Disney World, Days 5 & 6

Sorry for the delay, I kind of got sidetracked in getting these posted!  Our fifth day took us to Hollywood Studios, where Avery visited the streets of New York City:

The highlight of the day was Cayden getting to take part in Jedi Training Academy, while his fans cheered him on:

And we were glad he had been trained when Darth Vader appeared on the scene!

The kids were excited to get their faces painted later in the afternoon:

And then they were able to meet up with some friends:

On our last day, everybody went to whichever park they wanted to spend the morning at.  Cayden and I went back to Hollywood Studios and rode the roller coaster once and the Star Wars ride over and over and over, while Avery and Erin went to make some new friends:

And finally, we closed out the week in search of that elusive family picture…

All in all, a fantastic week!

Disney World, Day 4

Our fourth day at the parks started us out at the Wild Kingdom.  Our first act of the morning was to ride on the Safari, where we’d see some of the local wildlife:

Oh, um, sorry…that was waiting in line to see the wildlife…

That’s more like it!

The main thrill ride of Animal Kingdom was “Expedition Everest,” which involved a hunt for the elusive Yeti on a mine train up in the mountains.  Most of us rode it once, then Dustin and Cayden went again…they both swore these were their “we’re having a great time!” faces:

Most of the crew then rode the River Rapids:

Avery took this one on the raft:

A couple of shots from the Lion King musical production:

Waiting in line for one of the rides:

The “Tree of Life” was at the center of Wild Kingdom.  It was huge, and had carvings of various animals up and down its trunk.  No word in the Disney literature on if this was an authentic replica of the one from the Garden of Eden:

When we got back to the resort, Cayden went on a real wildlife hunt, starting with the lizard on the trunk of this tree…moving in slowly…hands behind his back so there’s clearly no intention of anything but looking at the creature…

As Papaw and Dustin golfed, and Erin and Nana rested in their rooms, D’Lynn and I took the kids to the pool:

Finally, we finished the day waiting for a bus…

…that would take us to Chef Mickey’s, an all-you-can-eat buffet of all things greasy, fatty, and kid-approved.  Where the only vegetables are yellow or dipped in ranch, and the ice cream flows freely!  The kids met several characters:

Goofy really liked Avery, and hugged her for a looooong time.  We weren’t sure what her response would be, but from that point on her Disney souvenir of choice had to be something that featured Goofy!

And, in the way of a goodbye, I leave you with this, a Mickey Mouse-eared Oreo concoction.  It looks a lot better now than it did after three slices of pizza, a plate of chicken strips, a pile of shrimp, a bowl of macaroni, and a vat of ranch dressing…

Disney World, Day 3

In the continuing saga of our Disney World Trip, on day 3 we went to Epcot.  We started the day out in front of the big silver ball.  I know what you're thinking, but the creature from Super 8 never turned it into a spaceship...at least while we were there.  But it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on the news...

Then, we took a break in front of some flowers...

Then we walked by a butterfly sanctuary with flowers in the shape of a butterfly...

Then we walked by some water...

This is Tow-Mater (disguised as greenery, but it was the real thing, we just knew it!):

I don't know if you're picking up on a theme, but Epcot wasn't built to be a thrill-a-minute park; it's more for walking and looking and "ooh-ing and aah-ing" over the scenery.  The back half of the park was set up to be like a walk around the world, with different sections set up to feel like different easily-recognizable countries.  That's not to say there weren't exciting things to do though!

This is Cayden on a top-secret Kim Possible mission...the communicator in his hand gave him clues:

And he set off down the streets of Great Britain in search of bad guys:

Avery played it cool on the shuttle boat across the park:

We rode one ride called Soarin' that takes you up and has you watch an OmniMax screen that makes it look like you're flying over various terrain:

These guys are clearly expert world travelers, captured by the camera in France I believe...

We got to see a Nemo show, and these two found their way around (and into!) the fish:

After supper Avery bummed a ride out of the park:

And we finished the day back where we began: