Mattie May's Excellent Disney Adventure - Day Eight

I almost forgot to post today. I've been busy. My PhotoPass CD's came in last week and tonight is the first night I have had to play with them. I decided to use one to update my blog header. What do you think? This is one of the Magic Photo's that the photographer took. I love them! They pose you and you don't know how the picture will look until you pull them up!

Mattie May and Tinker Belle. What a combination.

This was our last day in Florida. I have two pictures that I think really sum this day up.

This is the first.

No one wants vacation to end. We didn't have to catch the bus to the airport until 4:20, but we had to be out of our room by 11:00. We got all packed up and took our luggage to baggage check before we headed to breakfast.

We ended up with some meals on our food plan and they had to be used. Nothing worse than not using what we had paid for. We took a chance on Chef Mickey's. We didn't have reservations but we didn't last time either. We had to wait about 5 minutes for a seat.

By now, Mattie May was pretty good at talking with the cast members. We had a great waitress and Mattie May was talking to her about what fun week she had and that she really didn't want to go home. The next time the waitress came to our table, she brought Mattie May another birthday cupcake! "Every birthday trip should end happy!" How sweet was that?!

Some creative photography using my iPhone.

We spent the day riding Mattie May's favorite rides, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mad Tea Party, Dumbo Flying Elephants, and of course one more go on "it's a small world".

We also had one more full service meal we had to use. We took a chance at The Crystal Palace hoping to get to eat with Winnie the Pooh and all his friends (we hadn't seen them all week!) No luck this time. Oh well, Frank was hoping for a pizza anyway so we headed to Tony's Town Square. Just a short ten minute wait and we were in. Frank had his pizza and Mattie May was finally served off of a Mickey plate! All was well with the world!

After lunch we had time for some shopping. We had some ears we needed to get for friends and family back home. The ear store and candy shop were just up Main street. While we were shopping, we noticed they were getting ready for a parade. We made our purchases and went out to get a place to watch. The parade was great but as soon as it was over we had to get to the bus.

Picture two to wrap up our day. She is realizing we are leaving and is NOT a very happy camper!

Just look at that face. Tired and sad. I felt just like her. I called Mom to let her know we were leaving and could hardly talk trying to fight back tears! It was nothing that one more Mickey Mouse ice cream couldn'tt fix. We all had one to lift our spirits and finished just in time to bored the bus and get to the airport.

We had spent an entire week in January in short sleeves and sunshine only to get off the plane at DFW to almost freezing temperatures.

We had a great time and made memories that will last us a lifetime. We have already started planning and saving for our return trip!

Walt Disney Resort truly is

"The Happiest Place on Earth!"

God Blees!

Mattie May's Excellent Disney Adventure - Day Seven

Day Seven found us back at Magic Kingdom, because that's what Mattie May wanted to do and this was her trip after all. As much as we had been enjoying our trip, this was the first day I actually felt relaxed. We only had one set of autographs to get and we knew right where we needed to be and when, so we just had fun.

Mattie May of course headed back to the tea cups! This time we rode in separate cups. Frank and I could really get ours to spinning this time!

We went to Winnie the Pooh's and had a little visit.

And had tea with Minnie Mouse! Love the decor in her home!

I don't have pictures of all this, but right after this picture is when we got to see the fairies. They told us Tinker Belle would definitely be there but not who the other two would be. The area you go in to wait for these characters is separated into two lines, one side fairies one side princesses. She already had all the princess signatures and her goal today was fairies! The line was pretty long but we felt it was moving pretty fast. They have monitors set up to watch clips of movies while your waiting and Katie and I really didn't notice the time. After a while my phone rang and it was Frank (he was waiting on a bench outside). He asked me if we were OK or if there was some sort of problem. No, we were fine just waiting, why was he asking me this? He said he kept seeing all these people go in after us and they had already started coming out, what was taking us so long? Katie and I started laughing, he didn't know there were two separate lines because he had stayed outside and all the people he was seeing were the ones going into see the princesses!!

