meet our host - the Beast. Charlotte was a bit scared and wouldn't have her photo taken with him, but changed her mind as we walked out the door, so we went back in and saw him again. 

We left the park via Liberty Square where we did a few more interactive portals, this time we were chasing Cruella de Ville!

We then went to the bus stop to head to our new hotel - Animal Kingdom Kidani Village. We arrived there in the dark, and found our way to reception. After checking in we walked to our room - and walked, and walked, and walked some more. We seemed to be an awfully long way away from the lobby :)

The room was beautiful - a one-bedroom apartment, with 2 bathrooms. It was decorated with Lion King motifs - carved animals in the backs of the chairs, bathroom tiles with the Savannah and animal shadows, etc. The couch folded out into a double bed, and the comfy chair folded out into a single bed - just perfect for James. 

Bedtime, ready for our big day tomorrow. 

Haircuts and hairdos and princesses and things

This morning started early with a quick breakfast before heading to the Magic a Kingdom for James to get his hair cut. We were one of the first bookings for the day - and Wayne jumped into the "standby" line to get his hair cut too. The barber asked Michelle how much she wanted cut off James' hair - she dithered so much that the barber turned and said, "we only have 10 minutes to do the cut, how much do you want off?"

So, all his curls are now gone and he looks like a proper little boy. Michelle was a bit sad, but it's growing on her. Wayne managed to get most of the grey trimmed off. :)

Both James and Wayne had pirate treasure sprinkled in their hair - nice and glittery!

We had a little bit of time before our next appointment, so we headed off to Fantasyland to finally defeat Ursula in the Sorceror's of the Magic Kingdom...which was the end of our quest. But, of course, there are always more villains to defeat, so we were offered the option to head to Liberty Square to continue. Not today though!

Charlotte had a very special appointment with a fairy-godmother-in-training to be transformed. She chose an Anna dress, and had her hair done in the newest colour streaked style. We then had photos taken before heading off for lunch. 

Whilst this was all going on Wayne and James headed off in search of food - and some rides on the carousel. 

We were lucky enough to have reservations to eat at Cinderella's Royal Table - right in Cinderella's castle. Although we were the third in line to check on, we somehow ended up as the first in line to meet Cinderella. Charlotte was then chose. As the Princess of the Day and was announced to everyone as she led them into lunch. 

We were given a window seat, with a fantastic view of the carousel. Shortly after they took our order they announced the arrival of some very special visitors - Snow White, Ariel, Merida, and Jasmine.  They all came to our tables and took photos and signed autographs. 

After lunch we jumped on the Peter Pan ride and Autotopia, and then to the parade. Charlotte was upset that her new gloves got dirty holding the steering wheel - clearly the cars aren't that clean :)

James was asleep by this time so Wayne and James stayed on one of the paths by the castle while Michelle and Charlotte went to find a good spot to watch. When they found somewhere Charlotte said she couldn't see, so the couple next to them let her in front. 

Charlotte kept asking when the parade was starting, and the guy was telling her when it was going to come, and how she would know. It turned out that the couple both worked at DisneyWorld, Michelle didn't find out where, but given they were saying they never got to see the parade, but knew every single song and dance move, it was a fairly good bet that they were part of the entertainment cast. 

It was absolutely amazing standing with them for the parade. They also seemed to know every single person in the parade, and they called out to most of them and pointed out Charlotte. Anna said something to Elsa like "there's out other sister," and told Charlotte she wanted her crown. Flynn Rider pointed at Charlotte and winked. Minnie Mouse drew a love heart with her hands and pointed at Charlotte. Those was truly one of those one-in-a-million, money-can't-buy experiences. Michelle only wishes she had gotten their names to let guest services know how wonderful they were. 

After the parade Michelle and Charlotte went to the Stitch adventure on the way back to the Buzz Lightyear ride. Michelle got her highest score ever and actually managed to beat Wayne!!! Somewhere in there (or a previous day) we also did It's A Small World. 

Our final ride for the day was Space Mountain. Although we had a fastpass for Wayne, he hates the ride and didn't want to use it. So Michelle and Charlotte went on first. Charlotte was pretty nervous, because Wayne had said how awful it was, but Michelle convinced her she should try it. 

Guess who was right? Charlotte LOVED it and wanted to get straight back on. Since the photos weren't working Michelle convinced her to wait until we came back again. 

By this time everyone was getting a bit tired, so we headed back to the hotel for dinner. Michelle stopped at guest services to let them know about the awesome parade experience, and to buy stamps, then we jumped on the ferry home. We had dinner at the Grand Floridian Cafe, then back to the room. 

