Disney World 2012--Day Four (Hollywood Studios)

Bright and early Wednesday morning, we hopped on the shuttle bus bound for Hollywood Studios.  

At rope drop, Kevin took off to get our Fastpasses for Toy Story Midway Mania and mom, Ava, and I decided to take advantage of the Photopass photographers.  Ava was kind of in a mood as she is not a morning person so she opted to kick back in her stroller and watch us get our pictures taken.

By the time Kevin returned with our Fastpasses, it was time to go see the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Again, another wonderful production.  We walked over to grab Fastpasses for Tower of Terror 

and noticed that the wait for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster wasn't that long so mom and Kevin jumped in line.  Ava was not tall enough for this ride so she wasn't too happy but after a nice talk, she calmed down.  :)  A few minutes later, mom and Kevin came right back because the ride was experiencing technical difficulties.  We decided to go on and eat lunch because our dinner reservation was at 3:45.  We had some great sandwiches and pastries at Starring Rolls and Kevin and Ava took some time to act goofy.

We went to meet some characters while we waited to use all of our Fastpasses.

Ava got to meet Sully and Mike from Monsters, Inc.

 I love the way she just ran and launched herself at Sully and 

 then held his hand for the picture.

We got in line to meet Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story and Ava amused herself by posing with all the props along the line.

After meeting Buzz and Woody, we went across the street to Toy Story Midway Mania.  Mom and Ava rode together and Kevin and I rode in the seat behind them.  Kevin and I love to compete against each other so we had a great time on this ride.  I was winning up until about the last 30 seconds of the ride but then he came back and beat me.  Then, we strolled over and played on the huge Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground.  It was madness in there and stupid me took Ava in by myself while mom and Kevin were at the restrooms.   I managed to lose Ava in the crowd within about 30 seconds.  When I saw my mom walking back, I yelled to her, "I can't find Ava!" and we both started frantically looking all around.  We found her running around a couple of minutes later just having a blast.  We let her play a few more minutes but by then I was so paranoid we decided to leave and go explore.

Standing under the giant Super Soaker waiting to get wet

 Our girl loves slides!

We (well, Kevin, Ava, and mom) spent the afternoon on rides:  Tower of Terror, Star Tours, and the newly fixed Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.  I was super excited to see this ride because Aerosmith is my favorite band.  I always told Kevin that if I ever decided to ride a roller coaster it would be that one.  He tried to talk me into it but I figured vomiting on the other riders might just ruin the day for all those involved so Ava and I sat out.  We did get some pictures and Kevin took me into the gift shop and bought me a new Aerosmith shirt and the coolest coffee mug.

We were able to reserve a Fantasmic Meal Package so we had an early Italian dinner at Mama Melrose and got our VIP voucher for the Fantasmic show.  The voucher meant that we had designated seating and would use a special entrance into the amphitheater.  Because of this, we didn't have to line up super early just to try to get into the show.  We took advantage of this extra time to do some more exploring around the park.

Muppet Fountain

  Look, Kevin and I made a quick trip to San Francisco!

Then, Ava joined us when we popped over to NYC!

We also had time to see the Beauty and the Beast show which was amazing and then walked over to get seated for Fantasmic.  The weather was perfect and it was SUCH a magical show!  Definitely one of our favorites.

Another long day but it was totally worth it.  Fun rides, amazing shows, delicious food--what more can you ask for!  

Disney World 2012--Day Three (Animal Kingdom)

Tuesday morning, we got up bright and early again for a fun-filled day at the Animal Kingdom.  

We went into the park and just took a few minutes to look around.  Of course, we had to pose for a family picture in front of the focal point of the Animal Kingdom, the Tree of Life.

Ava had her picture taken snuggling with baby Simba!

Close up picture of the Tree of Life.  The detail is amazing!

Expedition Everest off in the distance

We went early to get our Fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safaris.  While we waited for the safari, we went to see the Festival of the Lion King.  It was absolutely fantastic!  

After the show, we went to get into our open-air jeep for the safari.  Our guide was very knowledgeable and we were able to see so many animals on the savanna.  

 There were tons of crocodiles!

 Yes, we came this close to a lion.  This was all we could see of him since he was fast asleep.

We were able to chase a poacher and reunite a baby elephant with its mother after driving fast through the savanna and over rickety bridges.  Very exciting! ;)

We visited more characters over in Camp Minnie-Mickey.  They looked so cute decked out in their safari gear!  Ava got more autographs for her book and we took a few more family pictures.  Minnie was so glad to see Ava!

The whole family with Mickey!! 

After Camp Minnie-Mickey, Kevin went over to get Fastpasses for Dinosaur and then we took a break and had lunch at Pizzafari.  After lunch, mom, Kevin and Ava rode Dinosaur.

They also had a great time on Kali River Rapids.  Ava was the only one who really got very wet. She usually hates getting wet or dirty but mom and Kevin said she was laughing the whole time she was getting drenched.  She just happened to be sitting in the one spot on the round raft that took the brunt of the waves.  After getting off that ride, we snuggled Ava up in the stroller all wrapped up in Kevin's fleece pullover and she conked out.  We used that time to head over to Expedition Everest since Ava was not quite tall enough to ride it.

 Here the Photopass photographer told us to act like the Yeti since Everest is all about it (or is it him?  the monster? whatever)  I think I pulled it off a little better than Kevin--at least I attempted to look like I was growling.  So cheesy!  But a fun memory to have.

I sat down with Ava while she slept and mom and Kevin went to ride Everest.  The way the ride is set up, you can actually see a portion of the roller coaster during the ride.  I found a bench and had a great time watching everyone fly past me screaming while Ava snoozed.  Mom and Kevin got off the ride with huge smiles on their faces and declared that Expedition Everest was the best ride so far.  Ava was starting to wake up and we decided to finish up our day in the park by going to the Finding Nemo show.  It was another fabulous show and we were blown away with the entertainment once more.  It was starting to get dark as we were leaving and it was so pretty with all the lights and lanterns lit up throughout the park.  We caught the bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge resort to have dinner at Boma.  Our dinner was delicious.  There was so much different food to sample.  Mom and I had a nice chat with one of the men who was manning the wood fired grill.  He asked us where we were from and when we told him Memphis, he immediately told us about how he really wanted to drive up with a team to participate in BBQ Fest.  He had never been but had heard how popular it is.  I assured him that it would definitely be a good time. :)  Ava got another birthday cupcake for dessert and also sampled some of the bite sized items from the dessert bar.  At night at the Lodge, they hand out night vision googles so that you can view the animals out on the savanna.  Cool, huh?  It was getting pretty late so we decided instead of taking a bus back to Animal Kingdom and then hopping on another bus back to Pop Century, we would just have the Lodge call a taxi for us.  The taxi pulled up and Kevin sat up front and mom, Ava, and I piled into the backseat.  After driving for a minute or two, Ava looked at me and whispered worriedly, "I am REALLY not supposed to be doing this, Mom."  Huh?  I wasn't even thinking about it but all of a sudden it dawned on me that she was not in a car seat.  So then I freaked out for a second but then told her it was okay--it was a very short ride, there was next to no traffic, she was wearing a seatbelt, and I would hold her very tightly.  So more firsts for Ava--her first time to ride in a car without a car seat (rest assured we will not be making a habit of that!) and both her and mom's first time to ride in a taxi.  We were really racking up a lot of firsts on this trip!  We got back to the resort and went right into our nightly routine.  Kevin and Ava went down to the pool for a night swim and mom and I planned for Day 4--Hollywood Studios!!!