We headed straight down I-95 through Jacksonville, FL stopping here and there on the way.
The drive from Savannah to Orlando was about 4 hours or so. The weather was hot. In fact when we were driving into Orlando the temperature hit 101 degrees (add the humidity to the 101 degree heat and it really felt hot). We were driving to the Double tree Suites in downtown Disney. I had a free night from work travel the past few years. We arrived at the hotel around 6:00 that evening. This is the same hotel that we used to stay at when I was a kid, also, this was the same hotel that we stayed at when Michael was 2 and we took him to WDW. Once we checked in it was time to eat. Heather had a gift card for TGI Fridays. There was a TGI Fridays across the street so we went over to eat dinner.
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| TGI Fridays for Dinner... |
During dinner a guy was going around to the different tables and building balloons for the kids. He was really good. He could make a balloon of anything. Any character from Disney or Universal.
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| Look what the Balloon guy made for me! |
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| I Got Jasmine |
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| I got Harry Potter |
While we were eating it started raining really hard. It was one of those rains with the huge raindrops that it is like you are standing in a shower. I went out and got the van and drove it to the door to pick up the kids and Heather.
Heather and I debated do we need a stroller for Kayla and the backpack. We went back and forth. After much debate we decided that we better be safe than sorry. Also, we didn't bring our ponchos. So we needed probably to get some ponchos in case it rained. We located a Walmart just south of where we were. It continued to pour down rain....and I mean pour down rain. After about 10 minutes we arrived and it was pouring down rain still. I dropped the kids and Heather off at the front door and went and parked the van. Still pouring down rain. I tried to use an umbrella to get to the front door but that didn't help too much.
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| In Between Wind Shield Wipers |
June 24, 2015 - (Wednesday). - Today starts Disney!!
Heather and I got up at 5:30 am to get showers and get the car packed. We wanted to leave the hotel at 6:30 am so we could get over to our Disney Hotel (Caribbean Beach Resort) in time to get the wrist bands activated and make it to the Animal Kingdom for the magic Disney hours. The Animal Kingdom was opening 1 hour early for those that are staying in the park. I had called Disney the night before and they assured me that the bands were activated but we wanted to stop by the front desk at the hotel and make sure.
We were checking into the hotel around 6:30 am or so. Our wrist bands were not activated so it was a good thing that we stopped and checked. The guy at the front desk activated our wrist bands. It actually took him quite a while to get everything set up for us even though we checked in a month early on-line. About 7:30 we headed out to the Martinique section of the hotel. This is a great section of the hotel as it is near the main area (shorter walk to the drinks and main pool). Of course, our room wasn't ready so we headed straight to the bus to get to the Animal Kingdom.
We were able to catch a bus and made it to Animal Kingdom around 8:15 or so. A little later than planned but it was before the park opened. Our first ride was one of my favorite....Mount Everest! We walked briskly over to the ride so that we could ride it twice.
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| See ya boys.... |
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| Ready to Ride Mt. Everest! |
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| Here we go..... |
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| Riding Mt. Everest again!! |
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| On top Mt. Everest...Look at all the snow. |
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| O no....the tracks are broken! |
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| Josh and Heather....going again. |
Disney does a great job of keeping the line moving. They are telling you where to go and how to line up. Their efficiency in getting people on the lines is impressive.
WOW....! Rode Mt. Everest twice! That is a great ride to wake us up and get us going!
After Mt. Everest we headed over to the Safari. The Safari is cool because you get to see the animals and feel like you are on an African Safari. The line for the Safari was already starting to get long. There was a reported 40 minute wait when we got in line. We only waited about 20 minutes so it wasn't too bad.
After the safari we were planned to go on the river rapids but because of the time we skipped the river rapids for another day and went straight to the Lion King Show. This is one of my favorite shows at Disney. The way they set the audience around and have the show in the middle makes you feel a part of the show and can get closer. The show started at 10:00; we got in line around 9:30. So we had a little wait before the doors opened. It was already starting to get hot and muggy.
