Blizzard Beach

On Tuesday, Mom had to go to her conference, meaning Dad and Carter were on their own.  Bed head Carter started the day checking out the fun bubbles and stickers, Mickey left him.

Our 4-day tickets at the park included an extra day at a water park, so Carter and Dad decided to try their luck at Blizzard Beach.  Since Carter is always up early, we got to the park a little before official opening.  Luckily, once we sprayed our sunscreen on and found Carter a good life jacket, we were able to pose with a melting snow man family and take some photos.  

Carter even washed his feet with some face melt from Dad snowman

Luckily the wait for the ropes to drop wasn't too long.  Not knowing how Carter would react to the rides, we started off with an easy one, the Cross Country Creek lazy river

Carter had fun... so long as he was the line leader.  This proved to be pretty easy as no one else went straight for the lazy river and we had it all to ourselves for a good bit of time

Soon it was time to head to the top of the mountain.  Carter was boosted into the chairlift and we were on our way to the top of Mt. Gushmore

While Carter's height doesn't quite stack up to the requirements of the Summit Plummet slide (the one that starts at the top of the ski jump below) we were able to go on the large raft ride Team Boat Springs.  This got Carter into it and we quickly went from slide to slide.

Carter was even a pro at going solo on the Ski Patrol slides

After a few more slides, it was off to Tike's Peak, the kids only area (48" and below).  They had a great splash pool with a very soft padded flooring to which Climber Carter took full advantage of...

Soon though, Carter saw the slides in this area and was inspired to go.  After a quick talk where Carter learned Dad couldn't ride cause he was too big.  Carter was off like a big boy to go on his own.

See if you can spot him at the top of the slide

All smiles on the way down

They also had a kids only tube ride.  Dad helped Carter get his tube to the top of the hill

Then a quick goodbye and "i'll see you at the bottom".

A few minutes later, this smiley guy came flying down

A few more kiddie rides for Carter, then it was off to play with the big kids

Carter and Dad walked to the top of the mat slides.  Carter was easily a foot or two shorter than anyone in line.  He confidently walked up to the life guard and she helped him get ready to ride.  He really liked the slide, but wasn't too keen on going underwater at the bottom.

We stopped for lunch, then it was back to what turned out to be Carter's favorite locale, the lazy River

After a half lap, we found the backside of the mountain called Runoff Rapids.  Here they have two person rafts which were perfect for Carter and Dad to ride together

After Carter watched for the green light...

...we were off.  As Carter would say "I'm the driver"

Then it was back to the mat rides.  This one was called Downhill Double Dipper.  It is a race with six lanes all going at once.  Here all lanes would lie down and wait for the life guard to count to three before going.  They would stand on Carter's mat because he was too light and would float down the slide before the count if they didn't.  The really cute thing was they would count... one... two... (all the sudden they would let Carter go)... three then everyone else went.  Even with his significant head start, he would be reaching the bottom about the same time as Dad.  He always wanted to win, and was balling one time when he got passed (he actually beat Dad down the hill, but the few extra pounds on Dad propelled him many feet further).

One more trip to the tip top of Mt Gushmore before heading home (look close and you can see both Epcot and Hollywood Studios in the background)

When we got home, Mom was still in meetings so we headed to the awesome pool at the hotel.  Luckily, Mom was soon to join

Our pool also had a slide which was a lot of fun for Dad

Carter had a great day (but was confused why his fingers started to look like raisins).

After we dried off, we decided to grab dinner at Downtown Disney.  Afterwards, we wandered through the shops.  Carter immediately gravitated to the Lego store.

He and dad had a blast building Lego cars and racing them against the other kids.

The sun started to set so mom dragged both boys back to the bus!  Off to bed for another, and final, fun filled day in Florida

Earth Day at Animal Kingdom

Our next morning started with more overnight surprises by Mickey.

We headed to Animal Kingdom and noticed that the park seemed very busy for how early we were there... turns out, with all our planning, we had totally forgotten that today was Earth Day.  Even bigger, it was the official 15th anniversary of the park (opened on April 22, 1998).

