BEST vacation EVER!!! Part 5 - Disney's Animal Kingdom

Our last day of our Disney vacation was spent at Animal Kingdom. During our last visit to Orlando, eight years ago, Animal Kingdom was the number one place I  wanted to go. However, I woke up that day with a stomach virus that sent me back to the house after only 30 minutes in the park. I was so disappointed! This year I finally got to enjoy it and had a blast! My selfie skills finally improved - on the last day!

The Number one must do for kids is the Wilderness Explorer Club (may not be the exact title)! Kids start at the clubhouse to get their journal. They then look at the map to find camp guides throughout the park who help the kids complete designated pages in their journal and teach them neat facts. After completion, the guide rewards them with a sticker badge. If you find all 31 by the end of the day you earn a special badge! We were up for the challenge!

Even though J slept most of the time we were at each park, she and her cousins loved hanging out together! They especially loved sharing Dippen Dots! 

We loved the Bugs' Life 3D show!

The Tree of Life is beautiful! It sits in the center of the park and has different animals carved all around its trunk.

 This hippo was one of my favorite animals. It kept prancing around in the water like a ballerina.

 Taking a break to complete a few more badges.

The Kilaminjaro Safari ride was awesome! We got to travel through the wildlife preserve in a safari jeep and see the animals in their natural habitats.

We enjoyed lunch in Africa with kabobs and coconut milk tart. Delicious!

M had to pose with Tarzan. The boys refused for some reason!

The Lion King performance was incredible! The performers were amazing!

Somebody wasn't very happy that he had to join the campers on their quest after having spent the morning with the other half of the group. However, he decided it was fun after only a few minutes!

 The train ride to Rafiki's Adventure. We only had a few minutes here and barely got all of the kids badges for this area. It closed 2 hours before the rest of the park.

A huge storm with lightening and hail rolled in closing the park an hour early so we didn't get to do everything. However, after a performance worthy of and resembling The Amazing Race, we got all 31 badges plus the special badge! Apparently this task isn't accomplished often. This is our campers "hurry up and pose so we can get a photo and get out of here before we get struck by lightening" photo!

Our Disney/Universal vacation was truly our BEST vacation EVER!!! We cannot wait to go back!!!

We saved Animal Kingdom for the last day because it closed earlier than the rest of the parks which gave us time to go back to the house, pack, swim, and clean up to head home the next morning. Atleast that's what the kids thought we were doing the next morning.....

BEST vacation EVER!!! Part 4 - Universal's Islands of Adventure

This post includes days 2 & 3 of our visit to Universal - Island of Adventure! Today's dress code: the Thing family! 

It started pouring as we entered the park, long enough for me to decide the $8 poncho was worth it, stopped five minutes after my purchase, and didn't rain again the rest of the trip. Oh well! I have a nice souvenir poncho that I'll probably never wear again.

 Of course we headed straight to Harry Potter World Hogsmead! Our complete nerdiness totally came out, but we were far from being the nerdiest there! 

M made sure to bring along her interactive wand. Although at first I cringed at the idea of spending $50 for an interactive wand, it was extremely fun and everybody wanted a turn! The wand came with a map of both Hogsmead and Diagon Alley (at Universal). Each map was labeled with the locations of "spell casting" spots and the spell (pattern) to make something magical happen. When you found the correct spot (marked by a medallion on the ground), and moved your wand in the correct pattern, cool things happened! A box of chocolate frogs opened, a flower bloomed, rain fell from an umbrella, a book came to life, etc. It was awesome!!!

The Hogwarts castle was amazing! Inside is the Forbidden Journey ride which is incredible! It is definitely not for people with motion sickness. At all. I think my desire to ride it helped me make it but I was a little ill after and I had to close my eyes several times to block out 3D effects. However, it was totally worth it for this Harry Potter fan!

Next it was on to Jurrasic World where Papa and T were attacked by a T-Rex!

Oh look! More Harry Potter!

The frozen butterbeer was amazing!

We also made sure to get our monies worth of spell casting!

T's favorite ride was Jurrasic Adventure which was much like Splash Mountain.  Matching shirts also made it easier to take pictures of your crew on a ride! 

The splash zone of Jurrasic Adventure was more of a hit with P and M. They were drenched after one splash! That's them in the red shirts about to get hammered by the wall of water.

P and M stood in line together for an hour to ride the Ptyranedon Flyer. To ride you had to have someone shorter than 48" and only one person could ride with them. This was the longest line at the park, but both declared it well worth the wait!

On to Dr. Suess World for a quick ride on Red Fish Blue Fish before we left the park for the day!

I had to have a picture of the this awesome VW van outside the Mexican restaurant we ate at in Universal's City Walk.

Day two at Island of Adventure called for tie dyed shirts again! My selfie skills are horrible so I only got half of T!

And... Of course we headed back to Hogsmead first! We ate lunch at Three Broomsticks and it was awesome!!! We ordered the platter for four ($50) and it was enough food for at least 6 people! The platter consisted of a large bowl of salad, four rotisserie chicken quarters, four barbecue rib quarters, roasted potatoes, roasted veggies, and four ears of grilled corn. It was the best food we ate the whole trip!

                                     

A quick photo with the conductor of the Hogwarts Express.

 Gene and T loved Rip Saw Falls

P and M tried a little rock climbing while Gene and T rode Jurrasic Adventure for a third time

We rode the Bilge Barges ride four times (a group raft ride), got completely soaked, and then all crammed in the people dryer in an attempt to not drip everywhere for the rest of the evening! Gene's favorite ride was Hulk which he rode three times and begged me to ride with him. Not. Happening. Ever. I did manage to thoroughly the Spiderman 3D ride and Flight of the Hippograff - which I might add is a roller coaster! A small one but still a roller  coaster!

I know I've said it before, but Universal's parks were our absolute favorites! We can not wait to go back!!!

BEST vacation EVER!!! - part 1 Disney's Hollywood Studios

We recently had the privilege of taking our kids on the BEST vacation EVER! It would not have been possible without my awesome parents, AKA Nana and Papa! They gifted the whole crew with park tickets and rented the house for all 10 of us to stay in. This was our first vacation where all three kids were old enough to remember everything we did, tall enough to do anything they wanted, and didn't require all the "stuff" needed when traveling with little ones. We loved every minute of our time together!!!

I wanted to document our trip, as well as the pros, cons, and hacks we discovered along the way. However, a trip this awesome was too large for one post so here is part one - Disney's Hollywood Studios!

After a 12 hour drive from Mississippi to Orlando, Florida, what could be better than Joe's Crab Shack?!?! (complete with a selfie and photo bombers)

All four grands!

The next morning we headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios! This was our favorite Disney park. The Great Movie Ride, the stunt car show, and the Frozen sing along were awesome! Fantastmic (a night time light and water spectacular) is incredible!!! I'm sure some of the other rides were equally or more awesome, but I don't do many rides. Neither does T. Poor Gene loves them! Motion sickness stinks!

P and M decided they wanted to ride their first roller coaster here. I'm not sure that the Rock 'n' Roller coaster was the best choice for first timers! They were a little more hesitant about rides after that one.

 The Frozen Sing-Along was awesome! What could be better than 300+ kids, moms, and dads (some dads tried to be cool and act like they didn't know the words, but not this awesome dad!) singing along at the top of their lungs with Anna and Elsa??? Snow falling from the ceiling while you sing Let It Go!!!

My own little collection of action figures!

This park's parking lot was close enough to the entrance that we were able to walk to the car for a picnic lunch.  We also took advantage of the free cups of ice and water fountains. Every bit saved means more fun later! 

Part two - Magic Kingdom coming soon!