After about a 30 minute wait it was time to go in. Nice, hot and humid.....it was what is expected of Orlando in late June.
After getting settled in it was time for the show! Great show!!
After the lion king show was over the park had started getting crowded and it was time to eat. We got the dinning plan so we make sure we don't miss a meal. We were planning to eat at Flame Tree Grill. For those that get the dinning plan, Flame Tree Grill is a great place to eat lunch because you can get a cafeteria type meal with a ribs and chicken combo. The combo is really good. We arrived at Flame Tree Grill and it was closed (they were redoing the roof). We found out that the rib and chicken combo was offered at a kiosk but they wouldn't offer any kids meals. So we decided for Heather and I to get the rib and chicken combo and for the kids to get burgers in Dino land. As always the rib and chicken combo hit the spot and filled us up.
After lunch we headed to the Dinosaur ride. This is one of Josh's favorite ride. In this ride you go on a time travel back to the dino age and see a bunch of scary dinosaurs coming to attack you. When we got in line to the line was reported to be about a 50 minute wait. This a bit longer than expected but for this ride we were willing to wait. We waited about 30 minutes and they announced that the ride was off-line. They didn't know when the ride would be back on-line. We had a few fast pass pluses in Epcot that afternoon and it was kind of cutting it close. So we decided to head over to a Bugs Life and then take the bus to Epcot.
The bugs life show is really cool. It is a 3-d type show with all kinds of surprises.
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| Bug Eyes Selfie!! |
After all the bugs crawled under us and the show was over it was time to head over to Epcot for some FAST PASS PLUSES! (No waiting in-line!). We stopped and took a few pictures in front of the big tree.
After a few pictures....off to Epcot!
We headed out to the bus to ride over to Epcot. Lots of people heading over to Epcot as well.
Our first FAST PASS was the Epcot Ball...Space Ship Earth. We had a Fast Pass for this ride. Disney makes it so you can't get a Fast Pass to Soaring and Test Track on the same day. So we selected Space Ship Earth. Kayla and I got to see our future:
That is pretty creative of them to take our picture and place it in the "future".
After the Spaceship Earth we found out that Pa and Grandma were at Epcot too. Just so happened they were at the same spot we were about to go, "Sum of All Thrills". This is a build your own roller coaster ride. Heather and Sydney were doing this too. Our kids love to build their own roller coaster and then ride the roller coaster. It was good to see Pa and Grandma.
After Heather and Sydney were done Pa and Grandma headed to the weather area of Innovations. We had a fast pass with Test Track so we headed off to Test Track.
Off to Test Track for our next Fast Pass Plus ride.
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| Pretty cool car Josh! |
You get to build your own car. The kids really enjoyed building their own car. Josh built his and Kayla and Michael built one together. This ride is ok....but the outside portion is really fun. You hit around 60 mph around a corner.
We had one more fast pass plus until we had used all 3 up. We headed to Mission Space. Our kids wanted to ride orange (this is the side of the ride with a lot of "g"s.) Heather didn't want to spin around so much so she went on the green side.
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| Mission Space....The Orange section! |
After Mission Space we headed to the World Showcase for a scavenger hunt. Each kid is looked at as a spy and is going to enter into a secret mission. Heather went with Michael for his secret mission in France and I took Kayla and Josh for their secret mission in Japan. It was really getting hot....! Getting over to the world location was a hot walk.
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| Michael getting his picture made from the Eiffel Tower on the scavenger hunt. |
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| Where is the next clue? |
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| Still on a Mission.... |
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| After a day at Disney we all get a little crazy! |
This is one of our favorite places to eat. The Vegetables are grown in the Land area in Epcot and are fresh. The restaurant slowly goes around in a circle so you can see the Land area. The meal is a family style meal. (excellent!). Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale came to visit us while we ate....
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| Farmer Mickey |
After the dinner we definitely were full. The desert was great!! What a great place to eat!!
While we were eating we noticed that it was raining hard outside (thunder and lightning as well). Glad we were inside and didn't get wet! After we were done eating the rain had stopped. We had a bucket left on the stroller from the lunch that day and it was almost 25% full with rain water. It really had rained harder. Good timing to not get wet!
