Disney's Animal Kingdom

After finishing up 3 days at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure it was on to our next journey, Disney. Jennifer had done some extensive planning to try and help us get the most efficiency out of our time at the parks. We had six days planned for parks and were going to try and visit the Magic Kingdom three times and the rest just once. We had also booked our hotel through Disney and would be staying at one of the newest resorts, Art of Animation. So on the morning of February 6th we had all the luggage packed up into the car and headed for our hotel because you had to check in and activate your magic bands before heading to the park. Almost as soon as I parked to walk inside to check in Landon had another episode where he threw up. Thankfully it wasn't as bad as the day before. I made it back out and we headed for our first Disney stop at Animal Kingdom. We got out and headed to the entrance and it seemed like thousands of other people were heading to the gates as well. I already had visions in my head that these parks weren't going to be as enjoyable because there were going to be much longer wait times, which doesn't equal much fun with a 1 and 2 year old. We got up to the gates and got inside when we realized that nobody had grabbed Brinley's sippy cup. So, I told them to get a move on and I would meet up with them in a minute.

Outside the Animal Kingdom. We were all so excited to finally be at Disney!

Jennifer made us all matching animal print shirts and she had matching Mickey ears. We headed straight for the back of the park to ride one of the most popular rides, Kilimanjaro Safaris.

We got a few magic shots before heading back to the safari. 

This is probably one of my favorite magic shots that we took during our whole trip.

Brinley and Grandma on the Kilimanjaro Safari! Brinley loved seeing all the animals. Landon still didn't feel very good. We finally discovered that we were giving him his medicine on an empty stomach and then giving him milk. Thankfully we discovered this and we didn't make this mistake again.

This little boy didn't want to let go of his mommy. He did enjoy seeing all the animals though.

Brinley kept pointing out all the animals. Too bad the zebras didn't want to look at us for a picture.

The hippos weren't very active this morning either.

After the safari we spotted our first Disney character, Daisy Duck. With the previous few days interactions we didn't know what to expect but Brinley was so excited and she mostly wanted to show Daisy her magic band. She walked straight up to Daisy and gave her a big hug. I can't believe that she did so good.

Family picture with Daisy Duck.

After meeting Dasiy Duck we went to see the Festival of the Lion King. This was a huge production that included large floats, dancers and acrobats. The kids both really enjoyed it.

Another float with Simba.

After the show we headed to the other side of the park for lunch. We walked alongside the tree of life and even walked behind a waterfall. On the way to where we were planning to have lunch we discovered the building where Mickey and Minnie were located. The line was short so we went ahead and went in. 

Brinley loved Mickey and Minnie. I guess talking about going to see them for a couple months paid off. Both kids went up and gave them hugs.

Landon looks so proud! I still couldn't believe that both kids did so well with the characters.

Heflin family picture with Mickey and Minnie. 

We had lunch in Asia and then decided to take a walk to see some of the animals that were native to that area. We saw tigers, fruit bats, monkeys, and birds.

Landon trying to pet his new friend.

After coming out of Asia we noticed the area where you can meet Russell and Dug from the movie Up. The kids both really liked Dug even though they have never even seen the movie. 

Family picture with Russell and Dug.

Heflin family with Mount Everest in the background.

We headed back around to the front of the park to see any of the animal exhibits that we didn't get to see earlier. We were also making our way back to the Kilimanjaro Safaris. We had set up another fast pass for Grandma and Grandpa to ride with the kids.

We arrived a little early for the fast pass time so we took a walk around the Pangani Forrest Exploration Trail. Here we saw a lot of gorillas, including this mother and baby gorilla. 

We left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa to take another safari while Jennifer and I walked to the other side of the park to use our fast pass on Expedition Everest. This is the only roller coaster in the Animal Kingdom and it was pretty fun. It went both backwards and forwards at different times in the ride. Jennifer said that the people behind us on the ride probably hate me because I put my hands up and blocked both of their faces.

Jennifer and I with the tree of life on our walk back to see how the kids did for Grandma and Grandpa on the safari.

We decided that it was time for a treat. Nothing better than a little Mickey Mouse ice cream on a warm February day.

We found Simba, Timon and Pumba while walking to our next adventure.

Our next stop was the Finding Nemo Musical. We had great seats and the show was very entertaining and all of a sudden it stopped about half way through the story. The lights came on and the announcer asked for everyone to leave the auditorium. We didn't know if it was part of the show or what was going on. When everyone started to exit we did as well. We saw that a guest had fallen on the stairs and figured that they just needed medical treatment. Hopefully the person was ok, but we were also sad that we didn't get to see the rest of the show because it was the last presentation of the day.

Since the show ended early we just headed over to Dinoland  USA. Here we are on the Tricera Top Spin while Grandpa waited in line for us to meet Goofy and Pluto.

The kids loved Pluto and Goofy. 

Heflin Family with Goofy and Pluto. 

After meeting Goofy and Pluto we just happened upon a dance party. I took both the kids out and we danced with all kinds of characters. Here Brinley is dancing with Brer Bear.

Here Grandpa and Landon joined us to dance with Rafiki. Chip n Dale were also out dancing around with us.

We also found Donald Duck and again both the kids loved him. I was in complete shock how well the kids did with all the characters.

Heflin family with Donald.

We went to see Baloo and King Louie while Grandma and Grandpa went to see the Bugs Life - It's tough to be a bug. I think it is cute that Landon and Baloo are holding hands. 

My little twin. We were walking to the exit and I asked a lady to take our picture. Looks like the little guy had a lot of fun today!  The park actually closed at 6 pm which gave us a little time to get back and unpack all of our stuff before our dinner reservations with Chef Mickey.

Waiting for our table at Chef Mickey's.

The kids were hungry and were trying to eat some of Mickey's fruit.

This was a character dining experience. It was a buffet and there were five characters that were going to come out and see us while we were eating our dinner. Goofy came over and was acting pretty silly.

It was hard for the kids to eat anything because they were looking around at all the different characters. Could you eat if Mickey was at the table right next to you?

Minnie is always a big hit. Landon couldn't take his eyes off of her. The only problem that I didn't like about the character experience was that it was hard to get a good picture with the kids and the characters. I also wished that they had come around with their own photographer. It was hard to get everything together when the character just appeared at your table.

Pluto and Brinley.

Donald Duck and his new buddy Brinley.

Selfies with Mickey.

Even though it was a day early we started the birthday celebration with a cupcake, singing and a room full of people waving their napkins around their head.

 The 1st day at a Disney resort was a huge success. We were able to do everything that we wanted to and even a little more. The lines for things weren't really long at all and the weather was absolutely perfect. I couldn't believe that tomorrow was actually going to happen. That's right! After sleeping we were going to wake up and head to the Magic Kingdom - The Happiest Place on Earth! To make it even better we were going to be celebrating my amazing wife's 30th birthday! Thanks for reading and God Bless!