The Disney Experience

I remember asking a co-working if they had any advice about heading to Disney for the weekend and she replied, "I don't park". It took me a minute to process this statement, and then after a weekend at the park I got it.

Duncan said "look it is a hat on top of a hat!"...observant little fella

Instead of a birthday party for the boys we took them on a Disney experience. This took planning, learning about fast passes, budgeting, and much much more. We stayed at the Disney Coronado Springs Resort which advertised a great pool (with a slide), campfire, and movie night under the stars. We checked in around 4pm on Saturday to enjoy the amenities and then on Sunday the plan was to hit up Animal Kingdom in the morning and then Hollywood Studios in the afternoon and then head home.

Blue and Red Slushies with French Fries for dinner...go shorty, its your birthday!

The hotel was a convention center which gave a "we should be at a conference" feel versus a family vacation. The pool was HUGE and slide was a C-, but the boys had a blast (and that is all that really mattered). The campfire only allowed you to roast marshmallows with nothing else. The lady told us to bring our own graham crackers and chocolate next time (really Disney? you are going to advertise a campfire and then cut short the graham cracker and chocolate?). The movie under the stars offered huge bags of popcorn and the bar was still open for mommy and daddy to enjoy a cocktail so all was good with the evening;)

I'll have two doughnuts, please!

The only thing Wip wanted to see (randomly) was the porcupines...of course it was a "closed for refurbishing" exhibit!

The Wilderness Explorer program was cute (and intense!)...this lady took her job very seriously making the boys get every right answer before receiving a sticker.

One of the parent fails of the day was giving the boys options to play carnival-type games in which Duncan won and Wip did not.

For some reason, I had in my head that May would be a "light" month for Disney and especially Animal Kingdom. WRONG! There is no light month for Disney. We were walking into Animal Kingdom a little after 9 when the park opened along with thousands up thousands of others. Not even 10 minutes into the adventure this woman pushing a stroller and plows through the crowd and knocks over Duncan to get to a bug character from A Bug's Life...and I thought the wild animals were contained? A show here and lots of walking later I messed up and switched out our safari fast pass for a dinky dino ride that it ended up Duncan was not even tall enough for! I could not stop looking at the folks with soda and chips at 10am in scooters. The drain was already on half of the faces in the park and in fact one mother threatened her child within an inch of his life if he did not smile for the camera for an entrance photo.

We said see ya later to the Animal Kingdom and went to Hollywood Studios ready to take on some Star Wars. I was so mad when we walked into the Hollywood Studios park because this gentleman (clearly not thinking that I had planned and planned and planned for this trip) hands the boys a "1st Visit" button. I was so mad...a) it made me feel like we looked like first timers b) this was not our first time! Now, I will say that the Star Wars ride was pretty cool...in fact my favorite. Everything else in that park needs a major face lift...it was shocking to me that the Pixar area (aka the BEST part about Disney) was not even a block long and there is only one ride that was a 75 minute wait offered with all of those amazing Pixar movies. Thanks, but no thanks.

The only character without a line:) It is BOLT for those of you wondering:) 

3D Muppet Show and called it a day

By about 4ish the boys were done. Patrick and I were done and we were ready to bid our Disney adventure farewell. I am sure we will still do our Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and I am also open to heading to a park if friends are in town, but after it was all said and done, I realized that I too do not "park".