We finally made our way in to see the fairies, Rosetta, Tinker Belle, and to Katie's delight, Vidia! Katie and Vidia have a lot in common. They both cause a lot of trouble!!! LOL

From here we just enjoyed the rest of the day, doing whatever Mattie May wanted.

Frank & Katie Flying with Dumbo!

After dark, we remembered there was one show we had not seen at EPCOT and it was now or never!! We caught the monorail over and once there, headed straight to see Turtle Talk with Crush. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!! Trina and Traci had told us that whatever we did not to miss this show. We had no idea what to expect but they were so very right! This is so fun! Crush, the turtle from Finding Nemo is on a movie screen but he interacts with the audience. It is so much fun! Katie and Mattie May both got to talk to him. Frank and I were sitting there enjoying the show and then realized we should have been recording! Ugh!!! We tried to get the phones going but it didn't turn out very well. Oh well. I don't think we will forget it!

Frank, Mattie May and Bruce

"Fish are friends not food!"

After Turtle Talk we walked around and enjoyed watching the divers checking out the aquarium. They kept swimming by Mattie May and waving at her. I think she thought they were there just for her enjoyment.

Mattie May found Nemo!

Then it was time to head back to our room and get packed and ready to leave on Friday. I leave you today with Frank and Mattie May's impression of Crush. Dude- until tomorrow! LOL

God Bless!

Mattie May's Excellent Disney Adventure - Day Six

Magic Kingdom! Yeah! All day - start to finish! We had so much fun.

Most of the morning was spent waiting. As we were going to the park, Katie went ahead of us and got in line for Rapunzel and Flint Ryder. She checked her watch - 9:45. She was in the 12:00 PM line! Oh yeah! everyone wanted to see Rapunzel. Her movie was released right around Thanksgiving, so even some of the little girls that had been to MK before, probably hadn't got to see Rapunzel.

While Katie waited, Frank went to some ride to get our FastPass (I don't remember which one) and Mattie May and I walked around a bit. We walked to the other side of Cinderella's castle and saw Fairy Godmother.

We had to wait a bit for her too, but that was OK. It kept Mattie May from getting bored while just waiting in one line. Mattie May didn't seem to excited about seeing Rapunzel but she didn't ask not to. She just acted kind of weird. We couldn't really figure it out.

They finally let Mattie May's group in to see Rapunzel. This was one of the best waits we had. There was a large table (see in the picture below) and they handed the kids pictures and crayons. After they finished their pictures, they took them to their parents. They got instructions about Rapunzel and Flint Ryder coming out and then they were there. Mattie May was in the perfect spot, right next to Flint Ryder! Her eyes lit up. Just look at that face!She got to hold his hand and dance around with him. She was having fun. After the dance, all the kids got back in line with their parents and waited their turn for pictures. The photographers came around with Pascal to take pictures while we waited. She was really good and even got Frank to take his picture with the little guy! Mattie May finally got her turn with Rapunzel and Flint Ryder. This is when we figured out why she was not to thrilled to be waiting in line. She thought she was only going to see Rapunzel, just another princess. Her excitement came out when she saw Flint Ryder!!! Look how close she's standing to him. I think she only let go of his hand so he could sign her book. What a little flirt she is!!! Now that "chore" was done, we could go have fun. We road every ride in the park that we could. the only ones we didn't ride, Mattie May was to short. We walked, rode, laughed, ate, and watched shows all day. We also found some places to take pictures.

I want one of these at home!!!

We ate lunch outside and Mattie May couldn't keep her eyes off the birds. She said it reminded her of being at the beach when their all around trying to get your food. I don't know how she did it, but Katie talked her into trying to feed the them. We gave her all our left over french fries and hamburger buns, stood her in the middle of the walk way and stepped back and waited.

