Review of Beaches Turks and Caicos

As previously mentioned, we booked a last minute spontaneous family vacation to Turks and Caicos.  We had been eyeing up the Beaches resort for a while, but every time we priced it out it was WAY to expensive. On a whim this summer I priced it out for a last minute Fall getaway, and I found a package for half the price, literally half the price.  We were very excited and booked it right away!  I couldn't wait for our getaway.

And a quick shout out to our wonderful travel agent Dina, that helped us book this trip very last minute and took care of all of our travel needs.  Call her when you decide to book- DinaSilvestriTravel@gmail.com.  Thank you, Dina!!

(Long post, but lots of good info if you are considering a trip)

Cost-
It is expensive!   Even at half the price it is expensive.  But it is truly an all inclusive.  We did not pay a dime for anything once we got there.  All drinks, all levels of alcohol, water activities, kids camps... everything.  Even tipping is not allowed (if the staff is tipped, they need to turn it into the management to be donated to their charity), so it is not like other all-inclusives where you need to tip to ensure good service and good drinks.

When it comes to price I have two thoughts.
1.  Even though they are rare, you can get a discount, especially in the off season, so just keep shopping or have a travel agent keep an eye out for promotions.
2.  I think it is worth the money.  After experiencing the resort and all it has to offer, I do not think we overpaid.  IT IS WORTH IT!

Room-
We choose to stay in the Caribbean section.  It is the cheapest and the most simply done.  I believe it has also been around the longest, so it's a bit dated.  We personally didn't need the room to be anything special, so it wasn't worth the extra money to upgrade to the Italian, French, or Key West sections.  But if you are particular about your hotel room, need more space for more kids, or really want to stay in a "nicer" room, I would select a different section, there are plenty of options to fit your needs.

I would describe our actual building as OK.  The rooms were standard, two full beds, and a pull out chair.  It was definitely dated, nothing special.  They were clean, and the staff took good care of the buildings, but they were just very basic.  Our room was well located, we had a nice view and could see the ocean in the distance. And we loved being so close to the kids clubs, water park, and beach.

To be honest, our first impression the first 30 minutes at the resort was "oh no, maybe it's not going to be as great as we thought."  The shuttle brings you right into the Caribbean lobby, which is small and dark and dated.  And then we went straight to check into our room (no wait at all, we got right into our room).  So the blah lobby and the basic room did not impress us.  Luckily, that feeling of oh no didn't last for long.  As soon as we got our bathing suits on and explored the property, we were thoroughly impressed.

Bottom line- Caribbean has a great location, and plenty of options, but the rooms are fairly basic and a bit outdated.  We would stay in them again if we got the package discount we got.

(View from our balcony when Cookie Monster visited)

Beach-
The beach was AMAZING! Most beautiful beach I have ever been to and I am blessed to have been all over the world at various beaches (Hawaii, Cabo, Riviera Maya, St. Lucia, cruises, Bahamas, Italy, California, Dominican Republic).  This was my favorite.  We were there the last week of September, so thankfully the place was very quiet.  We never had to fight for a spot on the beach, a turn on the floating rafts, a cabana... We had our pick of whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted it.  I can not wait to be back on that beach.

(A few different days on the Beach)

The Resort overall-
The place is huge, so many different areas to wander.  The Italian section was the main area- biggest pool, zero entry pool, kids area, hot tubs, nicest swim up bar, the main buffet restaurant, and right off the beach.  Key West was towards the end of the resort, but had two very nice upscale restaurants and felt very cozy and quiet.  The French section was new and updated, close to the water park area, great little coffee shop open all day and late at night, near the main stage for entertainment and some great restaurants.  Each section had its own personality and some nice attributes.  Again because we traveled in the off season, we never had to fight for a spot at the pool, we could go anywhere.

I am not sure how many pools there are, but we spent time at 4 of them!  It was fun going to different areas each day because each pool had something different about it.  All had a swim up bar, that of course Mike and I loved, but the kids loved just as much.  The bar tenders would happily make the kids strawberry smoothies or apple juice.  They loved it.

