We planned on spending our 3rd day at Hollywood Studios. We weren't really sure what all it would have for our little guys, but we wanted to try it out.
This was right before we left to head to the bus. Gotta have our Mickey gear on!
We had an early breakfast scheduled at Hollywood & Vine. It was neat because we actually got to go in to Hollywood Studios before it was technically open.
Waiting for breakfast! This was the Disney Junior character breakfast and I would highly recommend it. It was a big, open space; the food was great; & the characters were awesome!
Griffin was smitten by Sophia the First. It was hilarious! He loved her. All the characters are ones that our boys recognize from Disney Junior, so they really enjoyed this breakfast.
Poor Grayson started acting pitiful during our breakfast & we realized he had a fever. He rested on Ben's lap for about half the breakfast & luckily felt a little bit better after some Tylenol.
After breakfast we headed over to the Toy Story area & waited in line to see Buzz & Woody. You can see that Grayson just didn't feel great. I hated that he caught Griffin's fever virus! Griffin loved meeting "Buzzzzz!"
We went to a Disney Junior show while Ben and his mom rode the rollercoaster. It was cute--however, the room was SO hot & you had to sit on the floor. Obviously the pregnant woman was not a huge fan of that. Grayson enjoyed it because it had Mickey Mouse Clubhouse & Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Griff just didn't do well during the shows. He got way too antsy!
After this show, we left Hollywood Studios and headed back to the resort for naps. Griffin slept for 4 hours (that's a record!) and Grayson slept for over 2. Thankfully he felt much better after resting & was basically back to his normal self!
That night we had reservations at the Garden Grill at Epcot. My only complaint was that the service wasn't stellar & it was a really tight fit for a character dinner. It was hard for the boys to get in & out of the booth to keep hanging out with Farmer Mickey, Pluto, Chip, & Dale. The restaurant is also supposed to rotate but was broken while we were there. Big bummer!
Otherwise, the characters at this dinner were great! Our Mickey obsessed kids loved seeing Farmer Mickey, Pluto, Chip, & Dale. We also got to see them all multiple times which was fun!
These boys sure did love meeting all their favorite characters!
We stayed out late this night to see the fireworks at Epcot. Our boys have never been able to see a huge fireworks show & Grayson was really excited!
Griffin got to watch on Pops' shoulders & he kept trying to catch the fireworks. Ha, I love how their little minds work!
It was such a nice night!
Day 4 was our Animal Kingdom & Downtown Disney day. We got to the Animal Kingdom right as it opened so that we could head back to the safari first thing in the morning. The one thing I should mention about this day was that it was the first really hot day we had. I felt like I was melting. Orlando heat & humidity doesn't mess around!
We did the safari first thing that morning which was great. The animals are most active in the morning & the line wasn't more than 10 minutes. It was a blazing hot 10 minutes, but still just 10 minutes:)
The safari ride was really neat. It was basically an oversized Jeep driving through different habitats. We got to see giraffes, hippos, elephants, rhinos, flamingos, antelope, and lots more. The one thing that G was disappointed in not seeing was the lion. He really wanted to see one! Griffin LOVES giraffes and we saw a bunch of them. He kept saying, "hi fraffes!"
The other part of the safari was a walking part. You saw fish, birds, meerkats, & gorillas. I could have done without that portion simply because a) Griff only wanted to be held & b) it felt like it was 100 degrees outside.
One of the best purchases I made for our trip was this $8 spray fan from Wal-Mart. It was endless entertainment for Grayson & it felt good on the hot days!
We ate lunch at the Rainforest Café. We have been to the one in Nashville but we thought it would be a fun (see also: super cheesy) place for the boys.
This was right before our reservations. I told you it was hot! G thought this was hysterical!
Grayson and Griffin loved this place. It has a great store in the front filled with tons of things to entertain them & they of course loved all the "real" animals inside. Grayson could have done without the fake thunder. Oh well!
After lunch, Griffin took a stroller nap for a long time. We took Grayson to the A Bug's Life interactive show. It was pretty neat. It was all in 3D and you felt like the bugs were flying right at you. However, there was one part where it gets pitch black and the room fills with fog & G was terrified. Wish we had known it would do that beforehand! He also got to meet Safari Mickey & Minnie while Griff slept!
We headed back to the resort for another afternoon of naps. Griffin thought we were crazy because he had already slept for well over an hour! While Ben & G took naps, I let Griffin take the world's longest bath & then we had a photo session with some of the characters outside of our building. This was the entrance to our resort building. How cool is that?! I spy a teeny Griffin in the left hand corner!
Around 4:30 we hopped on the bus to head to Downtown Disney. I heard conflicting things about the resort bus system. Some people said it was super convenient & others hated it. Overall, I thought the bus system was great. It was kind of a pain for Ben because he had to hold on to the double stroller while we rode, but the boys thought it was a lot of fun. Definitely easier than driving our own car everywhere, I think!
Downtown Disney was so cute! I had really never even heard of it until this trip & I wanted to see what all it had. I had to check out the Christmas shop & get an ornament (or 3) and the boys spent a long time in the awesome toy store. How fun is that ceiling?!
We were having a 3 year old attitude moment when we first got there so Griffin was the only one who would participate in any pictures willingly. He had to stop by & hug Buzz!
I'm pretty sure there was bribery involved in this one to get G to smile. Just being honest! This was what Grayson had looked forward to all afternoon: the huge Lego store!
It's an absolute miracle that Griffin didn't make all the Lego characters explode into a million different pieces. I was a little nervous with him touching all the characters!
G was proud of his masterpiece in the Lego work room--that, my friends, is a legit smile!
We had dinner at the House of Blues restaurant and it was the best meal we had all week. The food was really good & we got lucky and sat by the water! Downtown Disney was fun when we first got there but after dinner it was super crowded. It was hard to navigate through the mass of people. Other than that, it was a nice night!
What we learned from these 2 days is that we could have done Animal Kingdom just for a little bit in the morning and then done Hollywood Studios that same afternoon. Those 2 parks definitely don't have as much as the Magic Kingdom for little kids. Definitely something we will do differently next time!
