The animals just walk right up to your jeep!
Aaron and I are dying to go to Africa to do a real one!

I wanted to jump out and kiss the giraffe!

It's better than any zoo, ever.

HA just kidding. I don't know jokes.

Anyone else think Hippos are so weird?

They just lurk in the water like big rocks.

Um. These are hilarious and the cutest family of meerkats I ever did see.
Cheetahs, zebras, lions, we saw it all!

After Safari time there is a little nature hike.

So beautiful and you see so many animals!

I have a slight ((WEIRD)) fascination with gorillas.

The are so beefy and they look so soft.

Like a big huge teddy bear.

HA my husband thinks I'm insane. He said I would be crushed in a second if I got near one.

I told him I want to be Jane and Tarzan for a day.

(I spy a gorilla)

Monkey, my sweet child would have been in heaven seeing you swing from branch to branch!

After watching animals for a while....
Go ride Everest again.

Favorite park. Favorite person.

P.S. Ignore the bun on top oh my head 24/7.
It was 98 degrees and 100 percent humidity.
We melted.

Plus we had a hopper pass/ Disney water park pass so we were in and out of swimsuits,
hoppin disney parks like no ones business!

That being said, Disney is genius and made it so you can go to Epcot and hit about 10 countries in a day:)

One of the coolest parts of it all is that the workers in the "country" you are in, are actually people from that country!

Gelato in "Italy"

You have to try THIS Gelato stand if you ever go to Epcot!

And THIS Pizzeria had hands down one of the best pizzas we have ever eaten.

OH MY GOSH.

Closest thing to being in Napoli, Italy.

We left other parks just to go back another time for dinner!

 Experienced a little Japan.

 Got a little in touch with my roots and took a Mexican boat ride.

Saw Donald duck hitting a Mexican pinata. That was cool.

You have to also hit the boat ride in Norway- I didn't get a picture but it's darling and one of the highlights!

As far as rides go in Epcot.

My favorites....

TEST TRACK is my Husband's favorite ride in all of Disneyworld.

(and that's saying a lot!)

You can now "create your own vehicle" to race before you get on the ride.

Super sweet!

Heaven for Aaron was an understatement.

Our car ranked #1 in our running and he was pretty dang proud of himself.

And Soarin. One of my all time favorite rides.

**Make sure to fast pass both of those. The lines can be terrible!**

Side note: There is also a brand new Aquarium and Finding Nemo Ride that ends in the aquarium!- 

So cool!

Aaron and I were dying wishing Ryan was with us. He would have been in heaven.

The aquarium has dolphins, sharks, whales and every kind of Finding Nemo fish brought to life! AMAZING!

If you are looking for good food, (like really good food)

and a cultural experience with a few rides, go to Epcot.

It never gets old!

I'm a believer.

P.S. It rained for like 2 hours that day. My hair was pretty wet. and our clothes were soaked.
So if you see a dot or two on the picture, you know why:)

Ryan is beyond OBSESSED with cars so Aaron and I decided to give him "cars heaven" for a day to celebrate his birthday.

Just to give you an indication on my "not so talented" baking skills- 

I sent my husband this picture of the finished product of my car cupcake while he was at work.

After telling me they were pretty sweet and that he wanted one, he then asked where I bought them..?

I was like "ummm honey, I made them"

Awesome.

What little faith he has in my baking skills:)

I think I have burned one too many cakes in the oven HA. I don't blame him.

Moral of the story---You can totally do this at home.

If I can make them, you can make them.

I saw the original idea HERE and just baked my little heart out to make it come to life.

All you need:

Red Frosting

M&M's

Mini Chocolate Chips

and a White Chocolate baking Bar

Step #1. Bake your cupcakes.

**I substitute applesauce for oil and egg whites for eggs.

Step #2. Make your Frosting.

I made THIS easy 4 ingredient frosting and added LOTS of red food coloring to make it really red.

Step #3. Make your "windshield"

Break off little rectangles of your white chocolate bar and frost the edges with red frosting.
Then take 2 mini chocolate chips for the "eyes"
((I stuck the little windshied in the freezer for about 10 minutes so it hardens up:) )

Step #4. Put on your windshields. Push them into the cupcake.
Step #5. Use 2 yellow M&M's for your headlights
and 4 brown M&M's for your wheels.


And that my friends, is how you make a car cupcake.
My two year old absolutely LOVED them.
I think I'm getting this whole "boy thing" down.
Trust me if you have boys, they are a hit! XO

So let's talk Disney 101.

I will go over some tips on each park (and our trip experience )) later,

but these are just my own personal BASIC tips for Disney goers!

#1. Download the "My Disney Experience" App on your phone.