After dinner we headed over to Magic Kingdom to watch the electrical parade and the fireworks over the castle. We took the monorail from Epcot over to the Magic Kingdom.
Once we arrived we took a few minutes and got our families picture made in front of the park.
Once we got into the park they were already getting in place for the electrical parade on main street. We found a spot that was open on Main Street and took it. It was a good spot right in the middle. We had an hour to wait on the parade, but we found things to do while we waited.
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| Look what I got. (Kayla didn't buy anything, people just gave her stuff....) |
Once the parade arrived our kids really enjoyed watching the floats and lights.
After the electrical parade passed by we joined the crowd behind and moved to a spot near the front of the castle so we could watch the Celebrations and the Fireworks! We got a great spot! Our kids were starting to wind down....we waited just a few minutes until the Celebration show started. I got to hold Kayla so she could see....she really enjoyed the show.
After the Celebrations show the Fireworks started. Disney always does a great show.
After the fireworks show we went were going to ride some rides in Tomorrow Land but the lines were too long for that time of night so we headed back to the hotel. Plus we hadn't carried our luggage up the room yet. We headed back to the room and after our ride on the bus got make to the room around 11:45.
What a great day!!!
June 25, 2015 (Thursday) - 2nd Day
We got up early to make it over to Magic Kingdom for the magic hours. We were able to get over to
Magic Kingdom around 8:15. We were a bit late for the opening of the park but yesterday sure had been a long day.
We headed over to Buzz Light year for the first ride. A few years ago Josh got the highest point total possible....999999...must have hit something that was a huge amount of points. No one was able to beat that score this year....
After Buzz Light Year we headed over to the ride they had been looking forward to all morning....Space Mountain....
We Rode space mountain 2 times!
Once we rode Space Mountain twice it was time to head over to the Haunted Mansion.....Josh and Kayla were apprehensive to ride this ride but they were brave and didn't complain.
After the haunted mansion we took advantage of the short line at Under the Sea (the new Little Mermaid ride). This is a slow ride but the detail is pretty cool....
Off to the Carousel for Kayla's favorite ride. The boys weren't really thrilled to get on it, but they sort off enjoyed it....
We try to eat early because we have an early dinner. So we headed over to Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe for lunch. We got there around 10:45 and got our food around 11:00. I was able to get the rotisserie chicken meal.....yummm...The kids had mac and cheese and chicken strips. This is a good place to eat!
After lunch we headed over to Splash Mountain. This was going to be one of our longest waits of the day based on the "plan". The wait was posted to be 50 minutes. A lot of this wait is outside. It sure was hot. This is one of the only times that the heat and humidity was starting to get a bit much. This was a pretty miserable wait. Finally got on the ride. Josh said he read that the right side gets the wettest....He was right. The water felt good, but we didn't get too wet.
Time for our Fast Pass to Space Mountain to ride it again.
When we finished space mountain we headed across the park to the Tiki Room. This was a nice relaxing time.....(I think I feel asleep during the show....). The main bird in the show was "Michael".
Before dinner we had a Fast Pass with Thunder Mountain Rail Road. Cool ride...
At 4:55 we had reservations with the rest of the Miller Clan at Crystal Palace for dinner. We wanted to get there early to make sure we didn't get tied up and arrive late. Once we got to Crystal Palace a thunderstorm hit. Again missed the rain! Nice not to need those ponchos yet. We were able to eat with family.
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| 50 years! |
After dinner we decided we wanted to get a picture of everyone in front of the castle on main street. I headed out to find a photographer. It was about to storm so the photographers had gone in. I was able to find one. He was able to take our group picture.
After the picture a group of us went over to the Haunted Mansion. After the Haunted Mansion Andy, Jennifer, Josh, Michael and I went to Space Mountain and Kayla and Heather went to visit Frozen princesses. Kayla had really looked forward to seeing these two princesses.
