Mouse World

The day after Christmas Team Upton flew to Disney World or as Nick calls it "Mouse World." We were packed and ready to leave the day after Christmas. When we arrived at the airport, Brennan almost didn't get to go. Despite the fact that I had called Southwest to inquire about whether or not I needed any documentation on the children, I didn't have her immunization record so they weren't going to let her fly. Jeremy and I were about ready to send Nick on the plane with Deenie and get in the car to begin the drive to Orlando when a supervisor took pity on us and told us to just have them faxed to the resort when we arrived  so we would have them on our return flight! Our airport adventure was not over as getting through airport security with two small children, and a stroller is no small feat. I am still not certain what the stuff is they rubbed on my hands was, perhaps they were insuring I was not stealing Brennan or didn't have a bomb hidden on her person ;) We survived an hour flight delay in the airport with a toddler and infant and we were off: Nick and Brennan had a trip of first, starting with their first plane ride. Nick was really good in the plane. We didn't even have to break on cartoons on the ipad to keep him quiet!

One we arrived in Orlando we headed to Magical Express, Disney's bus service to take you to your resort. We were all getting a little tired and hungry but we didn't have to wait too long for our bus to arrive. Here we are waiting for the bus

 Next came the kids first bus ride, Nick sat with Deenie and Brennan, Jeremy and I sat together. The bus ride is only about 30 minutes and they show a promotional cartoon on the tvs about Disney, but by this point we had to break out the ipad and Nick eventually fell asleep on his Deenie!

We arrived at our resort, the Animal Kingdom's Kidani Village, where Grandma and Grandpa Upton had already arrived and checked us in. (They drove, they don't enjoy flying and if you have ever been through security with George Upton, you understand why!)

Our suite at the resort was amazing, it overlooked the African Savannah and Nick had the best time "mamels" (Animal) watching. They were so close to use it was really amazing. Every day when Nick would get up from his nap or in the morning he would say, "Mamels, see mamels, outside!" which was someone's cue to get up and open the balcony doors so he could see his animals. Although I think for Nick waking up with all his grandparents, mom, and dad was just as exciting. Paw Paw (Grandpa) would open the door to the balcony in their room and the one in the living room and Nick would literally run laps around the condo. We called it Paw Paw PT. Although we couldn't get a picture because it was too dark at night, one of the highlights of the animals in the Savannah was the night we came home and all 5 giraffes were sleeping right outside of our room. I had never seen giraffes lying down. Here are just a few highlight pictures of the animals from our balcony!

After a few minutes to catch our breath at the resort, we headed to the Magic Kingdom. Jeremy who is a bit of a Disney expert believes everyone should begin their Disney experience there. Nick was as thrilled to be riding on another bus, the one that takes you from your resort to the parks as he was to be going to the Magic Kingdom. Here are Nick and Daddy once we entered the park!

 We all headed to tomorrow land first to ride the people mover, the ride that takes you on a tour of tomorrow land, almost 7 years ago when Jeremy took me to Disney for the first time, it was the first ride I rode on with him as it was only fitting that it be Deenie, Nick and Brennan's first ride. As we got on the moving walkway to board the ride, Jeremy insisted we could all fit in the same car for the ride. For those of you who have ever been on the People Mover, all of Team Upton including Deenie, Grandma, and Grandpa should not ride in one car of the people mover, but it was too late. We had to quickly put Nick in Grandpa's lap, Brennan in Deenie's lap and me in Jeremy's lap!

Everyone enjoyed the ride, although the parts in the dark were a little much for Deenie and B! And Grandpa nearly throwing Nick out of the car playing with him at every turn was a little much for Me! (but Nick loved it)

Jeremy had wanted to take Nick to the Tomorrowland Speedway for some good race car driving, but the line was too long. They had to settle for the Mad Hatter Teacups. Jeremy, Grandma, and Nick had a great time in the teacups! Although Jeremy did remark the doors to get in the teacup and not "Dad sized" and he didn't remember them being so small...maybe he just doesn't remember getting so big! We finished up our first trip to Tomorrowland with a ride on the train so we could see all of the park.

 Brennan was pretty tired of rides at this point in the day and it was getting a little chilly, so she and Deenie did some strolling while the rest of Team Upton rode It's a Small World. They had a great time though and met some folks from NJ who asked if all Southern Babies were as beautiful as Brennan, to which I am sure Deenie told them no, just our B! I always thought everyone was joking about the fact that the really annoying its a small world song plays through the whole ride, but it is not a joke it does play, THE WHOLE TIME! Even as I am typing this now, I am having flashbacks and it will probably be stuck in my head for the rest of today! Oh yeah this ride was Nick's first trip on a boat!

After we finished up this ride, Jeremy and I walked Team Upton to the bus, and loaded them up to head back to the resort. We hopped on the monorail and rode to The Contemporary to have some dinner and the back to the Magic Kingdom to ride Space Mountain, the Pirates of the Carribean, and Splash Mountain before catching the fireworks display heading back to the resort.

