Disney World!!–Part 1

We spent 5 nights in Disney World and we loved it!!

We flew to Orlando on Friday morning, May 2nd. It was raining when landed and rained the rest of Friday. We made our way through the airport, grabbed some lunch, then found Disney’s Magical Express bus that would be taking us to our hotel. We were able to skip baggage claim, which was great! The Magical Express folks got our bags for us and delivered them right to our hotel room a few hours later.

We got to our hotel about 2 PM and checked in. We were staying at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. We were drawn to this place because of the amazing theming and the fact they offer suites so we could watch TV or talk after Adam was in bed. Brian and I had a separate bedroom with our own bathroom. There was a second bathroom and a kitchenette. Adam slept on the pull out sofa. Â We chose to stay in a Cars themed suite. It was so cool! The bathrooms were car wash themes, and the Cars theme was carried throughout the suite so nicely! There were several sections to the hotel: Cars, Finding Nemo, Little Mermaid, and Lion King. We spent an evening just walking around the hotel checking out the different areas.

Ok, so the first afternoon/evening it was raining. We hung out in the room and got unpacked. Then we made our way to Downtown Disney where we had a dinner reservation at T-Rex Restaurant. It was a pretty cool place! We also checked out the Lego store. Amazing! If it wouldn’t have been raining, we would have probably checked out a bit more of Downtown Disney. We could have sat and watched the water while having a drink or some ice cream. Oh well, next time! 🙂

The boys and Lego Hulk

Bar area at T-Rex

T-Rex

Made of Legos!

Buzz & Woody made of Legos

Saturday was our first scheduled park day! It was still raining. We were scheduled to go to Hollywood Studios. We got there pretty early and hit a couple rides. We also tried to get Adam signed up for the Jedi Academy, but he was not interested! I think if we would have prepped him a little more for it, he would have been on board.

Lunch was at Hollywood and Vine. I chose this place because it was a character dining experience with Disney Junior characters. It’s never known for sure who will be there on which days. We totally lucked out! We met Jake from ‘Jake and the Neverland Pirates,’ Doc McStuffins, Princess Sofia, and Handy Manny! Adam had his autograph book and got all their signatures!

After lunch, the rain had stopped. We decided to check out the Indiana Jones stage show. Poor Adam was a little spooked by it. There was shooting and such, and he didn’t realize it was all fake. He was concerned the people were actually being hurt. We then used our Fastpass for “Lights, Motor, Action!” stunt show! This was very cool! Â Cars, motorcycles, etc racing around an outdoor stage. Going over ramps, backwards, sideways…so cool! One of my first favorite moments was when Lightning McQueen made a surprise appearance out of a semi trailer. Adam gasped and his mouth dropped open with amazement! “Lightning…..”

After the show it was starting to rain again and we were ready to head back to the hotel. We had some dinner there and also decided to hop into the pool for a swim. Why not? We were gonna get wet anyways…

Sunday was our day at Magic Kingdom! The weather was gorgeous! Sunny and warm. We got to the park before it opened and we were able to see the rope drop ceremony. So fun! Mickey and Friends came in on the train and opened the park for the day.

Rope Drop

Since we were there so early, we were able to hit a bunch of rides before there were any lines. We went on Dumbo, Barnstormer (twice), and the tea cups. Then used our Fastpass for Space Mountain. This is a rollercoaster in complete darkness. It totally freaked me out a kid and I was nervous Adam would have the same reaction. However, he marched outta there and proclaimed, “That was so awesome!” Whew..

We had lunch at Be Our Guest restaurant. It was a Beauty and the Beast themed lunch. Food was ok. Atmosphere was very cool!

Our lunch magically arrived on this cart!

Music box

Wilting rose in the West Wing room

The gray stuff!

We had a couple more Fastpasses to use after lunch. One of them was Splash Mountain. Love our photo that was taken on the ride:

We met Donald & Goofy, went on more rides, and watched a stage show at Cinderella’s Castle. The show was sweet. Loved the dancing and it had all the characters. Growing up, I was just sure I wanted to be one of the Disney World dancers. 🙂 Adam loved the show! Another of my favorite moments was watching him watch the show. He was totally into it! Â We then made our way back to our hotel for dinner and swimming.