The Johnston Family Blog



Happenings and musings from the Johnston family







Monday, May 4, 2009

Disney - Monday




Animal Kingdom! We started off going through Africa on a safari! This was a favorite of all of us. They take you around in a jeep with animals walking around in the wild! It was fun to get up so close to the animals. We then went into Asia for river rapids tubing! David came along with Dave and I and we all got soaked. That was my favorite ride of the day. We continued on through Asia and went to a Finding Nemo musical show. It was so excellent...it was like a Broadway show! David enjoyed that, but Owen got a little impatient so we had to take him out towards the end of the show. We went through Asia to the land of the Dinosaurs! We all rode a flying Dinosaur ride and then David had the time of his life in the huge Dinosaur playground. He also got wet again, because his favorite part was running through the caves and the sprinklers. :) Dave and I rode a very fun and scary dino ride and then we headed over to meet...MICKEY! David was soooo excited to finally meet Mickey.
After meeting Mickey, David got his face painted as...you guessed it! A tiger! This was one of David's highlights of the week. He went around roaring all day! Ha, ha, ha.
We then watched the jungle parade. David literally would jump up and down and wave at each character as they went by. He was so cute. Owen loved the music at the parades and clapped his hands and danced each time.

Animal Kingdom was really beautiful and it was fun to see all the animals and go to all the parts of the park. My mom watched the boys that evening and Dave and I went out to dinner on a big boat on the water in Downtown Disney. Another spectacular day!






Heading to Africa...

Some of the animals we saw on our safari





Asia





David loved the playgrounds









Meeting Mickey at last!





David transformed into a tiger! That night when we washed it off, he said to us that "David's back! I'm back!" :)







The jungle parade!

Waving to the characters...he would call to them too.




Our dinner. Delicious!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Disney Vacation - Sunday



We went to the Magic Kingdom on our first day. We arrived around 10 and stayed until 11 that night! It was a long and fun and magical day. Watching David and Owen experience everything was wonderful. We stayed to watch the night parade and the fireworks show over Cinderella's castle. We were so tired, but very happy after a very full day. David's favorite rides were the race cars that he got to drive and the tea cups. Owen liked the Dumbo ride the best (as far as I can tell :) ) We made it to all areas of the park except for Tomorrowland.
I apologize in advance for posting so many pictures! I want to have them on the blog, though, so that we can look back and remember our special trip.
We were amazed at how efficiently everything was run and how CLEAN all of Disney was! All the parks were spotless. The "cast members" (Disney employees) to a person, were all extremely friendly and helpful. Disney does it right, that's for sure! We want to go back every year now we had so much fun!





The first fireworks show!

David met Pluto first...he was jumping up and down with excitement when he saw him.

Our second ride...Dumbo. I remember riding Dumbo when I was a little girl.


Owen loved this ride!


Meeting Pooh and Tigger!




Having a Mickey ice cream!






David was very excited to meet Donald.


Taking the boat to Tom Sawyer's Island which David really enjoyed.




The magic carpet ride...David loved anything that had to do with flying.

We got David a Lightning McQueen Disney World outfit that he was beside himself about. :)










Main Street in the evening.


The castle changed colors throughout the night...it was beautiful.

Waiting for the parade!!!


MICKEY!




I wasn't able to capture the fireworks, but they were spectacular!



A fantastic first day.