Animal Kingdom Lodge at Disney World

The Animal Kingdom Lodge at Disney World was amazing and is set up perfect for a family, but I'm sure you already knew that. The past few days I have been on a work retreat at Disney with travelingmom.com. Here are some pictures of my room. I had it all to myself since my husband is still deployed and left the kids at home with Grandma.

The room I was in had one queen bed, bunk beds and a portable crib in the closet.

There was a coffee maker and a mini fridge.

Through the window there is a lovely patio with chairs so you can sit and watch the animals.

There was a double sink area and a separate room with shower and toilet.  In my opinion it is often the bathroom area that can show the age of the hotel and it looked brand new.

I will be posting pictures I took from all around the lodge within the next few days.

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Islands of Adventure - Universal Studios

Islands of Adventure

While we were on our family trip to Orlando, Florida we went to the Island Of Adventures.  They have some amazing roller coasters here.  I could vividly remember them from when my parents brought me as a teenager. 

Dr. Seuss Land

When we got there we were not sure where to start out. We realized quickly that the kids would be unable to ride most of the rides so we headed over to Dr. Seuss land. Which is awesome!






The lines in this area were extremely long. But they were worth the wait because our 2 yr old could ride all of them.

Unfortunately, after being there all day it got dark quite early, so I do not have any other pictures of this park. While the kids and I waited in line for one ride in Dr. Seuss land my husband was able to go ride almost every other ride in the park. I had already been here before we got married and had rode all the big rides. He agreed with me that, The Hulk, is one of the best roller coasters of all time.

We ended the day by riding the Spider Man ride.  It is an awesome 3d ride.

Blizzard Beach waterpark

Blizzard beach is one of Disney World's waterparks. I wish I had taken more pictures but this was all I got.

They have a large kid area where they can climb in these floating alligators. The water is very shallow in this area. To each side of this area are slides and up above is a little area with very small slide where little kids can climb and slide.

This is an area for bigger kids. They can challenge themselves to cross on these floating ice pads while hanging on to the rope above. Also in this area was some body slides and a little zip line where they could zip out let go and fall into the water.

This water park was a little to spread out for us. We did a lot of walking to get to the rides. Many of the rides are from the top of the "mountain" and they go straight down. They were to high for our kids to ride them, but they were fun. they also had a family ride that was fun.

Disney's other water park Typhoon Lagoon!

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Universal Studios - Orlando, Florida

For some time now we had been putting off going to Universal because our kids are not tall enough to enjoy a lot of the rides. But when you get free tickets who cares what they can ride.


My husband's squadron did the flyby for the Capitol One bowl game. Each of the guys were given two free 1 day tickets good for both parks. We were so excited when one guy decided not to go and gave us two more tickets which enabled our entire family to go for free!

Our kids got to meet a few characters and were able to ride more rides then I thought they would be able too. We started out with the ET ride, the Simpsons, and the Men in black ride.

Our two yr old was able to ride ET but not the other rides. The ET ride scared him a little bit.
Universal has the worst rider swap system ever. We had to all stand in line together. Then when it was our turn my husband rode the ride with our older kids while I waited in a separate area with Jonah. As you can imagine Jonah was mad that he didn't get to ride and cried a lot. We finally realized this system was just not going to work for us, so I took Jonah to the kid area.

We played in the Curious George area. This area is obviously mostly a water play area but since it was 30 degrees we couldn't do much. After avoiding the water we got to the back of the area which was neat. It was a two story play place where you gather up balls and then shoot them out or run them through tubes.



We also played in the woody wood pecker area.






Again, this is a large area, but a lot of this area was closed off because it normally somewhat of a water play place. It looked like it would be really neat if it was all open. We were able to enjoy certain sections of it.
After this did a few more attractions. The Shrek movie that was great, of course. The Twister, which I can not recommend for age 5 and under because you have to stand the whole time and it freaks the kids out. My husband and son rode the Mummy ride and apparently it was a fantastic ride.

Seaworld - Orlando, Florida

Since it is a new year we were able to get in free to sea world again with Busch gardens salute to the troops. This time I actually took pictures and rode some big rides.

My husband and I didn't ride any big roller coasters last time we were here so this time we were. While my husband went to ride manta I took this kids to look at the sea turtles, pet the sting rays and pet the dolphins.

My husband riding manta. When you have kids one adult stands in line and rides the ride. As soon as you get done with the ride you ask the worker for a swap card. Then the other adult takes the card and goes into the ride through a quicker line or through the exit. This way you can both have a chance to riding without both of you having to wait.

Near Manta there is an aquarium.




While my husband stood on line for Kracken roller coaster we went to see the penguins.

Me riding Kracken. I am the one with out my arms up.

