ANIMAL KINGDOM- Day 4

Our fourth park day was Animal Kingdom.  I was so excited to see Pandora and ride Flight of Passage.  I was also excited because I felt like we'd done a great job with our fast passes this day!  We had fast passes for Flight of Passage, the Safari, and Everest.  We were able to ride Navi River Journey at rope drop with no wait.  The kids loved it.  After that we walked toward Africa for rope drop again, (the first rope drop was just for Pandora).  So we were able to ride Navi before the park even technically opened.

We headed to Gorilla Falls and did the bird watch area.  Some of the kids were more into it than others. 

We walked by the Hippo tank.  We couldn't see it very well though.  

We got the kids the Wilderness Explorers books and they were so into it.  

It was so much fun watching them get so excited about earning badges.

We took the train out to Rafiki's Planet Watch.  We earned more badges.

Barrett was so into it!

We made it to the "Affection Section" (petting zoo).  We didn't get to stay as long as the kids wanted because we had to make it back for our Safari fast pass.

The Safari was a huge hit as always.  

After the Safari we grabbed some lunch before our Flight of Passage fast pass.  We ate at Flame Tree BBQ.  I got the BBQ fries and they were delicious!  After lunch we headed back to Pandora to ride Flight of Passage.  I was so excited to ride this ride.  Hope and I rode together first while the guys stayed with the kids.  It was amazing!

While the guys rode we took the kids to earn more badges!  Barrett could have done this all day long!  It started raining while the guys were on Flight of Passage but we had one more fast pass for Everest.  So we threw on our rain gear and headed to Asia.

John and Hope rode first while we stayed with the kids.  Madelyn had been singing her little heart out and we had the rain cover on the strollers well at some point the singing turned into crying and I had no idea.  When I finally realized it her Wilderness Explorers book was in a puddle soaking wet and she was devastated.  I felt so bad because I had no idea how long it'd been in the puddle.   After they rode John rode it again with me since Patrick didn't care to ride.  After Everest, we decided to call it a day because the rain did not appear to be letting up.  We had early dinner reservations at 'OHANA.  (We found out later that Kylie Jenner and her family were at Animal Kingdom the same day but we didn't see them.)

We decided to grab a group picture in front of the Tree of Life before we headed out.  We just had to laugh because the weather had been such a crapshoot the whole week.

John and Me on Everest!  It was so much fun, even in the rain.

We left the park and headed to the resort to change into dry clothes really quick before we went to dinner.  We took the bus to the Magic Kingdom then hopped on the monorail to the Polynesian.   'OHANA was our favorite meal from the last trip.  The food was great this time but our server wasn't and it was so disappointing. We enjoyed it though.  After dinner we headed back to the resort for early bedtimes so we could rope drop our last day at Magic Kingdom and early morning magic hour.

EPCOT- Day 3

Our third park day was EPCOT.  On our last trip our EPCOT day was somewhat of a disaster planning and weather wise and we actually loved the park way more than we had anticipated so we knew we wanted to spend as much time as possible in this park.  The weather was supposed to be a little warmer but also maybe rain some.  We had fast passes for Frozen Ever After, Mission Space and Figment.  We knew we wanted to ride Soarin' so we planned to ride it a rope drop.  We left POP right at 7:30, we were in line to get in the park by 8:15, lined up for rope drop by 8:45.  Once the rope dropped we headed straight to Soarin'.  AveryAnn just barely made the height requirement to ride.  So all four Horton's boarded our flight.  I wasn't sure how the kids would feel about the ride.  It's not really scary but it can be somewhat intense.  

AveryAnn hated it and cried nearly the entire ride.  Barrett said he liked it but didn't need to ride it again.  Patrick loved it (this was his favorite ride from our last trip so I knew he would). The line was still really short when we got off so I rode again with Jackson because he wanted to ride it again and I didn't get to really enjoy my first ride since AveryAnn was so upset.

Our first fast pass was for Frozen.  The wait to meet Anna and Elsa was less than 30 minutes So we decided to jump in that line before our fast pass. Well it ended up being closer to 45 minutes.  But it was worth it!

AveryAnn was just speechless.  It was so funny!

I just loved all the character interactions! 

After Frozen we headed to our Lunch reservation back at the Land building.  We had lunch at Garden Grill with Mickey, Pluto Chip & Dale.  

AveryAnn was cracking me up so much!

We missed our Mission Space fast pass because of lunch. (I didn't do a great job scheduling fast passes and meals.) After lunch I think we rode Nemo and Friends with the Moore family before our Figment fast pass.  I love the Nemo ride and the kids did too!  

After we rode Nemo and Figment we were going to wait to meet Wreck It Ralph.  But the line was not moving and it was hot so we decided to go walk around the world showcase instead.  I was in a bad mood at this point.  The day was not going how I envisioned it and I was not handling it well.  I think at one point I told Patrick lets just go back to the hotel.  It started to sprinkle rain and it was cooler than it was supposed to be.  I was just having a pity party.  There was a snack I wanted to get in France so we headed there.  I ordered it then realized it wasn't a snack credit on the dining plan.  Then I came out of the shop and AveryAnn had to potty so I didn't even get to enjoy it while it was warm.  At this point I was really done.  