Dining-
They had about 19 different restaurants!  19!!  That is so great when you are traveling for a week.  They had a few basic buffets for breakfast and several more options for sit down dining in the morning.  They had family friendly restaurants and then they had fine dining for adults only, and everything in between.  At the time we traveled a few of the restaurants were closed, and they all opened on a rotating schedule.  So we had a calendar with all the options and when they were open.  At first this kind of annoyed me, but in the end it worked great, we always had plenty of great options.

We ate breakfast at Mario's and Guiseppis two times each, these were buffets, it was the easiest option with the kids and to start our day.  Then one morning we ate at Barefoots, a restaurant in the sand, which the kids loved because they could play as we waited for our food.  Then the last morning we had breakfast at Schooners which had unique food and ocean front, nice way to end the trip.

For lunch, my favorite option was Dino's pizza.  We could come right out of the water park or off the beach and sit in the "Town Center" for pizza, salads, or sandwiches.  We always had a good lunch there.  Then we also tried Bobby Dee's which is in the water park for days where we were right out of the pool, super casual, burger and fries kind of lunch.  Bobby Dee's also has an ice cream and milk shake bar open all day.  Lastly we tried Arizona's for a lunch buffet with a Mexican twist.  All the food was good and we loved the variety.

For dinner, Mike and I ended up spending a lot of time on our own (see kids camp section).   Our first night we ate as a family at Neptunes which is a bit fancier but kids are allowed.  The fish was delicious and the wine was good (they refill your glass every time they walk by, your wine glass never gets empty!).  After that the kids wanted nothing to do with us, so we got a lot of date nights.  Sky was a romantic ocean front dinner with a great menu and champagne, and Arizonas for dinner offered a delicious steak.  Soy was a casual Japanese style restaurant and the sushi was soooo good!  I don't think we had a bad meal!

In addition to the dining, we loved stopping in the coffee shop for an afternoon cappuccino and warm chocolate chip cookie, or grabbing ice cream to go from the ice cream shop.  We definitely ate and drank our moneys worth.

Kids Camp and Activities-

The reason we picked this resort is because we were hoping for a mix of family time and adult time.  And that is exactly what we got.  We were able to spend a lot of time as a family doing things we love,  AND we were able to comfortably bring the kids to camp and spend some time as a couple relaxing and enjoying the beautiful island.  It was truly a perfect happy medium.

I wasn't sure how much we would actually use the camp, we travel as a family because we want to spend time together.  But the camp was so awesome, that the kids wanted to go frequently and we were comfortable sending them.  The camp is broken down into many groups- under 1, 1-2 yr old, 3-4 yr old, 5-7 year old, 8-10, year old, teens, etc.  At first I was a bit bummed Patrick and Ryan wouldn't be in the same group, but as the week went on it really didn't matter.  Patrick's group did so much age appropriate activities, and Ryan's group did more big kid adventures, they were both so happy.  It was nice to have them broken into an appropriate age group so that they aren't mixed into one big group.

Examples of some of the scheduled activities for the 3-4 yr olds: Cookies with Cookies Monster, Art and Crafts with Abby, swim time in their private kids pool, Letter or the Day, movie night PJ party, Beach Party with Big bird, Face painting, Duck hunt, playground adventure, Story time with Elmo, and Dress up costume parties.  Every day was different, every hour was different.  So much fun.

Examples of the schedule for 5-7yr old "little Pirates": puppet making, beach olympics, pool games, beach science experiments, snorkeling lessons, treasure hunt, sand castle making, Kids Mini Dance party, Bonfire with marshmallows, Boat Cruise, and talent show.  This was a great age where the kids became friends and looked forward to seeing each other each day.

By the end of the week, Ryan knew all the kids.  He was famous, he was the social director letting everyone know when he would be in camp so that they could plan to be there too.  He even signed himself up and participated in the talent show (without me having any idea, I missed it)!  The teens where doing it and his group went to watch, and he asked to enter and participate.  He did the Robot dance across the stage for 2 minutes and was from then on known as Robot Ryan by all the other guests.