We began the second day of our trip at the Animal Kingdom, probably Jeremy and mine's favorite park. When we arrived the team headed to the Kilimanjaro Safaris. Nick got a little antsy standing in line, but nothing a quick ride on Daddy's shoulders could fix!

The Safari ride was a little bumpy for me and B, but everyone else had a great time! Nick, Deenie, Brennan, and I got to ride in the back of the safari car which is the best place to get some good pictures!

We had some lunch and walked through some of the other animal exhibits. Then Deenie, Grandma, Jeremy, and I headed to ride Mount Everest while George to Nick and Brennan to the Dinosaur land. We thought we would take Nick on some more rides at the dinosaur land before we headed back to the resort but Nick and Brennan we fast asleep in the stroller by the time we caught up to Grandpa so we took Deenie, Grandma, and Grandpa back to the bus with the kids to go take a nap. Jeremy and I were able to ride the Primeval Whirl and Kali River Rapids before heading back to the resort. Here is Jeremy geared up to ride Kali River, it was cold and we didn't want to get wet!

When we got back to the resort we realized there had not been much napping going on, so finally I got Nick down for a very late nap and Jeremy and I took Deenie to Epcot. Despite it being very cold at Epcot we had a really great time! We took her on a tour of the World Showcase where we all drank our way through the countries and had a delicious dinner in Italy before riding on Soaring and heading back to the kids...Nick was still up! It was a late night for everybody!

Our third day we had our first character breakfast scheduled. Grandma made reservations for breakfasts where Nick could meet the Disney characters without us having to wait in line to meet them at the parks. This is a really great idea if you have children who are interested in meeting the characters. Our breakfast was at the Polynesian resort. So we needed to take a bus to the Magic Kingdom and then the monorail to the Polynesian. This trip was Nick, Brennan, and Deenie's first ride on the monorail. Again this was probably as exciting for Nick as any ride at a park. Here is Nick on the monorail for the first time:

The character breakfast was probably one of Nick's favorite things about the entire trip. This breakfast had Lilo, Stitch, Pluto, and the big cheese himself, Mickey Mouse. Nick could not wait to meet "My mouse" (a.k.a. Mickey Mouse). The characters all come around to your table. Here is Nick meeting Lilo, he really liked her and was even blowing her kisses!

Deenie was still a little unsure about Lilo, especially since she didn't even know who she was:

But by the time Stitch cam around Deenie had warmed up to the characters and Nick, Brennan and Mommy liked him!

Seeing as Nick has three dogs of his own, it should come as no surprise that he loved Pluto! And of course Nick loved "My mouse"

We finished up Breakfast with a parade with the characters. It was probably Nick's favorite party he and I went and boogies between Mickey and Lilo. Nick got a maraca and had the time of his life! After breakfast we headed back on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom where Nick, Grandma, and I rode The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Nick had a great time flying over adventure land. Then Deenie, Nick, Jeremy and I toured the Swiss Family Robinson Tree house. It was really fascinating, and much more fun than I originally thought it would be. Here are some pictures of us touring

I also got some great shots of the park from the top of the treehouse:

We wrapped up our trip to the Magic Kingdom that night with a trip on the Carousel for Nick and Jeremy (also a first for Nick.

That night Jeremy and I had dinner reservations for out "night out" at Todd English's Blue Zoo at the Dolpin Resort near Epcot. It was amazing, Jeremy had two pounds of tempura fried lobster and I had delicious Corvina, plus we polished off a couple bottles of wine! After dinner we hopped on the water taxi to Epcot so that Jeremy and I could ride Test Track before we returned to the resort. Before we went to dinner we wanted to wear Nick out for the Grandparents so we took Nick around our resort to see the big Christmas Trees, the animals and the cool playground.

 Our fourth day began with our second character breakfast at Disney's Animal Kingdom, Donald's Safari Breakfast. Here we are waiting for the bus:

Right as we arrived at the Animal Kingdom, we experienced a downpour! By the time we got to the breakfast we were all a little wet, but really enjoyed the breakfast. Except for Brennan who was passed out!

Nick got to meet Daisy, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey was there again in his Safari gear. Here are pictures of Nick and his "friends"

The Donald Safari Breakfast wrapped up with another parade for Nick that Grandpa went on with him:

The parade must have worn Pa Pa out because after breakfast he and Grandma went back to the resort to nap while Jeremy, Nick, Brennan, Deenie, and I headed back to Dinosaur USA. Nick is a little obsessed with Dinosaurs or as he calls them "sauruses". First we went to the boneyard where he had some of the most fun he had all trip. He went digging for fossils:

And had a blast "RUNNING" and going down some really big slides! I swear...nothing scares this kid!