We didn't have to wait long! She was laughing so hard she could hardly hold her hands up. I managed to get one of the birds flying off. I don't know what makes me laugh more, her face or the lady walking behind her! There were lots of people looking at her. Some of them looked at us like we were crazy for letting her do that but most laughed right along with us! I looked around but never found any signs telling us not to feed the birds and no cast members ever asked us to stop, so we let her stand there until she ran out of fries.

I don't know how many rides we rode or shows we saw, but I do know I was glad to see the sun getting lower in the sky! We decided to grab a snack to eat while we waited on the fireworks. On the way we saw Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen. They were great! And Mattie May really warmed up to them too even though she was extremely tired. She was the last one in line and they really spent a lot of time with her. We found a spot exactly where we wanted for the fireworks and enjoyed our snack. Mattie May kept saying she wanted to watch them from the hotel, but we knew if we stayed, she would get a big surprise from someone she loves. Luckily, we didn't have to wait long.

Now, I can't tell you what the surprise was, because I have cousins that are going in May and I don't want to spoil it for their girls. If you, have been (thanks Lindsey!) , I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

Frank and I have seen MANY fireworks shows in our lives, but WDW tops them all. Every night they do amazing shows. Next time, I'm going to remember to see how long they actually last! The little kid in me came out every night and I sat in awe of what I was watching.

We walked back to the room, got our showers and hit the sack. Well, Frank and Mattie May did! Katie and I hit the laundry room! But it wasn't too much later until we joined them back in the room and I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow!

Day Seven tomorrow and back to MK for Fairies and Pooh friends ending with EPCOT and Nemo!!! Whew!!! I'm tired just remembering as I type!!!

God Bless!!

Mattie May's Excellent Disney Adventure - Day Five

Tuesday found us on the way to Disney's Hollywood Studios. Maybe it was because the long days and short nights were catching up with us, maybe it was because our muscles were beginning to tighten up, or maybe it was because we had such an exciting and excellent day on Monday at EPCOT, but for whatever reason, it was a unanimous decision that this was not our favorite park. We all agree that if we ever get to go again, this will be the first park we visit. That way we won't be so tired and maybe we will find it to be as exciting as the other three parks.

But of course, it is a Walt Disney World park, so there were some fun time had here!!

The first item of business on Frank's agenda was renting a stroller! He never complains about walking and toting Mattie May around on his shoulders, but by now he could tell he was wearing himself out. Mattie May doesn't like to ride in the buggy at the grocery store so we weren't real sure how this big girl was going to react to being asked to ride in a stroller. Frank came out with it and she jumped right in! I think her legs were getting a little sore from being on his shoulders all the time. So any of you that are planning a trip to WDW with young children, rent a stroller! The best thing we spent money on all week!

We were real sure what to do first and Mattie May saw a picture of Belle, so in we went to "Beauty and the Beast - The Musical". Mattie May and I enjoyed it, Frank and Katie not so much. Neither on of them are fans of musicals. Remember, Frank took a nap in Nemo! LOL

After the show we just started walking towards the Toy Story ride but got sidetracked when we saw Quincy and June signing autographs. Of course we had to stop. Mattie May loves the Little Einsteins, and she has always looked a lot like Annie.

Right across from where Quincy and June were was voyage of the Little Mermaid. Mattie May saw Ariel and headed to the line. I think she liked the bubbles coming from the ceiling better than any other part of this show.

We wanted to ride the Toy Story ride because this is the one ride in this park that everyone said is a must and of course being the sheep that we are, we had to follow. They had already handed out all the FastPasses for the day so we would have to wait in line, which at the time was a two hour wait. We decided before we committed to that we had better get us some lunch. Looking at the menus, our best bet with our two picky eaters was Play N Dine at Hollywood and Vine. The way our day was going I was afraid we weren't going to be able to get a table but we only had to wait about 5 minutes. It was an American food buffet, but not a great selection for my non-chicken eating husband, but he found some things he could eat. He had to get them off the children's buffet but no one tried to stop him. I guess they could see the hunger in his eyes. We got to eat, dance and play with Handy Manny, Oso, Leo and June.

