The bus ride was very short and soon we were walking down Main Street, USA.
We have been to Disneyland many times, so this theme park was probably the one we spent the least amount of time in - but this is the one most people think of when they hear the name "Disney World." We headed over to the Mine Train ride and skipped the line. It was a very cute dark ride with a short roller-coaster section.
After the Mine Train ride, we managed to ride a lot of other rides before lunch time. We headed over to Buzz Lightyear, which is always fun.
Then to Space Mountain, which is quite different from the one in California (I prefer the California version).
The boys were very excited to drive the Autopia cars. Matthew was extremely excited because he was tall enough to drive his own car for the first time.
We rode the Astro-Orbiter next, because Nolan wanted to ride with Grandpa Frankie to "scare him." My dad gamely played along and begged not to go "too high." Nolan took the rockets up to the maximum height, of course. The rockets at Disney World in Florida are better than the ones in California, because they are still on the elevated platform and you fly quite high.
There are no pictures of my mom and I in a rocket. Let's just say that the rockets are a tight fit for two adults!
At the time we went to Disney World (2015), the Be Our Guest restaurant (the Beast's Castle from Beauty and the Beast) was on a fast-pass type of system, and we could have one reservation per hotel room. Dennis and I had booked this for the day, so we bid adieu to my parents and headed to the castle for lunch.
The restaurant was absolutely amazing. We sat in the main ballroom, with its marble floors, snow falling outside the windows, and food brought "magically" to our table (there is a rose set on your table that tells the waiter where to bring your particular order).
Lunch was fantastic, and we headed out of the restaurant into a very, VERY warm day.
We noticed crowds pouring in from the resorts. If you ever want a HUGE Disney World tip, here it is: don't sleep in. You can ride a lot of rides before 10 am, when all of the other resort guests are sleeping. Since the weather was so warm, we decided to leave the Magic Kingdom and headed to Typhoon Lagoon, a Disney water park.
I have been to Typhoon Lagoon before and I absolutely love it. White sand, heated water, sunshine, and in February: no crowds. It was about 84 degrees and strolling through white sand in the middle of February was pure bliss.
The family raft ride was a hit for everyone.
The surf pool generates 6-foot waves and you can even book surfing lessons. We spent quite a bit of time in this pool, which was one of the boys' favorite places to be.
We snorkeled with sharks in the Shark Reef, went around the lazy river a few times, and were thoroughly waterlogged and happy.
After a few hours at the water park, the temperature started to drop a little and we were ready to dry off and head back to our resort. We didn't have a dinner reservation for this evening, so we were going to wing it.
We returned to the hotel, changed, and met up with my parents. We learned that the Hollywood Studios theme park had "Extra Magic Hours" that night, where the park is open only to resort guests. We hopped on a bus and headed over to the Studios for dinner and some rides.
We ended up eating at Pizza Planet, which was easy and fun.
Hollywood Studios is Nolan's favorite park. He absolutely LOVED the thrill rides they had at this park. Rockin' Roller Coaster was his second favorite ride (Tower of Terror is his favorite ride, but we didn't ride it this night).
Grandpa Frankie looks pretty thrilled, Grandma Jan not as much.
Dennis, Matt, and I are pretty sure we are going to die. Nolan is all smiles (the launch on this coaster is unbelievably fast - my stomach was left somewhere on the tracks).
We watched the Fantasmic show, which is really well done. On the way out of the park, the boys had Mickey ice cream bars and declared that they loved Disney.
We fell into bed that night and slept very soundly! Another very busy and very fun day in the books!
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