Disney Day 4: Princess Breakfast & Epcot

This was our final day at Disney so we packed everything back into the car before taking the monorail to Epcot. We had reservations in Norway for the Princess Storybook Breakfast at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. Our reservations were for 10:45 so even though we were eating breakfast foods it was actually lunch for us. The girls took a photo with Belle when we arrived and we received two picture packages with our meal. I love the way Megan is hugging Belle's dress...

We really enjoyed our meal. They brought a hot family style breakfast to the table that included scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and a cheesy hashbrown casserole. The hashbrown casserole is one of the best we've had. You could also get food from a cold buffet which included bagels and pastries, fruit, cold fish, cheese and yogurt. It was definitely not a cheap breakfast. After getting the bill Phil said he was going to go back to the buffet and was "about to go off." I think we got our money's worth because we weren't hungry again for a long time. :) Even though it was expensive, it was definitely worth it. Makena and Megan loved it! 

Here they are getting Sleeping Beauty's autograph. We like her because her prince is named Phillip.

 We were excited to see Makena's favorite princess, Snow White, there.  

 She was flirting with our little man!

 We saw Cinderella next. 

The Princess Procession started while Cinderella was at our table. Makena and Megan were both afraid to go. But Cinderella looked right at Makena and called her over and so she went. I know she was glad she did.

 We got to meet Ariel next. Megan liked the starfish flower in her hair.

While we were there, Epcot was having their Flower and Garden Festival. There were flowers and Disney character topiaries everywhere. They were all beautiful but were also hard on Phil's allergies. :)

Here is Megan with Pooh Bear

We went over to Pixie Hollow and saw people waiting in line to see the fairies. We had just gotten done with our 10:45 breakfast and people were already lining up for the 2:00 meet and greet. Since we weren't up for waiting that long we admired them from afar. We saw Tinkerbell, Rosetta, Iridessa and Vidia.

 The girls really did get a picture with them! See Tink behind Makena? :)

The girls did have fun playing a game in Pixie Hollow where they went around looking for all of the Pixie topiaries. Once they had found them all they got a big sheet of fairy stickers.

 Makena in front of the big Epcot ball.

Next we went in Bambi's Butterfly House. We found topiaries of Bambi, Thumper and Flower inside. The girls both liked seeing the butterflies but they wondered why they weren't given a sugar pad so they could feed the butterflies like they do at our local butterfly farm, All-A-Flutter. I guess we'll be planning a trip there this Spring.

 After Bambi, we went on The Seas with Nemo & Friends ride. The ride was on a "clamobile" and made you feel like you were underwater. You watch as Marlin and Dory search for Nemo.

Before leaving Epcot we stopped to see the Woody, Buzz and Lotso topiaries. Makena is a big Lotso fan so we let her be in this picture. She is posing with the new giant Stitch that she got at Epcot. Of course, Megan got one, too. We took them in one of the shops to pick out one final gift and they both went straight to giant Stitch. After having breakfast with him at the Polynesian he is apparently their new BFF. I was going to try to talk them into a smaller gift but Phil wanted to get them both a Stitch. He remembered going to Disney when he was a kid and leaving with some big obnoxious gift like that on the last day. What lucky girls they are!

 And here is little Ev on the monorail heading back to the hotel where we hopped in the car and headed home.

Despite our lack of planning, I think we had a pretty fabulous Disney trip. I feel like we did everything we wanted to do and had a great time. I'm sure there will be a few more Disney trips in our future!

Disney Day 3: The Animal Kingdom

We went to the Animal Kingdom our 3rd afternoon at Disney. We went at the perfect time as everyone else seemed to be on their way out. There was really no wait time for any of the attractions we were interested in.

Here are Makena and Megan in front of the Tree of Life, the centerpiece and icon to Animal Kingdom.

We hadn't gone far when we found ourselves in another parade! Mickey and all of his friends were decked out in their safari gear.

There were a lot of pretty birds near the entrance.

We took everyone on the Kilimanjaro Safari. This was one of Phil's favorites from our entire Disney trip. They take you through the wildlife preserve in an open sided vehicle and the driver narrates and points out animals along the way. We spotted quite a few animals but I wasn't able to photograph many of them.

