My brother Tim goes to Disney World about every other year. This year he was really trying to get my Mom and Dad to go and anyone else in our family he could talk into it. My Mom and Dad never go on trips and I knew they would never do this again, so CJ and I decided that we would go since my parents decided to go!! It was CJ and I, my sister Kelly, Mom, Dad, my brother Tim and his wife Ashli and their three boys and Ashli's parents. We have been planning this trip since the Spring and it seemed forever far away. It came pretty fast and I got more and more nervous to go because we had decided to leave Jackson behind. We were gone eight days and either CJ or myself was always with Jackson. Both of us had never left him overnight before. CJ wasn't worried at all, but I was. He stayed with my sister Holly and he loves Holly's kids so I really wasn't worried about him, I was more worried how I was going to handle being gone that long from him. I have to say now that I am so glad we left him behind. He was fine the whole time and only cried in the bath and slept through the night every night! I was so thankful. It was so hot and humid, and it would start pouring rain randomly for a couple hours. Not having to worry about making sure he ate enough or got enough sleep or him being cranky from lack of sleep... I was glad we didn't have to worry about any of that. CJ and I really enjoyed ourselves and I think it was a good break for both of us to just be together.
So back to the trip.... CJ and I left very early on September 7th, flew to Vegas and then onto Orlando. Everybody else was on a direct flight from Delta. We arrived in Orlando just 15 minutes apart from each other which was awesome. We all got on the Magical Express Bus which took us directly to our hotel. We didn't have to wait for our checked luggage, they deliver it directly to your room at your hotel! It was awesome!
We arrived at the hotel, got checked in and then we decided to eat at the food court that they had. We got a free dining plan with our trip because of the time we traveled. It was totally worth it. Our plan involved a snack, counter service and a sit down restaurant everyday for each person. CJ and I's total bill that we spent on food was $950.00, but we only paid $78.00 because of the dining plan! And that was because on the sit down meals you had to pay gratuity, but your meal was free! I highly recommend this to everyone who goes. You can do a ton of character meals for very minimal. The food was great too. If we didn't have the dining plan there is no way we would have eaten at the places we did because it would have been $950.00!!! You will see the great places we ate at through my pictures.
We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort. It was very colorful and our room had Finding Nemo wallpaper and comforters. We had lots of frogs and lizards all over the place that Tim's kids loved to chase and try to catch. There was a place where you could rent paddle boats and bikes. We never did, but it looked like fun!
This is the outside of the food court and restaurant. The food court had four different stations with different meals that you could order from. Breakfast was great here, but the other meals it was good, but not great. I loved how everything was so colorful, even inside.
After we ate, we decided to go to Epcot for a couple hours since it was open until midnight. It had just stopped pouring rain while we waited for the bus to pick us up. DW is huge! I had no idea how large it was until we started driving to the other parks. It is definitely worth it to stay on the property if you go because you get free bus rides to and from the parks.
The kids really wanted to go on rides so we went on the Figment ride and here is Wyatt after leading music with his whole body. It was fun to watch.
Here is CJ building his own Figment of his imagination...
We watched the water show. They have this big world that rotates around the water, it was pretty cool, but my camera just wouldn't get it. They had shooting water and fireworks. Disney does an awesome job with their fireworks shows. I love them!
Here we are at the Find Nemo ride. After the ride, they have an aquarium you can walk through. They have this thing called Talking with Crush. He interacts with you so it is like he really sees you and you can ask him any question and he will answer it. It was pretty funny to watch. We learned that to talk like a sea turtle, you just need to say, "Dude!"
The next day we went to Animal Kingdom! Our very first full day at Disney World! Here we all are riding the bus to the park with our awesome matching shirts on! I know you are all jealous!
This park had lots of animals you could look at. It had a part of park that looked like Africa. The buildings looked like you were in the market. It was really cool.
First we went on the Kilimanjaro Safari. It was really cool to see all the different animals they had. They had a ton! Some of them were pretty close to the truck too.
This is a termite hill that termites build with dirt and their spit. Isn't it crazy how tall they can get?
You can't see great, but above are two cheetahs lying down
Here we are at Yak N' Yeti's. We ate here for lunch and this was our first sit down meal that we only paid $12.00 for, but our meal was $70.00! CJ got shrimp and steak that was wrapped around rice (picture below) and I got chicken lo mein. It was delicious and one of my favorite meals the whole trip!
We went on a rapids ride where you get pretty soaked and then the Mt. Everest ride. That was a fun ride! There was a Dino Land area that had carnival like games and a few little kid rides.
They had a Lion King show that was awesome! It was indoors and you got to sit so it was a very nice break from the heat. They sang and danced. I didn't get any pictures, but that was one of my favorites from this day.
Mt. Everest behind us
Animal Kingdom was fun, but not my favorite from all the parks. You can definitely do it in one day. There were a couple walk through areas that you could go look at animals, like a zoo, but they had different animals then what a zoo would have.
Below is sweet little Emmett who fell asleep on CJ while we walked around the stores while everyone else went on the last ride for the day. He slept on CJ for 2 1/2 hours! CJ actually really enjoyed it because Emmett usually won't go to anyone but his Mommy! I kept asking him if he wanted me to take him, but he was insistent that he keep holding him. It was so cute! CJ carried him on the bus to Downtown Disney for our dinner reservation at T-Rex's. It is just like Rain Forest Cafe, but dinosaurs. They even have a build-a-dinosaur that the kids got to do. This place was so loud, but I really enjoyed what I got. Another plus to the dining plan... you get dessert with your lunch and dinners! So even after you are so full that you feel like you will barf, you get to eat dessert!
Meal $54.00 - Paid $10.00
1 comments:
Wahoo! I have been waiting for these picts! Sounds like the meal plan is the way to go. Looks like a super fun trip. And it is so refreshing to have a little break every now and then. Glad you got to go!
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