Remember the Magic - (Travel and) Animal Kingdom

When Gabi was starting Kindergarten and I was adding school dates to our family's calendar, I noticed that her school would be closed for 2 days in February for a long weekend. I have no idea what exactly happened in my brain after that, but somehow I decided it would be a great time to take her to Disney World for a great big 6-year-old celebration! I invited a great big cousin and aunt to join us. The aunt rejected the invitation insisting (most-accurately) that Mira would be better off without her. So the rest of the planning is history, and Gabi, Mira, and I set out on a trip of a lifetime! (which will be organized into 4 posts for my/your organizing benefit)

We started with a *mostly* easy travel day:

unicorn braid

And we're OFF!

the "I'm SO excited to see Mira!" selfie

We were united with Mira at the Houston airport and after cutting in front of the entire security line, SPRINTING to our gate as the doors were closing, and rearranging the entire plane to sit together, we settled in for flight #2 to Orlando.

The girls clearly didn't need any help bonding.

Morning 1: We were up early and enthusiastic about our first full day together. Mira and Gabi balanced together daily on their way to breakfast. Mira "borrowed" my hat and face mask for a confusing look. (The face mask didn't make it to the park.)

We excitedly arrived at Animal Kingdom, our first Disney park of the trip, on a beautiful day. We took the tram to the entrance and were ready to go!

Disney quickly set the animal tone for the day with the wildlife and beauty that greeted us.

We went straight to ride on the Kilimanjaro Safari. Our first ride of the trip proved to have our longest line of the trip, and we were quickly introduced to the art of entertaining ourselves during the wait.

We made it onto our safari truck! Mira took charge of capturing some African animals and scenery on camera.



One of our first shows for the trip ended up being Mira's favorite show overall, Festival of the Lion King. If anyone is interested in seeing the grand finale that she recorded:

Gabi was told she could take and/or be in any picture she wanted the whole trip. While I will spare blog viewers of *most* of the ones she took herself, you'll enjoy the ones she wanted to have taken.

sweet, cool treats to beat the Florida heat

"It's Tough to be a Bug" - aka Gabi's first 3D movie experience aka she HATED it and SCREAMED (but mostly when spiders came down from the ceilings and puffs of air kept blasting her face)

We headed next to Dinoland USA. First stop: Triceratop Spin


Next ride: Primeval Whirl (and its line)

(I believe out of hundreds of photos, this may be my absolute favorite picture of the trip.)

It was time to meet some characters! We first met Goofy.

We were eager to find out how Donald Duck would react to the hat Mira was wearing. He did not disappoint!

Animal Kingdom's famous "Tree of Life"

As exhaustion set in, we waited in line for one more character greeting.

Just like the characters before him, Mickey Mouse also was quite entertained by Mira's headgear.

...and also Gabi's shirt

After a full day, the sun had set on our time at Animal Kingdom.

The Tree of Life was illuminated beautifully at night!

conquering Animal Kingdom - check!

resting up for the next Disney Adventure