Spring 2019 Disney Trip - Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom

Wednesday morning we woke up bright and early to get to the parks at a decent time. I wasn't going to rush the babies for rope drop, but we did have to get there in time for our Safari fastpasses!

Those sunglasses were the best purchase of the trip!

The Killmanjaro safari ride is my favorite ride at Animal Kingdom, and I was so excited to share it with my kiddos! Luckily we got there early enough that the animals were still pretty active, and we had a great time spotting them all!

The flamingos are always fun to watch

Did you know that a herd of giraffes is called a tower?

Can you see Mr Lion surveying his land?

 Meggy, bless her heart, couldn't keep up with all the animals, but we made sure she saw the lions and giraffes, which were her favorites. I think she managed to see the elephants too. I was so sad we weren't able to see the baby elephant, but we made up for it by seeing three giraffe babies. They had a baby boom in the giraffe tower this year!

While on our safari, we saw one of the Wild Africa Trek tours stopping on the savanna. It's one of my goals to go on that tour someday, and be able to see the animals even closer than the safari ride. Also to eat the yummy African-inspired food they serve. Yummm.

After our safari, we stopped for an early lunch before watching The Festival of the Lion King show. This show was SO much fun, and most of us loved it. Meggy loved all the acrobats and I loved singing those well-known songs along with the cast of the show. The cast is full of extremely talented singers, acrobats and performers. Once again, Wren was super upset that she wasn't able to get out on the stage along with the cast, but luckily this show is so loud that her frustration wasn't a bother to anyone around us.

Wren beat out her frustrations on these drums.

We went from 50-degree weather to 80+-degree weather, and we all felt it!

This afternoon we took out some time from the parks to go and look at the Disney Vacation Club sites. Who knows what the future holds, but if we ever purchase a time share, you can bet it'll be a Disney one!

Wren had a really tough day this day - she never sleeps well when not in her own bed - but oh my goodness, was Miss Meggy having a blast! She wore a birthday pin, which meant that everyone and their dog... oh wait, Pluto's the only dog allowed in the parks... well, everyone possible wished her a "Happy birthday Princess!" At one point Meggy turned to me and asked "Why is everyone calling me a princess? I'm not old enough to be a princess yet!"

Animal Kingdom has a new (to us) section of the park called Pandora. It's based off the film Avatar, but you don't need to have seen the film to appreciate the beauty and other-world-ness in this section of the park. There are two new rides, one of which the girls couldn't go on yet. We all went on the boat ride, and I think it's become my favorite boat ride in all the parks! Na'vi River Journey is beautiful, with soothing music, and so many fun things to look at and see! It's a definite must for anyone planning a trip to Animal Kingdom.

How we all felt after a hot Florida day. 

As the evening came to a close, I asked Meggy how she felt about a solo date with one of her parents. Wren was tired and needed some down time, so I asked Meggy to choose which one of us she'd like to take her to the Magic Kingdom - and was honored when she asked me to take her! We rode the monorail over, and although it was crowded, it was magic.

castle selfie!

When I asked Meggy what she wanted to do, her only request was the Winnie the Pooh ride. She had seen that there was a play area for the kids to play in while their parents stood in line, and she wanted to play in it! The funny thing is, if we had waited 30 minutes to go in, there wouldn't have been a line long enough for her to be able to play. I tried remembering that as I waited for 40 minutes.

Posing in her best Mad Hatter pose

Teacups came next. Meggy asked me "Please don't spin too fast" while we were in line, but as soon as we got into the teacup, she shouted"GO GO GO Mommy, GOOO!" We were both a little green in the gills when we got off, but it was totally worth it.

"Go go go!"

We went over to the Barnstormer, which Meggy hated (noted that in the daytime this ride is a very tame roller coaster. At night, there are zero lights on this ride, and becomes a little scary for younger riders) I made up for it by going over to Dumbo, where we barely had to wait 2 minutes to get on the ride. She loved it so much that I gave her the option of going back on the ride, or getting a treat. She had a tough time making the decision, but eventually a donut-shaped rice krispy called out to her.

As I was paying for the treat, we heard a huge BOOM that rattled the building, and the cast member said "Oh, they set the fireworks off behind this building, so it gets a little loud." I wasn't sure how Meggy would react to the fireworks, so I hadn't made a big deal about going to the front of the castle to see them. When they started going off, I gave Meggy the choice of getting on another ride, or sitting and watching the fireworks. To my surprise, she chose fireworks!

We found a truly magical spot in which to watch them. There were still lights on all around us, so it wasn't scary for Meggy at all, and we didn't get to see the lasers or light projections on the castle - but the music was still playing very loudly, and the night was SO perfect for fireworks! The last few time's I saw the fireworks show, it's been a cloudy night, which can make fireworks kind of muddy, and you don't always get to see the way they compliment the music. These fireworks were so perfect, and I didn't have to sit for 90 minutes to save my spot! Meggy and I snacked on our treat, and we were able to watch the entire show!

It was around 9:30 when we got up and I told Meggy we could do two more things. We got right on the Little Mermaid ride, and as we were heading out the park, I saw it was a 15 minute wait for Elena and Cinderella! Silly me, I should have known better than to trust the sign out front, as it ended up being closer to 35 minutes. However Meggy was totally enchanted by the princesses and Elena told her they would make her a birthday cake together next time she went to Avalor.

The best part about being a parent at Disney, is watching your child. Watching you daughter conquer her fear of heights and roller coaster, is so gratifying. Seeing how special she feels when Cinderella has a conversation with her - just her - and the sweet "Thank you!" anytime someone calls out "Happy birthday princess!" is just the best. I'm so grateful to Thomas for taking care of the grumpy 2 year old so I could have some special Disney Magic with my Meggy.