Disney World

For the past 9 months I have been secretly planning our family trip to Disney World.  Every second spent planning was totally worth it and honestly there isn't much, if anything, I would do differently.  The kids had the time of their lives.  We made so many memories that we will cherish and talk about forever. 

For 9 months I anticipated the excitement when finally letting the kids in on the Disney secret.  We held out until the day before we were leaving to tell them the big news.  Their excitement didn't disappoint.  Big eyes, squeals, hugs, jumping and pure excitement when we told them. 

The next morning we were off to Disney!  Even the super early flight didn't stop these kids from smiling.

Made it to Orlando!

We didn't have anything planned on arrival day so we got settled in at our hotel (Polynesian) and explored Disney Springs

 

Our first full day was at Magic Kingdom. We kicked off the morning with breakfast at Chef Mickey's.  Perfect start to our trip!  The kids were smiling ear to ear and so excited to meet all their favorite characters.  Tinkerbell visited our room each night and left a note and a small gift.  She left autograph books the first night which were a hit at breakfast with Mickey and friends.

Look at that smile as J is watching Goofy get closer to our table!  First character siting of the trip!

 

Then off to Magic Kingdom we went . . . the kids quickly learned the power of the magic bands! 

 

 

Every kid visiting Disney World has to try pulling the sword!

 

First ride of the day was the classic carasoul.

 

 After the carasoul there was no stopping us!  We rode EVERYTHING, some rides 3-4 times.  We bounced from each side of the park, booking fastpasses and finding the shortest wait times to make the most of our time.   Jackson was our thrill seeker.  He loved anything fast or any ride that dropped.  Splash mountain was his absolute favorite, with Big Thunder Mountain and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train closely behind.  Harper and Mason preferred the more low key rides, their favorties included Toy Story Mania, Peter Pans Flight and the Carasoul.

 

Meeting Elena was at the top of our list for our first day at Magic Kingdom.  Everyone in our house loves her.  Meeting Elena definitely didn't disappoint.

 

 

 

 Meeting Cinderalla was pretty exciting as well!  Mason loved characters but when it came to princesses he was a little shy!

 

 Enjoying some Mickey ice cream as we waited for the Festival of Fantasy parade to begin. 

 The parade floats were amazing!

 Mason enjoyed his only nap of the trip during the parade!  The kid didn't want to miss out!

 

 

 

Mason was so excited to ride his first roller coaster.  That excitement ended pretty quickly.  No tears but he definitely didn't want to ride again!

 

 Jackson couldn't get enough of the roller coasters!

Merida from Brave was another hit!  She was so spunky.  The kids loved chatting it up.

While Jackson was riding roller coasters, Harper, Mason and I snuck away to meeting Ariel and Belle

 Harper got to be play Belle's horse while M was the salt shaker.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to snap a good pick up our little salt shaker but he was cute as always!

We wrapped up our first FULL day with an amazing fireworks show at Magic Kingdom.  So magical!  We successfully (with no tears shed and no tired fits) opened and closed the park!

The next morning we were off to Animal Kingdom!

Scoping out the park map to see what should top our list!  We decided to hit up the dinosaur ride first before the rush hit.  J thought it was a tad to scary!

 

Then off to the safari!  Seeing all the animals was a huge hit!

 

 

 

Animal Kingdom is a smaller park so we were able to wrap up early afternoon and head back to the hotel for an afternoon swim.  The Polynesian had a great pool, water kids, a big splash pad and hot tubs.  My water babies were in heaven.  That evening we ate dinner with Cinderalla, her step sisters and step mom.  Such a fun dinner.  

 

As soon as we sat down for dinner, the evil step mom had Harper up and dancing

 

 J&H wanted a serious face picture since step mom doesn't smile!  Why not join in!  I think they have that look down!

  Harper brought her Tinkerbelle light up wand to dinner which became the center of attention.  The sisters took the wand and started fighting over it.  Harper thought it was a hoot.  They ended up calling over the evil step mom to straighten the sisters up.  With a little pinch of the sisters ears Harper had her wand back :)  She held that wand a little tighter the rest of the trip!

 

 

 Just the beginning of M's silliness! 

 On our 3rd full day we were off to Hollywood Studios.  Jackson was stopped on the way in to walk the red carpet and be interviewed!

Jackson conquered the Tower of Terror

 

And we all had a blast on Toy Story Mania.  So much fun that we rode it over 5 times!  Glory of going in the off season!

 

 

The kids loved meeting all their favorite Disney Jr. friends.  Jake had a little crush on Harper!

 

Buzz and Woody were also a huge hit although you can't tell with Jackson's pouty face

 

 

The kids loved meeting the Star Wars characters.  The nightly Star Wars laser light/firework show is a must!  It is over the top amazing!  A must see!

 We had lunch at the drive in movies.  Something I remember doing as a kid every time we visited Disney World. 

 I would also highly recommend the Frozen Sing along show.  It was so funny and it snows at the end! 

We were also able to track down the Chip and Dale

 On our 4th full day we were off to Epcot

We ate breakfast at Akershus with our favorite Disney princesses. One of my favorite character meals of the week!  Jackson seemed to have a little crush on Snow White (major eye batting going on) and Mason had a little thing for Ariel (the only princess he would take a picture with).

 

 We also met Anna and Elsa in their Arendelle home

 This was as close as M would get at first

Then his shyness started wearing off and he was ready to meet Elsa and Anna

After our morning full of princesses, we spent the afternoon doing some rides and exploring the countries of the world. 

 

 

On our final day in Disney World we went back to Magic Kingdom.  Starting and ending the trip at Magic Kingdom was perfect.  The kids rode all their favorite rides multiple times and met the last few characters on their list.

We started the morning at breakfast with Pooh and friends.  We met all of Pooh's friends but were too eager to get back to the rides to wait for Pooh to make it to our table :)

 Jackson's absolute favorite ride was splash mountain.  While he road multiple times Harper and Mason had fun filling Magic Kingdom with bubbles

 

For lunch we ate at the Beast's castle which was pretty cool, would have been even better had we met the beast!

 

 Later in the afternoon we went back to the hotel for an afternoon poolside!  Our backs and feet needed some pool and hot tub time.  Then later that night, Tyler and I surprised Jackson by taking him back to Magic Kingdom to ride Splash Mountain.  We rode three times, got completely soaked and ended the night with the happiest (and most tired) 5 year old boy!

Well that is a wrap!  We had 5 fabulous days at Disney with the kids and Nana and Grandpa.  We could not have done it without them.  Grandpa was the official stroller pusher and parker which was a HUGE help and Nana was always there to help with the kids!  So grateful to not be outnumbered for the week.  We walked over 50 miles in 5 days.  First trip we actually lost weight on.  We made tons of memories, laughed a lot, spent an entire week of quality time with the munchkins, spoiled them rotten and watched the true magic of Disney memorize the kids.  Can't wait to go back, until then I will look at our pics non-stop and listen to the kids tell stories about their super fun trip!