Jambo!

Again, we've got to fly through these blogs. Still behind, still dragging my feet on getting them done (I mean, I have a million other things to do and we're just 12 days out from Christmas). So, basically I'm just going to write a little about our overnight trip to Disney, and then you can page through the pictures, and we'll call it a day. 

I was able to nab a night at Animal Kingdom Lodge for $200 by renting DVC points. I watch to try and get some of those super cheap, and this lined up with extra hours for Deluxe hotel guests. Hayden and Calib hadn't been awhile so we wanted to get some rides in for them- plus this was pre-Halloween when park crowds can be pretty low. We started at the Magic Kingdom- where they got to ride Tron for the very first time. They both enjoyed it, but agreed it was short. Still, we rode a ton of stuff, everything was basically walk on- and saw a couple of shows and had a cat tail before we headed off to the hotel. 

We were supposed to have a 'value' room but ended up with a pool view, which was nice. Plus it's a DVC room so you get added little perks like a microwave and a full sized coffee maker and everything. So I brought along a lot of food, but we also got take out bread service from Sanaa and a Nyala Brownie at the Mara. We checked out the animals, had marshmallows on the savannah and Asa and I even made a trip to the pool. 

The next morning I was up before everyone, enjoying the sunshine on the balcony. I had my morning coffee with the flamingos, and then we checked out and headed over to Epcot. 

A few things they were yet to see at Epcot included Journey of Water (which we swung through twice), and Hayden had still not been on Ratatouille. We remedied all that, plus got all kinds fo food and wine festival snacks, and a couple of alochol flights (it's fun to have older kids!) We finished the Fromage Montage, and got ourselves our free treat. Once we walked the world, we headed over to Disney Springs. 

At Disney Springs, we finally treated Calib and Hayden to their first dinner at Polite Pig, which they loved. Calib even ate brussel sprouts. We debated going home, but we still hadn't made it to the extra hours at Hollywood Studios, which is half the reason we wanted to stay at Jambo House. So, we got some coffees and decided we had rallied enough to head over to Hollywood Studios. 

And boy was it a good decision. We got there towards the end of regular hours, so we could do some things like the Frozen Sing-A-Long and Star Tours, but also Rise, because Hayden and Calib had never been on that either. Luckily it was nearing the end of opening hours and we got right in, it was practically walk on, and predictably they loved it. And then we did all kinds of other walk on or near walk on rides they hadn't done too- including Hayden's first time on Millenium Falcon and both of them finally getting on Slinky Dog Dash and Mickey and Minnies Runaway Railway. It was a super fun night that ended with ice cream and the Tower of Terror. All in all, a super fun, super successful trip. And, two day/one night trips have been my jam lately.