(Today, I will be guest writing this blog post today. This is Brian. I'm sorry.)
On May 22nd, it was finally time to begin our Epic Florida Trip™️ (EFT for short, since we definitely called it and I absolutely did not just make up that acronym just now). As we started going, we realized we completely missed the most important epic thing to happen to us that year: passing 100,000 miles on our odometer. Here's a picture of us nearly getting the big moment, but missing it by 6 miles. (Shout-out to our neighbor Annika for driving us to the airport and returning our van safely to our garage).
We boarded our flight, look at these guys all bright eyed and bushy tailed. They had no idea what the EFT would bring (and they definitely called it the EFT for sure).
Gabe enjoyed his music and tablet so much that he didn't even bother looking out the window. Plus, I've seen "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" and I know what rides on plane wings. He didn't need to see that.
Keen-eyed readers will have noticed that it appears we have 4 children instead of our usual 3. In our efforts to have Michael enjoy our grueling Disneyworld pace a bit more, we decided to bring his cousin Danny with us to Florida. Danny was excited to go, which definitely helped Michael be happier walking around parks for a couple of days.
If I were to guess the movies here, I would guess Michael is watching a sappy romance movie, Danny is watching a biopic on the queen of England, and Rachel is watching an action movie with no girls in it at all. I may be slightly off though.
This was very typical of our entire time: Michael looked half asleep and not sure about the entire situation, and Danny was just happy to be there. Just kidding, Michael was actually quite excited this time, despite what his face said.
Not pictured: realizing that the rental car company was offsite (so we had to wait for a shuttle for a minimum of 8 months), finally getting to the rental car place and seeing a line out the door and down the street and realizing it would take us another 9 months to get through it, me sending the kids off to the Airbnb via an Uber, and me ordering food for the family to be delivered to them at the Airbnb, and me pondering on the meaning of life and existence in line. To make a long story short, I would need an entirely new blog post, so the short short short version is that we got a van finally and we are never renting from them again.
The next day, we got up early to head to Disneyworld! We had two days to hit all of the parks there, and Animal Kingdom was our first stop. Here we are definitely listening to "Africa" to get ready to go in.
Rachel has a minor obsession with Disney (I may be under-exaggerating here slightly), and so she might be the happiest ever at the happiest place on earth. Proof:
The whole group, minus Devri who was probably taking the photo. Or we left her behind. Probably the former though.
Funny story: you don't get to choose which character you get on your pass, so naturally I ended up with Moana (I've always wanted to be a Polynesian princess), and Devri got Chewbacca (she's always wanted to talk in only grunts and snarls, especially in the morning).
We rope-dropped Animal Kingdom, meaning we got there before it opened, got inside, and waited for them to literally drop the rope so we could run power walk into the ride we wanted to hit first. Michael and Danny were a huge asset as they weren't dragging kids and booked it immediately to the Avatar ride.
And they made it and saved us a good spot! I think we only waited about 30 minutes at most for the ride, which is usually a 2-3 hour wait.
Still in line, but in mood lighting:
On the ride, not sure how we got this picture to be honest. Avatar: Flight of Passage is one of the most amazing rides that we've ever been on. Easily 10/10 stars.
Seeing the tree of life - that thing is massive.
The first evidence that Devri was actually with us in the park! She made it!
Expedition Everest: perhaps the second best ride in Animal Kingdom. I love all of the Yeti things in the rooms before you get on the ride, this is one of the few rides I wouldn't mind the line going slightly slower so I could look at everything.
Off to see Betty the Yeti!
This picture was taken moments before disaster struck.
After seeing the broken tracks, we decided to go backwards for a bit and finally even got a glimpse of the yeti disco style (bright flashing lights).
We rode it twice in a row (the line is always short), and I think we would have gone again if it wouldn't have made some of us sick. See Devri, I can avoid calling you out!
Michael nearly died, at least that's the story I'm getting.
Kali river rapids, the raft ride.
