Messing Around with the Disney App

Dad and I were messing around with the Disney app and took some silly photos.

Love,
Ainsley

Mall of America with My Daddy

My Daddy took me to Mall of America because we had to meet Aunt Michelle and Uncle Jayson to get some beef. We got there a little early and did some shopping.

The first place we visited was the American Girl Doll store. It was awesome.


I had my picture taken with Kanani!


We then went to the LEGO shop! But, we didn't find anything.


Eventually, I got a Minnie Mouse pillow at the Disney Store, which I carried all by myself through the whole mall!



Love,
Ainsley

Spring Break 2011: Day 3 - The Magic Kingdom, Pt. 2

Around 5pm that night, we woke up, dusted ourselves off and went back to the Kingdom for dinner and more fun. This time, we were able to visit Mickey.


We began the rotation again in Tomorrow Land, this time on the Tomorrow Land People Mover.



Following ice cream, the Hall of Presidents, dinner, Pirates of the Caribbean and another run at Buzz Light Year's Space Ranger Spin (this time won by Cameron), we went to watch Cinderella's Castle change colors, the Mainstreet Electrical Parade, the Magic, Memories and You (look for a photo of us!), and finally, the fireworks.












In the end, it was awesome.

Love,
Ainsley, Ben and Cameron

Spring Break 2011: Day 3 - The Magic Kingdom, Pt. 1

On Wednesday, we got up early and hit the Magic Kingdom. We began like most people...

We then followed our normal route to Tomorrow Land, passing by the Minnie and Mickey topiaries.


Once in Tomorrow Land, we immediately hit Buzz LightYear's Space Ranger Spin. This time, Ben and Cameron demolished Dad, who didn't stand a chance.



Next up was Fantasy Land, where Mom and us kids tackled the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and It's a Small World. Normally, we would have gone into Mickey's Toon Town Fair, but it's being demolished to expand Fantasy Land.


Dad took us boys through the Haunted Mansion and then we were into Frontier Land and Liberty Square. We met a friend of Dad's from when he lived in Des Moines, 15 years ago, for lunch. It was nice to meet her and her daughter.

We then noticed that Ainsley was getting sleepy and the lines for rides were getting very, very long (50 minutes for Pirates of the Caribbean!), so we went back to our resort and took a nap!

Love,
Ainsley, Ben and Cameron

Spring Break 2011: Day 2 - The Carousel

A part of our resort is called the Carousel. We went and walked around it and found this pretend carousel and took some pictures.






Love,
Ainsley, Ben and Cameron

Spring Break 2011: Day 2 - Downtown Disney

After the Animal Kingdom, we took the boat from our resort over to Downtown Disney. Some of you might remember this scene...


Unfortunately, the Pooh Corner store is closed and they moved this to a spot where the sun was in our eyes.

Ainsley found her souvenir in multiples at the World of Disney store.


While we were waiting for Mom at a shop, Dad was trying to get us to do a see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil type of thing, but Ainsley was being too silly.




Love,
Ainsley, Ben and Cameron

Spring Break 2011: Day 2 - Disney's Animal Kingdom

On Monday, we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom. There was a lot of debate as to what park we would go to other than the Magic Kingdom and we settled on the Animal Kingdom mostly because they had Extra Hours for resort guests on Monday. That meant we got in an hour early.

Like Cinderella's Castle at the Magic Kingdom, the Tree of Life is the heart of the Animal Kingdom. Here's the requisite picture of us in front of it.



We started our visit on the Kilimanjaro Safari in the (fictional) African village of Harambe. The safari was super dooper cool. Here are a lot of pictures from it.


Birds!



Hippos!


Alligators!


A critter with horns!


The savannah!


Termites!


Lots o' critters!


Critters with big horns (that are hollow, by the way)!


How giraffes hide in the wild.




Elephant!


Rhinos can only see about 6 feet in front of them. We were happy to be 7 feet away.


But we were much closer to this ostrich and we were quite certain he was coming into the jeep with us.


The last animal we saw on safari was the Simba, sitting atop Pride Rock.


Needless to say, the safari was really cool. Right by the safari exit, there is the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, where you can see animals that they couldn't put out in the open, like fish...


And frogs...


And educational resources... wait, what?


Oh, right, and gorillas.



On the way to Asia, we stopped and saw Flik, from A Bug's Life, and King Louie and Baloo from The Jungle Book. They creeped Ainsley out.



The first thing we did in Asia was go on the Maharajah Jungle Trek. We saw lots of animals here too, like this Komodo dragon...


And these bats...


Especially this guy, who was happy to see us.


Don't leave the path, because...


Tigers!


At the end of the trail, there it was in the distance... Mount Everest.


They say a Yeti lives in Everest and mounted an expedition to find it.



Here's a quick video of our attempt to scale the peak and find the Yeti.



We spent most of the rest of the day at Dino Land. The legend has it that some scientists found fossils and local gas station owner's Chester and Hester tried to cash in.







Needless to say, Animal Kingdom was really fun!

Love,
Ainsley, Ben and Cameron