The camp counselors were wonderful, they knew the kids by name and greeted them with big smiles and hugs every time we dropped them off.  It was really a great experience.

(hard to see but this was the science experiment on the beach)

In addition to the camp- there was so much to keep the kids busy.   The water park area was legit.  Three large slides, two medium slides, a smaller splash area with small slides, lazy river, and surf simulator.  We all had a great time in the water park.

They also had parades, character shows, bonfires on the beach, Character parties, and an xbox lounge and game room.  We were not bored for one moment.  You could do as much or as little as you wanted.  That is one reason we loved the camp so much.  The kids had the opportunity to go go go and do everything they wanted to do, and Mommy and Daddy could check out for a couple hours each day to chill and do nothing.

We also took advantage of the free snorkeling, and brought Ryan along with us both times.  One time we took the short boat ride off shore and snorkeled on a local reef, and then the next time we got a tip from the hotel and just walked down to the end of the property and snorkeled right off the beach.  Ryan loved it!  Such a cool way to introduce him to the activity and not spend extra money.

I would say this resort is set up to accommodate families with kids of any age.  They have something to offer everyone.

Lazy river

kids only swim up bar

some slides

little kids area

medium slides in the back ground

lazy river

one of Ryan's many camp friends

examples of that weeks schedule

boat trip

One of the best parts about the trip, especially if you are use to Disney, is the character availability.  We saw them and interacted with them so much.  Just hanging by the pool, they would come by and say hi.  While sitting at lunch.  They participated in the kids camp activities, they just walked around the resort.  Even if you aren't a character fan, it just brings some extra fun for the kids to always see them around.  Some of the girls from kids camp even arranged a surprise (not paid for) visit from Cookie Monster to our room for pictures and he brought a small gift for the kids.  It was really special to not have to fight for time with them.  

Examples of how we spent our days-

1st Full day-
Breakfast at Mario's
Water park as a family
Lunch at Dino's
Quick little nap for the kids, cocktails on the balcony for the parents
Kids went to camp to try it out from 3:30-5pm
Mommy and Daddy went to the beach and had a drink at the pool bar
Showers
Live character show at 6:30
Family dinner at Neptunes
Kids to bed, relaxed on the balcony

2nd day-
Breakfast at Guiseppe's
Kids to camp 9-11:30am
Mom and Dad went to the beach, had drinks delivered to our chair, and were buzzed by lunch- oops
Lunch at Dino's again, we loved the pizza
Italian pool as a family
rest time for the kids
Cookies monster to our room
6-8pm kids to camp for the kids talent show and party
We went to dinner at Sky and sat by the fire after until pick up

And then the days continued like that- a combination of family time, camp time, pool time, water park time, beach time, etc.

Last but not least, Food Allergies-

Traveling with food allergies is not easy, especially when its several allergies.  But I would say Beaches is very good at dealing with it.  They are not Disney, Disney is in a league of its own with allergies, but they were good, thorough and I felt safe with Ryan eating.  The way it works is you have to go to the food concierge at the main lobby, and put in food requests ahead of time.  This overwhelmed me at first, because I didn't know where we were going to eat and when.  But after the first day I saw that it was worth it to take the time, plan out our dinners, and put in a food request in advance so that we could get Ryan a good meal.  This even worked on the nights he went to kids camp for dinner.  As long as the chef had a meal request, he would personally deliver Ryan is dinner whether he was with us or with the camp.

Breakfast we just did the buffet and I would get Ryan yogurt, fruit, cereal, and bacon because I knew they were safe options.  Only one day I put in a food request for special pancakes on the day we went to the sit down restaurant for breakfast.  Lunch we knew the pizza at Dino's was safe, so that was a good option.  And Bobby Dee's I just spoke to the manager on site if we went and confirmed a safe meal for lunch, so I didn't have to put it special requests in advance.  So really only dinner needed to be pre-planned.