It really was a great choice for us. It was a place Mattie May could just be a kid and eat what she wanted or get up and dance when the music came on. Grumpy even got in on a couple of dances, after all, he is just a 49 year old kid!

We walked a different route back to the Toy Story ride. On the way, we stopped for some shopping and pictures under Mickey's big magic hat.

We stumbled upon what looked like Grauman's Chinese Theater and had to look around at some of the prints in the cement. Katie found her favorite and fell in tears on top of it!

Not really, she just sat down so I could get all of her and the entire square in the picture.

We finally made it around to the Toy Story ride and the wait was down to an hour and a half! We decided we had to wait it out because we really didn't want to make a trip back to this park. There are enough things to look at in the line that Mattie May really did well for the wait and it ended up that we only waited for 45 minutes until we were to the booth to pick up our 3D glasses. Frank and Katie picked up our glasses and the cast member taking head counts told them that they didn't need them because we were leaving the ride. WHAT?! I think she finally realized we didn't understand what she was telling us. The ride was broken and they didn't know if it would open back up that day. Oh! Just one more disappointment at this park. Buzz Lightyear and Woody were right across the street. Mattie May wanted to wait for them so we did. Even though this was a pretty long line, it went rather quickly and Buzz and Wood were great. They both took their time with Mattie May and even made Katie get in some of the pictures.

We found Frank and he told us a cast member at the Toy Story ride had told him not to go to far, but we hated for Mattie May to have to step right back into another long line and possibly be disappointed again. I saw Green Army Man standing on the street so we went to talk to him.

Man we timed it just right. Right after we had pictures with him, Frank was yelling at me to hurry and just as I handed Mattie May to Katie they opened the ride. It didn't take us long to get back to the point where we had to leave and finally got to ride the ride.

Mattie May in the Toy Story Ride line.

Oh yes! It was definitely worth the wait. What a fantastic ride. The most fun we had all day. We all wished we had time to ride it again.

The exit for the ride took us out to where Mattie May had seen Quincy and June earlier in the day. She started pulling on Katie's arm and pointing all the while shouting "THERE SHE IS! THERE SHE IS!" She took us by surprise but we finally realized she was pointing at Annie and thankfully the line was not long at all.

Frank, Katie and Mattie May all wanted to ride the Tower of Terror. I hate those types of rides but was going willingly as not to disappoint Mattie May. At the last minute, we decided it was best for me to tell her that I really didn't like these types of rides but that we all thought she would really enjoy it because she is so much like Grumpy and Mommie. She thought that was OK so I went to wait on them and rest my feet. I knew they weren't going to have to wait to long because the line was rather short, so when they came back in about 15 minutes and Frank and Katie were both smiling I thought they had enjoyed the ride. I asked Mattie May how she liked it and she told me they didn't ride it.

I was so confused. Frank told me they got on the ride and buckled in when all the sudden Mattie May told the cast member she wanted to get off. :-( I tried to get Frank and Katie to go back and get on it but they didn't want to do that to her.

It was getting late and when we asked her what she wanted to do, she said she wanted to see the fireworks with the world floating on the lake. That was all the way over at EPCOT and we really didn't know if we had time to make it. The lines for the buses were long because the park was closing. Frank asked a cast member if there was a quicker way there and he directed us to the water taxi. That was fun and a bit more relaxed than riding the bus. Plus it took us up to some of the resorts we wouldn't have seen otherwise.

It had come a little shower so things were wet and it cooled off quit a bit but she was determined she was going to see that show. We did make it and it too was worth going back for. Amazing what they can do with lasers and fireworks. It was a great way to finish off a day that had had so many disappointments in it.

