disney birthday volume two: part five (disney's hollywood studios again)

 Wrapping up a fantabulous girls' trip - I'm so thankful for my group of friends.  They truly are my tribe and my village.  Thank you to my parents for helping with the kids' activities and to Roger for your support and for this trip.  Love you all!!

Of course we started our day in line for Toy Story Midway Mania...and then just rounded out all of our favorites!

To Star Wars Land for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Rise of the Resistance!

And then, the most exciting thing happened ever!  I'm a huge nerd and love all the documentaries on the parks on Disney+.  I had recently watched the series called "Behind the Attraction" with Max, and one of the episodes featured The Tower of Terror, which was my absolute favorite ride as a kid.  In the documentary, they feature a lot of Imagineers who were involved with creating the ride, but also one of the original Bell Hops, named TJ Woollard.  And guess who I should find right in front of Tower of Terror:

It was TJ!!!  So excited!!!  

After a delicious lunch, we went back to Toy Story Land one more time...

And Steph begged them to let us go through the FastPass line at Toy Story Midway Mania because otherwise we would have been late for our flight.  Ha!

After a long trip home, it was amazing to see my family.  This was an phenomenal trip and hope that I can do this with my kiddos soon.  Loved it all and am so grateful.  Guess I need to admit I'm 40 now...but at least the celebrations were epic.  I'm a lucky girl all around.  

disney birthday volume two: part four (animal kingdom)

 I love Animal Kingdom - and it continues to get better and better each time I go back.  I finally got to see the World of Pandora!

The Sky Islands were incredible!

This was a pure coincidence.  In an attempt to coordinate (NOT match) with Jenny, we accidentally got the exact same color as the other girls.  Bah!

Our first trek on Kilimanjaro Safari:

There was a baby hippo sleeping on his mom's snout!!  

We also got to hear the lion roar!

A gorilla holding her 10-week old infant.

One of the BEST rides ever: Expedition Everest and we rode it a ton of times.

Second round of Kilimanjaro Safari and we got to see the baby hippo out on his own.

And there were two elephants fully submerged and swimming in the pool!  Even the tour guide said he had never seen this!

I want this sign in my house.

We ended the day at Disney Springs and an amazing dinner at The Boathouse.  One more day to go!!

disney birthday volume two: part three (epcot)

 Oh, Epcot.  The park where you take a reprieve from endless rides to tour drink around the world.  Initially, we had planned on skipping Epcot in lieu of a second day at Magic Kingdom - but we got all the rides in at Magic Kingdom and switched - I loved our day at Epcot!  

After a few rides - including Soarin' and Living with the Land (which is totally informative and a message that resonates - but could just as effectively be a poster), we started our adventure around the world.  So excited to get to enjoy the Food & Wine Festival!

Mimosas to start!

Frozen Rose in the Alps/Germany

Then it was on to Italy for fried ravioli and sangria, followed by a delicious lobster roll and IPA in America.

Delicious drinks in France.

More lobstah!!

A pic in front of the Norse God house for Max.

At least I only had one drink in Mexico.

See?  The non-matching shirt thing totally backfired on me, but I'm still happy with being a non-conformist.

And because it wasn't enough, a beer at the hotel.  Such a fun day and all of the food and drinks were quite delicious!

disney birthday volume two: part two (disney's hollywood studios/i still call it MGM)

 
Day two and we were off to Disney's Hollywood Studios!!  Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run was our first stop!

Then on to Toy Story Land - last time I was there, it was only Toy Story Midway Mania (my absolute favorite ride in the world!) and a Pizza Planet.  It was adorable!  

We rode it twice in a row and the second time, I scored my highest ever!!!  AND I had the highest score in the vehicle!  Woohoo!!!

Slinky Dog Dash

So, after agreeing to one, single day in matching shirts, I was a solid non-conformist for the remainder of the trip.  However, it backfired on me when we went to take pictures and the photographers needed to highlight me...

After a fun day of rides, we went to The Brown Derby for a delicious dinner.

And birthday cake that was unexpected, but appreciated all the same.

We had gotten a spot in the virtual queue for Star Wars Rise of the Resistance and that was where we headed after dinner.  Love this ride!

And then, another time on Millennium Falcon (where we unknowingly figured out how to unlock an asteroid field and it was so exciting), followed by Oga's Cantina!!!  

Yummy drinks and loved huddling around a table in the cantina just laughing with friends.  Wish I could have brought Oga's Obsession (the jello dessert) and blue bantha milk back for Max - that was all he wanted from Disney World.  

So, after several drinks at The Brown Derby, and then a few more at Oga's, we were off to Toy Story Midway Mania again...

....and I STILL got best in vehicle!!!  Woohoo!!!

Dashed onto Slinky Dog one final time and then we headed back to the hotel.  We were having the best time and I'm so thankful for friends who want to run all over the Disney parks with me on vacation.