Bright and early Monday morning, we loaded up and headed out to Animal Kingdom. We hadn't done too much research- Wes had read about the Fast Pass and had signed us up for three things and I had read a few toddler guides to Disney World, but other than that we hadn't done much. When I read the toddler guide to Disney World, their best piece of advice- focus on your toddler, make it all about them and you too will have a blast (meaning do no lament on all the rides you are not able to ride due to the height requirements). We followed their guide to a tee and had the very best time! We arrived early (~about 30 minutes before the park opened!) and we couldn't believe how many people were already there! We didn't take a picture of the line that had already formed- but it was insane!
As soon as we walked in, we saw the main tree (not sure what it is called?) and all of the sudden I remembered being here as a kid. I wanted to get a group picture, which went about as well as it did at Cocoa Beach ;).
We headed back to the Dino Alley to ride the Triceratop Spin and as we were walking Emma spotted her new elephant friends.
She was just petting them and talking up quite a storm about how she wanted to bring them home with us; as you can imagine, she garnered quite a bit of attention from the surrounding park goers.
We made it to the triceratops ride and much to our delight there was no line! Ev's was a bit nervous at first!
But not our little daredevil, she couldn't believe she was about to ride her first Disney World ride!
Her excitement was palpable.
Eberleah's nervousness fits her personality to a tee :).
As soon as we were in the air, it was all smiles for Ev's. Waiting was the hardest part- having to sit still in daddy's lap/next to him is a pain when you are 18 months old!
The best thing I read in the guide was to do this ride as many times as you wanted- so that's what we did. We let Emma lead the way and rode the ride at least five times in a row (had I not read the guide, I would have thought we needed to move on as fast as possible to the next thing in order to see it all).
And she was just as happy and just as excited every single time.
She loved figuring out how to make her dinosaur go up and down, always preferring to ride at the top! And go as high as possible! She would alternate between wanting to sit in the front or the back of the dino- but always sitting with mommy :).
While we were riding, Emma became enamored with the huge yellow dinosaur, so of course, we had to go check him out. Emma was running 'super fast' towards him, and we got our first boo boo of the trip! She scraped her knee up quite good.
After checking out the dinosaur, we meandered into a gift shop so we could pick up an autograph book. At this point, we hadn't seen any characters, and we didn't know how Emma would react to the characters, but we knew we wanted to give it a whirl. We picked up the book and then stumbled upon, one of Emma's favorites- Miss Daisy Duck :).
We were unsure of how she would react, but we were delighted when she ran up to Daisy Duck and gave her a hug :).
She was obsessed with her bow and told Daisy Duck how much she liked it! Everly was curious, but cautious.
We got a picture of the girls with Daisy Duck- I like how Emma didn't stop hugging her for the picture.
My heart was literally bursting with pride and happiness after her first character meet and greet. I told Wes that we could leave right then and there and I would have been happy with how the day turned out.
Next, we wandered through a zoo type path that had monkeys, birds, bugs, snakes, elephants and gorillas on it. Emma and I got separated from Wes and Everly at this point (it was hard to menuever the stroller through the bug house), but Ev's and her baby doll were having a great time with daddy!
The gorillas were my favorite, there were so many, including a few babies and this cute fella!
We used our first fast pass and went on a jungle safari- of course with mermaid right by Emma's side.
She said the hippo was her favorite :).
This girl sat in my lap most of the time and loved pointing out the animals she saw!
The crocodiles and baby elephants were my favorite- I think because they both were in masses. Literally so many of them- we thought we saw a lot of baby elephants with having two at the Fort Worth Zoo!
But this line waiting experience turned into our biggest fiasco of the day. In the name of keeping it real, here I am trying to nurse Everly (with no cover, of course!) while she is melting down by the minute, with Emma wanting to sit in my lap (and refusing to get off) while we are waiting in line. The biggest kicker of it all, it is almost our turn when Wes looks up our next Fast Pass option and it is to meet Mickey and Minnie. Needless to say, by the time it was our turn we were all about to have a meltdown. Me included :).
