Disney World Day 3 - Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom

Monday morning was frigid. Like 37 degrees frigid. And we were in the shady Animal Kingdom by 8 am....

I love the different Christmas trees in each area. The animals were cute on this tree!

Waiting in line for the Everest ride...

We had climbed Mt Everest before 9 am. What did you do that morning?

Cars going up...

And cars coming down!

Then we went on a Safari!

If Hunter didn't have his jacket on, you'd think he was in Africa, right?

After a cold, but fun, morning with the animals, we headed over to the Magic Kingdom.
I love the castle.  I would like to live in the castle. Hunter said that wasn't an option.

Despite the crowds, we enjoyed some of the classic rides. Hunter and I checked out Snow White...

And Dopey was our guide.

After a jaunt on the Monorail (not in the front seat though), and a drink at the beautiful Grand Floridian, we went to the Polynesian for dinner. It was delicious!

We were served family style, as in a Brazilian steakhouse. Skewers of steak and shrimp? Yes, please!

This dude passed out leis, and got the children up for a dance party!

Oh wait--that's Karen and me dancing, too! And this was BEFORE the backscratchers!

After we burned so many calories dancing, we indulged in this delicious bread pudding with caramel sauce!

Hunter and Karen

Minnie Mouse participated in the games...she was so cute!

And then they called up the birthday people....apparently Karen wanted to share the spotlight, so up again I went!

Meanwhile, Allie was at the bar ordering one of these:

Lots of food and wine sent Hunter and Scott back to the hotel...

But it just energized Allie, Karen and me. We returned to the Magic Kingdom, as it was open until 1 am. :)

Isn't it beautiful???

I got to meet up with one of the girls I babysat for in Nashville during grad school--I love this sweet family! Emily was 4 when I first started with them, and now she's 9! She was at Disney for an AAU track meet and placed 6th in the nation for her age group! So impressive. Her family had extra FastPasses for Space Mountain, so we rode that together. :)

And just a couple more shots of my Cinderella's home.