Happy 40th to me *Live from the bubble*

Well, here it is 6:15 and we are back home... Another exhausting day. We rode EVERYTHING at MK. Ok not quite all but a lot! We walked on most of it, FP+ were changed on the fly cause lines were short! Heading to GF for dinner in a bit!

Ha ha ha ha thanks! I am about to go back and read again how to insert the pics! Yesterday was in a word, awesome! More on that later!

OK, Day 4 Magic Kingdom!!!!!!!!!

I was awake before the sky as usual! When I finally made enough noise to wake Joe up it was about 7. He dressed we grabbed crossiants and drinks to go and headed for the MK. We got great parking AGAIN! AND, I made rope drop!!!! Anna and ELsa were front and center on this cute welcome show!

As we filed in with the masses, I knew I was going to get choked up and I did... They had some Christmas stuff up witch had me more excited than anything. I LOVE Christmas and now I will get started decorating for sure when I get home.

We decided to head to the mine train and try our luck before our 9:40 FP time.... NOPE, not waiting in that line! Instead, we hopped on the Carousel, Peter Pans Flight and Small World... tada, it's 9:40. We loved 7DMT! It was just the right amount of thrill and speed for the big kids while keeping the kiddos safe and happy! Since we got on PPF I switched our FP to Space Mountain I love this ride but true to form, it made me dizzy and nauseous for about an hour after... We hopped on the People Mover and then headed towards Be our Guest for lunch!!!!!! Lunch was delicious and I was like a kid being in the ballroom! I would go again just for the salad! YUM! Now we headed to Haunted Mansion. Walked on and changed our FP for this to BTMR. Oh and Pirates too (our longest wait of the day at 30 min.) Joe got me a starter pin trading set since I left mine at home and we traded a few pins and also got an extra for my b-day from one really sweet CM. Wish I could remember her name. She was in Art of Disney.....

The best part of the day was meeting Gaston. OMG he was great. Joe was sitting in his chair and got kicked out. It was hysterical. So of course we got in line with him. I put my bag down and he said I'm going to need that button. I had my b-day button on my purse strap. I gave it to him and he said he was going to guess my age. He wrote "21st" on there and made my day. As we were leaving Joe said "I'm glad you got to meet me Gaston" which lead to about 5 more minutes with him! It was great.

After snacks and TONS of MM pics, we decided to call it a day. I couldn't bring my self to leave. We watched the flag retreat which they told us was not as formal since they moved the pole due to Christmas decor but the Vet that was there would indeed get the flag. The pole was in front of City Hall and the Vet was off to the side. Then we strolled the stores some more... Got Sorcerers cards... got popcorn... I was delaying the inevitable.

Finally I mustered up the courage to walk out the gates. Off to the room to change and dinner at Grand Floridian Cafe. ADR for 8:20 but it was 6:30 and I was a little tired and hungry. We got there early and of course, got seated!!!! DInner was delicious. Shrimp and Grits for Joe the Lobster Burger for me.

After dinner it was back home and in bed and here I am up before 5 again sharing my adventures! We go to Animal Kingdom today!!!!!

Preview	Attachment	Size
	7DMT	1.94 MB
	Space Mountain	2.21 MB
	I love these magic shots	3.13 MB
	Welcome from Anna and Elsa	2.3 MB
	Monorail and PeopleMover	815.23 KB
	BOG lunch	989.41 KB
	meeting Gaston	202.76 KB
	GFC dinner	182 KB

Whew. I have a few waiting on Dug and Russell. Crowds have been light today. Havent used a sungle fast pass and rode Everest 4 time in an hour. FP lines were longer than Standby...

Hi Disney Friends!

Yesterday was Animal Kingdom. I love this park! I don't know why it doesn't get that much credit. Lack of rides, closes early, no one cares about animals???? Who knows, it's one of my favorites. It's BEAUTIFUL and the attention to detail is out of this world!

We arrived shortly after park opening and the lines were CRAZY! Then I remembered something, the entrance thru Rainforest Cafe!!! It worked it worked, it really really worked! Only 5 people in front of us!

And off towards Africa we went. We had a 10:45 FP for the safari so we thought we would just hang out a bit.... Nope, there will be none of that, 5 minute standby.Wow, we saw tons of animals. It was Joe's first time and he loved it. I thought at one point a white rhino was going to get our jeep but he stopped just short and turned to cross the road. It was AWESOME!He was close enough to touch! We walked the trail after and they have a tiny baby gorilla! SO CUTE!!! I wanted to hold and snuggle it!

Then it was off to Dinosaur our new FP selection since we didn't use Safari... Passing Everest the wait was only 20 min. So we hopped on. It's our favorite in all of Disney! You will hear more about this soon.... we hopped off and headed to Dinosaur with plenty of time to spare... It was out of commission... so Primeval Whirl it was! UGGUH I hate that ride! Then it was almost time for our actual Everest FP!!!!!!!!! Well, who needs it when standby is 15 minutes. We rode twice before using our FP!!! The FP line was LONG.... We heard lots of people complaining about waiting longer than when they rode standby.... Oh Well, we ended up riding 6 times! ps I love having all the pics automatically hooked to your magic band with MM!

