It all started with a mouse.

One would be hard-pressed to find a place more magical than Disney. A place where ice cream comes in the shape of a favorite Mouse, giraffes can be seen from your hotel balcony and little boys look at you with a twinkle in their eye and say "We made Disney AWESOME!" Yes, Disney is a magical place indeed.

Animal Kingdom Lodge

I will admit to being a bit weary after booking our resort stay. We stayed in the Wilderness Lodge last year and it was nothing short of amazing. I was worried I wouldn't love Animal Kingdom Lodge as much. Boy was I wrong! We originally booked a standard view room (parking lot view from the balcony) thinking we didn't care what we saw from our room... after all, we are rarely there. But, upon arrival we were upgraded to a savanna view room (for free!)! What a treat to see giraffes and zebras every morning from our balcony! The resort also has an amazing African-influenced restaurant called Boma. The food was eccentric, full of flavor with a tiny sweet flair. I fell in love. Not only do the smells of Boma captivate you but every day the restaurant opens around 4 p.m. with a ceremonial African drum performance. There were various kid centers around the hotel that taught about conservation and recycling with a hands on approach. As a parent, I greatly appreciated their eco-friendly ways! As if all of these things weren't enough, there was a super fun fire pit surrounded by giant rocking chairs that looked out to the animals, it was nice sitting there at night and visiting with the other visitors. We are head-over-heels in love with Animal Kingdom Lodge!
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM OUR HOTEL.

Magic Kingdom

We got to spend two full days at Magic Kingdom this year. Mase was thrilled!! He never stopped smiling, his eyes never stopped twinkling and he was quite the adventure seeker as well. He LOVED the Goofy roller coaster, got a kick out of the spinning tea cups and the Buzz Lightyear ride never lets him down. Surprisingly, we did quite a few things that we didn't get to do last year. The Jungle Cruise, Mickey's Philharmagic and going back to the park at night. Magic Kingdom at night is amazing! I've started a tradition of trying on lots of hats at Disney. This year Mase wanted to be in on the fun and tried on hats with me, we have lots of silly hat pictures. Nick was able to sit in the cart in front of us on the Goofy roller coaster ride and snap some amazing pictures. Ignore the 'goofy' look on my face and check out Mason's. He was having the time of his life!
CLICK HERE FOR PICS FROM MAGIC KINGDOM.

Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom (not to be confused with the Lodge where we stayed) is one of our favorite parks at Disney. We scheduled our Character Breakfast at the Tusker House this year and got to meet Donald, Mickey, Daisy and Goofy all dressed up in safari gear. The food spread was AMAZING... vast and yummy. Mase had a great time looking at the animals and was also able to ride the Killamanjaro Safari (he slept through it last year). We visited the Finding Nemo show and Festival of the Lion King again and loved them as much as last year. We spent extra time at DinoLand USA where they have an amazing playground area themed around all things dino-related.
CLICK HERE FOR PICS FROM ANIMAL KINGDOM

Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios was our adventure on Friday. We got to see a Playhouse Disney show live, meet Bolt and Rhino, Lightning McQueen and Mater. I thought Mase would pee his pants from excitement of meeting Bolt and Rhino! Last year the new Toy Story Mania ride had yet to open but this year we made a point to ride it twice. I'm not sure if Nick or Mason had more fun, my bets are on Nick though. :) Mel also tried her hand at singing into a paper mic in front of the American Idol backdrop. Good stuff.
CLICK HERE FOR PICS FROM HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Epcot

We saved Epcot for last and wanted to go out with a bang! After touring and riding all day we ate dinner at the Coral Reef restaurant which looks onto a giant aquarium. Mase LOVED it so much! We saw sharks, rays, giant sea turtles and lots of fish. After dinner we walked to a private boat we chartered. The boat ride was fun and a perfect end to a magical week. It took us on a mini-tour around some of the other resorts and then eventually stopped under a bridge at Epcot so we could view the amazing firework show called Illuminations. We had a prime viewing spot and to see the show from that point of view was amazing!!!
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS FROM EPCOT

It's bittersweet to be home but we're already planning our 2010 trip!

See ya real soon!!

The Trougakos Gang