Last Day at the Magic Kingdom

When we went back to the Magic Kingdom on our last day, we were greeted by a sky writer as we took the tram from the parking lot to the transportation center.

 The kids agreed to ride the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom and we would ride the ferry back out in the evening.  Chloe inserted herself on Grandma Sharon's lap for the Monorail ride. 

When we got off the monorail, we could see the skywriter still at it, telling everyone that Jesus loves them.  :)

I was able to hand off my camera to one of the street photographers so we could get a family shot of us on Main Street and not pay $20 for the print later.  Score!

The kids were in a great mood and cooperated when I asked them to stand and smile.  They even gave hugs!

Chloe tried on a Goofy hat and wrapped his ears around her face.

We raced around the speedway and beat Owen and Todd (because we couldn't change lanes with a metal strip down the middle keeping our cars lined up and we were in the lead car).  It was a bumpy ride with Chloe steering.  Fortunately, I was able to control the gas!

Owen and I went to the Mad Hatter's Tea Party the night before during fireworks, but Chloe missed out.  She was thrilled to go this morning and picked the tea cup for the girls to ride in.

She helped spin the wheel in the middle that made the whole tea cup turn faster and faster.

Look at her hair flying!  We were spinning FAST!

Chloe!  You get down from there right now!

Todd and Owen split off to go to Fantasy Land while Chloe and I caught this marching band parade.   Papa Wenzel and Grandma Sharon had gone into the President's Hall to see their wax figures and watch a movie about the American Presidents.

Chloe wanted to ride the big Prince Charming carousel over and over.  And over again.  She just loved this ride and being able to pick out a horse that she thought would take her higher than mine.

She was happy to sport her new sunglasses that she bought with her money in front of Prince Charming's carousel.

One last look at Main Street and Cinderella's castle before we left the Magic Kingdom for the last time.

We didn't get out of there until after the lights started turning on.  Owen was on a hunt for Stitch dolls with Daddy at the time.  He had to get just one more!

We snapped a few family pictures.

And then it was dark and past time to head back to the house to make a late dinner.

This gorgeous sunset welcomed us as we took the ferry boat back to the transportation center.

A fitting way to end a long weekend spent putting continual smiles on our children's faces.  We could not have had a better time and hope our kids will always remember this vacation.  We had sooo.  Much.  Fun.

A Magical Night

We headed back to the Magic Kingdom after dinner and loved all of the lights.

Christmas lights were everywhere.

This is something that they called a ride, but should not.  Even Chloe agreed it was lame.  A bunch of hype.  A bunch of talk and no show and no ride.  Hmmph.

During the day, we could see that the castle was covered in nets.  I wondered if it was under renovations.  But the netting was actually lights!

We went on the Astro-Orbiter and was one of the highest rides in the park.  We had a good view of everything below while we were on this ride.

The rocket ships we rode in on this ride looked like they had real fire coming out of their back ends.

And then the fireworks started.

We saw the Electric Parade, but from farther away.  It was a late night and we were glad we went, even though we had tears and arguing as we left.  It was hard for our little people to be up several hours past their normal bedtime.  Especially after a jam packed day of walking and rides at the Animal Kingdom for most of the day.

Day 2 - Animal Kingdom at Disney

Satuday morning, Grandma Eloise snatched Owen's Mickey ears.  She and Chloe had fun wearing their big ears and laughing together before we headed off for the Animal Kingdom.

This tall Christmas tree greeted us at the entrance to the Animal Kingdom.

Once we walked into the park, it was like walking through a zoo with exotic and different animals everywhere.  This black swan was gorgeous.

The parrots had their wings clipped, but little egrets which are native to Florida were free to come and go whenever/wherever they wanted.

This was the Tree of Life and it has 155 different animals carved into it.  I believe there is also a ride inside this tree that is a bit scary, but we didn't find our way to it.

We went on a safari ride on a bumpy bus and saw all kinds of animals found in Africa.

LOVE the sleeping hippos!

These termite mounds were taller than us.

I like the twisted horns on this guy.

A baby giraffe ran across the path in front of us.

His momma was calling him and he wasn't going to be late!

We saw elephants eating and covering themselves in hay.

Pink flamingos that get their coloring from the pink shrimp they eat.

I like the bright pink and black wings on that guy in the middle.

We saw this baby rhino.  He only weighed 800 pounds.

This warthog was still sleeping in his cave.

This ostrich was keeping an eye on us and also on the ostrich eggs laying on the ground unprotected not too far away.

Such cool horns!

This was one of a handful of geysers we drove around on the safari.

I don't remember this guys name, but he wasn't a zebra or related to one.  His closest relative was a giraffe.  Go figure.

I think Owen liked the idea of sticking his hand up these creatures noses.  ;)

Chloe had to stick her hands in, too.  Because that's what little sisters do.

They had meerkats!

Can you tell someone wasn't getting his way?  There was a bit of brooding on this walk through the jungle.  Owen wanted to be riding Expedition Everest.

There were several gorillas and their size was astounding.  A baby weighing less than 15 pounds played among the adults.  He liked his toes.

Another view of the Tree of Life.

The kids had fun playing these African drums and bounced between them all to play as many as possible in the shortest amount of time.

We found Pluto!

Owen wasn't planning on giving Pluto hugs, but he decided at the last minute to jump into the pictures.  I think he was glad he did it.  :)

After lunch, we made our way over to Expedition Everest.  This bad roller coaster goes upside down and backwards before this major freefall drop.   This is one of the scariest rides and Owen was brave enough to go on it.

Owen looks so small next to Todd in these pics.

Chloe and I hung out with Grandma Sharon and Papa Wenzel while we waited on Todd and Owen to get through the line and come off the roller coaster.  Owen surprised us and made us proud.  He didn't cry and came off the ride all smiles. 

We wandered into DinoWorld and Owen hit the pop-up animals for a little bit.  While Chloe and I were on a ride, Todd and Owen ran into our friends the Mulligans (they live in our neighborhood and Todd plays tennis with Steve).  But they were gone by the time Chloe and I were off the ride.

It was only 3pm, but we had heard a fair amount of complaining this day and we knew it would be a late night.  We decided to head back to the house because we were going back to the Magic Kingdom after dinner.