Lunch was at Yak and Yeti. They have 4 additional dishes that are not on the menu yet. We each got one. Teriyaki glazed salmon over udon noodles with stir fry for Joe and ginger glazed mahi with mango and pineapple salsa over jasmine rice with stirfry for me! OH THEY WERE GREAT! We started with the sweet chili wings, they fell of the bone and were delicious! Our server Stacey was a riot! He kept us laughing the entire time!!!

Time for FOTLK! OOps, I had our FP time wrong and we were there for the wrong show. We ended up standing in the standby line and got a great seat in Giraffe. There was room for about 5 more on the end and I asked the girl if I could wait to go to the next row cause I get to sketched out sitting in the middle of a bunch of people, she just let us have all the space and started everyone after us on the next row! We loved the show. We are huge Cirque fans and it reminded us of a mini cirque show! Would see it again!

We headed back to Dinosaur and got to ride it finally. I thought it was a pretty cool little ride. A bit jerky but fun. I got to meet Dug and Russell too! We left around 4:30 to head to get ready for dinner and call Blondie to check in!

Dinner was Sanaa tonight. I can't say enough about this. My meal topped California Grill! Don't get me wrong, CG was great, you can't beat the view and the atmosphere is top notch. BUT... I loved the more intimate feel of Sanaa. We arrived early (like every night), we got night vision glasses and watched animals while waiting then went in for a cocktail. The white sangria for me and you guessed it, crown and 7 with a lime for Joe. We waited maybe 30 minutes but still seated before our ADR time. I ordered the full bread service before our server could say too much! LOL. And it was wonderful. I like all but the 2 hottest dips. The tamarind was my favorite, followed by the hummus and mango. I was having issues and kept switching my top 3. They were all so good. I didn't even question or hesitate trying them all!!! Just threw some on the hot naan and went for it. For dinner I had the surf and turf with corn and bacon pap (I know I know, but I was in the mood for steak) and Joe got the seafood goan and butter chicken with pilaf. It was all so good. I also got a glass of Goats do Roam red and it was really good. (the besties and I have an ongoing goat joke so I had to try it lol) Dessert was the bread pudding and banana cheesecake. Both outstanding as well. In all, it was my favorite dining experience!!!

In bed shortly after that and ready to head back to Epcot today to finish eating ALL the food at the festival!!!

Preview	Attachment	Size
	Everest 1-6 :)	196.91 KB
	Y&Y lunch	967.97 KB
	Sanaa dinner	1.16 MB
	my favorite giraffe	2.36 MB
	the rhino! of course he was on the other side when he was so close	2.4 MB
	the baby!	2.36 MB
	FP line on the right, it was all the way back to the wall	2.29 MB
	FOTLK	2.45 MB
	Dug and Russell	2.38 MB
	Photo bombed by Sven! My favorite of the day!	4.26 MB

I love the dancing in the streets too! So awesome. I can not wait to see all the new stuff that is coming!!!!!

Thanks! I am so afraid of forgetting things when I get home! Before I hit save a little while ago, I realized I left off FOTLK lol HELLLLLLOOOOO 40

Thanks everyone! We are back in the room for a bit. I HATE heat and today is the hottest it has been. It absolutely drains me. (I also can't drink in the heat and that is the main reason I am at food and wine lol) I could not even imagine coming in the dead of summer. We both took a nap and will be headed back to EPCOT in a bit to hit the last couple booths we have not hit and finally catch some fireworks. Other than from the Contemporary that cold first night, we haven't seen any.

Going to go ahead and recap today.

We didn't plan on being in the park early then I realized we had 9:00 FP for Soarin. SOOOOOOOO, we got there around 9:15. Made our FP with plenty of time left. Speaking of left, this is the first time we have ever gone to the left side for the ride. I honestly never knew it existed. We were the last ones out of the theater and I was leaning over the rail and walking really slow checking out the mechanism. How cool is that thing??? AMAZING

We were going to catch Captain EO but it had just started and we didn't want to wait around. So we went to play the piggy bank game. I never knew it existed until I saw Robyn post it. We are going on a dream vacation! I wasn't good at inflation but man can I diversify! LOL

Checked out Art of Disney and the Pin Shop, I got one of the last 10 F&W pins WHEW! The CM said it was all they had left.

Then to WS. We made 3 stops and I had enough. This is when we cam back to the room to nap. I DO NOT NAP so obviously I needed it.

We headed back around 5ish and finished our F&W wish list!!! YAY US!

A little more walking around then we settled down in front of Norway for fireworks (our first of the trip)

Back in the room now. I am dreading tomorrow in a way, I am not ready for it to be over......

Tomorrow, last day, Hollywood Studios!

Preview	Attachment	Size
	Last Epcot day	2.88 MB

WHEW, what a day! Spent 12 hours at Hollywood Studios! Long but FUN day! Will post more about it tomorrow morning if I wake up LOL. We head home tomorrow

There WILL be tears... Walking out of those gates tonight knowing we aren't going to a park tomorrow was hard.

It's a magic pic, He was added to it! We were cracking up when we went back to look at them all!