{ Universal Studios }

Both of the days we spent at Universal Studios we went to Harry Potter World. Priorities, man. But I promise we did do more than just obsess over all-things-magical! ...Although Harry Potter World was honestly the best part of Universal Studios hands down. Just sayin'.

See look, here we are squeezing 6 people into one telephone booth!



Oh wait. That was in the "London--King's Cross Station" part of the park. Soooo still Harry Potter World but whatever. Anyways, you can see McKay, Andy, and Nick in the front, then the person in the stripes is me and the pink next to me is Katelyn. Where's Vanessa? She's standing ON TOP of the phone on the inside. Also, it was probably 100* outside, so the inside of the telephone booth was like a sauna. I'm sweating just thinking about it.

Here's everyone but my dad and I on the craziest roller coaster there! Nick and Andy are in the front row, then Vanessa and Katelyn, and my Mom and McKay. My dad and I hung back to take pictures.



There was this cool looking fountain we saw, so we all went up to take a picture in front of it. And then it spit water all over the place just because it felt like it.



 I love this picture of my dad, who took the "tourist" look to a whole new level by putting his towel under his hat. *slow clap*



There were these silly word/thought bubbles all around Toon Town, and we took pictures in front of most of them. These two were my favorite. Mostly because Vanessa got sick on rides 95% of the time and my parents are just so happy together.





As I've mentioned before, the water rating rides were some of our favorites. Here's some pictures of us riding the one in Islands of Adventure! Vanessa and I before:



Vanessa and I after:



Nick won the contest for who was the most soaked (even though we were all dripping wet)



Look at me cowering over onto McKay as we approach that stream of water...



I don't know what's going on here, but I love it.



The whole clan:



And lastly, my dad all tuckered out:

{ Animal Kingdom }

This park was small enough for it to be done it just half a day, which was really nice. It's like Epcot, only with animals! You walk around the park to different continents and see all the animals. And yes, I'm definitely the animal lover in the family. The very first thing we did was the animal safari, and props to Disney because they did an amazing job. The animals they have there aren't in cages at all, and they have a lot of room to roam around in. The safari took over 20 minutes to get through since there's so much ground to cover. We saw giraffes, crocodiles, elephants, rhinos, lions, leopards, Zebras, hippos, apes, flamingos, and several different kinds of deer-like animals that are all native to Africa.











[caption id="attachment_491" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Can you spot the hippo?[/caption]

After the documentary "Blackfish" was released, a lot of awareness was raised for animals in captivity. I'm no die hard Sea World hater, I see the educational benefits of being able to study animals in a controlled environment like zoos and aquariums, but good 'ol Disney truly did an amazing job making their habitats authentic, and most importantly, large. (as you can tell from the pictures) The road we drove on cut right though the habitats. Animals were crossing and lounging not even 10 feet away from us, I loved it!









A special tribute to my favorite safari animal: the giraffe!







Out of all the rides at all the parks, the river rafting rides were definitely some of our favorites. When it's 100* outside if feels goooood to get soaked!







The last time my family was at Disney World I was only 4 years old, and I was a handful of a child! At one point my parents turned around to find me hanging out inside a fountain, instead of getting mad (Hallelujah) they snapped a pic instead! I'll get a better copy later on, but for now, this picture of a picture will have to do.



Now, over 15 years later, we came across that same fountain. And what did I do??



I GOT IN IT AGAIN.



I sure remember that fountain being a bit bigger when I was 4!

The absolute best part of Animal Kingdom was the Lion King show! It was amazing, I could watch it every day until I die and never get sick of it. Here are some videos of the greatest performance ever. ever ever. (please disregard my random commentary and off-key singing) #sorrynotsorry

Crazy monkey guys. aka Nick's future job.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIJZz76XFrU&feature=youtu.be[/embed]

Can you feel the love tonight? This was my favorite part of the show!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-7aNAJnNmw&feature=youtu.be

It's the cirlce of life:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS2C6-lf_rA&feature=youtu.be

And just in case you didn't want to watch the videos above, the only proof you need of the Loin King's spectacular-ness is THIS video. 43 seconds of Vanessa dancing along. Gold.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkD1tfjBTnM&feature=youtu.be[/embed]

 

And now for the rest of the pic dump:





[caption id="attachment_486" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Notice you cant even see Vanessa because she's keeled over into Katelyn's lap[/caption]







YAY ANIMALS!

{Magic Kingdom}

 



We went to Magic Kingdom three different times while we were visiting Disney World, that's how awesome it was there! It's the classic Disney-themed park, it's got the castle, the characters, the music, etc. The employees are even so giddy and cheerful it kinda weirded me out occasionally. They're literally always smiling. Always.



Our favorite rides at Magic Kingdom were the Buzz Lightyear ride, the Seven Dwarfs Rail Road, Space Mountain, and Thunder Mountain Rail Road. The guys went on the Buzz Lightyear ride AT LEAST 6 times. Probably more. Apparently me and McKay think alike when it comes to defeating Emperor Zurg. We call it the Terminator.



McKay bought a Goofy hat. And somehow he can still look hot in the most tourist-looking outfit of all time. For example:



Take special note of the 1) Goofy Hat  2) Sun Glasses  3) Lanyard around his neck  4) Typical "1st Visit" button on his lanyard  5)Wet towel on his neck

We definitely LOVED splash mountain!!







Disney is great because they actually let you take a picture of your ride picture while it's on the screen. Universal Studios isn't as nice sadly.





And now, for more pictures than you care to see!!



 

Yep, my dad took a selfie. And I'm pretty sure it's one of my favorite pictures of all time.







This guy was so excited to get to the park he forgot to do his hair in the morning. Now the world gets to see how fantastic his bed head really is.













 

Poor guy fell asleep on the trash can.