At first we were concerned that the park would be so crowded that we would be stuck in lines and would not have as much fun, turns out, this wasn't the case and the park really did a great job with extra activities in the park to celebrate the day.  Our first bit of fun was a nature scavenger hunt.  Carter (with the help of mom) searched a trail in the Africa section finding all sorts of animal signs.

Carter did a great job using his search card to find and identify all sorts of animal prints and other leavings.

As we continued on our trek through the Pangani Forest Trail, Carter found an animal identification chart and continued his scavenging ways.

This was a bit more difficult for Carter as his targets moved... but he found all he was looking for

Some of the birds were much easier to spot compared to others.

As we came close to the hippo pond, we tried a little experiment and found out that mom's head did indeed fit in a hippo's mouth!

Carter searched high and low for other African animals on the trek.

and learned some local culture, including the game of mancala.

Soon we came upon the gorilla habitat.  Carter has a bit of growing until he is able to match up.

All the gorillas were out and were easy to spot.

One seemed to have a special affinity for its feed bowl and walked around for 15 minutes with his bowl on his head.  I dare you to find something more entertaining for a soon to be three year old!

We finished the trail and took the train to the Rafiki's Animal Watch area where more scavenger hunts revolving around nature habitats we can find at home.  Additionally a number of conservation groups were there and had many informational booths and activities to make the trek even more educational than normal.

At the Animal Watch pavilion, there is a vet station open to the public.  Carter spent many concerned minutes watching a small monkey with a broken leg get prepared for surgery.

He also met a new friend in Rafiki from the Lion King.

We quickly took the train back to Africa and hopped on safari jeep at the Kilimanjaro Safari.

Carter had a blast looking out through the reserve and showing Mom and Dad every animal he could find and identify.

After the safari, Carter found more drums.  So far we have not found a drum that didn't need a little attention.

As we walked, we stopped for a quick photo opportunity.  One guess on who was having a great day.

While it took a bit to keep Carter still as we waited for the show to start, the Flights of Wonder bird show was amazing to all of us.  Here is a great African horned owl landing literally about 5 feet from us.  The number of birds and the closeness of their flight paths to us was truly amazing.  Once the show started Carter hardly moved (except to get a bettered view at times) for the entire 35mins.

We continued our walk through the park, trying to use unique opportunities to show Carter the alternate and differing cultures that he does not get to see as frequently at home.

Throughout the park there were a number of kid education spots which Carter really enjoyed.  Here he is identifying animals based only on the sounds they make.

In Asia we again took a trek, this time on the Maharajah Jungle trail.  This time Carter grabbed a map of the trail and become the official Holden line leader and navigator.

The fruit bats were very large and were also very active on the branches giving Carter his first good view of the amazing animals.

For those who have not been to this park, much of the scenery and details are really very neat as you walk around.

At the end of our trek, Carter made a quick shopping trip where he was given a shopping list (check out his clip board) and was graded by the volunteers based on the selections he made and how environmentally friendly they were.  We can honestly say he got them all correct without any help from Mom or Dad.

We spent some time goofing around in Dinoland USA.

And then headed to the Bugs Life show... although going in Carter was very happy and excited to wear his glasses.  The darkness and "4D" aspects soon got the best of him.  I wouldn't say it was full terror, but lets just say we found out Carter has limits and life sized 3-D bugs that shoot water into the audience exceeds them.

But no worries, once back topside, Carter found more activities to grab his attention, here Carter had to reach into some holes in the tree and then identify what he felt.

   

He really enjoyed this activity and the man helping with it really gave Carter some extra attention.

Our day could not be finished with out a trip to Camp Minnie-Mickey,  Although Carter doesn't know Baloo or King Louie, those who grew up and saw the original Jungle Book movie are sure to appreciate these two.

Carter again was thrilled to see his Mickey Mouse club friends including Donald.

Goofy

And Minnie (Carter's winning smile was post kiss to Minnie, this seemed to be a recurring action).

Carter did a great job asking for and getting signatures from all his new found pals.

Before we left we watched one more parade go by (any and all parades seem to be jaw dropping amazing to Carter).

Carter had a great day and even let us get one more full family shot on our way home!