Disney World Vacation- Day 2

Disney World Day 2 started off around 8am when we checked out of our hotel, and headed for our first 'Disney Destination', Downtown Disney!

Of course, my mistake was seeing online where it said the entrances opened at 8:30, but not seeing where it said most of the stores opened at 9:30 & 10:00.  We arrived at 8:30am to an empty shopping area and no stores opened!  It was kind of nice because we could walk around and see what was there without the crowds in our way.  It was also a great photo opportunity:)!



Maddie, Katie, & Cole at Downtown Disney

  One of the boys favorite store was the Lego store.  The nearest Lego store for us is up in Raleigh, so the boys have actually never been to one.  Cole was in heaven!  He was so surprised they had a store with nothing but Lego's!  He picked out a Star Wars Lego set, and Logan picked out a Pooh Bear Lego set (naturally).  They also had amazing Lego sculptures all around the inside and outside of the store, including a sea monster in the lagoon!


Katie outside of the Lego store in Downtown Disney.

 Next to the Lego store is the World of Disney store, which had every Disney item you could imagine.  We were able to find some really cute things for the kids, along with the autograph books (which are a necessity in Disney World).  My favorite part of the store is on the outside.  Right above where the kids are standing in the picture below is a huge Stitch character.  As we were walking past it Cole yelled out, "Stitch is trying to spit on us!"  We, of course, look at him like he's lost it, and say "What?"  Cole points up to the huge Stitch face and says, "He's spitting!"  Just then we see him spit (water) all over the ground just a few yards from us.  Cole was right- there it was!  After discovering this the kids had a bunch of fun trying to get spit on by Stitch! 


Outside of the World of Disney store (the largest Disney store in the world).  We tried to get Logan in the picture, but he freaked out at the skeleton.

 We walked all around Downtown Disney and went into a few shops, are first one being Goofy's Candy Co.  The kids found some cotton candy there, which makes for an excellent breakfast at 9 in the morning!


Logan kept yelling, "Pooh Bear, Pooh Bear!"

 After exploring Downtown Disney we headed for the Ride Makerz store to make Cole a car!  He'd been talking about it for months once we found out they had this store.  He was so excited to build his own remote control car from scratch.  He got to pick out everything for his car, which ended up becoming a yellow "monster corvette".



Cole and Kenny making Cole's car at Ride Makerz in Downtown Disney.

 


Putting the wheels on with Dad.





All done with his very own creation!

 After making the car we finally joined our "vacation buddies" the Grames Family for lunch at the most amazing restaurant in Downtown Disney- T-REX A Prehistoric Family Adventure!
We made reservations months in advance and it was completely worth it!  The restaurant was full of huge moving dinosaurs, real fish, and rock decorations.  We ate in the Ice Cave, which normally glowed blue and purple, except in the instance of a metier shower when in glowed red and got really loud with all the animals making noise.  The room changed colors and the animals actually felt real too.  It was great!  The kids all loved it except Logan.  He actually hid under the table the entire time.  I tried to take him around the restaurant and show him everything and tell him how the animals were "nice", but it didn't help.  It was a little loud and with all the moving animals it freaked him out too much.  But luckily for him under the table was nice and cozy with plenty of room for him to eat:)!  It was a great experience though, and they had amazing food!



Lunch at T-REX restaurant in Downtown Disney





Katie & Maddie during lunch




Lunch with the Grames at T-REX




Pictures with the Dinosaurs, you can see the glowing blue Ice Cave behind where we sat.

 After eating lunch we headed to our hotel in Disney World, the Polynesian, to check in!  It only took us about an hour to get all settled in, and unpacked in our cool room.  We were lucky that we got to check-in early, and Lindsey and I ran ahead to set up our rooms with the Disney Bags (Disney bag filled with a stuffed Disney character, Disney p.j.s, Disney towel. Disney fan, Disney socks) we had got for the kids ahead of time.  The husbands brought the kids to the rooms and they were all excited to see the cool stuff they got.  We settled into our adjoined rooms and got ready to go swimming in the pool. 

The hotel had an amazing pool with a volcano and a huge water slide that went through the volcano and out the bottom.  It also had a big water fall that went into the pool.  It was a blast and the kids just kept going down the slide over and over again. (As did the adults!)  We swam for quite awhile, and then Lindsey and I went to check to see if we could get reservations at the Ohana Restaurant at the resort.  We had tried to get reservations months before, but it had already been booked because it's one of the most popular restaurants there.  We were hoping they had a few spots available for walk-ins, and we were right!  We had the husbands take the kids to the rooms and get dressed and then we got right in at dinner time.  It was worth the extra effort!  The restaurant had amazing food, it was served family-style buffet, where they bring a bunch of different items to your table where you share with everyone.  It was all Polynesian style food, and really yummy!

The best part of the dinner was when the party hostess came over and asked Kenny and Chase to help her with the limbo!  She told them she wouldn't force them to wear the coconut bras (although we were all hoping she would) but they did need to wear the grass skirts!  They were great sports with everything she needed them to do!  And as a reward she brought us cupcakes and a ton of lei's for everyone!


The performers of our dinner show!




Chase & Kenny- real men wear skirts:
)






Kenny & Chase holding up the limbo pole

 

After dinner we headed back to the room, but the kids all still wanted to go swimming. The babies seemed tired, so Lindsey and I stayed back to put them to bed, and the dads took the kids swimming again. We were about to put the babies down when we saw these cute little ducklings walking right out our door on the grass. We went outside with the boys and found a whole ton of cute animals! There were ducklings with their mommy, little bunnies, and lizards. All over the place you could see these animals, and we continued to see them through our entire vacation! They just walked around the resort like they owned the place, and the kids could get really close to them! Logan loved it! It was like he had his own private zoo right outside. You would have thought we were staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge:)!



Logan- chasing the ducklings





Logan- now chasing the bunny:)

 Later that night after the babies had gone to bed, we heard music coming from the lagoon and went out to watch the Electric Water Pageant on the Seven Seas Lagoon.  Then the kids watched a little of the movie they were showing on the beach and finally we went to a beautiful grassy hill near our rooms to watch the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom.  We popped the kids popcorn and got them cookies and settled in to watch the fireworks!  Then we went to bed to get some sleep for Day 3!