Day 3+

Alright, where was I?

Day 3: We are on our way to Hollywood Studios, formerly known as MGM.
This park doesn't have a ton of stuff for little ones, but this is where Playhouse Disney Live is and since Molly has been watching Little Einsteins since she was born and knows to go pat pat pat to make Rocket fly, we knew had to go. We weren't disappointed.
She was thrilled to see the mural of the characters including Mickey, Pooh, Handy Manny and Rocket and couldn't wait to go in but we had another 45 minutes until the next show so we headed over to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. It was good, but a little on the scary side. I don't think they had to do quite as much with Ursula the Sea Witch, but I also think I read this show is on its way out as soon as Little Mermaid is out on Broadway. So I'm glad we went to see it. Mermaid ends and we rush across to Playhouse Disney and make it into the 10:30 show. Molly is thrilled to see Mickey and all the characters. She was dancing, clapping and having a great time. Next I went to get a fast pass for the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. John decided he didn't need to ride it and would stay with Molly. I love roller coasters and with the fast pass I was able to get right on after lunch. I also won another prize, some Mickey ears!


After the roller coaster, we went over to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground and Molly had a great time going up and down the stairs and once she found the little slide it was even better.

After spending some time there, we decided that we had seen most of what needed to see and were heading back to the hotel by 1 pm. Molly was able to take an almost 3 hour nap (I was able to sneak in a short one too) and then we were back at the pool. John went to the fitness center while we rested. There were only 3 other people in the fitness center and one of them was Nick Lachey! Yep...that was his big excitement of the week.

After naps and the Nick sighting, we went to dinner at the Turf Club, the restaurant at the hotel. The food was delicious. Service was a little slow but ok overall.

Back to the room and in bed early again.

Day 4: Time to see the Animals! I love Animal Kingdom. When we went last time it far surpassed any of my expectations. The safari is great, and the rides are fun too. Molly seemed to enjoy herself as she kept shouting "Anmals!" Sounds a little similar to Elmo...but we realized she was saying animals, which made sense because we kept saying we're going to see the animals today.




A rare Jiminy Cricket sighting:



There were two things I didn't like about the Animal Kingdom. Since we were there last time, the Tusker House has turned into a sit down restaurant rather than counter service. So the whole pavilion area outside of the safari is not available for eating and there were limited options at the counter service places we found. Had I realized that Tusker House wasn't available anymore, I would have done more research. They do have some great fresh fruit options though, and Molly ate almost an entire apple.

The other thing that was tough was how crowded the park seemed. It was mostly in Africa and Asia, and I joked that they wanted us to know how crowded it was over there...but maybe there is some truth to it. Despite the crowds it was well worth it.

Went on the Kali River Rapids (got SOAKED!) and the new Everest Expedition ride, which was fabulous! So much fun. Could have gone on it again.
But it was time to head home and get ready to go to dinner. It was our night out alone, woohoo!

Grammy and Poppy went to dinner early at the Turf Club so we could head over to Wolfgang Puck Cafe. It was nice to get out and enjoy ourselves without Molly needing to be out of her highchair after 15 minutes. And the food was great too. I had the NY Strip with horseradish mashed potatoes, John had the red snapper with garlic mashed potatoes. As I mentioned in the other post, we were shocked that the prices were actually less than Fulton's. And quality was just as good if not better. At Fulton's my filet was more well done than medium. At Fulton's we got to eat outside, which was great. But Wolfgang's had a fantastic view too and if you are there when it's super hot, you might prefer the air conditioning.

After dinner we went over to Raglan Road for a pint and some Irish music and then wandered around before heading home. As my sister says, she could come on vacation with us to watch Molly because we would be home by the time she wanted to go out anyway.

Day 5: We started the day at the pool and were expecting a visit from my childhood friend Angela but unfortunately her daughter woke up with a fever and she wasn't able to visit. Hopefully next time we are down there it will work out.

Ohhh...time for Grey's Anatomy. Must take a break now.