We Did Disney. . . .

AGAIN!!!  What A Trip!

We Met Up With Our Friends The Holmes Family!!

The Kirk & Holmes Families in Magic Kingdom

Another Disney Trip, Another Round Of Mickey Tie Dyed Shirts

We Met A Bunch Of Characters

Me and the Lost Boys aka Kirk Boys!

Meeting Magic Mickey - as the boys refer to him

Waiting for Pooh Bear - just look at those two! What a pair!

SO EXCITED!

Sweet Pooh Bear Pose

One Last Good Bye Hug

Kaiden & Mike at Monsters Inc.

Pierce & Mike - he was a little freaked by the giant eye!

Checking for Boo & Sulley, they weren't there.

The Car, The Myth, The Legend - Meeting The REAL McQueen!

This IS Their Heaven On Earth!!

Thumbs Up For Lightning

And Thumbs Up For Mater Too!

Meeting Their Heroes!

The Brothers With Their Favorite Step Brothers!

Kirk's Are Friends NOT Food!!!

It's Mickey Mouse!!

Still Can't Quite Believe His Eyes!!

Pluto Love!

Big Dog Hugs

It's Minnie!!

Such A Silly Boy - Pierce just pinched Minnie's nose

Donald & The Boys Quacking It Up

Pierce Wanted Donald To Come With Him 

Staying True To His Name!

They Love Goofy!

And LOOK who was playing in the bushes at Epcot!

Disney Details
SO this was our second Disney Trip in 18+ months, and we are hoping it will be our last for three to five years, or more! Ha!!  That's not to say that it wasn't fun, and that the boys didn't enjoy themselves, but it is one EXHAUSTING trip!  And I realize that pretty much no matter when you go or how old you are it is an all encompassing, exhausting trip, but with young children it is A LOT!!!  To the point where you start to get annoyed that children's tickets cost less than adult tickets - because IF they cost more it would deter you from bringing little ones, as opposed to the opposite.  And I know at least once I thought it's CRAZY how mislead we are to believe a place like Disney is for little kids, cause it seems more suited for kids ages 10 and up!!  Cause here's the thing, we didn't have much at all in the means of wait times for rides or shows and the boys, specifically Pierce, still LOST it!  And I'm thinking (or maybe attempting to convince myself that it won't ALWAYS be this hard) that with a 10+ year old kid, they can rationally comprehend that we are ALL anxiously waiting for it to be our turn at the ride/show/character and that they won't have IMMEDIATE melt downs when they don't get immediate gratification and that they'll come to understand that EVERYTHING takes a bit longer at Disney.   Hell, just unpacking the car, loading up the cooler, the stroller, and GETTING into the parks was no less than a 30 minute routine every morning!  And although we went with the idea (again) that we would leave mid day and do naps, it just doesn't happen.  Cause by the time you get back out to the car, unload, drive home, nap then drive back, reload everything, well it's just an exhausting practice in futility! SO we just dug our knuckles in and DID IT!  We bought our tickets, for the second time off of Orlando Fun Tickets, and got a four day pass with free upgrade to five day pass, which is great cause you get 5 single entries to any park for less than a three day pass bought at Disney!

