Disney World Vacation 2008

Animal Kingdom LodgeViews of Wildlife from our balconyNick excited to ride in the Disney Fire TruckWaiting to meet the Characters

Meeting Mickey for the first timeMeeting many other favoritesPluto is Nathan's favoriteThe Coffeys and the GangRafiki at Animal Kingdom ParkThe Rapids at Animal Kingdom Park


Here are some pictures from our Disney Vacation. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge which was amazing. We had a wildlife reserve right outside our room. We got to wake up to Ankole Cattle, Zebra, Giraffe, Kudu, Ostrich, and some other species from Africa. However, I think the highlight of the trip for Nick was getting to ride the shuttle bus, and for Nathan was bunk beds which he wanted to take home with us. We visited The Magic Kingdom on Monday. We were told that the park opens at 8am and that the buses start running at 7am. So I managed to get everyone up at the @#$ crack of dawn so that we wouldn't have to wait in such a long line to get in. Many people had breakfast reservations with certain characters so they were able to enter the park early. We arrived at 7:30am and were asked if we had a breakfast reservation to which we replied that we did not, the guard notified us that the park does not open until 9am. We were told to speak with a park representative who asked our names and where we were from. At this point we are clueless as to what is going on, thinking we are going to have to hang around for an hour and a half with a 4 year old and almost 3 year old, which if you know our boys, that is no easy task. We were instructed to sit and wait and we would be picked up by a driver, (we are still unaware of what is going on at this point) The representative brings out two autograph books and pens for the boys and explains that we are the "First Family" and will get to help Mickey and the other characters Open the park. Our driver arrived and took us over to Toon Town where we got to meet several characters and get their autographs and have our pictures taken with them (both boys were a little uneasy meeting the characters at first but soon warmed up to the whole experience). If you have ever been to Disney you know that you usually have to wait in line to meet any of the characters so this was a pretty big deal. We then proceeded onto the train and rode it into the train station where we were introduced and asked to help Mickey with the countdown for the park to open. After the opening, we proceeded to the rides. Nathan's favorites were Goofy's roller coaster and the go-carts, and Nick's favorite was the go-carts. Dan and I probably scarred them for life on the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, although I think they were more petrified with the Mansion. All in good fun! The next two days we just relaxed around the pool, ventured over to downtown Disney, and the Boardwalk. On Thursday we went to the Animal Kingdom theme park. We went on the safari and a few kids rides, as well as the raging rapids which Nicholas was not to happy that he got wet, but Dan and Nathan got right back in line for a second go around. Both Dan and I took a ride on "Everest" the roller coaster. Our last stop for the day was a showing of "It's tough being a bug" which is an interactive 3D show with characters from "A bug's Life". This pretty much freaked both boys out, luckily it was a short show! The food was good, the weather was sunny and hot, and it was definitely a Magical Vacation which I know I won't soon forget!