Shut the Front Door we went to Disney! About This Page:

[Nicole626Stitch]

Sounds like a great start! More please!

[lazanya]

Great start! more please...

[tylerdylansmom]

Day 2

Animal Kingdom

After a 1 ½ years of planning you would think I would know every detail of this trip by heart. Amazing how that does not work for me.
The day before everyone kept asking me where we were going to be on Day 2 and I said we were going back to Epcot. We had that in our heads then. Well after touring Epcot the day before on only 5 hours sleep we slept in on Friday. Well slept in on Disney Time but it was only 8 a.m. when I woke up. I got up and got out the newsletters that I printed up for everyone that had where we were headed for the day and our ADRs and fun facts about the park we were headed to. Well I looked at that days newsletter and discovered we were supposed to go to Animal Kingdom and that we had an ADR at the Tusker House for breakfast at 8:05 a.m. Needless to say we missed our ADR and I was so upset with myself. Everyone else was ok with it. Nobody wanted to have to get up any earlier than we did. We had planned on paying out of pocket for breakfast at Chef Mickey’s on the last day so we just used our table service we had left over there. It worked out in the end but nobody will let me forget that I the planner extraordinaire forgot where we were going.


It was kind of cloudy, not the prettiest of days. We had a really nice time. We watched the Lion King, something I have never done before and it was amazing.

We met some characters I have never met before. Pocahontas and Kenai and Koda. Kenai and Koda were the best. They really interacted with my boys. Kenai saw Tylers backpack was open and while posing for pictures he was reaching in and stealing stuff from him. He took his waterbottle fan and then was looking for food. It was so funny. Tyler got mad at me and said it was my fault because I didn't close his bag. After this incident he always made sure his backpag was zipped up tight before going up to characters.

We did the Kilimanjaro Safari and saw lots of animals. The giraffes were real close to the car. It was really cool when the elephants starting running alongside the ride vehicle, it was like they were racing us.

We had lunch at the Flaming Tree Barbeque. My mom had the chicken and the rest of us had the ribs. I have to say that I was slightly disappointed with the ribs. It was really tough and you couldn’t get the meat off the bone for anything. My mom loved the chicken though. I can’t remember exactly what the boys had to eat. We were attacked by ducks while waiting eating our food. They quacked at us and pecked at our legs. One kept stepping on my toes. I like ducks but not attacking me for food. Sorry no food pictures for today. When we get hungry we forget to take pictures of what we eat.
We went and rode Dinosaur. Every year I say this is going to be the year that I will not be terrified on this ride. Every year I have my eyes closed through the whole ride. This year was no different. I don’t know if it is the noise or the darkness or what but it scares me. I still ride it though. We went on Primeval Whirl and just as we left the ride loading area the skies opened up and it poured on us. We had rain dripping from our hair, noses, and my poor glasses. We laughed the whole time though. We were a little miserable the rest of the day because of our wet clothes. We then went to watch Nemo. We were soaked and the theater is very cold! That show was awesome too.
It was then time to leave we had dinner reservations at T-rex that night and I wanted to go back to resort and change out of our wet clothes.
The ferry ride from our resort to Downtown Disney was really relaxing and offered us a nice look at the Tree Houses at Saratoga Springs. I have to say that I was really impressed with how nice they looked.
T-Rex was really awesome inside. It was loud though. We were in the Ice Cave Room. It would glow blue and then turn to red or purple and white. It was really cool. About every 25 minutes or so a meteor shower would hit and the dinosaurs would move and go crazy. Again very loud and to make matters worse it was Birthday Party central in the room we were in and there was even additional noise related to that.
Now on to what we all want to know about….the food. Sorry I left camera back at resort so I have no pictures from T-Rex. My mom might but I missed out on them.
Mom and Step dad (terry) had Paleo Shrimp. They really enjoyed it. The rest of us had steak. It was really good. The boys had chicken nuggets. I really wish we could get some different foods added to all the restaurants for the kids to eat. Seemed like they ate spaghetti, chicken nuggets, or mac n cheese just about everywhere we went. By the end of the week even the kids were tired of the same old stuff.
All in all this was a lot of fun and we would probably go there again. Of course we love Rainforest Café too. Would be a hard choice to which we would return.
After dinner we sent the men (and I use that term loosely considering they were always the tired ones) back to resort. Mom, the kids and I went to Epcot for Extra Magic Hours. We rode Spaceship Earth, Journey to the Imagination, and Nemo. We also watched Honey I Shrunk the Audience. My 9 year old really developed a love of Journey to the Imagination. Even now I hear him singing figment’s song. When asked who his favorite character in Disney was he answered Figment. I thought that was the cutest thing ever.
We then went back to the resort and went to sleep. My kids never slept as well as they did in Disney.

