The Stewarts: Important Events deserve a blog- Disney World!

Wow, it has been a LONG time since I blogged. I got into a creative slump and thought no one would want to read about my nothings...but now I have something exciting to share!

We just went to DISNEY WORLD for the first time with Peyton. She will be 2 years old on September 26. Some people said she was too young and I worried about that for about 1 minute. I thought, she may not remember anything or every detail, but she will have a blast while we are there- and she did!
We stayed at the beautiful Animal Kingdom Lodge, which has rooms that overlook a savanna where the animals are out 22 hours each day. We were able to see from our balcony giraffes, ostriches, zebras, antelope (many different breeds,) okapi (a relative of the giraffe but looks more like a zebra.) Also there were many different types of birds and other animals that I cannot remember the names of. We were told that every animal at Animal Kingdom is taught a special sound or call that when they hear it, they know it is their time to go back to their homes/barns for dinner and a treat. That is such a neat thing to me to know that all kinds of animals can be trained to do those things. Here are some pictures of our room (which seemed as big and nicer than our apartment in NC) and the animals we saw from the room.

The living room area

The main bathroom (there were two) had a huge walk in shower, oversized jacuzzi tub, and granite countertops.

The bedroom, which also had a separate door to the balcony

The view from the balcony, with part of the lodge in the background

Three of the giraffes eating. From what we could tell, the AK staff strategically placed feeding stations around the savanna so that the animals would move around throughout the day and night.

When we woke up the first morning, we were excited to explore the resort and go to the pool area. Little did we know that the pool had 3 waterslides, a waterfall, a kiddie pool, two hot tubs, and an entire kiddie waterpark play area. It had those overhead buckets that dumped, it had hidden flowers and things that were on a motion sensor that would spray you when you walked by, and those water splasher things that shoot water up from the ground. Peyton LOVED the pool and play areas. We went a total of 3 times during our stay. It also had a pool bar, drink station to refill our mugs for free, and pool parties and bingo. I never got to play bingo but it would have been fun. That night we went over to the campground for a cookout with my parents, and Peyton fell asleep on my shoulder on the way back to our hotel. Here are some pictures of Peyton playing at the pool.

Part of the kids play area

She really did love the water shooter things

On the second day, we couldn't wait to get to Magic Kingdom! We got there at 9:15, which was right after it opened. There was a mini parade/song and dance show going down Main Street, so we stopped and watched and Peyton seemed fascinated with the people dancing and the music. When we got through the gates, we immediately saw Snow White, Daisy Duck, and Pluto. They were doing pictures and autographs, but we wanted Peyton to get more used to things before we saw the characters up close. So we proceeded towards Cinderella's castle, so she could see it and also to walk through to go to Fantasyland. We had our picture taken in front of the castle by the Disney photographers, and it is a really good picture that I will pay almost $8 for even though it will make me cringe. From there, we rode on Snow White's ride, Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo, the carrousel (3 times in a row,) and the Mad Hatter Tea Cups. Then we went to Toontown to see Mickey and Minnie's house, and we also rode the train. The train took us back to the front entrance where we went back to the hotel for lunch and a nap. Peyton loved riding the WDW buses back and forth, and we also rode on the ferry twice as well. After nap was done, we headed back to Magic Kingdom to "celebrate the magic" as they say. We met the princesses, Mickey and Minnie, Donald, rode Dumbo and the Tea cups again, ate dinner, rode the train again, did some shopping, and finally headed back home at about 8:30. Peyton was wide awake and telling this family on the bus about how Donald was at home crying. He was sad. Over and over she told them this. (Donald was sad and crying because Peyton hurt his feelings and wouldn't talk to him or give him a hug. We told her this thinking it would work, but it didn't. To this day if you ask her about Donald, he is at home crying!)

Here are the Magic Kingdom photos...