We turned in our stroller and Mattie May ended up on Frank's shoulders. I looked up and this is what I saw...

Yes, she really is asleep, he is not, I just caught him during a blink. We all crashed when we got back to the room and got a little rest before getting up for Day 6.

I know your probably asking yourself where all the trouble and disappointments were. Other than the ride shutting down, I left them all out! Even though this wasn't our favorite park, there really were a lot of fun things we did. And they would really take a while to write and read. We love to remember the happy times so they will stay with us.

God Bless!

Mattie Mays Excellent Disney Adventure - Day Four

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTIE MAY

FIVE YEARS OLD

Mattie May went to bed a four year old and woke up a five year old. Believe me, there was no way she was letting us forget that today was her birthday. We all sang happy birthday to wake her up. We had a few gifts for her to open, including her birthday ears. I've decided that everyone should wear Mickey ears on their birthday! They're just too much fun!

We had a great breakfast at Chef Mickey's where we were joined by the big guy himself. Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, Pluto and Goofy were all there. They each came to our table to wish her a happy birthday.

They were all great and the food was fantastic. Donald duck was even able to get a smile and a laugh out of Frank! We all know how difficult that is!

There was so much going on, she was having trouble eating. And before she finished her breakfast, our waitress brought out her birthday cup cake. The candles and the wrapper were the only things not edible. Even that little Mickey face was made out of chocolate.

Look at the five year old smile! Who couldn't love this kid?!

About all she could finish was her milk and then she was ready to ride the monorail to EPCOT. By the way, did you know EPCOT is an acronym? Do you know what the actual name is? Well if you promise to read to the end of this post, I'll tell you! As anxious as she was to find Mulan, she asked to go in "the ball" first.

OK More useless trivia - do you know the ball is called Space Ship Earth? That is also the name of the ride inside!

While we waited for our FB time for Test Track, we watched Captain EO. Let me say, that movie is 25 years old but the special effects are still really cool. They must have really been ahead of their time when they filmed that! Mattie May was so excited that she was getting to watch Michael Jackson, but when the villain cat lady thing appeared on the screen, I started looking for a way for us to get out of there! She screamed this terrified scream, a truly blood curdling scream. Katie got her to take of her glasses and sit in her lap until she calmed down. She put her glasses back on and just closed her eyes when "the scary cat lady" came on the screen. She was very happy when she turned into a nice person at the end of the show. As we were walking out, she just kept jabbering about how good that was and if we had time could we see it again. I guess she has a love/hate feeling for Captain EO.

To waste more time we rode Imagination w/Figment. That is a really cute and educational ride. We had a pretzels and popcorn for snacks because we couldn't find an ice cream stand. We looked all the way to Test Track and never did pass one.

Test Track is amazing!! We were a bit concerned about the simulations of wrecks (we're all still a bit jumpy from last year!). OH MY GOODNESS! That was the most awesome ride! Trina, I'm really sorry you didn't get to ride it, but now you have a reason to go back! It is so cool!!!

Heading into the World Showcase, we found Mattie May an ice cream stand! She hadn't had any all day and we were afraid she would go into withdrawals! That kid loves ice cream! She would eat it every day at every meal if we would let her!

We visited Mexico for a while, walked through Norway and found the castle where we were to have her birthday dinner and then made a bee line to China. This was going to be the most important stop on our entire trip.

Why?

Mulan is in China!

We had to wait about fifteen minutes for her to come out but it was worth the wait. Mattie May patiently waited her turn with all the other princess in line. I don't think I have ever seen that child's eyes light up like they did when she saw her. When it was her turn, Mulan motioned for Mattie May to come on up, but before she took a step, she respectfully bowed to Mulan. It was so cute and Mulan was very impressed with her. Mattie May explained to Mulan that she liked her so much because she knew karate too. Mulan asked her what belt she was and asked her to show her some moves. She did part of her kata for her and gave her a bit of surprise when she did her little yell! Mulan said "Every good warrior packs a surprise!"