The movie showing on the beach that night was Tinkerbell and the Legend of the NeverBeast, so Charlotte and Michelle headed out to watch that as an early Mother's Day celebration. They didn't get to see the end though, as they headed down to the pier to watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks in the distance.  There were quite a few people watching...and mosquitoes biting! Although you couldn't see the castle light show, it was still amazing. 

I think it's Friday?

 For thIt's so easy to lose track of the days. 

This morning we had a character breakfast booked at the Grand Floridian signature restaurant - 1900 Park Faire. It's a buffet style breakfast, and we got to meet Mary Poppins, Alice, the Mad Hatter, and Tigger and Pooh. Then it was time for more park fun!

Today is our second day in the parks, and we headed off to Magic Kingdom again. It just made sense to be there when we were so close, and the other parks were closer to our next hotel. 

Once again we had 3 fast passes pre-booked, but today they were all scheduled for the morning. First stop - Haunted Mansion. Charlotte has always loved this ride, but this time was petrified by it. She cried a lot of the way through it, and refused to pose for a photo afterwards. :(. James wasn't too sure of it at the start, but was ok once we were sitting in the carriages. 

After that we headed towards Pirates of the Caribbean - much more to everyone's taste. On the way we stopped to look at the Swiss Family Robinson tree house, and promised Charlotte she could come back and climb it. 

We then went and jumped on Big Thunder Mountain. 

We wandered around for a bit then, rode the carousel, did some more Sorceror's of the Magic Kingdom portals, and took Charlotte for a ride on autotopia, since there was only a small wait. 

We then decided it would be good for James to get a proper nap in, so headed back to the Grand Floridian for lunch and a sleep. 

While James was sleeping Wayne and Charlotte went and had a swim - enjoying the pool and water slide, and also the Mad Hatter splash area. They came back to the room just after James woke up and Michelle was outvoted - she wanted to go back to the parks, everyone else wanted to swim. 

So we all headed down to the pool where Charlotte tried to persuade everyone that James really should try the water slide. She was outvoted this time :). Everyone else went down though, it was a great slide. 

We had marshmallows on the beach again, then went and bought some mac and cheese and cereal from the shop for the kids and flatbread for Michelle and Wayne. 

The kids had a bath in the super exciting bathroom with the TV in the mirror - and didn't want to get out! - and then went to bed. Once they were asleep Wayne headed out to watch the fireworks from the jetty. They pipe the music in from the Magic Kingdom so you get almost the full experience. 

We're here!!!

WooHoo! DisneyWorld here we come. 

We decided it would be nice to catch the boat across for our first trip, so after breakfast at the 24 hour food area we headed over to the ferry. 

The Magic Kingdom sits at the top of a large man made lake. Around the lake, in a clockwise direction, is the Contemporary Resort, the Transportation Centre, the Polynesian Resort, and the Grand Floridian Resort. There is a large ferry that runs between Magic Kingdom and the Transportation Centre, and a small one that does a loop from Magic Kingdom to the Grand Floridian and then to the Polynesian. There is also a monorail that does a clockwise loop starting at Magic Kingdom, and a separate manorial that goes directly to and from the Transportation Centre. 

We went down and waited for the ferry - it is quite small, seating about 39 people maximum, but is quite a nice trip. You get to see both Cinderella's castle andSpace  Mountain as you head across the water. 

We got off the ferry and headed to collect our tickets. These were linked to our Magic Bands - personalised bands that acted as room keys, charge cards at shops and restaurants, fast passes for rides, etc. - and we pressed Mickey to Mickey (the Mickey on the band to the Mickey on the scanner), had our finger print taken (adults only), and we were in!!!

Our first set booking for the day was still a while away, so we headed to the fire station to grab some Sorceror's Kingdom cards. This is a cool new game that Disney has introduced - and it's free, which is a bonus. The premise is that Hades from the Underworld is trying to take over the Magic Kingdom and is recruiting all the Disney villains to help him. Merlin is trying to stop him, but needs help. 

When you start a game you get a map showing the location of all the interactive portals in the Magic Kingdom, a set of spell cards for everyone in your party, and your very first clue. You place your band up against the little keyhole and the interactive portal comes to life. You see a scene showing what the baddy is doing (in our case the first baddy we came across was Ursula from The Little Mermaid) and then you either have to cast a spell (choose one of your cards and hold it up to be scanned by the portal), show the Sorceror's sign (the back of a spell card) or chase the baddy to another portal. Along the way you get to destroy minor baddies (like Flotsam and Jetsam), until eventually, after about 4 or 5 locations, you defeat your baddy. Of course, then there's another baddy to get. 

We headed off to Fantasyland to start chasing Ursula down. On the way we stopped for some photos in front of the castle (of course!), and to join in the street party that came up Main Streey to in front of the castle. 