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| Dust after seeing the Princesses... |
After the Princesses we were able to head back to the hotel (shorter day). Kayla wanted to ride the carousel one more time before heading back.
After a full day at Magic Kingdom it was time to head back to the Hotel. We got stopped by the electrical parade and got to see some of the parade again. There were some vendors that were about to throw away some grapes and asked if we wanted some grapes to snack on.....of course....
We got back to the hotel around 10:30 or so. Another great day!!!
June 26, 2015 (Friday)
We got to sleep in this morning! There was not any magic hours this morning. We got up and were planning to head to Hollywood Studios this morning. We got to the bus station around 8:15 (should be plenty of time to get over there). The Hollywood Studios bus passed and didn't stop....must mean that the bus was already full. About 15 minutes later another Hollywood Studios bus arrived at our station. It was full....but they were able to squeeze everyone in. The traffic getting there was pretty bad too. So we didn't get there when it opened but arrived there around 9:15 or so. So we were a little bit behind the plan and we knew we'd have to wait in line for some of the big rides.
We headed straight to the Rocking Roller Coaster. This is a Coaster based on Aerosmith. This was Kayla's first time to ride the ride! She is finally tall enough.
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| I'm already getting tired... |
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| Rockin Roller Coaster!! |
Rocking Roller Coaster is a lot of fun!! Kayla loved it!
We headed over to the Little Mermaid show for their next showing. This show is pretty cool with the black light.
After the Little Mermaid it was already time for lunch. We headed to Fairfax Fare. The rib combo is really good. (I ate good while I was at Disney!).
After lunch we headed to check out the Frozen Sing Along show. We hadn't seen this before. The backdrop was good but the show was basically showing the movie while the audience sang along. Kayla liked it...
After the Frozen show we headed down to the TOWER OF TERROR for a fast pass. The kids had been asking to ride this most of the day so the time had finally arrived!
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| TOWER OF TERROR!!! |
After the Tower of Terror we headed tried to get to the Indian Jones stunt show. We got stopped by a parade. (There was Frozen stuff everywhere).
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| Something else Frozen in Hollywood Studios (I think we heard all the Frozen songs multiple times) |
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| At the beginning of the show watching what Indiana Jones does.... |
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| The orange is an explosion.....Intense....(see Josh get closer to Michael). |
After the Toy Story Ride we headed down to the Tower of Terror again (the line was short!) We got to ride it again and didn't wait very long (15 minutes).
We headed down to the ice cream shop and got some great ice cream on a hot day!
After riding the Tower of Terror again we headed to the Animation section to find Mickey for a family picture for Heather. (we have always taken a picture with Mickey).
We were getting tired so we took a short break and the kids played what Disney Character are you. Since we were done at Hollywood Studios we headed over to Magic Kingdom for dinner at "Be Our Guest". We had plenty of time so we took the bus over to the Magic Kingdom. Once we got to Magic Kingdom we took our time and looked around at the stores and Kayla took on a worker in a game of checkers...
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| Your move....Kayla is a friend to everyone. |
We had dinner reservations at 9:25 at Be Our Guest. They were able to let us check in around 9:00. (still eating dinner around 9:00....only at Disney...). We were guest of the beast. This was one of my favorite places to eat at WDW! Really good...! Also, the decor was pretty cool.
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| Beauty and the Beast Castle... |
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| The Place Settings were nice. |
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| The Beast has been here...! |
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| Michael was caught up in how they did this... |
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| The beast for a picture. |
After dinner we rode a Small World
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| Small World... |
and then headed to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. After we got in line we were really getting tired (it was around 10:30 or so). Since this was our 3rd night out that late we decided to head back to the hotel for a day.
June 27, 2015 (Saturday)....
We slept in this morning. (Kids are sleeping really good!) Since today was the day of the big 50th anniversary party we decided to stay at the hotel in the morning and swim so that we wouldn't be in a hurry to get over to the party in the Floridian.
The weather was nice and the pool wasn't too crowded. We all got in and had a great time on the slides and just hanging together.