Mulan was impressed with Mattie May's kata.

They talked for a bit longer and Mulan signed her book, then they posed together for some pictures. I think Mattie May could have stayed right there for the rest of the day and been happier than any other child in the park!

Mulan asked for a Warrior pose!

Mulan gave her a great big hug, wished her happy birthday and told her to keep practicing her karate. Maybe next time they see each other, they can demonstrate some of their weapons skills! LOL

Always time for a silly picture!

After we watched an amazing movie on China in a round theater, we headed to Germany. Katie, Mattie May and I waited in line to see Snow White and Grumpy disappeared! He reappeared just as it was Mattie May's turn to speak to Snow White. He was a very happy camper with a bratwurst, sauerkraut and beer in his hands! Snow White got pretty amused when Mattie May told her she lived with one of her dwarfs. She asked which one and Mattie May told her Grumpy and showed her where he was sitting. Snow White waved and blew a kiss to him! It was just priceless!

From Germany we walked to Italy where Frank insisted that we try some gelato. It was only about 45 minutes before we our dinner reservations, but we had some anyway. I had never had any and it is probably a good thing that there is no where near home that sells the real stuff or I would be huge!!!! That is some yummy stuff!

Italian Gelato on the way to dinner?

Of course! It's Mattie May's birthday!

It started getting cool and we forgot Mattie May's jacket, so as we walked through Italy, America and Japan, Katie and I would walk through the stores looking for a child's jacket. We could only find clothes in adult sizes. It was so strange. Finally in the Japan pavilion I found some cute hooded jackets that Katie liked, so I got one that would fit her and we rolled the sleeves up and Mattie May wore it the rest of the night when we were outside.

It was taking so long that Frank and Mattie May came in to find us. While they walked around, they found the oyster bar. Not an oyster bar for eating but one for buying pearls! Frank had snuck around and bought two oysters for me for our anniversary. He knows how much I love pearls and I can't wear my pearl stud earrings any more.

This store was so much fun. I don't remember the conversation, but the little girl helping us got Mattie May to count for her in Japanese. She, the girl helping us, got so excited! She had all the other girls in there listening to her. I think she would have taken Mattie May home with her if we would have let her!

She was also the person that opened the oysters to find the pearls. After she opens the oyster, she leads everyone in a count down in Japanese as she takes out the pearl. When she did our pearls, she had Mattie May lead the store in the count down! I think everyone in there was amazed that this little girl with blue eyes and blonde hair was counting in Japanese!

Both of my oysters had pearls and they are very close in size but one has a yellow tint to it. They wanted me to change one pearl so they would match, but these are the ones I picked and the ones I wanted. Besides, they are on opposite sides of my head and so far, no one has noticed the color difference!

When the girl finished getting Frank's order on how he wanted the earrings, she came from behind the counter and had an origami crane she had made for Mattie May. She sang happy birthday to her using the crane like a puppet. She not only gave her the crane, she gave her a huge hug to go with it!

Because we had spent so much time in Japan, we had to practically run through Morocco, France, the United Kingdom and Canada to get back to Norway for dinner! Our reservation was for 7:55 and we walked up at 7:53! Yes, we were rushing! And all for nothing. They were running behind and they pushed our reservations up until 8:15! I'm glad we were doing so much walking since we seemed to be eating later and later each night!

To pass the time while we waited, we road Maelstrom, the Viking boats telling the story of Norway and the Vikings. It was another fun and educational ride, but I was just glad to be sitting down not rushing.

Our dinner was very good. We all tried something new, including Frank! I almost fell out of my chair! He never tries new stuff!! Mattie May was pleasantly surprised when she figured out she was having dinner with the Disney princesses. As much as she wore a tiara when she was little, she is not much into the princesses now. But she still had fun. During the Parade of Princesses she not only got to walk in Arial's group, but she got to hold her hand during the entire parade.