We met up with John & Hope and walked some more.  I got a margarita at the margarita stand and was feeling better.  Ha!  We headed to Spaceship Earth. 

We'd never ridden it and it was slow and John thought the kids would like it. 

AveryAnn loved it!  She said it was her favorite ride.  

After Spaceship Earth we headed back over to Nemo and Friends to ride it with John and Hope.  While we were parking strollers I snapped some pictures of us with the Spaceship Earth ball.  There's so much construction at the entrance of the park we didn't get a good shot when we came in.

I love this one of the cousins!  The girls got matching Elsa dolls.  They really enjoyed getting to be together so much, it was so sweet!

I have this same picture of Barrett from our last trip.  It makes me smile so much!

We also did Turtle Talk with Crush.  AveryAnn got to ask Crush a question and it was so funny.

I tried to take as many pictures with the photo pass photographers as I could.

The Maxwell's headed back and we decided we were going to get a quick service dinner in the world showcase before we headed back.  Jessica and I had Mexican, the boys had Chinese.  It was a good time.  We walked back International gateway to ride the skyliner back and we noticed it was not moving.  So we snapped a picture with the Eiffel Tower. 

 

When we realized it didn't look like the skyliner would be running any time soon we headed to the bus stop.  (this would prove to be a huge mistake)

We were able to snag a picture with the ball before leaving!

We got to the bus stop and waited forever for a bus.  Probably an hour.  We were all about to lose it.  We ended up having a pretty great day but that ending almost ruined it for me.  All in all I'm still not pleased with how I planned this day but we made the most of it!  One thing I'm so mad I didn't do (that I fully intened to do) was get the kids passports to get stamped in each country.  Especially after seeing how much they enjoyed the wilderness explorers the nest day in Animal Kingdom.

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS- Day 2

On our second day we headed to Hollywood Studios.  We were so excited to see Toy Story Land, but the new ride at Galaxy's Edge opening a month before our trip had our touring plans kind of screwed up. Plus it was slated to be the coldest day of our trip.  We had fast passes for Alien Swirling Saucers, Frozen Sing Along, and Star Tours.  We thought we'd try to rope drop Slinky Dog Dash or Toy Story Mania but with the 7:00am park opening and frigid temps we decided we would just go around 9:00 and hope for the best.

It was so cold, and so crowded.  So many people.  We were underprepared for both!  

We arrived and headed straight for Toy Story Land and all the lines were way long.  We saw Woody and Bo Peep and AveryAnn was insistent we meet Bo.  So we got in line.  I was so cold and we were all nearly in tears.

But we finally got to meet them and it was magical!  AveryAnn was so excited!

After we met Woody and Bo we tried to find some sunshine to stand in.  We ended up going to the Little Mermaid show.  It was so neat and the girls loved it!  After the show it was time for our fast pass for Alien Swirling Saucers.  

AveryAnn hated it!  HA!  My kids are not thrill seekers!

After that we had lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe.  It was so much fun, we enjoyed this meal a lot.  It's not a great use of a table service dining credit because it's not that expensive but we had a great time.

We missed our Star Tours fast pass because I didn't plan that out very well.  But we used our Frozen Sing Along, AveryAnn slept through the whole thing.  

After we swiped in for Frozen I was able to get two fast passes for Tower of Terror and two for Rockin' Roller Coaster and decided we could use rider swap so all the adults that wanted to ride would be able to. 

We headed to Tower of Terror next!  John and I rode first!  

He had his GoPro camera and got some great video of the whole trip!  I loved these two screen shots he sent me.  When he and I got off I rode it again with Jeremy!  It was so much fun both times.

After Tower of Terror we decided to stand in line for Toy Story Mania.  It was posted a 45 minute wait.  We waited every bit of that or more and it was as miserable as it sounds with 6 kids 7 and under!  But we waited and the kids loved the ride!  It was worth it!  

I did grab some snacks from Woody's Lunch Box to pass time in line!  AveryAnn was a fan!

We grabbed a quick picture at the entrance to Toy Story Land and then headed to use our Rockin' Roller Coaster fast pass.

AveryAnn wanted her picture made with the cars out front at Lightening McQueen's racing academy.  (We didn't go in this one but I wish we had)

After Rockin' Roller Coaster we decided to walk through Galaxy's Edge just to see what it was about (we're not Star Wars fans but still wanted to see).  I got the blue milk and the green milk to try it out.  They were both ok.  Then we walked through Toy Story Land one more time to see it lit up after dark and it was amazing!  

Then we decided to call it a night because it was freezing!!!  We had dinner at the resort again this night!  

I wanted to love Hollywood Studios this time but I still didn't.  Toy Story Land was amazing and Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller Coaster will always be favorites but there just isn't a ton of rides for the kids.  I think 3 rides with no height restrictions.  But we will probably always go because the things it does have a great!