Disney World 2012 Day 6: Hollywood Studios

For our last day at Disney World, we chose to go to Hollywood Studios. We all loved it! I think that we could have easily spent two days there. Oh well... that just gives us a reason to go back. ;)

We got to the park a few minutes before it opened. As soon as we went through the turnstile, Wade and Clayton headed to get fast passes to Aerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster and to ride Tower of Terror. Drew and I went to sign the boys up for Jedi Training Academy.

After signing up our little Jedis, it was already time to use our fast passes to ride the Aerosmith Roller Coaster. Whoa Nelly - that sucker takes off right from the get go. It was a good time, for sure!

Next, it was time for Jedi Training Academy. Drew thought he was BIG stuff, and looked so cute right up front & center. They both challenged Darth Vadar to a light saber duel and won. It was one of the highlights of the trip for both of them.

Love that little jedi with his tongue hanging out. Ha!

We rode the Star Tours ride and then ate lunch. Star Tours made me feel icky. I'm just not meant to ride those simulation things. :/

We ate lunch and then we all rode Tower of Terror. I regretted that parenting decision, for sure. My little Drew was not quite ready for that kind of ride. He was determined to ride it - just dying to be as big as Clayton is. He looked truly terrified the entire time. Once again, he didn't cry or scream or anything. He just held on to our hands for dear life, and his eyes were as big as saucers. He was a trooper and acted brave, but he sure wasn't about to ride it again. Bless his heart.

We stopped to meet Jake from Jake & the Neverland Pirates on the way to the Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show...

The car stunt show was a big hit with Clayton and Drew. The "real" Lightning McQueen was there!

Drew was thrilled to see one of his favorite characters. :)

There were car stunts and motorcycle tricks complete with pyrotechnics...

which got two thumbs up from our biggest boy.

Next we used our fast passes to ride the Toy Story Mania ride. It was adorable, and the boys had a ball!

Once again, Wade was the High Scorer for the Carpenter clan. ;)

We went to the Pixar parade at 3:00. It had some of our favorite movie characters in it - the Incredibles, Bug's Life, Ratatouille, Up, and Toy Story. The Toy Story float was my favorite - movies just don't get much better than Toy Story in my book. :)

After the parade, Drew was ready to meet some more characters. We met Pooh, Mr. Incredible, and Elasti-Girl.

We saw the Little Mermaid show (very cute!) and then headed to an early dinner at Hollywood & Vine. It was a pretty yummy buffet. Then we went to the Disney Live show. Drew LOVED that show. It was a combination of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Jake & the Neverland Pirates, and Handy Manny - all of his Disney Jr. favs. He was a happy little boy!

We went to the last Indiana Jones stunt show of the day. By this point, it was 6:45 and Drew hadn't had a nap. He only made it a few minutes into the show before he fell fast asleep. Clayton, however, was glued to the show, and it sparked a new Indiana Jones fascination. I've never seen the movies, but Wade says that he is too young to watch them. That hasn't stopped him from wearing his Indiana Jones hat and pretending to be an archeologist. ;)

We let Drew grab a stroller nap and then headed to find seats to the Fantasmic show. It was neat - fountains moving to the music, fireworks, etc. The middle was kind of dark - focusing on all of the villans from the Disney movies. :( It ended on a happy note, though, with all of the characters floating past the audience on boats. It was a fun finale to our trip. :)

What an amazing vacation we had! I definitely want to take the boys back when Owen is 3 or 4. I love that kids get something different out of Disney at every age. I can't imagine what our family dynamics will look like then...

I think that this trip was really good for me. I have a lot of trouble with thinking about closing the door on the baby stage of our family. It pains my heart to think about the fact that my kids won't be little forever. However, this trip made me realize that having bigger kids is going to be A LOT of fun! I'm certainly not going to wish away a minute of this stage of life, but I definitely see us enjoying family vacations when the boys are older. The logistics are just so much easier when everyone is potty trained and pretty self sufficient. :)

We had an amazing time and still talk about our trip on a daily basis. I look forward to making many, many more memories with all 4 of my favorite boys!

Disney World 2012 Day 5: Magic Kingdom

On Sunday, we got to go to the the Magic Kingdom again. We were excited to get in the gates now that we were "old pros." Ha! We had seen and done all of the big things that we had on our list, so this was our chance to do some of our favorites again. We also hit up some of the attractions that were not high priorities on our first visit.

Drew was very into watching the opening show and waving at the cast members. He must have waved a thousand times whiles we were in Florida. :)

First off, Wade ran to get fast passes to Space Mountain while I navigated the crowds with the stroller. We met up at the Buzz Lightyear ride, because we knew that we all wanted to ride it again. Unfortunately, my title of High Scorer in our family was taken away. Wade totally smoked me this go 'round. I'm sure that he secretly got on Tour Guide Mike's website to find out where all of the secret high point targets were. It was a conspiracy, for sure! ;)

After Buzz Lightyear, we went to the Tomorrowland Speedway. Both of the boys were able to drive with us in the passenger seat. I use the term "drive" loosely with Drew, because Wade pushed the gas pedal and steered. Oh well, he liked just sitting in the driver's seat. Clayton was very into his role as the driver. He would not take his eyes off of the road or talk to me while he was driving. He did pretty well, and I made sure to tell him what a good driver he was. :)

Next we went to the Monsters Inc. show. Then we went to use our Space Mountain fast passes. Clayton raved about how fun it was again, but insisted that Expedition Everest was even better. He has become quite the roller coaster connoisseur. ;)

After Space Mountain, we did the Carousel of Progress. I thought that the boys would despise it, but they actually kinda liked it. Clayton was singing, "There's a great big beautiful tomorrow..." just the other day.

