Blessed by Two: Disney Mania!

Ok, finally some more Disney postings! I have some many picture I don't know where to begin! I already posted about our first morning at the Magic Kingdom. We spent our first evening at Downtown Disney. Such a fun and FREE place to go when visiting Disney World. We ate at Rainforest Cafe which we all really enjoyed! Josh and I have eaten at the one in London and Dallas, but the kids had never eaten there, so it was fun. We also discovered a new place in Downtown Disney called Goofy's. It is this awesome sweet treat store! Oh my goodness there were so many wonderful things to choose from in addition you could make your own sweets too. The kids choose a Rice Krispie Treat Mickey, they dipped in chocolate and m&m's and white chocolate on top of that. Josh and I shared a really yummy German Chocolate Cake Cookie. Josh says this is quite possibly the best food he has ever put in his mouth for his whole entire life! It was yummy! We enjoyed the sighs and sounds of Downtown Disney, the Legos store, the huge shopping store, and the bands/etc.

The next morning we checked into the Polynesian Resort. We chose this resort this time because it was on the monorail, it had a beach that you could watch the fireworks from at the Magic Kingdom every night and of course the big one, it had a volcano pool! Pax is way into that kind of thing and he Loved it! We really enjoyed staying there, nice big rooms, we had a super upgraded view room (which we didn't have to pay for the upgrade, yay!), and just the general ambiance of the place. When you check in they give everyone lays(sp?) and are just so Disney friendly to you!

So you know about our super awesome opening the park that morning, so after that we went to the Crystal Palace to eat with Winnie the Pooh and friends, which was fun as always. Then we hit the parks for some rides. We like that we know how to get around now and in general where to go when and what's worth our time. Of course the seeing the Princesses is always worth our time here. Lorelei was so excited to see them, you wouldn't think it would be possible to be more excited every time to see them but I do believe she is! Lorelei also was finally tall enough to ride The Barn Stormer, her first roller coaster. This is what Paxton lives for, but I wasn't so sure about Lorelei, but she held onto to Daddy real tight and I think she really loved it!

After seeing about half the park we were pooped from the usually hot (95 degrees) weather for September and from being up since 4:00 am that morning (Lorelei fell out of the hotel bed and never went back to sleep!) We knew we were coming back so we headed back to the Polynesian for some rest. That evening we had reservations at the Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge. This Disney resort is so neat and definitely on our list to stay sometime. It was fun and good food, the kids got to march around the restaurant with instruments and sing songs, which is always nice during a long dinner. We also got some great pics at the resort. We went back to the Magic Kingdom that night for the parade and fireworks show. We made it for the parade but it started to rain after that. No I mean monsoon rain!!! I don't think I have ever been so wet in my life and we had on rain ponchos! Needless to say we missed the fireworks, which they did anyway, and fought the crowds to get back in the monsoon! Whew, what a fun but exhausting day!

The next day we headed to the Grand Floridian Resort to have a Supercalifragilistic, well you get the idea, breakfast! It was called 1900 Park Fair, and we got to see Mary Poppins and some friends there. During these character meals, you eat while the characters come around to each table to talk to the kids, take pictures, sign autograph books etc. It works out really well because that way you get to see all of them and not have to chase them down or stand in some really long line!

We went to Epcot after breakfast for a long day of fun! We didn't get to see a lot of Epcot in the past so we were excited to actually get to visit all the countries this time. We saw Nemo, did the Figment of Imagination, Spaceship Earth, Soarin' - a very awesome ride, and then Paxton's most favorite ride at all of Disney- TEST TRACK! I think he probably got to ride 7 or 8 times the week we were there. It is by GM and they basically put you in this car and do a lot of "tests" like they might do at one of their plants, to look for safety, speed, bumps, etc. Paxton loves it because as the ride progresses it gets faster and faster until they finally shoot you outside on a track at a really fast speed (not sure how fast?). Anyway, my little thrill seeker LOVED it! I think Josh and I also both enjoyed it as well, maybe next year Lorelei will be tall enough so we can all go together.

We ate lunch at the Coral Reef by the Living Seas, which was a fun experience. You get to eat and by the aquarium and watch all the fish swim by, good food too. Another highlight in Epcot that day was we finally got to meet and find Mulan in China. The last of the 8 Princesses that we had not gotten our picture with, even better, there was no line to see her! Josh and I really enjoyed walking around the "world" and seeing all the countries. It's one of those places we could definitely go back to on our own one day to explore more. We ate dinner at Mexico, which we were super excited about, but alas the food was a big disappointment, they didn't even have cheese dip! It was not the Mexican food we were used to eating but the service and atmosphere were great!

So after this marathon of a day, with no going back to the room, the kids really did great and so we stayed for Illuminations, Epcot's firework/end of the day show. Last year, we weren't overly impressed with it, but this year we got good seats early and we loved it! It was very well done and Paxton was ecstatic to see the amount of fire and fireworks used in this Disney presentation! Very well done!

Are you pooped yet? Well if you made it this far just imagine how we felt after just two day there? Ah, but all good fun, wouldn't have changed any of it! The real world here is not so much fun after that! Stay tuned for the remainder of our week there!

Lorelei and I at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney.

Daddy and Pax.

Just one of the yummy goodies at Goofys!

The kids loved their special treat!

Playing with some Legos at Downtown Disney!

Can he do it? The Sword in the Stone!

Princess Arora, Sleeping Beauty.

Princess Cinderella

Princess Belle

Outside Toy Story ride

The Volcano pool at the Polynessian. It had a water slide at the top that went all the way down into the pool. Paxton loved it and did numerous times!