Thursday Thirteen~Shows at Disney

Ok, I'm almost done talking about Dinsey for awhile. Well, until I start making my scrapbook and then we will relive all those special moments. I know I'm a Disney Freak! For todays Thursday Thirteen I want to share a list of shows or movies that don't move that I think are so enjoyable and a must for your trip to the magical place. I've grouped them by park. Enjoy!

Magic Kingdom:
1. Philamagic~A great 3-D movie that has characters from lots of Disney movies and great special effects.
2. Country Bear Jamboree~Most people think this show is hokey but I love it. Your foot will be tapping to the country tunes played by the Bears.
3. Tikki Room~We couldn't get to this one on our past trip. The birds are very entertaining.

Epcot:
4. American Adventure~A great history lesson on our country's progress.
5. Talk with Crush~Our first time to do this one and we will go back. Crush can some how see who he is talking with and has some really good questions.

Disney Studios:
6. Lights, Motor and Action~A great car and motorcycle stunt show. The boys were on the edge of their seats. Very loud and fire explosions, what every boy likes!
7. Beauty and the Beast~A great mini version of the show.
8. Voyage of the Little Mermaid~A great mix of real characters and puppets.
9. Indiana Jones~A fun stunt show.
10. Muppets 3-D~I love the Muppets and this movie is great!

Animal Kingdom:
11. Flights of Wonder~A informative bird show.
12. Finding Nemo~A very interesting presentation of Nemo.
13. Festival of the Lion King~The show rocks! It has everything from dancing, music and gymnastics.

Thursday Thirteen~Restaurants at Disney

We ate at some amazing places on our trip to Disney. Below I want to share with you some of our favorite places. I highly recommend eating at one or all of these places when you visit. You will not be disappointed.





1. 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian Resort. Here you will dine with Cinderella, Prince Charming and a couple of other characters. The dinner is served buffet style.



2. Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom. You are served family style for dinner and charcters come around to your table to greet you, sign books and take pictures.



3. Ohana at the Polynesian Resort. Stitch and Lilo are a favorite here. You are served family style. There is a music parade during breakfast that the kids parade around the restaruant shaking musical instruments.



4. Chef Mickey at the Contemporary Resort. Buffet style breakfast with Mickey and all his pals coming to your table to greet you, sign books and take pictures. I always like to end our vacations by eating here.



5. Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge. A lively atmosphere. They have stick pony races during dinner and the little buckaroos can race around the restaurant. Be sure and ask for ketchup when you eat here!



6. Sci-Fi Diner at Disney Studios. Your booth is shaped like a car and you watch black and white cartoons and movie clips. Very entertaining for the kids. The food was good.



7. Nine Dragons in Epcot. It was very cozy in this restaurant. We were very close to the other tables. Be sure and have the honey-seared chicken!



8. Le Cellier in Epcot. The was one of the nicer places we ate at this time. You are in a dungeon of a castle eating incredible steaks.



9. Bomas at Animal Kingdom Lodge. You have a large buffet with very unusal foods. This place is not for the picky eater.



10. Garden Grill in Epcot. The restaurant slowly rotates while you eat. Mickey and some of his friends come by to say hello.



11. Marrakesh in Epcot. This restaurant is hidden back in the Morocco Pavilion. Belly dancers entertain while you eat. My guys enjoyed it very much. I didn't think I would enjoy the meal but I was pleasenatly surprised.



12. Mama Melrose's in Disney Studios. Great Italian food. The service was slow the night we had dinner here.



13. ESPN Club at the Boardwalk. This was my guys favorite place. They had a live sports broadcast show happening while we were there. There is so much sport memorabilia all over the walls you could read for days. And the coolest part, there are TV's in the restrooms so that you don't miss any sports action. The food was ok, typical burgers and such.

