Disney's Animal Kingdom

The first full day of our vacation was Sunday. We started out with a bang with breakfast at the Polynesian Resort. The breakfast was with Lilo and Stitch and Friends. I had heard that Mickey was one of the "friends," but they wouldn't confirm that for me when I made the reservations. I went ahead and booked it in blind faith that we wouldn't be subjected to a breakfast with two characters that Maura really didn't care about. We showed up for our breakfast, and much to my relief, I caught sight of the mouse himself!
The Allen family getting ready for a great meal. They gave everyone leis and took a photo of the group. Later they came to the table and tried to sell it to us, but being a cheapskate and realizing I was already paying $50 for breakfast, I politely declined! Pretty soon, we started catching sight of the characters. I'm not sure who was more excited, Maura or I. Probably me. I'll never grow up!
I have no shame! They announced over the loudspeaker that Mickey was going to have a parade around the restaurant. I could NOT convince Maura to go with me. In fact, she wrapped her legs around the high chair and refused! I grabbed my baby boy, who isn't old enough to have an opinion and went off to join the parade! It was fun! Pluto was the first character to visit the table. Maura loved Pluto on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but I wasn't sure how she'd react to having a giant dog at her table. Luckily, she loved him and that set the tone for the whole week when it came to meeting characters. Tristan was a fan too--he loved the whiskers! Notice the children in the background staring adoringly at Pluto.

Me, Mickey, Tristan and Maura. Tristan was so intrigued that he kept attempting back flips out of the highchair to get a better look. Maura was pretty excited about meeting Mickey.
Stitch came to visit too. We had watched a Lilo and Stitch movie just before we left, so we were at least a little familiar with the character. He spent lots of time with the kids and they loved him. He licked each one of them, which Maura thought was hilarious. She proceeded to lick all of us for the rest of the trip.
Fun times with Stitch. He hung out with us for quite awhile and waved his ears at us when he left. Lilo finally came over for a visit too. She was so cute. She did the hula with Maura, although I didn't catch it on the camera. The breakfast was awesome. It was probably our favorite of the whole week. The food was really great and all the character visits were fun and well organized. We loved breakfast at the Polynesian, especially Mickey!
Pappap and Tristan feeling very tropical in the lobby.
Grammy and Pappap and the kids. This is a pretty typical photo of Maura.
Maura was inspired by the tropical locale to try a little hula dance. From there, we headed over to the Animal Kingdom. We figured it would be the least crowded on a Sunday, but it was still pretty busy. Maura loved this xylophone player. Too cool. The Animal Kingdom has a lot of cool attractions, but it really is just a glorified zoo. It was a fun first day for us.
The kids underneath the Tree of Life. Tristan chose to take a nap and Maura chose to adorn him with her hat. The Tree of Life was cool. It has all kinds of animals carved into it.
We took in Bug's Life in 3D in the Tree of Life. I figured that Maura would love it. From what I remembered, it was funny and cute. Well, it may be funny and cute to an adult, but it was terrifying to a two-year-old. A giant spider started throwing darts at us and Maura screamed and hid her face in Brent's chest. She stayed that way for the rest of the movie. I guess when you look at it from a preschoolers perspective and realize that they think these things are real, it really is scary. Grammy and Maura checking out the hippo skull. Maura is fascinated with bones at the moment. She's my little biologist.
We took in the Animal Safari next, which is one of the coolest rides at any theme park anywhere. They ride you through a preserve on a "Jeep" to see the animals. The animals really are able to walk up to the vehicle and across the tracks if they want. Well, the predatory animals are in enclosures, but any non-violent animal has the run of the place. We pulled up right next to this giraffe, on of Maura's current favorite animals.
We even caught sight of an elephant with her calf. So cute. I don't think I've ever seen a baby elephant in real life. After the safari, it was time for a snack. You know that Tristan is my second child when you check out his ice cream face. I NEVER let Maura have anything like that at this age, but with him, I figure it's OK to break the rules sometimes.
Lets just say that this big man likes his ice cream! He would have eaten it all if I'd let him.
We hung out and watched the African dancers while we ate our ice cream.
Brent and Maura even picked up the African vibe with a little drum playing.
The Allen family at the end of a long Disney day. We stayed until the park closed and took in the Finding Nemo show at the very end. It was SO cool. I saw Lion King on Broadway several years ago and this show rivaled that one.
All the fish were actually puppets and the puppeteers were on stage singing with the fish. It was so awesome visually. The puppets actually blinked their eyes and moved like real fish do.
Nemo in the fish tank. Click on this picture. It's amazing the detail they put into everything.
Marlin and my favorite Nemo character, Crush. I LOVED this show and would have watched it again if it hadn't been the end of the day. As a side note, both Brent and I got peed upon during the show. Apparently we'd been pushing fluids on the kids and they let us know about it. First, Tristan's diaper leaked on my leg, then Maura leaked all over Brent! How eventful! Thankfully, it was the very end of a long day and we headed back to the hotel to rest!! We had even bigger days planned for later and we needed that rest! More tomorrow...