Disney Day 2: Animal Kingdom + T-Rex Cafe

Like last year, just as soon as we hit the grounds at Animal Kingdom, we headed straight to the Kilimanjaro Safari where we piled in Jeeps and headed out into the wild.  Once again, I was in awe at the great creatures and how well the exhibit is done.  It was the highlight of our day!

 
At Camp Minnie Mickey we met Chip and Dale all decked out in the Christmas finery before catching a showing of the Festival of the Lion King.  It’s rumored to be the best show in Disney, but I think Fantasmic puts it to shame :-)



We grabbed BBQ sandwiches and salads at Flametree BBQ and thought it was super yummy!!!  I’d definitely recommend it.  It’s right by the Tree of Life so we hit up the It’s Tough to be a Bug show afterwards.  We loved it last year and got just as much of a kick out of it this go round.



Over in Dino Land, we did the Primeval Whirl, Triceratop Spin, met Pluto and Goofy and caught the Nemo Musical.  It’s another of our favorite shows.

 

 


We ended our day taking a raft down Kali River Rapids, hunting for the Yeti on Everest and celebrating with scrumptious ice cream sandwiches!



After heading back to the room for a few minutes, we walked over to Downtown Disney and lucked out with an opening at T-Rex Cafe.  It’s nearly impossible to get a reservation, but both last year and this year we walked up and were seated within fifteen minutes.  The littles adore this restaurant and the meteor shower that happens periodically throughout the night.  I mean, what’s not to love about a dinner with an animated dinosaur looming overhead?!?!


 




Our night ended at the Lego store, with the littles ogling all of the amazing life sized creations and spending a few minutes making some of their own.  The lego dragon in the lagoon gets me every time.







We arrived back at the room and literally fell into our beds, for much more fun awaits!!
xoxo

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Module 2 - Disney

Welcome to Part 2 of my discussion posts from the History of Animation online course I am taking. This module is about one of the biggest animation titans in history: Walt Disney. Disney's early career from the Laugh-o-gram shorts to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was covered in Module 1, so this one deals only with his career after starting his own studio. The one that eventually became a massive corporation that now owns Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilms. It was interesting to see the ups and downs the company had between the debut of Mickey Mouse in 1927 to Wreck-It Ralph in 2012. Of course we're not going to cover all that. This is just going to be the discussion questions.

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Disney Day 1: Hollywood Studios + Fantasmic

Our days in Disney start at the crack of dawn, with the littles tugging us out of bed at first light.  And our first park of the trip was Hollywood Studios!!

We bee-lined for Pixar Place to pick up Toy Story Mania fast passes and our return time wasn’t until around 3p.m.!  After that, we headed right across the street to meet Woody and Buzz and have them sign our books.  The wait for them was pretty long, but the littles entertained themselves with all the fun props along the way.

Another favorite was Disney Junior Live on Stage.  Both enjoyed this last year and this year was no exception!  Characters from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Little Einstein's and Handy Manny act out a cute story.  Right outside we met Handy Manny.  Jake was also there but you do have to make some hard choices while in Disney :-)

In this same little area is one of my favorite shows – Voyage of the Little Mermaid.  I love that Ariel is “real” and beautiful.

And in the back of this same courtyard, you can meet and have a variety of characters sign books!  We did Sorcerer Mickey and the Incredibles. 

 

After lunch (which likely wasn’t the smartest call), we headed over to some serious rides – Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster.  Honey (who admittedly doesn’t care for roller coasters) and the baby alike did the Tower of Terror with us.  And it was smiles all around!!

The Hollywood Studios Pixar and Pals parade is not to be missed.  It has some of my littles favorite characters!

We had a great spot for the parade right near Star Tours, so that was next up on the list.  We learned a little secret to be the “spy” on board here – don’t put your glasses on until the cast member tells you to and sit looking straight forward so they can snag your mug! 

After Star Tours, we went back over to Toy Story Mania and hit Muppet Vision 3D (ok show, nice dark place to rest).

We had dinner reservations at Hollywood & Vine as part of the Fantasmic Dining Package.  The buffet style food was okay, yet pretty pricey.  However, we did have great guaranteed seats for the show that night!  And the show was just AMAZING.  It was truly one of the best we’ve seen at Disney!!  Be warned that parts of it (ie. fire breathing dragon) were a little scary for Whit. 

 

We wrapped up a fun filled first day at the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.  Millions of lights cover the street in Hollywood Studios and are choreographed to holiday carols.  It was stunning and memorable!

The littles were complete troopers – no strollers, no whining and no crying.  Just a fantastic first day in the happiest place on earth!!

xoxo

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