Deenie and Brennan also hung out in the boneyard, but didn't do any running or sliding ;)

After the boneyard, Jeremy, Nick and I rode on the TriceraTop Spin

We finished up the Dinosaur USA by looking an some really cool saurses!

We finished our trip to the Animal Kingdom that day by heading over to camp Mickey and Minnie. We were just in time for the festival of the Lion King Show and decided to check it out. As we were walking up I was holding Brennan in my arms because she was tired of the carrier and strollers were allowed. One of the employees asked how many are with you and the baby. I told her three others. She sent us down the handicap side and we got front row seats. The show was really spectacular. Nick loved it....even the scary parts! At the end of the show one of the performers mouthed how beautiful Brennan was!

After we left the Animal Kingdom we went back to the resort and had a nap, when everyone including Grandma and Grandpa got up we headed to Downtown Disney for dinner and shopping. We wanted to eat at a restaurant called T-Rex. The wait was really long so we put our name in and headed to the Lego Imagination Station. It was spectacular. Nick had a great time playing with Duplos in one of the rooms and the displays were amazing. Here were some of the highlights:

 

We finally got in T-rex to have dinner. Nick loved it! It is a rainforest cafe derivative and they have sauruses everywhere. They even have sound effects and meteor showers every half hour. We realized it is a great plan to take Grandpa since a lot of Grandpa's guttural grunts actually sound like the dinosaurs. Nick even entertained the little boy behind us by putting a carrot in his mouth like fangs.

The morning of our fifth day we all headed to Epcot! We began the day by going on the Seas with Nemo and Friends  Everyone got to go on the ride, including Brennan. Nick got to ride in a clam shell with both Grandma and Deenie so he was in hog heaven!

 After the  Seas with Nemo and Friends ride, we did some exploring of the Aquarium area. Nick enjoyed learning about all of the creatures of the sea (and having Deenie and Daddy chase him). Grandma bought Nick a stuffed Nemo that Nick carried with him everywhere for the rest of the day. Next we headed to Journey into Imagination with Figment. Everyone rode the ride talking about how our senses effect or imagination. We had a lot of fun on the ride, but Nick particularly like the play area after the ride:

After playing in the imagination area, we headed to the world showcase for lunch. It was a really busy day at Epcot and we had to walk all the way to Germany for lunch. There we were able to eat bratwursts, frankfurters, and pretzels. Nick really enjoyed the clocks, and Brennan enjoyed laying in the stroller being made over by everyone who walked by. One lady even asked if she was a doll because she was so perfect! It was pretty cold this day so we took the water taxi back to Future World where we left Deenie to do some shopping for her other Grandbabies and the rest of us headed back to the resort. After napping and Deenie returning from her shopping, we all had some dinner at the resort. Later Jeremy and I went to Hollywood Studios to catch some rides we hadn't gotten to do yet. We had a great time. 

The next morning Deenie was scheduled to fly out. We were all so tired from the night before we almost missed her leaving, but Nick and I saw her bus about to leave and were able to dash out in our pajamas just in time to say Bye and Nick to tell her "I love You" complete with hand motions. That day we decided to stay around the resort rather than going to a park since we would have to travel with the kids the next day. The weather had finally warmed up a little bit so we decided to take Nick to the pool at the resort. 

Since he was wearing a life vest, Jeremy convinced me to let him go down the big water slide at the resort. HE promised it wasn't to scary. Jeremy waited at the bottom of the pool and I took Nick to the top. I let go of my baby and the next thing I know the water sweeps him onto his back and he begins spinning around. He looked like a giant starfish with his legs and arms outstretched. I think he went down most of the slide backwards! I took off down the slide terrified he was going to be in hysterics when I got to the bottom. He was in hysterics, laughing though not crying telling Daddy "more...again" but it had been too much for mommy! We didn't do the big slide again only the little ones!

That night we all had dinner at the resort and Grandma and Grandpa decided to keep Brennan so Jeremy and I could take Nick to Epcot to a fireworks show to celebrate New Years Eve! 

First we found a spot and watched the Illuminations fireworks show. Nick really loved the fireworks, they didn't seem to scare him at all. When there would be a part in the show where there was a pause in the  pyrotechnics he would say. "No Stop" "More" "PEESE" then he would be overjoyed when they started again.

 After the show, we had some dinner at the Land in future world and rode the Living with the Land ride. It was another boat ride for Nick. I really think he enjoyed having Mommy and Daddy to himself. Here we are on the ride:

Then we went to the mouse gear store and got him his personalized mouse ears, which he wore from then until we arrived home even on the plane. To be honest he has worn them a lot of the time since we have been home. 

After getting some rest we got up the next day to take the Magic Express back to the airport and boarded our flight to come home. As we left mouse world Nick said goodbye to everything..."goodbye condo" "goodbye maminals" "goodbye bus" "goodbye driver". You get the point it was like being in a Goodnight Moon book, but it was also really cute. We had an amazing time and can't wait to go back! Here we are about to leave: