Our last night at the parks took us back to where we started the week, at the Magic Kingdom. There were Magic Hours, so the park was open until midnight. Our plan was to catch the fireworks, when we arrived there were a lot of people leaving, we thought that the Electrical Parade had just finished. We seemed to get a pretty good spot, only because the fireworks were an hour early. Things started to click in, didn’t even think about them changing the fireworks time this morning when we got to Blizzard Beach an hour early. The girls were disappointed to miss the fireworks, oh well, we’ll just have to come back.

Gillian still wanted to get some Cinderella ears and Claudia wanted a Perry the Platypus shirt.

The castle in its many shades.

We headed to Fantasyland to catch Mickey’s Philharmagic, Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain and then back to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear. We had a great time during our week at Disney.

One last look at Main Street before catching the boat back to our cabin.

Our dinner reservation on Sunday night was at the Coral Reef located in the Seas.

The “Mine. Mine, Mine” seagulls from Finding Nemo.

The evening skies.

Inside the Canada Pavilion you could buy your favourite hockey team shirts and hats. You could also buy a box of Smarties, the regular size box you would find in the variety store was going for $2.95.

We picked up some Fastpass tickets for Soarin’ before we went for dinner, they were for 8:27 PM, we headed there before heading to the Magic Kingdom for Magic Hours.

Sunday morning we headed to Blizzard Beach. When we got to the bus stop we noticed there was no bus going to Blizzard Beach. When I asked the bus driver, he said he would drop us off, but it didn’t open until 10:00 AM, an hour later than we thought. Then we realized it was Sunday and the start of a new week, meaning new hours, more on that later.

We took the chairlift up to the top.

Looking over the slopes.

The rest of us following behind.

Some of the other slopes.

The goal was to take the family raft ride “Teamboat Springs”, there is a minimum of 4 riders, good for our family.

The back of Everest.

Coming down on the family raft.

A lot of screaming and laughing.

At the bottom.

Heading up to Runoff Rapids, one of the few that you have to carry your raft up.

Angela riding down on the single tube.

Relaxing on the Cross Country Creek.

the longest wait was the Double Dippers, only Angela and Gillian went down those slopes.

None of us braved Summit Plummit this time, the line-ups were too long. Last time Angela and I did this one.

Claudia could have spent the day in Melt-away Bay.

Claudia relaxing while Ang and Gil were lined up for Double Dippers.

Our towel sherpa.

Can you tell Claudia had a blue raspberry sno cone?

We had a dinner reservation at Epcot and then our final night at Magic Kingdom.

Saturday morning we were up early to take advantage of the extra Magic hour for Hollywood Studios. When we arrived, the girls and I headed to Rockin’ Roller Coaster with Aerosmith while Susan headed to Toy Story Mania to get our Fastpass tickets. After riding Aerosmith twice and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror we headed to the Back-lot  Studio Tour. A quick stop at the Muppet Fountain.

Singin’ in the rain.

Giant bottles of coke. the one out of the box is a misting station.

The entrance to the Studio Back-lot Tour.

It starts with some water special effects and then a short walk through some props followed by a tram ride.

One of the many Herbie the Lovebug cars.

Darth Vader.

Angela and Susan trying on some Kermit ears.

It was almost time for our Toy Story Fastpass.

At 10:30 in the morning the line-up is already 60 minutes.

while we were waiting, we were able to get another set of Fastpass tickets for Toy Story. Angela holding our tickets for 4:30 PM (six hours later).

We waited to see Buzz Lightyear and Woody.

Various photo ops during the line.

Not sure which one is the stinkiest?

Climbing into some luggage.

With giant Woody and Buzz Lightyear.

More funny hats.

We went through the Walt Disney exhibit. Here is Gillian listening to Roy Disney do the Walt Disney World opening speech.

It was over to Disney Animation to meet some more characters. Not sure what Mr. Incredible is looking at.

