On our return to Animal Kingdom, we got up an close and personal view with a raptor at the bird show. This show also holds some special memories for Bob who got thrown up on by a baby while watching...
Bob rinses off in the Kali River Rapids Raft Ride with Rob
Brendan measures his wing span. It's wild to thing how much bigger he'll be the next time we're back.
The Tree of Life, the central point in the Animal Kingdom
We resorted to bribery to get Brendan out of the stroller and looking at all the amazing animals; if he stopped playing games on my phone and could name 25 animals he'd seen by the end of the day he got a hot wheels car. It was a very worthwhile deal.
Bob and Gail were often kind enough to wander with the babies in the stroller so Rob and I could ride roller coasters or go where Brendan wanted to go. Note the beautiful landscaping in the background. I think Animal Kingdom might have been my favourite park.
Miss Heidi, age 14 months. We forgot about Daylight Savings Time and ended up at Hollywood Studios before it had even opened on this day, so we had some time to pause and take pictures. We had also begun a tradition in the second round of park visits (ie. after the first 4 days) of letting Brendan stay behind at the hotel with Mimi and Papa for the morning and then meeting up after lunch. At least I think we did that every morning, the whole trip is such a blur, I can barely remember, but that sounds right...
Prince Harry (playing peek a boo)
Awesome playground at Hollywood Studios, built like a giant scale garden, complete with a leaf slide. The babies were thrilled too, because it was another rare occasion when they were released to wander. It was busy and crownded enough (a shock to us - since I had tried to organize a trip at one of the quietest times of year) that we just couldn't let the babies down very often without fear of losing them in the crowd or have them get in someones way. It's also nearly impossible to get them back into the stroller once their out.
A candid shot that shows a rather accurate representation of the trip
An iconic Disney father-son moment
We let the babies out again to stroll along the boardwalk before dinner this night and they had an absolute ball just running and exploring. This was one of my favourite moments of the trip.
That's a lot of kids/stuff/gear
The food was one of the highlights of the trip. We had gotten the Disney Dining Plan for free as a promotion, and we certainly worked it for all it was worth. This is a $25 dollar lunch for one from the bakery in Norway - free! Toasted cranberry apple cheese sandwich with double chocolate pretzel, fruit salad and Voss water. We were also impressed at how much healthy fresh food was available. Eating was certainly a treat every day.
Exploring the World Showcase at Epcot, my other favourite area of Disney. This is the gardens of China.
Beast of Burden
Second quietest time of the year ?!?
A very heartwarming moment for me. After much encouraging/threatening, Brendan agreed to ride Figment's Journey Into Imagination with me. It's my favourite ride, and it turned out after 7 3/4 days of refusing to do things we kept telling him he'd enjoy he caved in, rode with me, and loved it!
Back at the Port Orleans hotel room Rob nods off while Brendan watches Playhouse Disney on TV
Ask Brendan what his favourite part of Disney World was and he says "The Lego Store". Ah, capitalism at it's finest! It was actually an awesome, awesome store with giant lego art installations including a 20 foot dragon, kiosks with piles of Lego for kids to play with on their own outside the front door and a giant wall of tiny lego components that you could buy mix and match style in a bucket. As much as I may dismay that it was Brendan's highlight, his excitement here was kind of one of my highlights too. I am certainly looking forward to the Lego years!
After great debate Brendan chose to buy a Lego Firetruck, complete with a lego tree on fire. They are so creative, those lego people.
So, we have nicknamed this "Night of Joy". The final day of our trip Brendan asked if he could see fireworks. He's historically hated fireworks since they're so loud, but in a last ditch attempt to make a magical Disney memory we shuffled around our dinner plans and asked Bob and Gail to hold down the fort with the babies back at the hotel so that we could take Brendan to the Magic Kingdom for the fireworks. As usual he was vaguely interested in doing a few things but adamantly opposed to most of the suggestions we made ("do you want to drive those space ships?" "no, I don't like space") etc, etc. Somewhere in the middle of dinner something mysterious and magical happened. Maybe it was finding out that we were staying up late, maybe it was finding out that it was our last night, maybe Disney puts something in the apple juice, but whatever it was Brendan emerged from the restaurant and suddenly gushed "look Mom, space ships!! Can I ride those?!!" Huh? From that point on, he was like a kid in... well, like a kid in Disney World, all wonder and excitement, face lit up like a Christmas Tree. Hence the nickname... night of joy.
Blasting through space
Watching fireworks (which he still thought were too loud, can't win em all)
Riding the spinning teacups with Mom
Cinderella Castle lit up for Christmas
On our way out of Disney World on the final night, walking down Main Street, Brendan stopped and declared he wanted to take a picture (like mother, like son). After he took it, he wanted to show it to me, and I gushed about how great it was. He said "Thank you, mom".
"Thank you for what, Brendan?" "Thank you for always loving my pictures" he said. I cried.
Then we took this picture.
It really IS the most magical place on earth.
