Walt Disney World - Day 5

 While we had every intention of hitting Animal Kingdom first thing and using early entry to our advantage, trying to beeline it to the Avatar Flight of Passage ride, we didn't quite pull it off... 

Today was check out day with everyone else finished with parks. We really wanted to pack up our room, check out, and load our car before leaving, and even with that tall order, we did make it in to the Africa section of the park right on time for our 8:15am character brunch reservation at Tusker House Restaurant...

where (just like back in 2011) we dined with Mickey, Donald, Daisy & Goofy!

After brunch, we moved into the Asia section of the park and got in line for Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain...

{this was B's first roller coaster back in 2011}

After we all rode it once, the kids took advantage of the single rider line and rode a couple more times back to back...

while Hubby and I waited...

From there, we headed over to the Dinoland, U.S.A. section of the park for some nostalgia...

We rode the TriceraTop Spin...

and took a picture by The Boneyard playground...

before heading back to the Asia section for a spin on the (not so much today - brrr) popular Kali River Rapids ride...

{I promise we're smarter than we seem - ha!}

Well, maybe not... The kids then rode it again a couple more times... Ha!

From there, the girls and I got in line to meet Moana, while the boys went on a search for the ever important Dole Whip...

Success...

times TWO!

After delivering Dole Whips to us in line, the guys went back over to the Asia section of the park so B could ride Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain once more...

and once we finished up with Moana, we snapped a quick picture at the Tree of Life...

before hightailing it back to the Africa section of the park to get in line for the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride where Hubby and B soon joined us...

We saw zebras...

{these cute creatures were my favorite}

giraffes...

elephants...

flamingos...

lions...

ostriches...

and others...

After the ride, we bid farewell to the park and headed over to Disney Springs for a late lunch/early dinner (err, road trip fuel?) at Chef Art Smith's Homecomin'...

where everything was delicious...

and the perfect exclamation point to end a fabulous trip!

Until next time, Disney...

Walt Disney World - Day 4

 Despite severe lack of sleep, we surprisingly rallied and got up early enough this morning to make the tail end of the early entry window at Hollywood Studios... 

and took advantage of the lighter crowds by heading straight over the Sunset Boulevard area to ride both the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster...

and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror...

multiple times...

FUN FACT: The last time we rode this ride was on our trip to DisneyLAND 8+ years ago, and M (well, really all of us) had really no idea what to expect, but put on a very brave face!

After several rides, we headed over to the Hollywood Boulevard area to ride Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway...

before meeting up with family to visit the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge area...

where while the boys rode Millenium Falcon: Smugglers Run...

the girls met up with a few characters...

including Chewbacca...

before reuniting...

to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance...

Afterwards, we headed over to the Grand Avenue area...

 

to attend the Muppet Vision 3D show...

before lunch at 50's Prime Time Café in the Echo Lake area...

After lunch, we met up with Max from A Goofy Movie...

before making our way over to Toy Story Land...

to ride Slinky Dog Dash...

with family...

Afterwards, the boys stayed put...

and the girls and I parkhopped via the Disney Skyliner...

back over...

to the Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival building in the World Celebration section of EPCOT...

to snag a photo with Mickey & Minnie all decked out in their Disney 100 costumes (we had just missed them yesterday)...

{with the famous mouse duo in their DisneyLAND 60th oufits back in 2015}

While there, we popped into the Journey Into Imagination With Figment building to meet up with Figment, too...

before skylining back over to Hollywood Studios...

where we found some fun on the way back in...

From there, we met back up with family to ride some thrill ride favorites with Aunt E in the Sunset Boulevard area...

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror...

and the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster...

{the kids decided to be a band playing instruments this time through - Cousin B on trumpet, B on keyboards, M on the guitar, and L rocking out singing a song - they crack me up}

{the adults were just trying to avoid getting whiplash}

before heading back over to the Toy Story Land area...

to ride Slinky Dog Dash at night...

and Toy Story Mania!...

At this point, several members of our party retired for the night, but Hubby, B, L, Aunt E, and Cousin B headed back over to EPCOT for one last spin on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind...

M and I skylined over to EPCOT with them, and then monorailed over to Magic Kingdom from there...

Aunt E had worked her magic in Fantasyland once more, and we were able to ride both Peter Pan's Flight...

and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh via Lightning Lane...

before making our way over to the standby line for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train just in time...

It moved much faster once the park closed and the Lightning Lane was roped off...

FUN FACT: At Walt Disney World, the published park closing time is the time the lines are cut off, but if you are in line when the park "closes", you get to ride, so if the park closes at 11:00pm, and you get in line at 10:57pm, you still get to ride the ride, even if the line is 45 minutes long, etc. This worked in our favor tonight!

After the ride was over, we quite literally helped shut the park down...

headed back to our room and crashed...

32,299 steps of fun...

One more park day tomorrow!