Day One ~ Animal Kingdom ~
So we drove down on Friday so that Saturday we could wake up & head straight to the parks. My girlfriend Cat and her family were flying in from Colorado that day and we weren't sure how much park time they would get, so I consulted my Disney Apps ~ CAN'T say enough just how valuable these things are in helping you to plan your park travel schedule!  There are several free Apps, which is ALL I got, and they tell you based on crowds & trends which park will be a 'green',  'yellow' and 'red' and also it gives you wait times based on users who update ~ so we decided that since it was Saturday AND the Princess Marathon Weekend we would do Animal Kingdom, this was the 'green' park for the day & honestly it was NOT bad.  We also chose this park because we were tired, the boys were too excited to sleep well the night before and this park closes most animal attractions around 6 and really with kids our age that about all there is to do there. Also, our other motivation for going to AK first was because on our last trip we were only there for two hours before the stomach flu reared it's ugly head and both Pierce and Ashlyn started puking!  So we wanted to get it crossed off our list!
Dino-Land is where we spent most of our time, P LOVED the Dumbo like Dino ride we did it no less then four times, and unfortunately the boys were too short & we were TOO cheap to do anything else in that area, but it's still super cute.  Then we made our way over to the jungle safari, which was an interesting disaster!  Ha!  Kaiden & Dave had tried to do the 'Dinosaur' ride, but K was just under the bar so Pierce, Dax & I had gone to get in line & Dave & Kaiden were just going to meet us, well DAVE couldn't stand the thought of upsetting anyone and walking past them to get to us, meanwhile I have Dax strapped in the belly pack and had been made to drop off the stroller which meant I was attempting to control an angry, frustrated, agitated, ready to do anything but stand here quietly, and has now moved on to screaming and attempting the crocodile roll of death Pierce!  Yeah, good times!  Several death threat calls to Dave later, he makes it to where I am - I think I said JUST TELL THEM YOU ARE HEADED TOWARDS THE SCREAMING KID, they will let you through NO Questions Asked!!!   Then once on the truck it was time to fee Dax!  Ha Thank God he is a good nurser, cause he had a milk shake that morning, what a bumpy ride, but long enough to get him sufficiently fed & burped, the bumps helped in that department.  By the end of our trip Dax and I had nursed our way through all four parks, and been 'informed' about the 'baby center' at each park by well meaning mothers & park employees. After Kilimanjaro Safari we hit a few more attractions, but for all practically purposes AK is like a jazzed up Mickey'ified Zoo.  Of course the Kirks are ALL ABOUT the parades, ask Merlin, so we stayed for the Jammin Jungle Parade then we BOLTED!!
Here's Our AK Attractions List & Quick Review

• Kilimanjaro Safari Expedition - Main attraction & so wonderful!!
• It's Tough To Be A Bug - A bit scary for the little ones with the puffs in the face and the loud noise but good.  SIDE NOTE: Make sure to check with the little ones if they have to potty cause as we were walking out of the theater Kaiden ran ahead, climbed a rock and relieved himself on some bushes - yes I'm that Mom! I just looked the other way, walked to the stroller and left Dave to deal with that!
• Flights Of Wonder - This show is AWESOME!!  Even Pierce loved this show! 
• The Jammin Jungle Parade - super cute 
• Tricera Top Spin - they LOVED it, went a bunch of times in a row
• Wildlife Express Train - trains are always a big hit with the Kirk boys
• Affection Section - by this point P was pretty much done but K enjoyed brushing the animals
• Conservation Station - K would have enjoyed more time here but P was D-O-N-E!! 

Like I said this is a great park IF your kids love animals, or learning and specifically learning about animals, but don't expect this to be their favorite Mickey place.  I'd like to think if everyone had been better rested it would have gotten a better reception, but probably not!

Days Two & Three ~Magic Kingdom ~

NOW we're talking some Disney awesomeness!!! Sunday the App said it was a 'green' for MK and they weren't lying, we got EVERYTHING in fantasy land done before lunch, which is a TON of stuff!! The only thing that sorta sucked was that Cat and her family were doing a few rides & princess meet & greets before their Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique appointments & so even though we were ALL at the same park, even at attractions that were next to each other we weren't able to meet up with them until later that afternoon.