They also had the chef make him gluten free, egg free, nut free cupcakes and cookies that I picked up from the front desk that he was able to bring for desserts.

Bottom line- there was always a safe meal for him, it just took a little pre-planning  and organizing.  I consider this a success for our first time traveling out of the country with a food allergy kid.


Conclusion-
If you are looking for a family vacation, a beautiful location, a chance to relax or to fill your day with activities, kids to be entertained, good food and wine, and a break from reality... then this should be your next vacation.  Start saving now, its not a cheap get away, but its worth it.  The Taynors will be back!

Travel Dreaming

Traveling has become my passion.  It is what gets me excited, makes me want to save money, how I spend my free time (haha).  I love having a trip on the calendar and am always planning the next one.  We just got home from an amazing Disney vacation.  I really loved it and so did the boys.  We hope to have many Disney trips over the years, but I also really want to travel all of the world.  There are so many places to go and amazing places out in the world, I want to do my best to see a lot of them.  Luckily it appears Ryan has my travel bug and interest in seeing the most interesting places.


One day I asked him where he wants to go on our next vacation, and this is the list he came up with:

-Himalayan Mountains
-Nepal
-Great Barrier Reef
-The Grand Canyon
-Alaska
-Whale Watching
-Noah's House (North Carolina, I love that this was on his list)
-On a cruise
-Swimming with the dolphins
-Hawaii

I love this list!  I love that this is how his brain works.  I can't wait to take him to some of these places!  And lucky for me, some of these trips are on my list too.

I will go pretty much anywhere, but here is my list of the top places I want to travel:

-Aruba
-Turks and Caicos
-Atlantis (we can swim with the dolphins here!)
-Florida Keys
-Disney Cruise
-Nashville
-Niagara Falls
-Grand Canyon
-Zion National Park
-Skiing out West
-Spa Resort in Arizona
-Spain
-France
-Ireland
-London
-Alaska Cruise
-River cruise through Europe
-Bora Bora


This list is not all inclusive- if an offer or a new idea pops into my mine, I'll try it!   Luckily I have a couples vacation coming up in a couple weeks to Myrtle Beach (golf for the guys, beach for the girls).  Then we are in the works of planning a friends vacation for next summer, so I have some things on my radar.

Our Disney Vacation 2014

Ahhh Disney World!  It really is the  most magical place, and we definitely had an awesome vacation.  Warning: this is going to be a long post about all the details of our Disney trip.

We just got back 2 weeks ago- so our date of travel was October 4-9.  I think October is one of the best times to go... the weather is really great, the crowds are not bad (even though this time it was more crowded then in the past), and its all set up with fun Halloween things.  Oh yea, and its Food and Wine festival which I love.  We got unbelievably lucky and the weather was PERFECT our whole trip.  We did not get a drop of rain the entire time we were there.  Each day was sunny and mid 80's.  Nights were a bit cooler but beautiful.  Lets break the trip down day by day.

*Travel day
We left NJ late on Saturday night.  Our flight out was not til 6:30pm.  I was kind of nervous about this flying time with kids, but it ended up being a great time to fly.  The airport was pretty empty so we walked right through check in and security with no lines.  Then we had plenty of room in the airport for Ryan to run around and get out the pre-flight energy.  The flight was great.... Ryan watched movies on the iPad and colored (this is normally bedtime so we were happy he was just in a chill mood, not cranky over tired). Patrick surprisingly did not sleep a minute on the plane, but he was content to just hang out and smile at the people around us.  Then when we arrived in Disney it was 9:00pm so again we had NO lines (those words don't come up very often when talking about Disney).  We got our bags immediately and walked right up to our Disney express bus, and checked in immediately upon arriving at the hotel.  It was a later night for the boys.  Everyone wasn't sound asleep in bed til closer to 10:30, but the whole travel process was super easy.