It's free and it will run your whole Disney experience!

You now book your fast passes, dining reservations, see wait times for rides, all through your phone!

Now this next part is where Aaron and I messed up!

There is a NEW fast pass system.
(**For those who don't know, fast passes make it so you don't have to wait in the long lines:)

My family totally had the old system down but now that it's all digital Aaron and I were so behind on the times!

You can book your fast passes 30 days in advance of your trip and 60 days in advance if you are staying on Disney resorts!

WHAT the heck!?

This is KEY!

We got there only to find out there were NO fast passes left for certain rides, so for those rides we had to either hit them first thing in the morning, or bite the bullet and wait in line for forever and a half.

You only get 3 fast passes a day!

After the third fast pass times up, you can book fast passes one by one throughout the day.
However most of the fast passes are gone by the time you get to that point!

#2. Bring your own water!

We were pretty dang proud of ourselves for not having to buy ONE water bottle the entire trip!

Disney lets you bring whatever kind of drink, food item you desire into the park.

Take advantage of that!

Aaron and I each brought one water bottle a day (we did get free water at our hotel) and just refilled it every time we passed a little drinking fountain.

#3. Bring a meal?

We are early risers. We like to be to the park right when it opens and don't have time for a sit down big breakfast, so we brought Bars and some fruit each morning to eat.

One less meal to buy, saves money, and we liked being able to splurge later in the day on ice cream and snacks:)

#5. Pros to staying in a Disney Resort

We stayed at The Swan, which is right outside of Epcot and Hollywood Studios.
I had never stayed on Disney property until this trip!
We LOVED it!

There are all price ranges of rooms when it comes to Disney Resorts!
And expensive or cheap they all come with the same perks!

PERKS:
**Free park transportation.


We never had to wait more than 5 minutes for a bus. Don't have to deal with parking the car OR paying to park.

 **Extra Magic Hours.
To me, this was the biggest perk!
By being a Disney guest, you are able to get into the park an hour before opening on certain days and you can stay 2 hours after closing on certain days!
Made for less lines and less people!


Yes Aaron and I were the very first people in the park.
#crazykids

**Walking distance from Disney parks.
Not all Disney resorts are walking distance but ours just happened to be walking distance from Epcot and it was wonderful!

**Free airport transportation.
So apparently The Swan hotel, where we stayed, is located on Disney property but was just bought out by another company so unfortunately this was the only perk that we didn't get to enjoy. :(
However I know all other Disney resorts grant this which is another expense to check off for free!

After researching costs on taxi's and hotel transportation we used MEARS.
It is 32 dollars a person round trip from the airport to the hotel.
Totally reasonable and less than the regular taxi would charge!
Just call in advance to schedule your pick up time and they will be there!
Super easy!


#6. When going to Florida, bring an umbrella or a poncho!

It doesn't matter if your phone says "sunny" bring something just in case!

We are so dumb. We live in Houston, of all places (rains all the time) and we travel to one of the few places in the U.S. that is more humid than Houston and forget an umbrella. 

We had to buy one. It rained every day we were there.

Quick 20 minute little rainstorms. But pretty intense little thunder storms!

Be prepared! - And find a show to pop into while the storm passes over:)

#7. Wear Comfy Shoes!
This one is a little self explanatory.
You walk a ton. Sometimes we would go back to the hotel mid day to switch shoes for night.
It helped a lot!

#8. Take selfies on your favorite roller coaster,

Then turn your camera turned OFF selfie mode...

HA this is hilarious.

Sweetest lady ever offered to take our picture and told us she snapped 5 shots of us.

After telling her thank you and walking off to look at the pictures,

poor thing didn't realize that she was taking pictures of herself.

I have 5 shots of her on my phone. Awesome.

Totally bright outside and hard to see. I don't blame her.

Moral of the story, before you give your phone to someone else to take a picture, turn it off selfie mode.

#9. Download games to play on your phone

Our favorite was "heads up".
Totally passed the time when you had to wait.

Ha this awesome worker posed for my husband to take this picture.
105 wait time is BRUTAL.

#10. If you are celebrating an occasion wear your pins!!!

As soon as we got to our hotel they asked us if we were celebrating anything.
1st timers, birthday, etc...
We told them it was our Anniversary gift and they gave us "Happy Anniversary pins" to wear!
Not that you should expect free things, and trust me we didn't expect anything,
but we got about 4 free desserts and 1 free pretzel  just because of our Anniversary pin!
Don't be afraid to wear those things every day to the park!

Hope my top 10 help for your next Disney Adventure!
And if anyone has anything else to add- FEEL FREE! XO

ALSO: 2 more days to enter the As Darling Does Giveaway ! The winner will be chosen this week! :)