We took some time to get ready for the 50th wedding anniversary party and then headed off to the Floridian for the party. We took the bus to the Magic Kingdom and then was planning to get on the boat to the Floridian. Kayla decided she didn't like to ride boats. Not sure when she decided she was not a boat rider but she "really didn't want to get on the boat". So Kayla and I were going to ride the monorail over the Floridan and the boys and Heather were going to ride the boat. When Kayla and I got the entrance the monorail was closed for some reason. Didn't know that the monorail closed that often in the middle of the day. So we ended up taking the boat over after all. Just so happened that Jeremy was on the boat with us heading over to his hotel.
Arrived at the Floridan a bit early and found Andy and Jennifer who were getting things ready. We had some time to spare; we just hung out and waited for the restaurant to open.
Time of the restaurant to open. Everyone was there and there on time! We took a large family picture before they directed us to our tables.
We had about 4 tables that were designated Miller tables. Andy and Jennifer have done a great job and had pictures of my parents at their wedding.
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| 50th Wedding Anniversary - Alvin and Alice Miller - Walt Disney World. |
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| Kayla and I were able to take a picture with Mom and Dad...Congrats!! |
During the meal certain characters came around and visited the tables. Prince Charming came around first. Kayla was able to get her picture along with Prince Charming.
All the boys took the next picture with Prince Charming....all these good lookin' guys made Prince Charming look like a normal guy.
Once Prince Charming came around Cinderella joined us. She was so kind and nice (even with all the commotion of everyone trying to get their picture made with her).
Even Josh got his picture made with Cinderella.
When they got to our tables the Miller kids were able to get our picture made. The mean old step mother came by and spent a lot of time with mom and dad to congratulate them. She was the mean ole step mother and was bossy to everyone.
After the dinner and all the cake was eaten it was time to our professional family pictures. But before getting the pictures made Kayla wanted one last picture in front of Cinderella's castle.
We were able to get our pictures made by a photographer. We took some behind the scenes pictures.
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| Jump for joy! |
After all the pictures and everything was over we were planning to head over to Epcot for a Fast Pass of the Soaring and to watch the fireworks. We had taken a change of clothes with us so we got changed at the Floridian. Once all changed and ready to go it was time to head to Epcot. It had been a long time since we had seen the fireworks at Epcot. We were cutting it kind of close on the Fast Pass to see the Soaring. So we had a quick decision to make, take the bus or see if the monorail was working. If the monorail was working we would have to change trains at the Transportation and Ticket Center. So we decided to take the bus. We had to wait about 20 minutes for the bus (probably ended up taking about the same amount of time). Once we got to Epcot we quickly headed over the Soaring ride. This is one of Heather's favorite rides. We made it with 2 minutes to spare till the Fast Pass expired. That was some good exercise getting over there.
After the Soaring ride we went over to the countries to watch the fireworks. No real rush to get there, they had some malfunction and it ended up starting about 15 minutes later than scheduled. The Fireworks show was great!
Magic Kingdom was open till 2 in the morning so we headed over to Magic Kingdom to ride some more rides till we got too tired and needed to head back. The monorail station for Epcot was backed way up. A huge line to get over to the Transportation Ticket Center. So we decided to go a different route just to keep moving and not have to wait in line. We took the bus to the Wilderness Lodge Resort. It was crowded but we got on the first bus. Once at Wilderness Lodge we walked through the resort to the boat station to catch a boat to Magic Kingdom from Wilderness Lodge. This is a pretty long boat ride so it was nice to take a short break. While on the boat we were able to see some of the fireworks over Magic Kingdom as well as the Boat Light Show.
First thing we did at Magic Kingdom was of course stop and get some great ice cream on Main Street. It was pretty crowded as the parades were going on. We didn't mind waiting for some great ice cream at 11:00 at night....
