[johnkimv]

My Baby is 3 and NO longer Free!

We celebrated DS's 3rd Birthday at Fort Wilderness Campground. The cast includes 20 people so I won't bother listing them individually, but I will say that I won't do that again!!!

Wednesday, April 22nd
Check in to Fort Wilderness at 730am and what a lovely surprise it was to find our campsite ready and waiting for us!! We were assigned to site 722 which is part of the new Premium campsites at FW. They recently made Premium sites to accomodate the RV's that keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger (that is not the case for our RV). Our RV seems to have a growth problem, but at a whopping 19 feet in length the Premium site was WONDERFUL!! I booked the Premium site because we were having guests and would need the extra room for 2 tents. What I love about the premium sites is the lack of sand!! My kids love getting dirty and I hate sand in our camper!

After getting settled we made breakfast and headed to Animal Kingdom for a few hours. This day was Earth Day and we had no idea. The park was crazy packed, but they had a lot going on as part of Earth Day. We rode some rides and then met my parents who were staying at Saratoga Springs thanks to RLCarmichael. My mom's goal of the day was to get the "perfect" picture of Devine. She took 243 pictures of her and I took 2- I think mine is pretty perfect, but she just shrugged her shoulders at it!! See below for the picture.

After stalking Devine for about 30 minutes, we took the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch. My kids tortured the goats for a little while and we joined in on the Earth Day happenings. The kids made toad houses out of little Terra Cotta pots and made some sort of craft where they got to take home a bunch of seeds and dirt to be planted. It was great and I wish they did this sort of stuff year round.

Off to the Safari ride. This is my favorite ride at AK. No, I am not a big fan of EE. Great ride, but giong backwards screws with my head too much. I love the Safari Ride, but they sure don't give you much time to take pictures. Oh and the bounciness of the ride doesn't help with the picture taking either.

After the Safari we headed back to FW to check out their new pool and rest before we had dinner reservations at California Grill. The pool was great, the kids neglected to nap and dinner at CG was just ok.

I was soooo excited to go to California Grill. DH and I went in November with out kids and loved it! I knew I wanted to orfder the scallops and DH was going to order the Sea bass. We sat down within minutes of checking in and that is when our excitement went to disappointment. The menu was totally different that what we had (I even checked with ALlears before we left to see if it changed!!). We kept looking over it thinking the scallops and sea bass would have to eventually show up- they didn't and there was nothing that jumped out to us on the menu. I wanted to leave- I talked this place up so much to my parents that they must have thought I was crazy!!

So we ordered. DH ordered some sushi and a salad (so not him, but nothing else seemed great to him). My mom and sister ordered the Filet and you can't go wrong with that. My father ordered the pork tenderloin and I ordered OSTRICH!! I am pretty daring with food and since nothing else appealed to me, I thought why not!!

Ostrich meat is just like steak- I thought it would be more like chicken! It was delicious and I never would have know it was Ostrich if you didn't tell me. I would order it again, but they better have those scallops next time!!

After dinner they brought DS a HUGE piece of delicious chocolate cake for his birthday. He was sooooo thrilled and enhaled it!! It was like he was waiting for this piece of cake the entire year. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday all he said was a Buzz Lightyear Cake!! I guess he was really wanting some cake!!

After dinner, we just headed back to FW and went to sleep. Here are some pictures from Day 1.

[johnkimv]

More pictures from Day 1: This concludes day 1. I will be back to finish more later.

[mickeysgirlz]

Aw, your DS is SO CUTE!!!! The cake is as big as he is!!

Great pictures!

PS. DD is cute too!

[bransworld]

Great start! Cant wait for more of it.

[vthokiegirl]

Can't wait to hear more, the pic of your ds blowing out the candle is so cute!

[LittleMissMagic]

Ooh a TR! Your kids are so cute!

I was still free when I was three... that was before FP. Not to mention before it cost over $100 for just a day.

Can't wait for more!

[momofaprincess]

Your kids are sooooo cute!!! Beautiful pictures! Can't wait to read more!

[lovemysons]

Originally Posted by mickeysgirlz

Aw, your DS is SO CUTE!!!! The cake is as big as he is!!

Great pictures!

PS. DD is cute too!

Heehee, I was thinking the same thing! (about the cake)

Happy belated birthday to your DS.

[johnkimv]

Thursday, April 23:
We woke up, went to FW's fantastic new pool, cooked breakfast and headed over to Epcot to see what they have going on for th Flower and Garden Festival. I didn't take any "Epcot" or "Flower" pictures so you will just have to look at my kids again!!

I love going to the F&GF. It makes Epcot with little kids much more doable. My kids love Epcot, but they really love the playgrounds scattered throughout the park and the booths where they can learn and create stuff. They put up amazing playgrounds for the kids to play on.

We rode Test Track, Nemo, Living with the Land (one of my favorites) and Soarin'. We had lunch reservations at 1:20pm in Teppan Edo so we headed over to the World Showcase. Lunch was delicious and they paid special attention to DS since we are celebrating his birthday all week. Our chef Maki was GREAT!! I thought the food was good, but a little pricey for what you got.

After lunch we headed back to FW so we could swim and take naps before our little bday party for DS at the campground that night. Time flew and the kids weren't able to nap. My parents and DH's parents joined us at our site for a BBQ. It was great- the weather was beautiful and it was a nice peaceful change to the usual wild birthday parties I throw at home.

That ended day 2- see pictures below.

[tinkerbelle24]

Great TR! Love all the pictures. You kids are so cute. Can't wait to read and see more.

[disneymania]

great trip report yhr children are adorable!! That age goes by sooo fast!