Three way hug with Mickey. Please note Everly did not care for the characters and would only get remotely close to them if I was right there by her side!
I love the girls expressions here, it describes their feelings exactly. Everly- extreme hesitancy and concern, Emma- awe and amazement.
Next up was our fast pass for the Lion King. This got us to the front of the line and scored us front row seats. It also got us a good 20 minutes of line waiting with two toddlers ;). They climbed onto everything they could think of and when they were on the verge of a meltdown, we told them they could play the tootie noise game. This is where they make tootie noises as loud as they possibly can, each trying to outdo each other with loudness. I am not going to lie, even though I am not a fan of the tootie noise game, it did elicit some pretty great smiles :).
I am framing this one :).
Oh, Emma and her love of the tootie noise!
The best part of having the Fast Pass- it scored us front row seats. The show was amazing, probably one of mine and Wes's favorite parts of the day and did a fabulous job at keeping the girls entertained. There were literally so many things for them to look at! Ev's was mesmerized :).
After the show, we applied more sunscreen and Everly promptly passed out. With Ev's soundly asleep, we decided to stop and get some lunch- it was way past lunch time, but we had fed the girls many snacks throughout the day! Em's and I split a pizza, grapes and a cookie :).
Luckily Ev's remained asleep and we made it on the train to the petting zoo and wilderness trail all whilst she continued to nap. After we walked, we ran into Chip and Dale! Emma has never heard of Chip and Dale so it was pretty funny to hear her call them squirls. Regardless, they elicited some pretty big smiles from our girl.
She loved handing each and every one of them her autograph book and watching them sign their name. Before she would meet someone, she would always ask dad for her book and pick out the color Sharpie she wanted to give them.
One of my favorite character pictures from the whole trip!
We even got a just awakened (and not so happy) Eberleah in a picture with Chip and Dale :).
Saying bye is always bitter sweet :).
She kept telling me, 'they are real, mamma, they are real!' and I just played along with it because to her everything was real. And at this very moment, I suddenly realized everything was real to her. The Daisy Duck that she watches on TV, was the real deal when she met her. And as if the day couldn't get any better than it was, knowing this made everything 100 times sweeter.
I had so much fun just watching her the whole day. It was definitely one of the highlights in my parenting journey thus far :).
Next, she spotted a snake and ran up to touch him right away :) and amazed all of the people that were standing around the snake :) they couldn't believe my little girl loved snakes :).
Love for Rafiki. I love how you cant even see Emma!
p.s. she has never seen Lion King, but it was all just so adorable.
This is where I was disappointed for the first (and probably only time) by Disney. We were excited to take Emma and Ev's to the petting zoo, however, it was lacking in both animals and interaction. Everything Disney does is big and over the top and we expected the petting zoo to be the same way.
My girls were in their element though with the few animals they could get their hands on :).
After this, we headed to the final meet and greet (that we were going to do) of the day- Goof and Pluto. We had to wait awhile, they took a break while we were there, but she was super excited to meet Goofy :).
And watch him sign her book.
Equally excited about meeting Pluto :).
I love how you can see her little head poking out in the corner of the picture as she is watching Pluto sign her book way up on his nose!
And then, Goof asked her to dance. And she was smitten. And in love.
The whole family with Goofy and Pluto!
As it was time to say goodbye, she started blowing kisses and melting the hearts of everyone watching, mine first and foremost.
And ran to give Goofy one last hug goodbye.
Then, we ended the day with a few more trips on the Triceratop Spin :).
As we were leaving to walk out (the park closes early at 5), we saw a character dance party that was about to happen.
So, I grabbed Em's and we got our very unique dance style on :).
Is she dancing with her hands on her hips or posing? I suppose we will never know.
We headed back to the car with full hearts, lots of gratitude and a new love and appreciation for our children who rocked their first day at Disney World :).
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