*Art of Animation
We stayed at the Art of Animation Hotel for a few reasons.  1.  Its relatively cheap for Disney standers.  2. It has the family style suites (bedroom, family room, kitchen area, and 2 full bathrooms). 3.  Its really really fun for young kids.  We loved it.  Art of Animations was perfect for our trip.  The room was a perfect size, the decor was great, we never waited long for a bus, and most importantly Ryan really thought it was awesome to be staying with Nemo and McQueen.  The quick service food they had was impressively good, we ate many breakfasts there and 2 dinners.  The pool was awesome, the splash pad was great for Ryan and Patrick, and they had a mini playground right outside of our building.  Ryan is active- he needs to run and jump and play- so we were so happy to find that our hotel gave him the change to do that when he needed a break from the parks.  I would definitely stay there again.  We stayed in the Nemo building, and the grandparents all stayed in the Little Mermaid standard rooms.

Day 1- Epcot
Our first morning we had not true agenda.  I knew we needed a little bit of time in the morning to get going after traveling late the night before.  So we got going once everyone was up, breakfast at the hotel, and then off to Epcot.  Every day was great, but Epcot was really a surprise as to how much fun we had.

As soon as we walked into the park, Ryan spotted Pluto.  Since this was his first character sighting we went over to see him and take pictures.  We spent the rest of the morning walking around and going on rides.  We actually didn't even have to use our fast passes (except for Soarin) because they lines were very short.  So we went on the Nemo ride, saw the aquarium, played in the Mission Space playground when the adults went on the ride, we met Chip and Dale, half the group did Test Track while the other half went for snacks, we all went on Soarin (which was one of Ryan's favorites), and then we did the Character Greeting with Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy.

Some of Ryan's favorite moments of this morning were meeting the characters and Soarin.  He thought it was "super cool" to fly over the moments and "be on a big kite"... and I agree with him, Soarin is my favorite.  Then Ryan loves characters so meeting Mickey was a highlight of the trip.  He gives them lots of hugs, high fives, and likes to tell them long stories haha.  While we were talking with Mickey, Goofy came over and took his hand to go on a walk and he just thought that was great.  He also still talks about how he was so happy to see Minnie that he almost ran her over.  This was a classic Disney moment for me.

Anyway- after all of that it was almost 2:00pm already.  Ryan was in need of a break, so we put him and Patrick in the stroller and walked over to the countries.  As soon as we started walking at a decent speed without any distractions, Ryan fell asleep.  He then continued to sleep for about 1.5 hours and we got to eat and drink our way around the world.  This was one of my favorite parts ;)  We sampled beers and wines from Ireland, Belgium, and Morocco.  We also had some yummy shrimp rolls and a Belgium chocolate waffle.

We ended our day having dinner at the Coral Reef.  Everything about our dinner was great.  Ryan and Patrick were well behaved and happy (the constant entertainment of eating inside of an aquarium helped) and the food was excellent.  We had a table all the way in the back of the restaurant which at first I was bummed about, thinking that we would not have a good view of the sea animals, but it turned out to be perfect.  We were tucked away and couldn't bother anyway and were still saw everything.  Ryan especially loved seeing "Bruce" the shark swim by over and over again, and "Crush" the huge turtle take a nap right in front of us.  I would recommend Coral Reef and I would definitely go back on future trips.

After dinner- it was 7:30pm and about time for us to call it quits.  We hopped on the bus, took our short ride home and get the boys in bed by 8:30.  Then mommy and daddy relaxed with a beer on the couch!

Day 2- Magic Kingdom 

I was super excited for our Magic Kingdom day.  And it really was great, but it turned out not to be our favorite.  For some reason it was super crowded.  Like can't walk, bumping shoulders with strangers kind of crowded.  I think it put a damper on our day.  Also it was loud, very loud... and Ryan really has a hard time with all the excess noise.  So we had fun, Patrick loved it, but it wasn't quite as Magical as I had hoped.

Anyway-  We go tot the park early, before it opened, because we had breakfast reservations at Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh, Tiger, Piglet, and Eeyore.  It was really neat to get to the park before it opened.  Walking down Main Street towards the castle, without all of the crowds is a pretty special moment.  Breakfast was great, and as usual Ryan loved the characters.  He likes to tell them all a story and he wanted to show everyone his new Dumbo stuffed animal (side note- Dumbo was a surprise toy that Mickey Mouse left in his bed the night before because he was such a good boy all day).