So after being told at AK that Kaiden was just a little too short to do the 40" rides I made my way to Wal*Mart and bought him the next size up shoe, which he needed anyway, but the fresh thicker sole helped, then I also bough a double pack of cushion inserts which I cut to fit in his shoe like an additional insert then I cut two exclusive heel pads.  I thought FOR SURE that would do it, well as it turned out he was still just a smidge under the measure stick - they have to touch the stick to count, so after careful evaluation of supplies we had handy, Dave decided the Gatorade caps would add the extra 'umph needed to achieve the Disney minimum ride height.  Viola!  It worked!!  So JUST before it was time to get in line we would have Kaiden sit down so we could 'fix' his shoes, we had to make sure to stress that this was a secret and that under NO circumstance was my little honest Abe to blurt out that he had gatorade caps in his shoes! Ha!  He did EVERY ride and was a trouper!! 

The MK Attractions Run Down
Fantasyland

• Prince Charming Carousel - WHO doesn't love a carousel, and it's quick so you can do it a few times to fill in time in case you're waiting on a fast pass return time.
• Peter Pan's Flight - AWESOME!!  We Fast Passed on this one and got a bonus FP to the PhillarMagic show so that was great too. 
• Snow White's Scary Adventure - was a bit scary, loud & dark, with the witch making frequent apperances, but no tears were shed and it ends happy so, all was good.
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - another GREAT ride, both boys loved it and we did another FP for this ride, which let's just take a second to say THANKS for the FP!!
• Mickey's PhillarMagic - Great show, much less intimidating then the bug 4-D show
• It's A Small World - A MUST DO! Really the kids love looking at all the other kids and it's another great ride to sneak a nursing in on!
• Mad Tea Party - I refused to go, the dads, my boys and Emma did this, and I was told a minute into the ride that all the color drained from Kaiden's face, I expected that, and that Pierce had his head back just loving it, I expected that too! Ha!

Adventureland

• Jungle Cruise - Another Must do, the boys Love the elephants and the hippos plus there is the lame jokes and puns of the cruise captain that can't be missed!
• The Magic Carpets of Aladdin - up and down and around and round, what's not to love!
• Pirates of the Caribbean - my boys LOVE Captain Jack Sparrow so they were loving finding him along the ride, but the girls were a bit more timid of the darkness, the skeletons and the drop.

Frontierland

• Splash Mountain - luckily Pierce had fallen asleep in the stroller and I had just fed Dax so he was off to dream land too, so we left those two with Cat & Merlin's nanny and two youngest girls so we all got to ride together while the yougins rested.  We doctored Kaiden's shoes and he made the cut, and he LOVED this ride.  We definitely FP'ed this ride!
• Thunder Mountain Railroad - was CLOSED, can you imagine K's disappointment!?
• Tom Sawyer Island - this is a huge YES for us, there is a playground - need I say more, plus there are all those caves, and forts and as if that's not enough the bouncy barrel bridge was a HUGE hit!!!  
• Walt Disney Railroad - Again trains are always a hit with my crew so this is one of those great time fillers, if you're waiting for a FP return time, or if you are tired of waiting in lines and just want everyone to sit down for a minute and NOT have to entertain them!!  Hop on the train, ride it the entire way around and you're back with your stroller and have eaten 30 minutes or so!!

Liberty Square

• Haunted Mansion - we love it, Kaiden loved it but Pierce wasn't thrilled - although the term ''over-stimulation" pretty much sums up his whole week!!
• Liberty Square Riverboat - it was fun little cruise, I had high hopes that Pierce was gonna surrender to sleep on this 15 minute voyage BUT he didn't however if you don't mind sitting on the ground, this is another GREAT spot for nursing! Ha, I'm telling you me & Dax just got real comfortable 'handling business' where ever and whenever the opportunity presented itself! 

Tomorrowland

• Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin - great fun!  Especially if you split one parent per cart and compete, plus theres an embarrassing picture waiting for you when you exit!
• Space Mountain - this was a 44" ride so just the Dads, the nanny and Emma the oldest girl went.
• People Mover - oh man this is the most UNDER RATED ride there.  NO line, EVER and 10-15 minutes of constant movement, with a breeze to keep ya cool and the moving changing scenerey keeps even a pissy Pierce happy!
• Tomorrowland Speedway - you guessed it, this was another of the boy's favorites - and luckily Dave could take both boys & do a double lap so they could trade off driving but not have to wait twice - makes for happy boys which makes for a happy me!!

