Thanksgiving Vacation Fun with the Mouse

Tuesday morning we drove over to Disney's Hollywood Studios. We met up with Lydia and her mom to hang out during the day. We love the Christmas decor in this park. 

We got to ride Rise of the Resistance and see the Millennium Falcon. 

Then we headed for Toy Story Land and Midway Mania. Wesley and I had the highest scores in the family and then we grabbed lunch at Woody's Lunch Box. 

We caught the last show of the day for Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular! Parker met us there in time for the show. 

I found some brand new wreath ears on sale. 

Then we saw the Villains show and rode the Rock n Roll Coaster 

We finished up the night with a spin on Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway and then we walked onto Rise again! 

We had booked an overnight stay at Sheraton's Vistana Resort and crashed there for the night. Wednesday morning I got up and hit the fitness center for a bit and then we drove over to Animal Kingdom Lodge for the breakfast buffet at Boma. Then we toured the lobby and tried to spent time looking at the animals. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon window shopping at Disney Springs and getting some treats at Erin McKenna's. 

 

Disney Birthday TIme

 While the younger boys were at camp, Daryl, Parker and I headed to Disney to celebrate my 49th birthday! We started on Thursday afternoon at Typhoon Lagoon for a couple of hours (a checkin perk for Disney hotel guests now). And despite the threat of lightning and having to sit aside for about 30 minutes wiating for it to pass, we had a really nice and very relaxing time riding the raft rides together and also floating in the lazy river. 

Afterwards we drove over to our hotel, Port Orleans Riverside. You can checkin on your Disney app now and use your phone as a room key - so they texted when our room was ready and we were able to go straight there. We stayed in one of the royal rooms in the Parterre Place building. I brought along some decorations for the window and we were greeted by a towel animal. 

We got changed and walked over to the French Quarter part of the resort to have beignets for dinner (the guys had beignet sundaes!) 

Then we took a bus to the Ticket and Transportation Center and we walked to the Contemporary Hotel to checkout the 71 Steakhouse Lounge. The waiter gave us free champagne for my birthday. 

 

 

 

And then we ordered their signature drink - the 1971 Sunset - a fishbowl drink for 2-4 people. It was delicious and we made an admirable try but the three of us only got down about half of it. 

On Friday morning we started off in Epcot with a character meet and greet - Phineas and Ferb from one of Parker's favorite tv shows when he was little. 

Then we rode the Living with the Land boat ride and took flight on Soarin!

Then we stopped at the Disney Chase Visa cardholder meet and greet with Minnie and Pluto. 

 

Our main reservation for the day was for a late lunch in Canada for my birthday. Daryl and I have been here once before for our anniversary but it was Parker's first time. He LOVED it. Their steaks are amazing!

We wandered through the park in the drizzle for a bit before getting dessert - a new vegan chocolate soft serve for me that tasted like I remember a Frosty. 

We called it an early night and went back to the hotel to hang out and relax. This was the sight that greeted us upon our return. 

 

On Saturday morning we grabbed breakfast at Boma in the Animal Kingdom Lodge and then headed over to Hollywood Studios. We checked out two new shows there - about Villains and the Little Mermaid show. They were both great. We loved the Villains one with its brand new programming.

On our way out, we ran into these rare characters - these two mice from Cinderella!

We spent some time in Disney Springs shopping before heading out to Seffner to celebrate with the rest of the family.