Our Disney Days Continued....

On Saturday we woke up early and well rested from our day off from the parks and were ready to check out the Animal Kingdom. We met Timon at the front gate and began our the trek to the back of the park to go on the Kilimanjaro Safari.  We really enjoyed the safari and the kids loved seeing all of the animals.  Addy was a little disappointed that there weren't any zebras, but we did learn that they will be added to the Savannah very soon.  I guess we'll just need to make another trip to see them:)   We also went to see the live performances of the Lion King and Finding Nemo.  I was very excited about seeing both shows, but overall we liked Nemo much better than the Lion King.  The huge puppets in Nemo were amazing.  Carter and Adalyn were mesmerized during the entire show.  It is definitely a show worth seeing!  We would have considered seeing it again if we would have had the time.  Addy conquered another "big kid" ride at the Animal Kingdom by riding Expedition Everest twice.  It is a full fledged roller coaster that takes you on a ride through Mt. Everest where you encounter the Yeti.  Although it wasn't her favorite ride, she enjoyed it enough to want to ride it again with her dad, which surprised us.  Animal Kingdom closed at 7, and we had dinner reservations at Whispering Canyon, which is in Wilderness Lodge, so we headed to the bus stop in the early evening.  We enjoyed our day at the Animal Kingdom.  Overall, I would say that it was our third favorite behind Magic Kingdom (#1, of course!) and Hollywood Studios.  It was a nice change of pace from the other parks and the kids enjoyed seeing the animals.

Posing with Timon

Finding Nemo the Musical was fabulous!

More Nemo characters

Flying with the kids in the Dino version of the Dumbo ride

Family picture in front of the Tree of Life

On Sunday we headed to the "giant golf ball" for our day at Epcot.  Carter had seen Spaceship Earth from a distance several times on bus rides on previous days and was very excited to finally be close to the giant "golf ball" as he called it.  We met our friends again to explore Epcot.  We headed to Soarin' right away since it is the premiere ride at the park.  It is a motion simulator in which you actually feel like you are hand gliding over California.  It is an awesome ride and is by far the most popular (and longest line) at Epcot.  After that we decided to head toward the Finding Nemo ride.  Carter and Addy both really enjoyed it.  We rode it again later and Carter talked about the ride for days after we returned to Illinois.  In fact, if you ask him about Disney today, the Nemo Ride would probably be mentioned.  We took time to tour several of the countries before lunch and heading back to our resort for a break.  Addy got to meet Jasmine and Aladdin and Marie from the Aristocats. 

After lunch at the hotel and a nap, we headed back to the park to ride a few more rides.  Then it was time for our dinner reservations at the Akershus Castle with Belle and her princess friends.  The meal featured some Norwegian fare, but was plenty "Americanized" for us.  The food was great and the interaction with the princesses was wonderful.  I didn't feel as though the princesses were as rushed to get around to each table in a timely manner.  Each one spent a great deal of time chatting with our kids.  Carter has a real crush on Snow White.  He was a real flirt with her and she really spent a lot of time talking to him.  It was really cute!

Addy loves Snow White...

and so does Carter!

After dinner we headed to Italy to find our preferred seating location that was assigned to us for being our resort's family of the week.  We made a quick stop at the Werthers Original Bakery in Germany where Derek proceeded to spend a great deal of our snack credits on caramel goodies.

Derek and all of his caramel selections. He was truly a kid in a candy store!

After finding our viewing area in Italy, Addy and I headed to the department store in Japan to pick a pearl. We had to hurry because the store closed at nine and it was 8:45.  Picking a pearl was something I really wanted to do with her and since this was our only day at Epcot, we needed to do it that night.  There is an area in the store with tanks of oysters.  You pay a fee and then pick out the oyster you would like opened.  The workers then open the oyster in front of you and do a special ceremony with a drum to reveal the pearl.  Since this was all so rushed, I didn't get any pictures.  Addy picked an oyster with a perfect pair of white twins, which was really neat!  My oyster had a large grayish blue pearl in it, which they said is really rare.  I had ordered Cinderella pearl cages from eBay to place them in and Addy really loves wearing hers.  It was a special thing to do with Addy and we really enjoyed it!

Addy posing with the Lady and the Tramp topiary. 

The fireworks show at Epcot was great.  Epcot is a great place to view fireworks because it is a huge area with so many great viewing areas.  After IllumiNations, we sat sown to eat our yummy caramel treats and then took our time heading out of the park and back to the resort.

Monday was our last day in our parks, so we headed to the Magic Kingdom for one more day of magical fun.  We arrived at the Magic Kingdom gates just before rope drop and headed straight for Rapunzel's line.  Rapunzel is one of Adalyn's favorite princesses and is a very popular meet and greet at Disney.  Her line can be up to 1.5 to 2 hours long, so we decided to head straight to her line upon entering the park.  Our strategy paid off, as we only had to wait about 20 minutes.  Both kids really enjoyed meeting her.  Addy was in awe and Carter got a kiss from her that he didn't want to wipe off.  He was pretty proud of his Rapunzel lipstick print!

After Rapunzel we headed to meet Mickey and Minnie.  Carter was wearing his Mickey birthday shirt so that he could take a special picture with his favorite mouse.  There was no line to meet them, and we had great interaction with both Minnie and Mickey.  Cater loved them and enjoyed getting his picture taken with them all by himself.

The big boy and his buddies

Tea Cup fun

Addy, keep your eyes on the road!

Trying to remove the sword from the stone

Carter, giving it all his might

We stopped for breakfast at the Main Street Bakery (home of the best and biggest cinnamon rolls!) and then headed into the park to ride all of the kids' favorite rides, plus a few more that we didn't get to on Wednesday. We rode the Tea Cups and It's a Small World multiple times.  Derek and Addy took on Splash Mountain.    We headed back to the hotel around noon for lunch and a nap and then headed back to the park for a few more hours before closing. Rain showers hit the park in the evening and the threat of lighting called for the Cast Members to close down Dumbo, just as we were in the front of the line. Thank goodness we were able to walk right on later on during the rain and rode several times. Dumbo is just as magical when you are a bit soggy:) 

Dumbo at night

The parade was cancelled for the evening due to the weather, which allowed more time for us to ride rides. The crowd had thinned out significantly, so we were able to jump on a few of the most popular rides with little or no waiting.  We finished the evening with a little bit of souvenir shopping on Main Street and one last glimpse of Cinderella's Castle, and then headed to the bus stop for one last evening at The French Quarter.

Our trip to Disney was filled with wonderful moments and memories that will last for a lifetime.  I am writing this post over a month after we went and the kids are still talking about all of the fun they had on our trip.  After looking back at all the pictures and thinking about all of the wonderful experiences, all of the planning was totally worth it!  I look forward to planning many more magical vacations for our family!