Florida Vacation Day 3

The next day we checked into the Disney "All-Star Movies Resort". Just one of a couple of Disney themed large hotels that qualify for the "Magic Hour" privileges and complimentary bus transportation. We were assigned to the "Toy Story" building and when we made it over to the building, we saw that in the common area had building size statues of Trace's favorite characters; Buzz and Woody! They were huge! If you look closely, you can see a little tiny Trace standing at the bottom of the Buzz figure.

One thing I really liked about our whole Disney experience was that before we left, we were mailed our very own "Magic Bands". They are water proof wristbands with our names on them that do everything for us in the park; they let us into our room, they are used to pay for meals and snacks, access to rides and "fast pass" privileges, they even worked to scan and download photos that were taken on rides and at photo stops around the park. No more handing your phone or camera to strangers to ask them to take photos of our whole family.

Disney sure does the technology thing right!

After we checked in, we made our way to the first of our Disney World Parks; The "Animal Kingdom Park". They had a beautiful man-made tree that is made up of carvings of every different kind of animal you could imagine. We looked at it for a while and then as we passed it again throughout the day, we found more and more different animals that we hadn't seen before. It was amazing!

The Simba Lion in this picture was added with our Magic Bands, so cool!

We got to get our pictures taken with Russell from "UP" and the stars of Jungle Book!

We went on the Dinosaur Ride (which is really similar to the Indiana Jones ride in California) and we got this great picture of us on the ride! We just scanned our "Magic Bands" after the ride and it downloaded the picture right to our online account. Such cool technology, I couldn't get over it! 

We also got to go on a "Safari Ride" and saw tons of animals!

Later on in the day, we walked into a section of the park that had a bunch of carnival games. Trace begged to play one and Kevin got him enough tickets to play three games. Trace played a basketball one, a roll-the-ball one, and a whack-a-mole game. He also WON ALL THREE! He earned a shark and 2 dinosaur stuffed animals, and when he won the last one, his opponent was a small boy that was really sad that he lost, so Trace gave his third prize to the little boy instead of keeping it. What a sweet boy I have! I was moved to tears by Trace's small act of kindness.   

When night fell, they had a light show that was projected onto the "tree of life" and on the nearby waterway. We only saw a few minutes of it, but it was amazing!

We ate dinner that night at the lodge which is decorated with intricate wood details and simply breathtaking. As we were leaving, we ran into a dance party and Trace didn't hesitate to join in the fun. I wish I had his ability to embrace the moment!