Day 5: Exploring and Checking Out

Finally on Day 5!  This was our last day in Florida.  We woke up, finished all our packing, and headed out to have breakfast at the Polynesian Resort.  Since it was Halloween, the kids decided to wear their costumes for the day - I thought it would be cute to be on the plane home in their costumes, too! :)

Mickey Waffles are the best!!  {I actually tried to find a Mickey waffle maker to get for a family gift for Christmas, but the only one I found seemed to make more of a pancake than these amazing waffles.}

Then, we spent time walking around and exploring our own resort.  We'd had such a busy week, we didn't really get to take in the massiveness that was the Wilderness Lodge, and boy was it gorgeous! Both inside and out!  {They were renovating the pool area, so we didn't even get to see that area.}

And as you can see...the costumes didn't last long.

We took the Mickey Express back to the Orlando airport and were on our way back home!

Sweet girl took a nap while we waited, and the kids read books together.

And surprisingly, we never once had to get a movie out on the ipad for the flight to or from Disney.  The kids were so good on the planes, with just one minor meltdown when Riley was awakened on the plane ride home.  Luckily, we were sitting next to a sweet woman that understood.  We cheered her up by doing some selfies.

We arrived home just in time to trick-or-treat.  It was freezing in Arkansas, especially coming from Florida, and Riley decided to change her costume last minute, but we had fun ending our night with a quick trip around the block.  Thankfully, they enjoy trick-or-treating for just a short time and we're never out for more than 20 minutes. :)

And to officially end our Florida vacation, we woke up the next morning to 28 degrees outside and NO heat inside.  Fun stuff!  But at least I had my new coffee mug and some yummy creamer to make my morning more manageable.

To say we enjoyed this vacation is a HUGE understatement.  I cannot even begin to explain how magical the trip was.  I never thought I'd want to go to Disney multiple times, but I can't wait until we can go again.  Of course, it won't be for a little while...we have to pay off this trip first!  It isn't a cheap vacation by any means, but it sure was worth every penny.

Day 4: Hollywood Studios

Thursday had finally come - the day Gavin and Riley were most excited about!  Hollywood Studios is where Gavin would get to {hopefully} do Jedi Training and Riley was going to the Frozen Singalong.  They were pumped to say the least.  And you know the deal - we had to wear our Star Wars and Frozen shirts, all FOUR of us!

This was one day that we were told to 100% be there way before park opening and be as close to the front of the line as possible.  So of course, we did.  I think we were about 45 minutes early and were second in line - all so we could guarantee a spot for Jedi Training.  As soon as the gates opened, Jarrod took off for the registration place and got a spot for Gavin to participate in Jedi Training.  We met him at Star Tours and dropped off Gavin, while Riley and I went straight over for Frozen!  We were first in line and got front row seats. :)  {Well...technically second row because first row was reserved for handicapped guests.}

 

Not gonna lie - I thoroughly enjoyed the singalong.  It was funny, and belting out the songs with her on my lap made my heart so happy!

And when Elsa came out at the end, she made it SNOW!  How cool is that??

While we were at the Frozen Singalong, the boys rode Star Tours twice and loved every minute of it.  They did some shopping at Tatooine Traders to spend Gavin's souvenir money and he even got to make his own light saber.  We met up afterwards to ride Toy Story Mania - loads of fun!

 We had a little downtime before our lunch reservation so we headed to Wandering Oaken's Frozen Snowground and played in the snow - like, REAL icy snow!  How cool is that?!?!

 

We also got to take some pretty neat pictures with our Frozen Friends.  A couple of them turned out rather blurry, but it's the memory that matters. ;)

We did a little shopping there and Riley spent her souvenir money before we headed to lunch.

We found a little cool off spot on our way there...

Lunch on Thursday was at Hollywood and Vine with our favorite Disney Jr. friends!  This lunch was decent - I thought the food was great, but Jarrod didn't care for it too much.  I was a little frustrated with how long the characters took to circulate.  Doc and Sofia would get to the tables next to us and then a song would start and they'd start over.  We were there for nearly an hour and half having our lunch. :-/

Riley LOVED participating in the songs and dances!

Since lunch took a while, the boys had to leave early to make it to Jedi Training and we finished up before meeting them there.

Now, on to the highlight of Gavin's entire week...

First, he got some of the rules for Jedi Training before heading out to learn how to be a Jedi.

Seriously, it was like Gavin's dream come true, huh?  Well then...Jarrod's turn!  We decided to see the Indiana Jones show at his request.  As soon as we walked in they started asking for volunteers and he jumped up and down so quickly that he was the first person chosen.  So funny!  He had a great time, and the kids loved watching him being an 'actor.'

Hollywood Studios was a great park and we made a lot of wonderful memories there! 

 Luckily it was one that we didn't need to spend a ton of time at and were able to leave around 4:00 to head back to the resort, have some dinner and we were actually able to have some much needed down time at the pool!

We ended our night by taking a boat ride over to the Contemporary Resort and walking around their property and gift shop.  It was nice to see another resort.  The kids loved it!

Just one more day...