After the ice cream Josh was really getting tired. He could barely move he was so tired. Don't blame him it was 11:00 at night, but Kayla was wide awake and ready to go ride some more rides. So Heather was going to take Josh back to the hotel room. Michael decided he wanted to go back to the hotel room too. So it was Kayla and I to ride a few more rides. I was not sure how late Kayla wanted to stay up but I would stay as long as she wanted. Kayla could pick any ride that she wanted to ride and we would ride it. (over and over again). We rode Splash Mountain a bunch of times, Buzz Lightyear and Thunder Mountain Rail Road a few times. We ended up seeing Jennifer waiting on the boys. (they were riding the new 7 drawers ride). She walked over with us to ride the Carousel. After riding the carousel we headed over to other rides. But the ride we rode the most was the Carpets of Aladdin. There was no line that late so we didn't even have to get off the ride, we just rode it over and over and over.
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| Carpets of Aladdin over and over again (probably rode this ride 10 times! No line, no wait! |
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| Thunder Mountain Rail Road!! No lines! |
After riding the rides and we were about to head back to the hotel (around 1:30 at night). We saw that the princesses were still there! Kayla wanted to go see Repunsel and Cinderella again. There was a short line. But, it was crazy that there actually was a line for the princesses at 1:30 a night (with little kids...!). A few moms told me that this was their secret when the park is open so late. Instead of waiting in the long lines in the day they would wrap up their day around 6 in the evening and go to the hotel and put the kids to bed. Around 11:30 or midnight they would get them back up to head over to the Magic Kingdom. Then they can basically do most of the rides and see the characters with very little wait. Their kids seemed to be have a great time having the park to themselves (pretty much).
After getting our pictures made it was time to head back to the hotel. It was 2:00 in the morning and the park was closing down.
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| Only at Disney is there a long line for Ice Cream on Main Street at 2:00 in the morning!! |
When got back to the hotel room around 2:30 in the morning. We had about 4 hours to sleep till it was time to get up for the magic hours at Animal Kingdom. Tomorrow was our last day, so we would sleep the next night and then drive back on Monday.
Sunday, June 28, 2015 (Last Day)
This morning we got up early to catch the bus to the Animal Kingdom for the magic hours in the morning to ride Mt. Everest for a last time and catch the Dinosaur ride that we didn't get to ride earlier (one of Josh's favorite ride). We saw Rosemary and her family while heading over to ride a few rides. Good to see them!
We arrived at Animal Kingdom just in time to ride Mt. Everest and the Dinosaur ride. The Dino ride is really bumpy. Josh wanted to get a dinosaur with his money so he got one; we were able to carry around a dinosaur the rest of the day. After riding these rides we were going to ride the raft ride. We actually have never ridden this ride because every time we have gone in the past it has been cold and the ride is closed. Heather decided not to ride the raft because the people getting off the ride were pretty wet. With Heather not riding the ride we were able to get some pretty good pictures.
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| Look whats coming Josh! Kayla didn't know quite what to think. |
The ride was short but it was fun. Reminded me of the days at Opryland.
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| Yep, we got wet... |
After the raft ride we headed over to Hollywood Studios which is where our Fast Passes were for the day. But, before using our Fast Passes we went and got in line for the Rockin Roller Coaster. It was hot and humid outside. This was a long wait, but the kids love this ride so it was worth it.
After riding the Rockin Roller Coaster we stopped and got some ice cream for lunch (only at Disney); the ice cream at the ice cream shop right outside of the Tower of Terror is actually pretty good and filling. We headed to the Toy Story ride for a Fast Pass. The next Fast Pass was the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. Earlier when we watched it we were in the back so we didn't get to see it well. We stopped and got some frozen lemonade at Min and Bill's Dockside Restaurant. With the frozen lemonade we got in line for the stunt show. The frozen lemonade was really good. Highly recommended way to use a snack. Once the theater opened we got great seats and enjoyed the show.
After the show we took our last Fast Pass to the Terror of Terror one of their favorite rides (it is a pretty good ride).
It was time to head out of the park to drive north just a bit. We had a hotel room reserved about 30 minutes out of Orlando. We grabbed a quick bit for in the room and got some sleep.
The next day, Monday, we slept in a bit. Once we got up and got going we drove on up to Murfreesboro to end the trip.
We had a great time at Disney!! Can't wait till our next vacation!