Of course everyone knows there is NOTHING like a Disney parade, remember we LOVE the parades, and fireworks.  And the boys sincerely love getting to hear the music and see their favorite characters SO close.  So we watched the parade both days, but we missed the block party - well we caught one but it was a 'dry run' so instead of stopping the floats and doing the dance party with the characters like we did the last time, they just come through and keep on going.  This was because on Monday they do the electrical lights parade at night and with rain looming heavy in the clouds they wanted to get it over with to make sure to have time for weather issues.  Well the rains CAME, luckily we were close to a small awning so I took the stroller & Dax under there and K, P and Dave played in the rain, and rain it did!

Unfortunately I sorta got trapped up in the front of the awning, no joke I just pushed the stroller in there were three other people under there and when I got the brakes on and turned to get to the front to watch my family I was stuck!  It had packed full with other Disney goers trying to avoid the down pour.  Which my boys LOVED and since there was no thunder or lightning they got to stay and play in the puddles - and I could hear them laughing and occasionally catch a glimpse of their hair or a shoe as they ran around, we were directly in front of the castle so there is that little turn about and the castle show viewing area.  Then I heard the entire front of the group in the awnings erupt in laughter, well apparently Pierce had been in his own little world jumping and splashing in the puddles and then when he looked up he saw everyone watching him, cause what else would you watch when huddled with two dozen strangers in a down pour, and Pierce got his BIG cheese smile on his face, waved and said "HIIIIIIII! I playing in the rain" - that boy!  This rain playing episode may be one of my favorite memories from Disney and dog gone it, I couldn't see it, record it or shoot photos - but I'll forever remember what they looked like after 15 minutes of down pour!!

After the rain subsided we headed towards a restroom to change the boys, luckily I had the foresight to pack extra outfits for everyone AND to keep them in a waterproof bag - look at me, I'm starting to get the hang of this preparation thing!!  It had been a warm/hot muggy FL day but after the storms it had cooled considerably plus the weather had cleared out the park so we made our way down mainstreet to get a good seat for the electrical parade, the nighttime parade where all the floats are illuminated, and then of course the fireworks that follow.  We got PRIME spots in front of the candy store right in front parked the stroller, got some drinks and popcorn and so started the 15 minute wait for the parade.  Well, then a park employee was walking up the street saying how there was going to be a 5-10 minute delay due to lightning within the 7 mile radius, OK what's 5 to 10 more minutes - NOTHING, we had GREAT seats!  Well, as I'm sure you're guessing, another delay and then a third delay and just as they were getting ready to announce the fourth delay we bailed!  Ha!  We decided we could get on the monorail and get out of there before another storm started and an onslaught of wet annoyed people had their mass exodus.  Apparently it was a total of over an hour and a half delay of the electric parade and fireworks, but we didn't care.  We were back in the hotel room with 3 soundly sleeping boys and cold beers for us!

Day Four ~ Hollywood Studios ~

This park was another HUGE success with the boys!!  I wasn't enitrely sure how well it would be received because it is more about theatrics and show and not so many rides, but it went GREAT, this is definitely more of a boys park, in my opinion, there isn't a princess in sight here, and that is A-OK with the boys!  They LOVE the action and explosions and characters and shows and the few rides we got on, not to mention another playground, it was an easy, great day!!  The only hard part was waiting the 40+ minutes for the evening Fantasmic show, but it was a cool night so that helped, but it would have been better had Pierce not been losing his mind the entire time.  BUT who can blame him, it was the end of the fourth day of NON-stop park touring and we were all starting to feel the exhaustion settling in!

By the time we made it to HS we were old pros at working the Fast Pass system in conjunction with the rider swap program, so we got our passes for Rocking Roller Coaster and Toy Story Mania and rider swaps for Tower of Terror.

