Disney 2017–Day 1

We always try to do Disney in January. The weather is always nice and the crowds are typically pretty good, too. When we bought our tickets in November, we did a 4-day ticket and planned to make 3 trips out of it. We used one day in November, planned this overnight 2-day trip for January, and then we’re planning to go back for a day trip to Magic Kingdom sometime this Spring. We talked Grammy into doing a 4-day ticket, too. Our parents have always been awesome about helping us with our kids, but we never felt like we really NEEDED it until we were outnumbered by little people…especially at Disney…it’s so nice to have an adult set of eyes and hands for each kid. ;)

We left early Saturday morning and headed for Animal Kingdom. This was the first time at that park for all three of the kids. I wasn’t sure how much there would be to do there for our aged kids, but I kept reading that there was a lot to do and it is in fact some people’s favorite of the four parks.

The temps dropped that weekend and it was FREEZING. We’ve never been at Disney when it was so cold. It was hard to know how to dress the kids. I found some cute black and white flannel shirts on clearance the week before and ironed on a vinyl mickey mouse head with the girls’ monogram in it. Tucker’s was a grey hoodie with the same thing. They wore them over some Disney t-shirts. We layered both days and it was so cold, we barely took off their jackets.

Since we’re not very experienced with Animal Kingdom, we didn’t know our way around the park or how to plan our day. I read some blogs online though, and our first stop of the day was to get in line to see Adventure Outpost Mickey & Minnie.

After we saw our pals, we jumped in a short line to meet Russell from Up. Tucker would have no part of that. He was totally freaked out by Russell and wouldn’t get near him. He’s never done that, even when he was younger with any of other characters, so something about Russell just creeped him out. Ha.

The littles wanted some rides, so we made our way over to DinoLand and rode the Dinosaurs. Mamie & Tucker weren’t tall enough for the Primeval Whirl, so while DW took AB on that, Mom & I took the littles on the Triceratop Spin again.

It was time for our fastpass on Expedition Everest. This was all of our first time riding this one. It had just opened last time DW & I were at Animal Kingdom when Coopie was one and we made a trip with my family to Disney to take Jackson and Cooper.

Mames was just tall enough but insisted she wanted to ride.

Her face after was hilarious. I looked over my shoulder one time and really thought she was going to throw up. I wasn’t sure how she’d be when we got off, but she declared it SO MUCH FUN and wanted to know if we could do it again.

Tucker & Grammy met back up with us and we got some lunch.

After lunch, we hit DinoLand again for our Dinosaur fastpasses. Grammy & Tucker played in the dino-dig area while we rode with the girls.

We also got to see some pals, and that was a highlight for Tuck.

I wasn’t sure about “Its a Bug’s Life” – I read it was scary for some little kids, but we decided to try it. It ended up being one of Tucker’s favorite things we did that day.

We walked around and saw some animals

and then it was time for our Safari ride.

After the safari we decided to call it a day and head to our hotel. We had some big plans for later that night and we wanted the kids to get a nap and everyone to be well rested.

We stayed at the Art of Animation this time. The girls have been wanting to stay in the Little Mermaid rooms and I thought we better do that soon, while we can still get away with it with Tucker. Ha.

When DW went to check us in, the clerk told him they’d overbooked the Little Mermaid rooms and they were going to upgrade us to a family suite in the Cars area of the resort. It turned out to be fantastic. The set up was great and worked out so much better for us and the Cars rooms are at the front of the resort, so it wasn’t a lot of long walking once we wanted to leave/go back to the room.

Tucker & DW got a good nap, but the girls were too excited to sleep. Mom & I took them and walked around to see the fun statues and pools around the resort.

That evening we grabbed dinner in the food court area before heading out for our big plans!

~amw~