Once in Fantasyland it took us a while to find our first portal, but once we had it we quickly found the next 2, also in Fantasyland. I really liked how you didn't have to go all over the park for one game, so it was something you could easily do with your beer kids without them getting bored of walking from one land to another to another. 

After those portals we headed off for our first scheduled event - lunch! Our first lunch with Charlotte in DisneyWorld 4 years ago was at Crystal Palace, so we thought we'd continue the tradition. The big question was, would James be as scared of the characters as Charlotte was back then. 

We headed in after a brief wait, and sat down. James was excited to see Pooh Bear, but he was a fair way away. Of course, lasttime Charlotte had been so excited to see Piglet, but then wouldn't leave our arms when they came by the table. 

Not long after we sat down and grabbed some food for the kids Eeyore appeared. Success! James wasn't too scared. He was a little apprehensive, but gave Eeyore a cuddle and happily posed for photos. All smooth sailing then. 

We ate lunch in between greeting Tigger, Piglet, and Winnie the Pooh, and then it was almost time for our first ride of the day. Well, after we'd seen the characters once more. :)

We had booked 3 fast passes for today - it was a bit weird booking them 2 months in advance, and was really a bit hit and miss as to what would be popular rides and need them, and what we would be able to ride with a limited queue. Still, off we headed for The Little Mermaid ride. 

It was pretty much as we remembered, and both Charlotte and James really enjoyed it. The next ride was Splash Mountain - about as far away from Ariel as you could get. The weather was about 34 degrees (93 Fahrenheit), but very humid, so we were all very hot and sweaty. Splash Mountain seemed like a perfect idea. 

James fell asleep on the way over, which was good timing as he couldn't ride Splash Mountain anyway. Wayne and Charlotte went on first - and although it's slightly different from the one at Disneyland, Charlotte loved it just as much. Next Michelle and Charlotte went on it. 

We wandered around a bit and then headed for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride. This is fairly new, and we knew we needed a fastpass for this one. James was tall enough to ride this, although eg didn't want to stand up straight enough to prove it. Finally we got through the entrance and on to the ride.

Maybe James knew something we didn't, because he hated it. Roller coasters are not his thing. On the other hand, the rest of us loved it. 

Ride over, and we had to hurry to make our dinner reservation. We realised last night that we hadn't booked dinner at O'Hana's at the Polynesian. It was our favourite meal last time, so we wanted

to eat there again. 

We knew it would be tight, so hurried through the park...only to find that the monorail hadn't been working properly for some reason. The direct to the Ttansportation Centre one was shut down for the afternoon, and there was a massive queue for the loop one. There was a train at the station, but it seemed to be sitting there and not moving.  

What to do? Wait for the monorail or try our luck with the ferry, which also had a queue? We started off in the monorail line, but decided to move to the ferry line. Which took a looonnnggg time. Oh well, not much we could do. There were others who also had restaurant bookings, so we weren't the only ones in this predicament. 

Wayne overheard someone saying that if you were late for your booking they wouldn't turn you away, but you might have to wait a bit until they get you a table. That made us feel better.

We arrived there almost 45 minutes after our reservation, and at first the woman at the desk couldn't find our booking. Oh no. Luckily the guy knew where to look - under no-shows. Ha ha. 

5 minutes later and we were seated and ready to eat. Entree was pot stickers (gyoza) and chicken wings, then there was salad, then main was noodles and meat off massive skewers that the waiter carried to your table - beef, chicken, and prawns. Yum. 

We were all too full for dessert, so jumped on the monorail back to the hotel - to get marshmallows on the beach :)

On our way to the most magical place on earth...

We got up, finished packing, checked out, and headed to Kim's to say goodbye. We only had half an hour to chat, before we had to head to the airport. :(. 

At the airport Charlotte was desperate for mac and cheese from Chilli's, but they didn't do take out, so she had to settle for Doritos instead. Such a hard life. 

The flight was uneventful - and our shortest flight of the whole trip, which was nice. We arrived in Orlando, grabbed our bags, and headed off to the Magical Express.

The Magical Express is Disney's beautiful free bus transportation to their resorts. And we got to use our super you-beaut a magic bands for the first time. We had had them sent to Kim's house so we were all wearing them and able to touch them and watch Mickey go green to wor us in. 

Once on the bus it wasn't long until we reached Walt Disney World, or WDW, and then not much longer until we reached our hotel. For the first 4 nights of our stay we had a booking at the Villas at the Grand Floridian Hotel, one of Disney's flagship hotels at WDW.

We checked in, and bell services walked us and or luggage over to the villas, pointing out the pools on the way. We were taken to our room on the second floor, room 1222, and opened the door to find...