After breakfast the battle of the crowds began.  We knew we would be back to Magic Kindgom again, so I split the park in half.  On this day some of the rides we did were: Buzz Light Year, Mission Space (grown ups only), Race track, Tea Cups, Dumbo, Carosel, Peter Pan, and the Mine Train.   After about 4 of the rides Ryan was totally overstimulated and in meltdown mode.  Not crying, throwing a fit melt down, more of a "get me out of here its too loud and I need a break" melt down.  This made the end of the morning kind of rough.  Its nearly impossible to find a quiet corner in Magic Kingdom to take a break (unlike all of the other parks).  We were able to get him strapped into the stroller and took a long walk and found a shady corner for him to rest.  He never actually fell asleep, but it took the edge off.  Luckily for me, the shady spot was right near a food stand that had nutella waffles and mocha iced coffees.  The adults enjoyed a fun snack while the boys took a time out.

After the little break, we did a few more rides and Ryan was feeling a little better.  Tea Cups were his favorite (no surprise for a Sensory overload kid... they love to spin).  We ended the day with Mine Train, Ryan's first roller coaster.  I honestly did not think he was going to like it, just based on other rides he has been on.  I think he is a little bit like his mommy, and he doesn't love rides.  But he wanted to go on, so I gave it a shot.  When he got off, he ran over to me, gave me a big hug and said " That made my tummy very mad, can we go back to the hotel now!"  Hahahah too cute.  But we took that as a sign that he was done with the parks for the day and it was time to go home.  Grandmad and Grandpa stayed at the park, and Gigi and Pops joined us for the trip home.

As we were walking out, the Festival of Fantasy parade was just getting started.  We had no intentions of staying for the parade, but as we walked all the way up Main Street and were just about to leave, we found a wide open spot at the end of the route... and the beginning of the parade was just about to pass us.  So we stayed, and I am glad we did.  Ryan and Patrick loved it.  Ryan waved at all the characters, danced along with them, and kept telling me how cool it was.  I guess we have determined that Ryan is more of a characters and show guy then an adventure ride kind of kid.

After the parade we were on our way.  Back at the hotel Ryan was ready for a much needed pool break.  He ran and splashed in the splash pad and swam laps in the big pool.  It turned out to be a perfect way to end the day... burn off all that extra overstimulated energy.  It didn't hurt that Art of Animation has an awesome pool area for kids.  Patrick was even able to sit and splash in the kiddie pool area.    We all just relaxed and had dinner at the hotel.  Since by like 6:30 the boys were both ready for bed, they stayed at the hotel with Gigi and Pops and Mommy and Daddy got to go to Epcot!  It was a great little date night in Disney.  We sampled some treats and more cocktails and watched Epcot's  light show.  Then we were home by 11 and totally exhausted.

Day 3- Hollywood Studios

Surprisingly this was my favorite day of the trip, and I think everyone would agree with me.  It wasn't just because of the park, but everything just worked.  The weather was great, the boys were happy, the park was so much fun, we pulled off a no nap day, and we finished with a great dinner.  Overall, it was just a perfect day in Disney.