On the Kilimanjaro safari. We saw elephants, flamingos, black rhinos, lions, giraffes, zebras, hippos, and more. But by far, the most excited person on the ride was Gabe when he caught a sight of the rarest African veldt: the squirrel.
Danny is still happy to be with us. For now. Or maybe it was seeing the giraffe, not sure.
Rachel checking out some giraffe butt.
Not as exciting as squirrels.
At it again, don't be weird, Rachel.
Feeding time!
Devri loves the safari. I mean, we all do. Just not as much as Gabe.
Danny probably checking his texts.
Elephants!
Danny LOVES flamingos. No joke.
Rachel likes them too, but not as much as Danny.
Michael thinks Rhinos are condescending.
Gabe with the Rhino and a future influencer.
I think there was something in there. More than leaves I mean.
We think this is the hippos.
More hippos!
All of the boys. Not the men, since I was probably taking the picture.
Legend has it that Michael is still looking for the bird.
This animatronic was incredible. It was almost as life-like as Mark Zuckerberg.
We finally found Devri and got her in a family picture with us!
Side note: I got my cast off from wrist surgery the day before we left for Florida, thank goodness since it was HOT. But that's why I'm wearing a funny looking brace.
Here we are channeling our inner lions. Or house-cats, I've heard it both ways.
It's a bird, it's a plane... just kidding, it's CGI.
Honestly no idea what is going on here, maybe they are trying to stop it from talking too much?
Or picking its nose.
On the way out of the park.
I love these girls.
At about halfway through the day, we got back in our car and drove to Hollywood Studios. And of course we ended up in Star Wars to start things off with a bang.
Devri sat this one out since it makes her sick, and Michael and Danny went wandering off on their own, so it was just us three. I think Gabe might have been the spy on this one...
Meanwhile, Michael and Danny were getting lost in the Twilight Zone.
We love getting shots with the photographers around the park, whether the kids like it or not.
I bet you can't tell because Gabe doesn't usually show any emotion, but he's shocked in this picture.
On a Toy Story ride. I've never been on this one so I think it's like bumper cars? [Devri here: It's like Mator's Junk Yard Jamboree in DCA, but with Toy Story theming.]
Meanwhile, Rachel and I were getting lost in the Twilight Zone.
If you look at it just right, it looks like it's posing with them with a bent knee and tilted head. You're so cute, AT-AT. Who's a good boy??
Most of us (I'm not kidding, this one really makes Devri sick) on Star Tours. I think Gabe was actually the spy on this one. Sorry for lying folks.
Danny had already done the Millenium Falcon ride that day and wanted to do the Toy Story Mania ride, so Devri took him there...
...while the rest of us went to save Chewbacca's hide.
...put me in summer and I'll be... a happy snowman!!
In front of the Chinese theater. Look how happy we look!
These guys have been buddies for just about forever.
I love it when Michael really smiles in pictures.
And that's a wrap on our first day at Disneyworld!
Here's the best and worst from everyone for these first two days (actually written down back in May 2024):
Thursday, May 23
Ratings
Animal Kingdom
Danny 7/10
Michael 7/10
Rachel 8/10
Gabe 7/10
Brian 9/10
Devri 9.5/10
Favorite Ride
Danny: Avatar
Michael: Avatar
Rachel: Avatar
Gabe: Avatar
Brian: Avatar
Devri: Kilimanjaro Safaris
Hollywood Studios
Danny 9/10
Michael 9/10
Rachel 9/10
Gabe 10/10
Brian 8/10
Devri 7/10
Favorite Ride
Danny: Rise of the Resistance
Michael: Tower of Terror
Rachel: Tower of Terror
Gabe: Slinky Dog Dash
Brian: Tower of Terror
Devri: Slinky Dog Dash
Worst
Danny: Feet hurting/ waiting in long line
Michael: having feet (Feet hurt)
Rachel: being wiped out leaving animal kingdom
Gabe: Going home
Brian: ordering dinner/getting dinner (when everyone was super tired and grumps)
Devri: Being tired and feeling a little sick halfway through the day
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