Hollywood Studios Review

• Tower Of Terror - this is the FIRST place we headed once in the park.  Kaiden had been talking about it all morning so we doctored up his shoes and he and Dave headed off to conquer the madness of the up and down elevator.  He did GREAT, no tears, he enjoyed it but said he didn't want to immediately do it again.  Unfortunately Rocking Roller Coaster was a 44" ride and although I got FPes for it we never got a chance to get back over that way to ride it.
• Disney Junior Live On Stage - freaking awesome!  I mean, it's an interactive puppet show, but watching your kids sing, and dance and believe that they are hanging with their friends is priceless!  Pierce thought we were AT the Clubhouse, he was delighted!! And it had Jake & the Neverland Pirates, which thrilled Kaiden, I just wish we could have seen it a second time!
• Toy Story Mania - this is a fun carnival ride.  Any time I can attempt to compete with Dave at some sort of shooting game I enjoy, of course he whooped me, BUT (and I am NOT making excuses here) but I DID have Dax strapped to my chest and would have to hold him while we moved from screen to screen cause it's kind of a jerky ride.
• Lights, Motor, Actions Extreme Stunt Show - who cares if the boys like it, I LOVE it and well luckily the boys do too!  I mean stunt cars and motorcycles zooming right in front of you in sincerely amazing feats of driving abilities, I could watch it everyday and not get bored.  And of course the update of having Lightning McQueen and a spy car come out and have a chase scene that ends with an explosion and Mater up on the screen was just gravy for the boys!
• Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun Parade - may have been this years favorite parade.  It is new, and has literally ALL of their favorite characters from all of their favorite movies, including Russel and Doug Dog from UP movie and Ratatouille, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, the Incredibles, they were delighted!  And we had AMAZING seats in the shade ON the stairs next to the American Idol pavilion. Dave went and picked up lunch while we sat then we ate and the parade started - perfection!
• Indian Jones Epic Stunt Show - now this started off a bit scary, of course we WERE in the front row IMMEDIATELY in front of where explosions were taking place, but once they moved the front 'scene' away and the action was further back the boys liked it a lot.  
• Honey I Shrunk The Kids Playground - well technically they call it a movie set adventure, but I'm telling ya it's a playground and it's awesome!!!  YES it's quite a big space on the inside with quite a few places for your kids to get off to, however the ONLY entrace and exit are immediately next to each other and the bouncer working it is SERIOUS about not letting a kid out without a parent AND if you place yourself somewhere near the front all you have to do is listen for and occasionally spot your kid.  So long as they aren't crying and no one around them looks upset, you are GOOD to GO!!
• Magic Of Animation - although I would have liked to actually done this attraction, we snuck through to the back and just got down to the business of meeting the characters.  We got there right when they opened and there was barely a line, which was great cause that was my stipulation on letting the kids meet characters 15 minutes or LESS!!!
• Fantasmic - we ended the day with this show, and as I mention Pierce was passed done with the day, but it really is a great show, and worth the wait, but if like us, you can't even entertain the thought of waiting over an hour in the stadium style seats, sneaking in at the very end is fine too,   cause honestly there is no 'bad seat' there!

Day Five ~ Epcot~

Oh sweet Mother of Mary, we were so ready to be done with Disney at this point, but we sucked it up and made use of the tickets we had paid for and headed into Disney.  I believe this was one of those days where we did NOT rush out the door in the morning, and it was another 'green' day according to the apps and we had full intentions of just doing a few things and leaving by 2 or 3.  HA!  Well once we got in there and had some fun, we decided to stick it out, suck every ounce of fun out of that place with full intentions of not returning for some number of years!