Thumbs up from Frozone and Mr.Incredible.

Me and the boys.

They met Winnie the Pooh again.

Gillian getting a hug.

Winnie and the girls.

Meeting Sorcerer Mickey.

When you hand your camera to one of the Disney Cast members you never know what kind of picture you’ll get.

We had a lunch table service meal reservation at the Prime Time Cafe restaurant.

While we were eating it started raining, it was a loud thunderstorm, even though the forecast was only 10% chance of rain. We figured all their efforts were put into Hurricane Irene.

We headed for the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. Last time we didn’t get to see it as it was rained out.

Lightning McQueen

They showed us a full size remote control car, they had a kid from the audience think they were controlling it.

The actual driver of the car.

Some falling off of roofs.

Some catching on fire.

Afterwards we met Sully from Monsters Inc.

We headed back to Tower of Terror. While the girls rode it again, I went and got Fastpass tickets for Rockin’ Roller Coaster. We rode it twice more before heading to get a seat at Fantasmic.

Fantasmic is a fireworks and water show in the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater.

This was a very good show, we all enjoyed it.

The riverboat with all the characters.

It was a full day at Hollywood Studios. We were there almost 12 hours. Only one full day left at Disney, tomorrow is another busy day with two parks and a water park planned.

Friday night we headed over to Downtown Disney for some dinner and shopping. Gillian trying on some Tinkerbell Mickey Mouse ears.

Bins of Mr. Potato Head parts.

The girls with Mr. Potato Head.

Heading towards World of Disney, the biggest Disney character store in the world.

We had dinner at Cookes of Dublin and some of their famous Fish ’N’ Chips.

Afterwards it was off to the newly remodelled LEGO store.

Angela building a mini lego guy.

The girls with a LEGO Woody.

Another LEGO scene.

After another full day it was back to the cabin for a rest.

The day started out sunny and hot, knowing the rain was coming we tried to get an early start to the day. We were hit and miss with the buses, only a couple of times did we have to wait long, other times we would get off one bus and walk on our connection.

We started with the Kilimanjaro Safari. The wait time was too long when we were here the other day.

Angela’s favourite, the giraffes.

There is a baby elephant behind the big one. When you see them living out here, it makes the Toronto Zoo enclosure sure seems inadequate.

The lightest breed of pink flamingos.

These are the safari vehicle we ride on.

The lioness.

The white rhinos.

After the safari we walked through the Pangani Exploration Trail.

The girls with their heads in a hippo skull.

They had a few gorillas.

Along the trail.

Over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

The girls with Jiminy Cricket.

Meeting Rafiki.

And Pocahontas.

You could watch live surgery on a golden Tamarin. It had a jaw infection.

Gillian trying to close to a goat in Affection Section.

The Tree of Life.

Mount Everest.

It was on to Asia to ride Everest Expedition again. Gillian at the start of the ride.

Heading up Mount Everest.

Angela doing moose antlers on the way up.

Closer to the top.

Looking back down for Susan.

The end of the track, after this you shoot backwards.

Claudia and Angela looking terrified.

Our first spotting of the Yeti.

Gillian with her eyes open.

Fearless Angela.

Gillian and I at the end.

It was over to watch the Finding Nemo musical.

It was a good show.

Another glance at Everest as we head over to the Kali River Rapids.

The girls heading out on their ride, still dry.

Coming back, Gillian trying to tell us her shell didn’t help that much.

It is funny watching people get off the ride completely soaked, just like us the first time we rode it back in 2008.

It was time for the afternoon Jammin’ Jungle Parade.

Rafiki leading the parade.

Chip or Dale?

Minnie Mouse.

Goofy.

Donald Duck.

Pluto.

Safari Mickey.

It was another good day at Animal Kingdom. Next stop Downtown Disney.