Day 3

Start the day at Animal Kingdom and then off to Epcot.
Updated post # 44

[Cam22]

I've been catching up on your TR! Sounds like a great meal at Le Cellier and very enjoyable day at AK!

[lazanya]

Great update! Glad you had a good time at AK and at Epcot!

[Nicole626Stitch]

Sounds like you had a blast! I'm scared of Dinosaur too...

[bsblady01]

more please

[MaryEL8775]

Congrats on the great time. I can't wait to hear the explanation to the title though.

[chezp]

Sounds like a great time at Animal Kingdom, even if you didn't expect to be there!

[Colexis Mom]

Sounds like a great day!

[B.M.]

Great day at AK, even if you missed your breakfast! Sounds like a good night at Epcot too!

[KMB733]

Sounds like a great day at AK and Epcot. Sorry you missed your ADR at Tusker House, but at least it all worked out in the end.

[dsnytina]

Sorry you missed your ADR, but what a great day at AK!
Thanks for updating us - can't wait to read more!

[tylerdylansmom]

Day 3

Animal Kingdom & Epcot

The day before we didn’t get to do everything we wanted to do at Animal Kingdom, so we modified our plans and decided to head back there to finish stuff we didn’t do the day before.

We got up and had breakfast in the food court at the resort. I could not get enough Mickey Waffles. Yummy! The cereal bowls I shipped to our resort were perfect for the boys to eat.

It was a rainy day but warm. We bought ponchos and plugged on. I found the ponchos to be really nice. We had a couple tear during the week and we got them replaced without any problems. My DH and Terry were almost happier getting wet from the rain then to wear the ponchos. The vinyl made them sweat really badly.

Our first stop was It’s Tough To Be a Bug. I love this 3D movie. Kids thought it was great.

We then rode Kali River Rapids. We figure how bad could it be we were wearing ponchos. DH got a little wet going down the waterfall but for the most part we stayed mostly dry.
From there we went to on the Maharajah Jungle Trek. My mom’s favorite animal is bats. I like them too. They were very cute. I know it’s strange. Last time we visited Animal Kingdom (4 years ago) Mom and I went to see them and forgot to bring our cameras so we didn’t get any pictures of them. This time because of the rain the bats were hanging upside down and covered themselves with their wings. So we took lots of pictures of them.

Then we went to the Tigers. They were asleep. They were right up against the glass. The pictures are the best.

We decided to ride Dinosaur again. Dylan didn’t want to ride so Terry stayed off with him. He hates this ride. I don’t like it but I ride it. Still had my eyes closed most of the ride.

Then it was off to Expedition Everest. We convinced my mom to ride it. She hates rollercoasters but she decided to give it a try. She was nervous. We got through the line and just as we are about to get on we see Paramedics pushing a stretcher. Nobody on the stretcher but not a sight you want to see if you hate rollercoasters. That made mom really really nervous. None of us had ever ridden this ride before. I really didn’t like going backwards. It made me fell a little queasy. My mom didn’t like it at all. She said she can say she tried it but she will never ride it again. She said at one point she felt like we were going upside down even though we weren’t. DH didn’t feel well afterwards either. Jay, Tyler and Dylan all loved it. The Yeti’s eyes were not glowing and I was actually the only one to see him in the darkness. That was a cool effect.

We went back to watch Festival of the Lion King again. We absolutely loved this show. Kids got up with instruments and danced. It is so much fun.

It was then time for lunch. We went to Pizzafari. It wasn’t bad. Kids really enjoyed the Pizza. The desserts you get are yummy. I loved the carrot cakes and everyone really liked the chocolate cakes too.

This was our last day at Animal Kingdom. I love this park. It is beautiful but most of my family is not into just looking at animals. I look at it as better than a zoo but some people in my family are not as impressed as I am.

Although Jay was impressed with Pocahontas.

After lunch we went to Epcot.

Updated post # 58

[tylerdylansmom]

Originally Posted by MaryEL8775

Congrats on the great time. I can't wait to hear the explanation to the title though.

Originally Posted by CollinsFamily

Awesome 1st day! Can't wait to hear more! ....and please tell us about "Shut the door"????

I promise explaination of the title is coming. Lol