...Pixie Dust! Although we had booked a studio room, they had given us a 1 bedroom. Wow! The room was absolutely beautiful - a kitchen, lounge, HUGE bathroom, bedroom. Charlotte was excited by the bed that pulled down from the wall underneath the TV, and both the kids were wowed by the TV in the bathroom mirror - as in, it looked just like the whole mirror was just mirror, yet one part of it was actually a TV screen. So easy to get them in the bath when they can watch TV. Just hard to get them out :). 

We wandered around for a bit and checked out the pool area with its water slide and Mad Hatter Tea Party water play area. There was a fire pit where the youth counsellors were handing out sticks and marshmallows to toast - yummy. 

We then headed off to find food. After checking out all the options we got a table at the Grand Floridian Cafe - which is much more upmarket than it sounds from the name - and had a beautiful dinner. Wayne would have enjoyed his steak much more, except Charlotte decided she didn't like her meal and proceeded to eat half of the steak. 

We then wandered back to go to sleep, ready to prepare for our first day at the Magic Kingdom tomorrow. 

It's raining, it's pouring...

The first bad weather we've had so far, and it meant a change in plans. We were going to see a farm and baby animals and pony rides and stuff like that, but it was all outdoors. So that suddenly came off the agenda. 

Instead we decided to go visit the Jelly Belly factory. What's not to love about jelly beans!!!

We picked Kim up in our lovely weird car and headed off to the factory. On the way we passed Racine - home of the Racine All American Baseball League team of "League Of Their Own" fame. 

We got to the factory and Charlotte and James were both immediately taken by the Frozen movie playing above one of the displays, and by the seemingly unlimited amount of jelly beans there. Or infinity, as Charlotte said. 

While waiting for the next tour we damples a few of the flavours - the new champagne flavour was yummy! None of us wanted to sample the Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans flavours though - earthworm or vomit flavour anyone???

We jumped on the train for the tour, to discover it was mainly video shown at each "stop" (or pause!) It was still interesting, learning about how they derive new flavours, how they make the middle and the coating, how they sort them so only the perfect ones get put in the packets, etc. 

They spent a bit of time explaining how they perfect the flavours, which made us wonder who was the unlucky person who had to verify the dirty nappy bean taste!!!

We also saw prints of famous Jelly Belly art - Elvis, Queen Elizabeth, the Statue of Liberty etc. 

At the end of the tour we were each given a sample pack of jelly bellys, and then we got to shop!

You'll all be pleased to know that, unlike when Kim and I did the Laverne and Shirley walk at the brewery tour last time, we totally behaved ourselves and didn't embarrass anyone. Well, that, and Max wasn't there to be embarrassed either :). 

After the tour we headed to Walmart for some more last minute shopping. Wayne tried very hard to get himself on the People of Walmart website by 1) wearing his too big jeans without a belt and almost losing them in the middle of the store, and 2) trying on a Tshirt by stripping off in the middle of the store. We haven't checked the website - did he make it???

Our final dinner in Wisconsin was burgers that Scott grilled on the BBQ. Yum!!! We hung out at Kim's for a while, until the kids were almost falling asleep. We said our final goodbyes to Scott and Max and headed back to the hotel to pack and sleep. 

Discovery World

Kim rocked up at our hotel in the morning and we all piled in our weird car to head to Discovery World in Milwaukee. This is a science and exploration museum with tons of cool things to do. 

Scott gave Kim directions on how to get there with the roadworks going on - but we managed to miss the exit and went for a drive over a lovely bridge instead :). 

Once at Discovery World there were some cool things to do, including looking at a massive Les Paul exhibit with not only his guitars, but also things like the recording equipment he invented etc. Les Paul came from Waukesha, not far from where Kim lives.

There was also a very cool aquarium exhibition, with lots of fish and things you could touch. The lion fish was very cool to see. 

At the top of the aquarium was a replica ship you could play on - which was where we discovered James had lost his shoes. Oops. So we tripped off to lost and found to report them, but they weren't there. They asked us what siE the shoes were - like I have a clue about US sizes - so Kim asked the woman behind us in line what size her son's shoes were. The woman thought we were quite strange :)

Next to the ship was an area about pulleys and levers, and Charlotte lifted a 100lb (45kg) stone all by herself. Pretty strong hey!

On the way out we thought we'd check one more time for James' shoes, and the woman told us they'd found them even before we reached the desk. Yay!

We returned to the hotel, said farewell to Kim, and Wayne and Charlotte went for a swim while James napped, then once James woke up both the kids went for a swim. The pool was heaps of fun. 

Then it was shopping time. We hit Target across the road and bought a suitcase and some warmer clothes for the kids (awesome clearance rack since winter was over). We also bought nappies for James - hopefully the brand we chose work out ok. 

We picked up some pizza that Kim had pre-ordered, and headed to their place for dinner and conversation.