We started off with quick service breakfast at our hotel.  The food there really was great.  Then were were off to Hollywood Studios to get there pretty much right when it opened.  As soon as we got there, the adult ride goers headed straight towards Rockin Roller Coaster.  The ladies hung out with the boys and walked around the park.  We eventually made our way over to where our first fast pass was for the Disney Junior Live show.  There we got to meet Jake and Sophia.  Ryan was actually a little bashful around Princess Sophia, not like him, I think he had a crush.  We stayed in that area while waiting for the show.  I had to nurse Patrick, so I found a spot tucked off the the side that looked like a path no one would go down. I was just sitting on the ground up against the building. For the most part it was super quiet, but eventually I realized it was an employees only area.  A younger guy walked by and I just smiled and said hello, and he smiled back and said "ahh must be feeding time".  Anyway, this is all relevant I promise.  I finished up nursing Patrick and then went back to the family for the show.  As I walked up to them, the guy I just spoke to was standing right by them.  As soon as he saw me, came over to our group as asked us if we wanted to be VIP.  Of course Ryan yelled "YES" even though I'm sure he has not idea what VIP means.  So he brought us up to the main entrance and told Ryan when it was time, he could knock on the door and we would be greeted and invited in by Jake.  When it was time, he knocked and we all yelled the magic words "Miska Mouska Mickey Mouse" and Jake opened the door and let us in to the show.  We got to sit front and center for the show.  Ryan thought it was "Awesome".  See what happens when you breastfeed a baby where you are probably not suppose to be... you get a little extra special treatment haha. 

Anyway- of course Ryan and Patrick loved the show.  Ryan sang and danced and Patrick clapped along.  It was cute.  After that we went on Toy Story, played in the Honey I Shrunk the Audience play ground, had snacks (another really great iced coffee), went on the Star Tours ride, and then headed to the Frozen Sing along.  Ryan and I sang every song while I think the rest of our group took mini cat naps and enjoyed the cool auditorium.  We were hoping to go see the Motor Cars show, but the timing wasn't going to work out... so we went to play in Olafs snow playground.  And of course my very active boy wanted a few more minutes on the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground before we left.

We were kind of taking our time leaving the park.  Dinner reservations were at the Polynesian, but we had plenty of time.  This worked in our favor again, because as we walked towards the main street area, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale, all came out to do a little dance show.  The invited anyone standing around to come up and dance with them.  We just happened to be standing in the right spot.  This is one of Ryan's trip highlights was getting to dance right next to goofy.  So much fun.

We finally left the park and headed to our dinner at O'Hana.  I see what the hype is all about.  Dinner was great!  The food was great, the ambiance was fun.  We really enjoyed our night.  The boys were soooo good.  I think they were so worn out from the day, that they just sat back and relaxed.  I loved getting to do some hula dancing with Ryan too... brought me back to my Hawaiian dancing days :)

The day was finished by taking a beautiful boat ride back to Magic Kingdom for us to catch our bus.  The sun was setting, the captain let Ryan sit up front with him and steer the boat, and he sang Disney songs for entertainment the whole ride back.  It was all just perfect. 

Overall, the perfect 10 Disney day.

Day 4- Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom

Our last day in the parks... so sad. It goes so fast.  We started with breakfast at the hotel again, and headed to Animal Kingdom.

When we got there, we made a bee line for the safari.  We had no fast passes made for this park, we saved them all for the afternoon at Magic Kingdom (side note-  I know there is a system to splitting up the fast passes, having different people book for different rides, sharing wrist bands, and booking new rides when you are finished with the one you already did.... but all of that is not worth it to me.  I didn't want to spend any time on my phone and feel scheduled and rushed.  So we booked our 3 FP each day, we all got exactly the same rides, and everything else we just went with the flow.  It worked well for us.  I don't think we missed anything we really wanted to do).

The safari is a family favorite.  Ryan loves animals, I love rides that I actually can go on, Patrick was fascinated, and the grandparents all wanted to go on.  Disney's safari is really pretty amazing.  After the safari we kind of walked slowly around the park.  My mom and I got frozen margaritas while the guys went on Expedition Everest.  Then we headed to the kids area, where we played a few games and did the dinosaur ride (the one that is just like Dumbo).  I didn't plan to spend a lot of time here, so we ended our morning with the Fossil Dig.  As you can imagine, this was one of Ryan's favorites yet again.  He got to dig for bones and play in a play round.  He was a happy camper.

