A whole day off from DisneyWorld, and now we were ready for the Animal Kingdom. We geared up in our OU attire, and headed out to join the animals! In the background is the Tree of Life.
I believe we got here right when the park opened, and headed straight back to do the Kilimanjaro Safaris. This will probably be the closest thing I will ever get to as far as African Safaris go, so I was super excited to do this.
We saw so many animals... and none were behind cages. Very cool! We saw elephants, hippos, gazelles, ostrich, lions and as you can see giraffes!
And the landscape really made you feel like you were in another country! It was super cool and another must-do!
The next area we went to was DinoLand USA. As soon as we got here we saw a short line for Goofy (Addie's favorite), so we grabbed a picture. I'll just take some time here to say that we had gone to WalMart and bought autograph books and pens and other things, but the crowds were so crazy that we never got to use them! The characters stood in one place and the lines were outrageous... like hours! This day we decided it wasn't even worth bringing the autograph books because we weren't going to wait in lines and so the kids were sad they didn't get Goofy's autograph... but at least we have the picture!
This was a fun little ride called the TriceraTop Spin. A lot like Dumbo but you could go up and down and also rock the dinosaur back and forth.
Here is Addie and I on the ride. She's showing off her Jolly Rancher in her mouch!
Next Randy and the older kids went on the Primeval Whirl, another height restriction that Addie couldn't quite make. So we went on the TriceraTop Spin again while waiting.
There was also a little carnival area in DinoLand USA. Randy let the kids all play games...
until everyone had won a prize! Addie is a little mesmerized. Maybe because she was the one who won the big green dragon! We actually asked to exchange for two smaller dragons because we were afraid we wouldn't make it home with it!
Next was a show. Like I said, we really wanted to get the shows in. We felt like this would be more worth our time and money. These shows for us to watch outside of Disney would cost our family a small fortune so we made sure and saw as many as we could. We knew they would be great... and they always were! This was Finding Nemo- The Musical! So great with fun music! We loved it! After this we headed over to an awesome ride... Expedition Everest- Legend of the Forbidden Mountain! Now that was a great roller coaster ride!
After Randy and I both had the chance to do that, we were off to find the Lion King show. On our way Avery bought one of these ribbons that you can put pins on. She was so excited, she had been looking for this particular ribbon since she saw it on day one at EPCOT.
And this picture of Austin was also on our way to the Lion King show... which was located in Camp Minnie-Mickey.
Randy and I waiting in line for Festival of the Lion King. Ashton fell asleep in line, so I had to hold her through the show.
This was another great show. Lots of music and dancing and acrobats. Very entertaining. Most of the shows you can't take pictures in but they didn't say anything this time.
Ashton woke up in time to see Pumba. She put her hand out and he gave her five. We were right on the edge and towards the front of our section so we had great seats. Since we made these shows a priority, we seemed to always get great seats!
After the Lion King we waited on the sidewalk for the parade. Again, we got there in time to sit front row and many of the characters came over to the kids. We saw a lot of the Jungle Book characters, Lion King characters, Chip and Dale and others. Mickey was the last character to come by. I loved this parade, very African inspired. Very cool.
This was why we wanted to get in and get out of DisneyWorld. It was time to relax on our Christmas Day!
The condo we were staying at had an amazing outdoor area, and we hadn't had the chance to take advantage of it. We had gone a couple of evenings to the indoor part (you can see the glass wall that you swim under to get to the indoor section. But we had never been there during the day when it was warm enough to swim outside.
They also had a kiddie pool with a fountain, but that water wasn't heated so the kids didn't spend too much time in that one. There was also an indoor and outdoor hot tub. In the indoor pool section there was a volleyball net and a basketball hoop so there was tons to do. 
Austin is just about to get into the pool, he looks ready!
I forgot the younger girls' floaties, so they either stayed by the wall or...
swam with Avery! Avery was very good to take care of them!
It didn't take too long for Ashton to crash! Poor thing got completely off her schedule this whole vacation! But she never complained! (Notice the huge chess board in the background? So cool!)
My family enjoying the hot tub!
And then Randy soaking in the sun! Awww... Merry Christmas, babe!
We found a restaurant that was open on Christmas! This was the chain Chevy's. Sorry you were open, but also glad you were open!
Ashton sporting the reindeer ears! 
As long as you give Addie crayons, she is great in the restaurants! The next morning we took off again around 3:30am to catch our flight home! Have a mentioned yet how much fun we had?!?!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!! We decided that our favorite park... and the one we wanted to go back to was Hollywood Studios! Its just much more compact and my two favorite rides were both in this park. 
Our plan was to mainly get in the rides that we loved from yesterday, get a couple extra in, and head out!
So we split up... because Austin and I LOVED Tower of Terror... 
and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith. They were right next to each other. To get through this ride quickly, we went in the single lane. But when we got up to the front, the guy let us ride together! While we were there, Randy and the girls went back to American Idol. 
While we were waiting outside for their show to get over, we found Stitch!! I was so excited because Austin loves Stitch and had just bought a Stitch doll the day before!
Next we all went to Voyage of The Little Mermaid! Another really good show!
And then we hurried over to Narnia... which wasn't anything big. That is one you can miss. It was kind of cool to see some of the museum artifacts.
Next... our favorite ride!! Back to Toy Story Midway Mania!!
Randy and Ashton are ready to shoot their paintballs!
A couple quick shots before leaving the happiest place on earth!
Our first stop... Beauty and the Beast- Live on Stage! Can you tell the girls were ready to see Belle!
Such a cute show! They basically made it through the whole movie, including the best songs, in 30 minutes!
Ashton and I enjoying Beauty and the Beast.
Next was something that Avery was excited to do... The American Idol Experience! That was a lot of fun! We got to vote from 3 contestants. The one we liked won this round. I guess they come back at the end of the day and go up against the other winners from that day. If they win that, they get a golden ticket to go up to the front of the line at a real American Idol audition. Great idea!
Now it was Austin's turn for a good show... Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! 
I wasn't quite sure what this would be like, but it was actually quite humorous! Austin really liked it... as well as the rest of us!
Next was the parade! This was another very interactive parade, our section was mainly Toy Story Characters, which we loved!
Woody came around and danced, and the kids got to get up and dance in the street. The army guys were hilarious! Another great parade, and it got us in the mood to go to our last stop of the day...
Toy Story Midway Mania! 
This place was so cool! Just the atmosphere as you are waiting in line was fun.