Disney Studios

It was so cold the day we were at Disney Studios. The wind was blowing and it made it seem even colder. My hands were protected by gloves and shoved into my jacket pockets so I didn't get a lot of pictures at this park from some reason. I will have to see if my sister and mom have any that I could use to scrapbook. My sister and brother-in-law styling new looks. We rode the Rockin Roller coaster twice! It's an in the dark coaster with Aerosmith playing very loud. A rock and rollers dream! Our favorite ride in this park. When you exit the ride you walk through a gift store filled with Aerosmith and rock and roll souvenirs. We all tried on funny hats and dos. My nephew actually purchased the black wig and wore it around the park and everyone stopped us asking where we found it. It looks even better at night because it has fiber optics and lights up. Very cool!
This was right outside the Star Tours ride. I'm not a Star Wars fan so I don't know what it's called.
The Osborne Light Show was amazing. Millions of lights dance around the building to Christmas music. A must see during the Holidays.
Snow even falls from the rooftops!
Our kids very cold and posed for a picture.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Thursday Thirteen~Disney Characters

Here are 13 characters that we saw and got our picture taken with during our New Year's trip to the Magical Place.1. Lilo giving my son kisses at the Ohana breakfast at the Polynesian Resort.
2. Alice in Epcot.

3. Chip at dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom.
4. Minnie at Liberty Tree Tavern.
5. Dale at the Liberty Tree Tavern. It's one of our favorite places to eat in the Magic Kingdom.
6. Stitch at Ohana breakfast.
7. Mickey and my parents at Ohana.

8. The wicked stepmother at 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian.
9. Wicked stepsister at 1900 Park Fare.
10. My DS hamming it up with wicked stepsister #2 at 1900 Park Fare.
11. Snow White and Dopey right inside the Magic Kingdom.
12. and 13. Rafiki and Timon at the Magic Kingdom.

We also saw Prince Charming and Cinderella at the 1900 Park Fare dinner.

The kids were very excited to get every ones autograph that we took pictures with. However, we didn't opt to stand in long lines for characters this time so we didn't meet many.

Epcot

Some photos from our days in Epcot. Enjoy!! The China Pavilion
Italy Pavilion
American Pavilion

This was our first time to experience Turtle Talk.
The boat ride in the Land Pavilion
The kids had fun making their mask that they got stamped in all the different country pavilions
Norway Pavilion
The boys acting silly in China.

Spaceship Earth or otherwise known as the giant gold ball to my family.
Group photo
The kids and my sister enjoyed pin trading.
We stopped in here our first night and sampled different Coke products from around the world. Beware of Beverly!
The Seas Pavilion.

Our Disney Resort

This was the best surprise of the day! My parents had arranged for a limo to take us to the airport that morning to catch our flight to Disney. The kids were so excited! They thought they were just like Hannah Montana! They giggled and talked the whole ride to the airport. They were very disappointed for our return trip home in a 12 passenger van.Our resort was Port Orleans French Quarter. It's one of Disney's moderate resorts. This is our second time to stay here. The pictures below are various pictures from our resort. The resorts have some much to offer guest that you need just a day to experience everything there. The exterior of the buildings.
Were the kids ended up many nights when we returned back from a park.

Alligator band statues to pose with.
This is the main area from the backside. Straight ahead is the lobby, the building to the right is the food court and the building to the left is the gift shop.
Part of the pool. It has a cool serpent slide, but it was too cold to enjoy this time.
The river that flows along the backside of the property.
The dock area to load onto the boats to carry you to the other resort or Downtown Disney.

Two happy children waiting to hit the parks!
View from my parents room.
A quiet area to sit and relax.
Lovely landscaping.
I just love the ironwork!




Inside our room.
Inside our room.
Our room.
Our room number.

Animal Kingdom

Here are my pictures from Animal Kingdom. Enjoy!

The parade is my favorite. I love how they use these big puppet like floats.

Lots of dancing going on during the parade.

My niece enjoying the parade.
My DS enjoying the parade.
My nephew enjoying the parade and lost a tooth will waiting for it to start.

All of us waiting for the bus over to Animal Kingdom in the morning.
We are exciting to have a fun day at Animal Kingdom!
The beautiful landscaping. The mountain in the distance is Expedition Everest, one of the best roller coasters in Disney
The theming is incredible here at this park.
This was a fun ride. You load a big jeep like truck and roam on the land looking for animals. My pictures of the animals are not that great because it was very bumpy!
Cute scenes along the walkways.The Tree of Life is incredible. Be sure and take time to look at this when you visit.We walked a trail around the tree and were able to get close to see the carvings of the animals in the tree. Donald Duck was my Dad's favorite Disney character.

We spent New Years Day at this park and had a fabulous time. It started to get crowded in the late afternoon. We left this park for dinner at the Wilderness Lodge because there are no a lot of choices for sit down restaurants in this park.