We left the park around 12 and decided to head back to the hotel for a quick nap before going back to Magic Kingdom.  This is great in theory, but is always more work than its worth.  By time a bus came, and then they had to change drivers, and then we had to stop at the water park... we didn't get back to the hotel til 1:15 and had plans to get on the bus and leave again by 2:30.  So the boys did nap for a quick hour, but I had to wake them up so we could leave again.  They were a tad cranky with the wake up... but we were off in no time.  This was the only day we came back to the room for naps and I'm glad we didn't attempt it more often.  It is just so time consuming and really breaks up the day.  I think Ryan had a better nap in the stroller in Epcot than he did the room that day.  But regardless, it took the edge off.

Once back in Magic Kingdom we did some rides like Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, and watched the pirate show, and took a walk through the castle before dinner.  At 5:30 we had reservations at Liberty Tree Tavern which was great as usual.  After dinner we decided to take the risk and stay late for the light parade and fireworks.  The parade didn't start til 9 and the fireworks til 9:45!  Thats a late night for us.

To kill time we went on the Aladin Magic Carpet Ride and Splash Mountain.  The made our way up Main Street for the parade.  The killing time part was rough, boys were getting a little cranky, but once the parade started it was worth it.  They were both in awe of the lights and the music.  And I always love the Magic Kingdom fireworks.  I"m glad we stayed.

We were on the bus by 10 and our family was a classic Disney picture.  Patrick asleep in my arms, and Ryan sound asleep on Mike's lap.

Day 5- Chef Mickey's and Pool Day
I was kind of nervous about having two late flights... but it seriously could not have been better.  On our last day we didn't have a flight til 9pm.  So we had a full day with no park passes.  I made our Chef Mickey's breakfast for this day since it doesn't require going to a park.  We had a great last meal with our favorite characters and Ryan had his special Gluten Free/Egg Free Mickey Waffles.  After breakfast we went on a long ride on the monorail.  We were on no time schedule, so we just did an extra loop before heading back to our hotel.

Once at the hotel, Grandma and Grandpa took the boys to the playground and the pool so the rest of us could get packed up.  My parents and I packed our rooms and were checked out by 12.  We took all our bags to my inlaws room since they were staying one extra night.  Then we hung by the pool.  It was a nice relaxing afternoon after a busy week.  We all swam and took turns sitting with the boys, got a little sun tan, and talked about our great trip.  Around 4:00pm we got cleaned up and dressed, had one last dinner at the hotel, and then headed to the bus stop at 5:30 for the airport.

The entire trip Ryan did not have one single melt down!  No tears!  He was sooooooo good.  I kept watching other kids crying around us and felt so lucky that Ryan seriously did not have a single Disney meltdown.... until we were about to leave the pool.  That was the only time he cried all week.  He did not want to leave the pool or the vacation.

Getting through the airport was pretty harmless.  Patrick fell asleep for the night right around take off.  Ryan watched a movie for about half and hour before he fell asleep on my lap, and we had a peaceful flight home.  I even got to read my book!

It was a late night getting home and settled, but it was totally worth it.

It was a successful trip!  We came home and immediately started thinking about when we would go back (like most people do I'm sure... it will probably be about 2 years).

A couple random thoughts-
*The wristbands-  I had some trouble through the planning process... issues linking reservations and with my account info not being accurate.  But generally speaking it was smooth while we were down there.  I loved the fact that we didn't have to use money for anything.  Having it all connected to our bands was nice.  We even accidentally got a free meal one night... I guess it was a glitch on their end, but it never charged through to our account. 

*Nursing in Disney was no big deal!  I was kind of nervous about it being time consuming and not knowing where I would go, but it just worked out fine.

*I really liked and would recommend the night flights.  I was surprised how much I liked doing it that way.

*Art of Animation was a great value stay. Our suite perfectly fit our needs and the hotel had everything we needed... good food, alcohol, frequent buses, kids play ground, and a fun pool.  Plus it didn't hurt that Ryan felt like he was living with some of his favorite characters.

*Next time I am going to book our trip based around crowd schedules, not weather or price.  The level of the crowd directly effected our enjoyment of the day.  So to me its worth it to go when its not super crowded.

And I think I am finally done.... those are alllllll the details of our fabulous trip!  Mickey Mouse- We will be back again soon!