Her Mattieism for today wasn't something she said, it was something she did. As all the princesses, big and small, curtsied at the end of the parade, Mattie May bowed at the waist like she does for karate! All the people around her noticed. We actually didn't notice until we were watching the video and saw some customer's point and laugh.

She was promised she could have anything she wanted to eat as long as it wasn't ice cream or cake, it had to actually have some nutritional value! I guess when it's your birthday, any meal can be special! HAHAHA!

A hot dog for her special Birthday dinner!

Frank and Mattie May walked outside to find out what all the noise was we could here. It was the laser/fireworks show. They couldn't see all of it from where we were, but they could see enough to know it was an amazing show! And when they came back in, we surprised Mattie May with another birthday cake! It was a great chocolate cake and it was delish! We carried most of it back to our room because we also had dessert with our meals. Our waiter brought us one of each thing they had and we shared them all. And I wonder why I didn't loose any weight while we were gone!

On the way back to the monorail, we were finally able to take our time and not rush. My feet and legs were very grateful for that! I never complained, but I wondered with each step when my legs were just going to stop and say no more!! Next time I go, I'm not going to forget my pedometer so I'll know how far I walk each day!

We thought Mattie May was going to fall asleep on the monorail ride back to the hotel, but she didn't. And we walked back to our room just in time to see the lighted boat parade, so we went down to the beach and watched the rest of that. Lots of great Disney movie songs. Katie and I sang as many of them as we could at the top of our lungs. I am sure we woke some people up, but I didn't think about that until later. We were having to much fun!

Tomorrow is Disney Hollywood Studios!

God Bless!!

EPCOT is an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. That's your useless trivia for today!

Mattie Mays Excellent Disney Adventure - Day Three

I have had so much fun posting Mattie May's journal. Have you had fun reading her post? I really can't wait (well, I really can) until she can really write things herself. I can't tell you how many hours we spend, she has pencil in hand and paper in front of her and she just asks how to spell each word that she wants to get on paper. She tells me all the time she is going to be a writer.

I am definitely not the writer that she is, but I can add captions and comments to pictures. Although I don't have many pictures to choose from seeing as how I left my camera in Texas!

Day three of our adventure is actually day two of our time in Florida. Traci had told Mattie May about the safari ride at Animal Kingdom and shown her pictures, so this is where she wanted to go on our first full day. We caught the bus and off we went. This was the same bus ride where this happened.

As soon as we got off the bus, Katie and I both realized we had left our sun glasses in the room, including Mattie May's. So we stopped in the first shop we saw and got some. I don't think we could have survived without them. Seriously!

Katie's are super cute! Little Mickey's on hot pink!

Animal Kingdom still had their Christmas decorations up too. My favorite trees of all the parks. I thought of my mom when I saw these trees. Wild animals and prints all over. It was amazing. We found the PhotoPass photographer at this tree and she let us in on the secret of the Magic Photo. They are so cool. You will get to see them when I get my pictures from Disney. They are so neat.

" I look just like Tigger!"

As we headed up the path to the safari and saw the Tree of Life for the first time. Katie got so excited, I think she shed a tear. See, she does take after me! It was amazing. We have seen it on TV and in pictures many times, but it is kind of like the Grand Canyon, pictures just don't do it justice. You have to see it for yourself and feel your breath being taken away.

Tree of Life

It looks like it is coming our of our heads!

We ran into Lilo and Stitch. Mattie May had a great time with them. She had Kia Lan on her shirt and Stitch kept trying to get her to get a different shirt. It was great.

We got tickets for the safari and had more than enough time to head to Rafiki's Island?? The train ride over was nice. We really enjoyed "the island". It was fun and educational at the same time and that is always nice. Here, we met:

Pocahontas

Jiminy Cricket

and of course, Rafiki.

Mattie May wasn't real sure about him. I don't think she has seen the Lion King and isn't familiar with his character. But she did fine.