Drew had spotted the PeopleMover on Friday and wanted to ride it. We put him off then, but conceded this time.

Then it was time for pictures with the castle and Mickey. We were at the castle around noon, which wasn't optimal for pictures. The boys were squinting into the sun, and Drew was particularly unhappy about it. Oh well... We were missing our tiniest little mister, so I knew that the pictures wouldn't be "perfect" without him in them. I just wanted a few quick shots to document our trip. I'm thinking of trying to photoshop Owen into these. Ha!

7 year old photography is pretty awesome. ;) He was determined to get the top of the castle in the shot, and he succeeded. Ha!

We went to meet Mickey at Town Square Theater. We waited for a few minutes, but the boys were excited to see Mickey again.

We went through the Haunted Mansion. Not my favorite... Then we went to Mickey's PhilharMagic 3D movie. It was very cute! Clayton and Drew loved all of the movies that were in 3D where you got sprayed with water and such.

We were all ready for naps, but decided to ride Pirates of the Caribbean one last time...

Then we had to bid adieu to the Magic Kingdom. The boys were sad, but we assured them that they would love Hollywood Studios the following day. There was more fun to be had - never fear! :)

We took naps at the hotel and then headed to the Boardwalk area for diner. It was a fun atmosphere, and we had an amazing meal at the Flying Fish Cafe. Yum!

After dinner, we watched some of the street performers before heading back to the hotel. Drew got picked to toss a hoop to one of the performers. He took his job very seriously and did exactly as he was told. ;)

We took the ferry back to our hotel and hit the hay. We all slept soooo good on this trip - we fell asleep before our heads hit the pillow. It's hard work having all that fun! ;)

Disney World 2012 Day 4: Animal Kingdom

We went to Animal Kingdom on Saturday, March 17th. It was a shorter day - we got there at 8:30 and left at 4:00. We were trying to pace ourselves for all of the fun yet to be had. ;)

Animal Kingdom was a really neat theme park! Wade knew about a secret entrance from Tour Guide Mike's website, so that was neat. I'll tell you what, Tour Guide Mike was the best $20 we have ever spent. If you are going to do a Disney Vacation, he's your man. :)

Wade & Clayton went straight to Expedition Everest, while Drew and I went to get fast passes so that we could ride it again. Expedition Everest was our favorite roller coaster of the entire vacation - so fun! Clayton wanted to ride it over and over again! He actually rode it 4 times back to back (once while I was getting fast passes, again with fast passes with Wade, again with fast passes with me, and finally with Wade with a buddy pass). He was having the time of his life!

Sweet little Drew was too short to ride, but he was soooo patient while we waited. That kid is pure gold, I tell you! He was content as long as he had a map in his hand. Thank you, Dora. ;)

Clayton and Wade are third from the back on Expedition Everest.

Next we rode DINOSAUR. I had read that it was pretty scary, and I was worried about Drewster. He didn't love it, but he didn't cry or act scared either. He is a brave little fella, for sure!

Next we split up - Clayton & Wade rode the Primeval Whirl and Drew & I rode the TriceraTop Spin. Drew was so cute. He said, "Mommy, there was a dinosaur with your name??? Tri-Sarah Tops?" Ha ha!

We rode each ride a couple of times before moving onto "It's Tough to be a Bug!" It was a cute little show with fun effects. The boys really liked it. I had to get a picture of Wade and the Bigs with the Tree of Life.

Next we went to the Maharajah Jungle Trek. The tigers were the stars of the show - they were really active and fun to watch.

This guy came right up to the window and was staring us down. I must admit that I held onto my babies a little tighter and prayed that glass did what it was designed to do. He looked pretty fierce!

At some point earlier in the morning (I can't remember exactly when), Wade had gotten us fast passes to the Kilimanjaro Safaris Expedition. By this time, it was time to use our passes. I must admit that I didn't think we would get that close to the animals in an open air safari vehicle. But, we sure did! The animals were right next to us. It was very cool!

Clayton being... well, Clayton. ;)

Next we had to hook our little guy up with some characters. He was dead set on meeting Daisy Duck, so we decided to make that dream come true. :)

Clayton waited back with Wade while Drew & I met Daisy. When we got back, Clayton said he was sad that he didn't meet her. I was so surprised that it meant so much to him. By golly, I was going to make sure that we capitalized on him still being little. :)

Chip & Dale were playful little characters. The boys thought they were hysterical.

After the character spot, we got in line to see the Festival of the Lion King. We were one of the first families in line, and got awesome seats. Wade & I have seen the Lion King musical twice and loved it both times. This was very similar - awesome costumes, beautiful voices, cool sets. It was pretty great.

Our last hurrah before heading back to the hotel was Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. There were some really neat floats and some of the characters walked right up to the kids to give them high 5s. They really enjoyed it!

Drew waved his little hand like crazy at every parade. It was fun to watch him in his element. :)

By the time that we left Animal Kingdom we were all beat! We ordered room service (such a fun treat for the boys) and turned in early. I think that we were all sound asleep by 8:45. I don't think that I have gone to bed that early since having children. We got 11 hours of sleep - it was awesome!

The next day we were headed to the Magic Kingdom again. We were excited to have another day to hit all of our favorites again. :)