Graduation Celebration Trip, Day 3

On Monday morning, we enjoyed breakfast at 1900 Park Fare at the hotel.  It was a wonderful buffet, and we met lots of great English characters.

 After breakfast we took the bus over to Animal Kingdom.

 We headed straight back to Kilimanjaro Safaris, so we didn't have a long wait.  It was great!

 After the safari, we took a little walk, learning about bugs and going on a bird hunt.

 This hippo amazed us.

 We all loved watching this little gorilla family.  The dad just kind of fell over with exhaustion while the mom nursed a newborn.  The "toddler" ran around everywhere.  Wow, that felt familiar!

 We took the train over to Conservation Station; Rafiki was there!

 Petting zoos are always fun.

 We took a break for lunch at Rainforest Cafe; always a fun and yummy experience.

After lunch we headed over to Dinoland and rode a flying dino ride similar to Dumbo which was fun.  The girls then surprised us and agreed to ride the Primevil Whirl which is a small roller coaster.  We all ended up loving it, even Mia - yay!  It was a great way to spend the first part of the day.

After this we decided to head back to the hotel and enjoy it for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  It was such a lovely day, perfect for a swim at the beautiful pool.

 They have so much fun together!

 We all enjoyed the water slide into the pool.

  The girls enjoyed playing in the little splash pad area too.  It was warm water, and they had the area to themselves which was great.

 These girls love one another.

From here, we took showers, ate dinner and headed to bed.  It was a great way to wrap up the trip.

Graduation Celebration Trip, Day 2

On Sunday morning, we headed over to the Magic Kingdom.  It looked like another beautiful day!  Because we had breakfast reservations at Belle's Castle, we were able to get into the park before most.  I've never seen the park this empty, and it gave some great photo ops.

 We all enjoyed our breakfast at Belle's, especially the hot chocolate; delicious.

 After breakfast, we headed over to meet Mickey.  This was really the only character we wanted to meet, so we had fast passes so we didn't have to wait.  Mickey taught the girls to fly like the birds in the Tiki Room which was fun to watch.

 Big hugs before we left.

 Now it was time to have some fun on lots of different rides.  Ryan took the girls on the tea cups; they all loved it!

 We didn't take pictures on every single ride, but we did on some of them.  How can you not take It's A Small World pictures?!  Mia and I rode the Astro Orbiter together while Ryan and Lily rode together.

 Winnie the Pooh was a pretty long wait, but it was a fun ride.

 We thoroughly enjoyed the Ariel ride and then taking a break for apple slush at Gaston's Tavern.

 We all four enjoyed Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride.

 The girls and I climbed up the Swiss Family Robinson tree house which was neat and gave great views of the castle.

 At the start of Goofy's Barnstormer. Sweet Mia ended up crying and saying she really didn't like roller coasters.  A little while later she said she would try Big Thunder Railroad after learning it was one of Lily and my favorites.  We gave it a go...and she started crying just a minute into it.  Aversion to roller coasters confirmed, but how fabulous is her attitude to always give it a try.

 Having fun on the Speedway!

 We all enjoyed lunch at Crystal Palace.  This was our first visit here.  Great food, comfortable setting, and fun characters to meet.

 We spent the afternoon riding rides too including Dumbo, Toy Story, and the People Mover.  We asked if they wanted to ride the Haunted Mansion.  We weren't sure what the kids would think but they both liked it though I did spend most of the ride explaining to Mia how the "Disney magic" worked on it.

Evening finally came and we watched Elsa turn the castle into a Winter Wonderland which was cool.

We waited for about 30 minutes to get an awesome spot for the Once Upon a Christmastime parade.  The girls enjoyed passing the time with their new hats and magic wands.

 As luck would have it, just as the parade began, it started to pour down rain.  It was crazy.  Because of that, I didn't take a whole lot of pictures.  The girls were pretty tired, and this pushed them over the edge.  They couldn't wait to leave and get into dry clothes!

Mickey and Minnie started everything off.

 Always love Frozen friends!

 We saw lots of other characters, but again, it wasn't worth taking the pictures!  The parade ended with Santa driving down Main Street to welcome in the Christmas season.

 We hustled out of the park after this and were very grateful to be on the monorail.  We were all glad to get back to the hotel, take hot showers and head to bed.  Despite the rain, this was a fun day!