The Epcot Low-Down

• Test Track - Of course the MAIN reason Kaiden was dying to get back to Disney was this ride, so we made waves to get straight there for our FPes.  Once it was our time to do the ride Dave and Kaiden headed off and when he returned he could NOT wait to ride it with me, so I took the rider swap pass and headed in to do it with Kaiden.  It was really fun to share the ride with him.  Of course I was in total MOM mode - the picture has me reaching my right hand out across his chest in that universal mom position of 'I'm gonna just put my hand out in case the seat belt doesn't work' pose!  And yes we had to doctor his shoes up for this attraction too!
• Gran Fiesta Tour - the boys love this ride, it's a boat ride that 'chases' Donald and it is NEVER busy so we rode it a few times in a row, which worked GREAT for us!  Dark, cool, quiet ride that keeps the boys happy is RIGHT up our alley!!
• Maelstrom - the viking ship ride is another great ride, with a short wait time and a boat ride awaiting, plus the boat goes 'over the edge' and backwards for a few minutes, the boys love it
• World Showcase - yeah I bet you can guess that the boys could CARE LESS about seeing the buildings and different stores and shops around the showcase, but they do LOVE the mini train village in German town, so we had to huff it back to see this before we left.  They were delighted so it made the endless walk seem worth it in the end!
• The Land Pavilion - this is a GREAT place to eat lunch, mainly because it's the ONLY place with drink refills, whether they are technically free or not I NEVER stopped to ask, I figured we had paid enough to deserve two refills!  PLUS it has the living earth ride which is another boat trolley ride and it goes through the green house, which Kaiden really enjoyed, and there were workers out there tending to the plants so Pierce said hello to them, and he throughly enjoyed that! Ha!  We didn't get to the Lion King show, but I don't think they even knew it was there.
• Soarin' - Kaiden really LOVED this.  He and I got to do this one together and we were in the front row so we went the highest up in the theater, he was THRILLED!!  And he was SO into the ride he ducked when they hit the golf ball - it was precious!
• The Seas With Nemo & Friends - LOVE this ride!  You can only fit two in each Clam'mobile but they love Nemo so they both really enjoy 'finding' him in all his hiding spots.
• Imagination Pavilion - you can't go to Epcot and NOT go see Figment, and there was NO wait so we got to pick our seat and our car and they boys thought the skunk fart was hilarious - imagine that!?  And when you get out they love the music squares, even though I don't think they understand it, they have fun jumping from lit up music square to square.
• Ellen's Energy Adventure - now this 'ride' is tricky, it's almost 40 minutes, and we were gambling that Pierce would fall asleep, which he didn't imagine that, BUT you are shut in these HUGE rows with no where to go, so we can all spread out, I got to feed Dax and it is air conditioned and goes pretty quick.  So even though I have to close my eyes in parts cause the surround screen gives me motion sickness, it is still a good 'regroup' ride.
• Spaceship Earth - we ended the day with the ride through the golf ball, as the boys call it.  And as cheesy as parts of this ride (er the whole thing) can be, it is one of my favorites.  However might I add a word of caution to NOT let your child touch the screen when you take off, I wasn't paying attention to what the screen said but it was asking what language you would like to hear the ride in, yeah Kaiden went with Mandarin, I guess he was trying to expand his horizons, half way through the ride I had an enormous craving for Chinese food, wonder if there was a connection there?!  Ha!

That pretty much sums it up - HUGE POST, I know, but I never got around to doing this the last time so I wanted to get it all down before I forgot.  All in all it was worth it!  I do hope to not return until there are NO MORE strollers, diapers and naps needed, but so glad we did it when we did.  Also one last piece of advice, it is WORTH the extra money to get legit Disney stuffed animals vs. the cheaper ones at the wal*mart, BUT check Disneystore.com first cause the parks do NOT honor sales prices from the stores or website, but I learned you get what you pay for!  AND it just so happened that while we were there it was buy one get one, so I could have ordered the dang things and had them shipped to the hotel for cheaper than I got them from wally world from!  Oh well live and learn.  NOW having said that, wal*mart is a GREAT place to get pretty much every other souvenir you can imagine!!