It was time to head to the safari, but as we were walking out Mattie May spotted the ice cream stand. So naturally we had to get ice cream. We met Casey here. She just started talking to Mattie May as if none of us were there. Of course she had to wish her a happy birthday because she had her birthday button on. Mattie May said to her "Thank you, but my birthday really isn't until tomorrow."

"REALLY?!?!?" Casey squealed, "Tomorrow is my birthday too!" Mattie May ran around the back and gave her a big hug and told her happy birthday too! I think Mattie May would have stayed with her the rest of the day. And to make things even better, Casey gave her her ice cream for her birthday!

Casey

The safari was so cool. It was very much like the drive through safaris that are all around, but oh so much better. This ride created another Mattieism. After she saw Traci's pictures, she kept telling us "you take a safari in a cari!" LOL So that was the name we gave it!

The Safari in the Cari

We think we get so close to the giraffes at the Abilene Zoo, but there is still a fence between you and them. Look how close we are to the one in this picture. Remember this was taken with an iPhone and no zoom! If only he would have looked my way!

Now she wanted to go ride the mountain. This was the ride we learned the importance of the FastPass! It was a two hour wait and the had given out all the FastPasses for the day. So sadly, we didn't get to ride this one. Yeah, some tears were flowing but after the promise of a snack, Katie settled down and got ready for something else.

We walked right up on the line for "Finding Nemo, The Musical" and of course, they were just shutting it off. Another disappointment until the girl saw Mattie May's birthday button. With a quick happy birthday wish, she let us in and told us to walk to the front! We had great seats! And it is a definitely a don't miss show. We had fun watching how they worked the puppets, especially Crush. I think that took five people to work! I don't know how because we were so close to the front, but Frank enjoyed a little nap while we were here!

Finding Nemo Musical

We headed over to the dinosaur part to see what was there. The roller coaster there looked really cool, but Mattie May was too short to ride. Frank decided he could get her on and the entire time we were in line, Katie and I kept telling him he would be the one dealing with Mattie May's tears this time! He kept telling us he would get her on there! Guess who was right? Yeah, Katie and I were! Thank goodness there was a popcorn stand nearby and a big bucket of popcorn can chase the biggest tears away. Katie also found the first hidden Mickey in this area!

We got in line to see Pluto and Goofy while we enjoyed our popcorn. A very interesting artist came by while we were waiting. At first we thought she was a member of the clean up cast, she was caring a broom & dust pan and dressed just like them. But the dust pan was full of water and the broom was formed into a giant paint brush. She would "paint" the characters from memory.

She said this was much more fun in the cooler weather. In the hot sun, her "art" doesn't last very long. It wasn't to much longer until we got to see Pluto and Goofy. These were the first two characters that Mattie May really interacted with. She couldn't wait to give them both a kiss on the nose!

Pluto & Goofy

Back to the Tree of Life we went. It was time to see things Through the Eye's of Bugs! This started out Innocent enough, but then the big hopper came out and Mattie May was in Grumpy's lap in a flash. Thank goodness she was there when the spiders started coming down from the ceiling! She was not a happy camper and tried her hardest to crawl inside his shirt! Katie and I were enjoying the show until the hornets stung us. Lets just suffice it to say, Mattie May didn't see a need to do this show any more!

Bug's Life

The Rain Forrest Cafe is just at the entrance of the park and that is where Mattie May wanted to eat. I don't know why. She hates it when the animals start going off and we were right in front of the big male elephant. After the first couple of times she realized he wasn't actually going to run over her and she enjoyed the rest of our meal.

We caught one of the last buses back to the hotel. Everyone got bathed and ready for bed. Tomorrow was The Big Day! Mattie May's birthday, our reason we were on this excellent adventure in the first place.

This was the wreath on the end of the Contemporary.

Tomorrow - Day Four - Mattie May's Happy Fifth Birthday!

God Bless!