This is Jesse at our resort the evening we arrived. The resort was very pretty, although we were so busy doing other things, that we hardly spent any time there!
Disney World is made up of 6 parks, lots of cool resorts, "Downtown Disney" (a shopping/dining/entertainment area), as well as a few other things like golf courses and the wide worlds of sports. We only had time make it to four of the parks. The 2 we didn't go to are water parks.
We started off at Animal Kingdom, which is my favorite of their parks. As always at Disney, the theming and attention to detail are amazing. This is Jesse in "Asia".
Here I am being an "honorary bug". (The glasses are for a 3d show.) Jesse and I went to this show last time we were at Animal Kingdom and still love it. The special effects go beyond just a 3d movie screen to smells that they pump into the theater, air that blast through, and mechanics in the seats that make you feel different effects.
This is the "safari". Disney rides are different from other amusement park rides, because they always tell a story, and the rider is always involved. So, for example, on this ride, we were on a 2 week safari in Africa, and end up helping the wildlife reserve save 2 elephants from poachers. Jesse and I really like this ride, because you get to see so many different animals, and you can't see a cage or fence in sight.
Animal Kingdom has a ton of beautiful scenery. I could just walk around the area all day even if there were no animals!
Besides seeing a ton of animals, we also rode a fun dinosaur ride, and I tried out their newest thrill ride, Expedition Everest. Jesse wasn't feeling really great, so he stayed back and waited for me. I think he may have been the smart one! I've never been quite so surprised or freaked on a ride before in my life!
After we were done at the park, we went to eat at a restaurant at one of the other Disney resorts, called the Animal Kingdom Lodge. This is Jesse getting ready to enjoy his dessert plate!
This is us just walking around the resort grounds and seeing more animals.
We were on Disney's dining plan, which was awesome. You get 2 snacks, 2 counter service meals, and 2 sit down meals for each night of your stay. You get to choose where to redeem the meals at, so there is a wide variety. And the meals include drinks, appetizers, main dish, and desserts, so you get a lot of good food. Plus, the meal plan already includes tips, so you don't even have to worry about that. Having the meal plan let us eat at places that we could otherwise never afford. For example, our first night there, the meal we ate was 80 bucks!
Day two we went to MGM Studios in the morning and Epcot for the afternoon and evening.
At MGM, we only went on one ride. We decided we weren't brave enough for the others (like tower of terror). The coolest thing we did there (in my opinion at least) was the "Lights, Camera, Action, Extreme Stunt Show". Basically, cars speeding around, things catching on fire, and stuff like that. But they roll back the clips and then explain how they do different stunts and such in movies, so it was pretty interesting.
This is a photo of us before the show, with the "movie set" in the background.
And this is Jesse singing in the rain!
As we were leaving MGM, it started to pour rain. Thankfully, we had checked the weather before and bought ponchos to bring with us, so we busted those out right as we arrived at Epcot.
Jesse sporting his fashionable poncho...
A big part of Epcot is the world showcase, where they have all these little lands set up to be like countries. We decided to have dinner in Morocco at Marrakesh. We got to enjoy a little belly dancing while we ate! (Sorry for the bad photo....Jesse is much better than me!)
This is Jesse in line for one of his favorite Disney rides, Test Track. The idea is that you are testing new cars, so you go through all the crash test dummy experiments. The ride ends with the "barrier test" and you go speeding out the building around a track. It's a fun ride.
And, here's us in front of the Epcot ball.
Epcot also had a ride called Soarin, which we love. The idea is that you are hang gliding over California. It's basically a big IMAX screen, but you sit in seats that go up and dangle you in front of the screen, then they pump in air to simulate the wind, and as you go over different scenes, they pump in smells (like pine trees as you fly over a forest). My favorite part of the ride was when we crested over a cliff, and Jesse taught all the little children on the ride a new phrase spelled O-H S-H-I-T. (Jesse's not a big fan of heights.)
Anyway, our last day there we went to the Magic Kingdom, which is the park that most people think of when they think Disney. It has Cinderella's castle and most of the Disney classics like It's a Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean.
I made Jesse try on some silly hats and pose for photos.
This is in front of the tea cups.
And of course, who can go to Disney and not see the castle?
3 comments:
very cool. so exciting. we are planning on going when the kids are 10-8-6.
chris and i aren't big rides people so hopefully our kids aren't either :) maybe you'll have to come at the same time as us in case they are into rides and you can be the "cool" aunt and uncle to go on rides with them.
looks like fun! thanks for all the pics. i especially like the one of jesse in the princess hat!
I want to come see the videos! I am so glad you guys did this. Maybe watch out for a special like that again sometime (with meal plan, etc). Hope you are rested enough for the work / school thing now. p.s. Jesse is for sure my son ... I always have to save room for dessert (my favorite part of most buffets!).
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