We knew when we booked our vacation that August in Florida meant hot humid weather with afternoon thunderstorms everyday. We also knew we were coming during the start of Tropical Storm season, having survived Tropical Storm Fay the last time. When the forecasts started showing Hurricane Irene and the uncertain path she would take early in the week we were a little concerned.

This was one of the model paths on Monday August 22, the day we started at Disney. It wasn’t looking to good for us.

This turned out to be the path as the Hurricane was pushed further east and missed Florida. The forecast for Friday is rain most of the day, the effects from one of the outer bands, probability was 60%.

One of our favourite dinners last time was the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue. This time we could only get a reservation at 9:30 PM on Thursday, but it did allow us to get a closer table. As we were led to our table we got a lot closer than we thought.

It is a great show that goes on during dinner.

We were sitting right next to the stage and beside the piano player.

As I said to the girls, they were probably kicking up dust onto our food.

Claudia with our bucket of chicken. The meal is all you can eat served family style. It included salad, ribs, fried chicken, baked beans, corn and mashed potatoes.

Gillian next to the stage.

The Pioneer Hall Players

The audience gets involved during the show. Here are Angela and Claudia with their washboard.

We always enjoy the food and entertainment.

Thursday morning we headed to Epcot. We headed to Soarin’ for a Fastpass. Then it was over to Universe of Energy with Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Nye the Science guy.

Waiting to go into the Universe of Energy.

We then headed to the World Showcase Pavilions. Me being the geography geek, spotted a survey marker on the ground.

The weather was pretty good for most of the day.

Heading to the Norway Pavilion and the Maelstrom ride, there was only a 10 minute wait.

The girls with their Viking helmets, Claudia has to earn her horns.

Outside the Mexican Pavilion.

In front of Spaceship Earth ball.

Stopped off to see O’Canada with Martin Short.

Crammed into a phone booth outside of the United Kingdom Pavilion, pretty sure they no longer have pay phones.

Alice in Wonderland.

Looking over towards France.

Our main stop was Japan. Some of the Totoro’s in the gift store.

Outside the Japan Pavilion.

the girls and I in Italy.

Some of the intricate work on the buildings.

Gillian scouted this photo op.

The pickle ornaments in the Germany Pavilion.

Angela posing with one of the ancient warriors in the China pavilion.

Gillian with one of the warriors wearing Angela’s ball cap.

The replica warriors.

The girls after riding Test Track.

Spaceship Earth.

Claudia and I at the end of the Spaceship Earth ride.

Catching the bus back to our cabin.

Another great day at Disney, looking forward to our dinner at the Hoop Dee Doo Review tonight.

After the day at Typhoon Lagoon, we were back to the cabin before heading to Hollywood Studios for dinner. We arrived in the usual afternoon rain.

We had some time before our reservation so we hit the Rockin’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith for a Fastpass, it is one of our favourite rides and one of the best memories from our first trip.

The big Mickey hat in the centre of Hollywood Studios.

One of my favourite attractions.

Miss Piggy in the fountain out front.

It was time for our reservation at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre.

The tables are in cars that all face a big movie screen. The girls sat in the front seat.

Susan and I in the back seat.

The girls were able to have the milkshakes and later for dessert they could have the sundae.

Here we are in our car.

When we came out of the restaurant, the sun was coming out. We headed to the Phineas and Ferb character greet. The line was across from the Muppet Store.

Gillian giving Ferb a hug while Phineas was going for Angela and Claudia.

Phineas, Gillian, and Ferb.

Phineas, Angela, and Ferb.

Claudia with Phineas and Ferb.

Phineas and Ferb are a Disney cartoon show on the Family Channel.

It was time for our Rockin’ Roller Coaster Fastpass. As we were walking there a guy came up and asked how many of us there were, when I said five, he gave us five Fastpasses for Aerosmith and said the ride was not running but you could use them at Tower of Terror or Star Wars. Sure enough he was right. So we used them to ride the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

Then we headed over to the Star Wars ride. They have just re-done the ride.

It was a good evening at Hollywood Studios.