We saw okapis, antelopes and giraffes,

cheetahs, lions and elephants,

big horn cows,

white rhinos,

and ostriches.

Megan wouldn't open her eyes. :)

Me and a little monkey I found on the safari. I think we'll keep him. :)

Next we hopped on the Wildlife Express Train that took us over to Rafiki's Planet Watch. We spotted Rafiki himself but chose not to wait in line for pictures or autographs. We went straight to the petting zoo that they call Affection Section. There were goats and sheep, chickens, llamas and a couple of miniature donkeys. Makena and Megan really liked the sheep because they were a lot calmer than the goats. And they held still so the girls could brush them.

The girls were in a picture taking mood and wanted to stop for these fun photo ops.

Next we went to the Camp Minnie-Mickey greeting trails. All of the lines were very short. We practically walked right up. First we saw Minnie...

 Then we saw Goofy...

Then we went and said hi to Donald Duck.

And finally, we saw Mickey. He had changed out of his Hawaiian shirt from our breakfast at the Polynesian and was now in his safari gear.

On our way out of the park, we heard that the Festival of the Lion King was about to have it's last show of the night. It was a great Broadway style show full of circus style acrobatics. At this point I was pictured out so this is the only one from the show...

It was a really great show!

Disney Day 3: Ohana Character Breakfast & Hollywood Studios

Most people plan their Disney vacations months in advance. Part of the reason for doing that is character dining. Character dining is very popular and books up fast. When we decided we were going to go to Disney I assumed that a character meal would not be in the cards for us. We had gone to the travel agent and told her we planned to start driving down to Disney that night. Who does that? Answer: crazy people like us. I'm so glad I was wrong! We had not one but two character breakfasts! We were able to book one of the meals at AAA. The travel agent told us to call and try to make additional reservations when we got to Disney because a lot of the meals don't have penalties for canceling so a spot could open up. And sure enough we scored another character meal! It was at a reasonable time, 9:05 am, and was even in our hotel which made it super convenient. We got a picture package with our meal and this is the best picture of the picture I could get.

The name of the restaurant was Ohana. They took that name from the movie Lilo and Stich which was set in Hawaii (perfect for the Polynesian Resort!). Makena and Megan hadn't seen the movie before going to WDW but have since seen it about a half a dozen times. The most repeated quote from the movie is "Ohana means family. And family means no one gets left behind or forgotten." So when we arrived all of the restaurant staff called us cousin because they said at Ohana's you're one big family. And of course our breakfast was served family style.

They had cute Mickey pancakes.

 The first character we got to meet was Stich. The girls took a liking to him right away.

 Everett is checking out Stitch from afar.

Everett and Stitch

 Perhaps a little too close for comfort?

 Lilo came next. Here she is giving Makena a kiss.

 Look at Everett in these next three pictures. He's both hilarious and pitiful all at the same time. Lilo must have really liked babies because she seriously came back to check on him like 3 times.

 Next came Mickey. Here he is shaking Makena's hand. 

 Keep your distance, Mickey! 

 And finally, there was Pluto.

 This is how Pluto signs his autographs...

 Is it over yet?

After breakfast, we hopped on a bus and went to Disney's Hollywood Studios. The first thing we did was go see Disney Junior-Live on Stage. It was a show featuring Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, The Little Einsteins, Handy Manny and Jake and the Neverland Pirates. The girls still love all of these shows and we were excited to be in the air conditioning. Phil wasn't that into sitting on the floor. But I informed him that it was common practice at many kids events.:)

Happy boy.

 It was a really cool interactive puppet show. There was a real person who led the show but the characters were all puppets. I took this picture during the part about Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Megan loved it!

 Here are Makena and Megan in front of the big hat at Hollywood Studios.

Next we went to a concert called, Disney Channel Rocks! It featured songs from Hannah Montana, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, Sonny with a Chance, Jonas, Shake it up! and more. The girls love a lot of these Disney Channel shows. They'll put on shows at home and sing these songs so I knew they would enjoy it. We had front row seats and I was really impressed with the dancing and singing. After the concert Makena asked me why the Jonas brothers or the people from Camp Rock weren't there to sing and dance to their own songs. Where is Selena Gomez when you need her? I just told her they were busy working on their Disney Channel shows.

 Here are the cool cats roasting in the sun.

Animal Kingdom to come next!