Disney Day 4: Ohana and Downtime!

Wednesday was our day that we really didn't have anything planned other than our breakfast that morning at Ohana at the Polynesian.  This was another breakfast I had heard great things about so I was excited.  I am not a big breakfast eater, but let me tell you, I had been loving all these yummy breakfasts.  Is it just me or does the word vacation just automatically mean eat more food!  Anyway...we got up and made our way over to the Polynesian.  We got checked in and they took us to our table.  This character meal had us meeting Mickey, Pluto, Lilo, & Stitch all in a Hawaiian theme setting.  Cohen was so excited because of Lilo and Stitch.  The breakfast was great once again.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone.   During breakfast the kids also got to get maracas and dance around the restaurant with all the characters.  Stitch actually got Cohen so she walked with him through the restaurant.  It was very cute.  One fun story to this day was not long after sitting down we were talking and Kelly looked at me and said, "Is that Jeff Gordon sitting behind you?"  So I turn to my left and sure enough just 2 tables beside us was Jeff Gordon and his family.  This was definitely a great spot for any well known face because it is the one place where everyone is way more concerned with the Disney characters.  We did laugh and snap a picture to show everyone though.  Cohen wanted me to go talk to him because she knows I used to work with several race car drivers :) It was a fun breakfast! In the pictures below, especially the ones with Mickey & Stitch you can see that is Jeff G. in the corner.

All smiles except you know who!

We had no set park to go to today which was really nice.  We decided to do a FastPass at Hollywood Studios on the Toy Story ride so we headed there right after breakfast.  All 4 of us loved that ride so we went over, rode that one ride, then headed back to our hotel :)  Cohen was really wanting some pool time and I needed a nap already!  These early mornings and late nights were catching up with me!  Kate and I stayed in the room while Kelly and Cohen slept.  I had forgot Kate's puddle jumper so that is why she didn't swim.  It turns out they had little life jackets but we didn't mention it and she didn't either.  She watched some cartoons and I napped :)  Kelly and Cohen came back in and had lunch after a fun swim, then they laid down for a nap.  I was up now so I decided to go for a short run.  We had a nice trail around the lake outside and I needed a slight warm up since Saturday was our big 10k.  After running they were all still sleeping so I sat out by the pool and read and just soaked up some warm sunshine!  I am SOOOOO ready for spring and summer.  Have I mentioned how I hate cold weather??
After everyone woke up and had baths we were ready to go!  We ate some very yummy pizza at our hotel then headed to Magic Kingdom.  We had planned to watch the Electrical Parade again, Wishes-the big fireworks show, and Celebrate the Magic which is another show on the castle.  We also thought we could get in several rides.  The fireworks were starting when we got there.  I held Kate on my shoulders and she loved it.  They are beautiful though so what's not to love, and my favorite part is watching Tinkerbell fly from the castle!  We then grabbed a front row spot for the parade and ate a yummy Dole Whip while waiting for it to start.  Celebrate the Magic was right after the parade.  This show projects pictures on the castle all while playing music.  Both girls were so excited when the Frozen part was shown and they were both all into singing "Let It Go" with the music.  Cohen also wanted to make sure I got a good picture to send to Mrs. Kellum!  Love her...she wanted to send lots of pics specifically to Mrs. Kellum.  Can you tell she loves her teacher?

After all our "shows" we made our way through the park.  The girls stopped to meet Tinkerbell and her friend.  We also saw Ariel and rode Under the Sea.  Kate and Cohen enjoyed riding Dumbo, and Kate actually rode her first roller coaster, the Barnstormer.  I couldn't believe she finally passed a height requirement.  It was so funny watching her.  She seemed to enjoy it and said yes she did when you asked her, but she also said she didn't want to do it again so it was just a one time ride.  I loved watching her though.  She is so funny!  Cohen was starting to chicken out on the roller coasters and we couldn't figure out why but oh well.  We also rode several other favorites again and ended our night on the carousel of course.  Kate's pick!  I love these magical moments with my girls!  I just wanted to be sure to soak it all up!

Cohen made the perfect arm rest for Tinkerbell

Loving her conversation with Ariel

Still Cohen's favorite princess

Disney Day 3: Chef Mickey's & Animal Kingdom

Tuesday our breakfast was at the Contempory Resort at Chef Mickey's.  I was really looking forward to this one too because I heard so many good things about it.  I actually got the time mixed up with our breakfast on Wednesday, but the good news was we were very early instead of late!  I wish we could have enjoyed some extra sleep time since we were out later on Monday but everyone was doing fine so that was good.  We had to take the bus to the Magic Kingdom so we decided to use our extra time and let the girls go meet Merida from Brave.  Cohen really wanted to see her since we had not ever met her.  Kate has a Brave book she really likes but of course we knew she wasn't going to care either way.  We had to wait a few minutes for her line to open up so while we waited Kate and I went for a ride on the teacups.  She actually enjoyed it so I tried to take a quick "selfie" of us :)

After our ride the girls were ready to see Merida, or at least Cohen was.  Kate let Kelly hold her while I took the picture.

We finished and headed to our breakfast just in time!  Chef Mickey's was great.  The food was delicious and the characters were a lot of fun.  We got to see Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto.  Even though these characters don't talk to you they still find a way to have a lot of fun with the kids.  Kate sat on the inside so she didn't want to move for pictures with the characters.  I think this suited her just fine.  Pluto had a lot of fun with Cohen.  He would hold her dress and twirl her.  She had decided to wear her Elsa dress and she received so many compliments on it.  You can definitely see how popular the movie is and how in high demand the merchandise is!

Dancing with Pluto

 After breakfast we headed over to Animal Kingdom.  We enjoyed our day there seeing the animals on the Safari ride, watching the Little Nemo show,  and we even met Pocahontas.  Cohen had been wanting to get her face painted so we decided to let her.  She loved seeing her face all painted complete with pink lipstick!

Checking herself out

Kate loved brushing the pigs

We had a late lunch and at the place we stopped to eat at there was a little pond with a few ducks on it.  Obviously these ducks are used to being fed because they swam right up to the girls.  I know they would have eaten out of their hand but I had to warn the girls not to feed them and that they didn't want to have those ducks eat from their hand.  It was neat to see how close they would come though.
Kate was a little ham at this moment so I took a lot of pictures.  You have to strike while the iron's hot! Especially with her!

Other birds were around waiting on food too!

We finished our day in the Dinosaur land.  The girls loved the big playground and digging for bones.  We rode the dinosaurs that go around and around...another selfie moment with Kate.  We really enjoyed our day.  Since Animal Kingdom closes earlier we headed to Magic Kingdom for dinner and to top it off with my favorite...a Dole Whip!  We had to ride the jungle cruise again as well.  We were pretty tired at this point so we made our way back.  Every night I think both girls would fall asleep on the bus ride back.

Our selfie fun on the dinosaurs :)

Cohen learning some dance moves