They have an excellent Sesame Street show.

There is a dolphin bird acrobat show that is pretty good.


There is an area where there are lots of little kid rides. My two year old can ride almost all of them as long as we ride them with him.

Near the little rides is a massive play/climbing area.


Around Christmas time they have an ice skating show that is surprisingly good. Granted I love ice skating!

The shamu show. Do Not sit in the splash zone or near it. Two reasons. 1. You are to close to see the show well. 2. You will get soaked. Many people don't realize how powerful shamu can splash. It is funny to watch them start running when they realize what is about yo happen!

How to celebrate New Year's eve at Disney World for FREE!

How to celebrate New Year's eve at Disney World for FREE!

For New Years eve we made no plans even though we knew we would be in Orlando for my husband's work trip. At the last minute we decided to go out to the Boardwalk Resort at Disney World. This is an area where Disney put in a man made lake and built multiple resorts, restaurants, clubs, stores, a boardwalk,
and a beach around it. You can walk completely around the area. Other than the parking situation we had an awesome time. Parking is free and then you just walk through one of the resorts and begin your fun.

We started the evening by getting ourselves on the waiting list right away at the Greek restaurant there, Kouzzine by Cat Cora. We didn't make reservations in advance and were not sure if we could get in to eat anywhere. The wait turned out to be only 45 minutes! So to kill time we walked around and enjoyed a juggler performance
and a magician. Both were very good, because they only have the best at Disney. As the magician was finishing up, the first set of fireworks went off over in Epcot. We had a perfect view of them.

At almost exactly 45 minutes we were sat down to a delicious dinner. Our chef was a fellow Red Raider!! Our kids had a three course dinner complete with ice cream sundaes for only 8.99!  They were wonderful when it came to dealing with my daughter's food allergies. Every single restaurant on Disney property is set up to handle allergy issues.
By the time we had finished dinner there was a DJ set up on the lawn right in front of the Boardwalk Inn. He was playing lots of fun clean music and leading everyone is different dance motions. He had motions to every song he played! Our kids danced like crazy.

Overall it was an awesome evening that I will remember forever.

If we could have made it until midnight we would have had quite the view of the fireworks but our two year old just couldn't make it, so at 11 we caught a bus to try to get back to our car. By midnight we were in downtown Disney. From where we were at near Disney Quest facing the parking lot we could see fireworks going off at two of the parks and behind us at a third park. They went on forever! Icing on the already perfect evening.

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Free stuff around Disney World

English: ' observation balloon ride at Downtown Disney in Orlando, Florida. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We can no longer use our annual passes to get into Disney because the expired. Such a bummer. And we just found out that we might be going to Orlando for the New Year. My husband might do the fly by for the Capitol One Bowl game. So, I have begun looking for things to do with our kids that will be fun and won't break the bank! Here is what I have found so far:

You can park for free at any Disney resort, you just have to ask for the 3 hour parking pass!  You can also park at Downtown Disney for free.

Every night, beginning at 9 pm, the Electrical Water Pageant makes it's way around Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake. It can be seen from 5 of the resorts. You could go to The Grand Floridian and then walk down to the beach and see the Pageant and the fireworks at Magic Kingdom.

Disney's Boardwalk is located right outside Epcot and modeled after Atlantic City's boardwalk. Every night they play a Disney movie and have a campfire on the beach side. The kids can play in the sand while they watch the movie. Apparently if you are around when they do Illuminations at Epcot, you can see a lot of the fireworks and hear the music. (we will definitely do this, because when we where at Epcot, we could barely see!) Sometimes there is a magician there. You can also take a boat ride.

Fort Wilderness Campground has a bonfire every night (around 8 pm) for free. It starts with a sing-a-long, Chip and Dale come for a meet and greet and then they play a Disney movie for free. You can bring items to make your own s'mores or you can buy it there. They also has a free petting zoo and you can visit the barn where they house the horses they use on Main Street. Small children can enjoy pony rides.

Animal Kingdom Lodge has over 100 grazing animals on property. You can view them for free. There is a place set up for kids to play musical instruments from Africa inside the gift shop.

Downtown Disney is free and there are lots of shops and restaurants. There are full size statues of Disney characters. My kids love the Lego store. They have an area set up where the kids can build and a playground. There are also really large Lego creation around the store. The Ghiradelli Chocolate store is always giving out free samples! My kids also like watching the hot air balloon go up and down.  Most nights there is a family friendly DJ near the toy store.  (He is really good)

The Gaylord Palms – My step mom said this was worth checking out! There is a large atrium with three destinations The Everglades which has REAL alligators, a Spanish Castle with pathways through the everglades and Key West – there is a large boat which is a bar inside the atrium. You do have to pay for parking however.


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