A Most Magical Vacation

We have been planning our 1st trip to Disney for many months. We felt that the kids were at perfect ages to enjoy all that Disney had to offer. We had been saving our Disney Rewards (from our credit card) for years now and had accumulated enough points to pay for 4 days at the parks. It was time to make the trip.




Every time I mentioned that we were going to Disney to someone who had already been there they would always get so excited and animated when they talked about it (I swear there was a twinkle in their eyes). I must say that I didn't get it. After reading up on all of the Disney touring 'advice' & 'strategies' I was actually feeling a little stressed about going. Could it really be that 'magical'? Was there really 'no place like it on earth'? See, my kids were never big fans of Mickey, Minnie, Donald etc. Sami is the only one in the family that is a HUGE fan of the Disney princesses. Kaelyn even told me before we went that she was going to hit Minnie when she saw her. I wasn't really sure what to expect and I don't think the the kids did either.



We spent the first day of our vacation just hanging out at the hotel and waiting for my parents to arrive. While it was only about 65 degrees outside the kids apparently thought that was the perfect temperature to go swimming.

While the kids didn't seem to mind the temperature I was sitting in a lounge chair in my jeans, long sleeve shirt and jacket. I did enjoy the sun beating down on my face though!

After my parents arrived we headed over to Downtown Disney for a little dinner and a little bit of souvenir shopping. The kids had saved their Christmas money and were ready to spend it!

Here is a picture of the kids standing outside of the LEGO store. This sea monster is made entirely of LEGOs....


The kids had so much fun shopping. The toy and clothing store here was humongous! The kids thought it was the best thing ever. I was quite surprised when the girls both picked out Minnie ears.




These characters were outside of the entrance to the stores.



We were up early the next day to make our way over to the Magic Kingdom. We were all excited! Here we are waiting to get in.


Once we got in we were all in awe. Sami was so excited to see Cinderella's Castle in front of us!


After snapping a few pictures in front of the castle we knew exactly where we were going first...the DUMBO ride! The girls have been talking about the Dumbo ride for weeks so we knew it had to be the first stop.

Next up was "It's A Small World". The girls absolutely loved this ride! All of the dancing characters and the singing. I think it ranked up there as one of their favorites.

One thing that I didn't think the kids would want to do was meet any of the characters. So, it surprised me that they kept asking to meet all of the characters. First up was Ariel (of course, Brolan & Ian took off for this one)...

Next up was Mickey & Minnie....I have to say that the whole family was excited to meet them. Mickey shook everybody's hand and Minnie kissed the boys. The girls thought it was funny that Minnie kissed their Daddy. And I'm happy to report that Kaelyn did not hit Minnie!

My parents met up with us later in the day and we took in a little show in front of the castle.

Then we took a little tour of Tomorrowland on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (my mom referred to this ride as the 'old peoples' ride.

One of the rides that Sami likes to talk about the most is the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' ride. It is a boat ride through different scenes of a pirate raid and of course includes Captain Jack Sparrow. She loves to tell everyone how it is dark and in the middle of the ride when you are not expecting it there is a little hill that you go down. It was so much fun to hear here tell her version of all of the rides. Here are the kids waiting to get on the Pirates ride.

The kids really got into all of the rides and all of the characters. All of a sudden my kids were in love with Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy (big surprise, I know). Ian even had to buy a pair of Mickey's gloves.
We finished out the night by staying to watch the fireworks at the castle. And what better way to end the evening then with cotton candy and a giant sucker (thanks to Grandma)! Magic Kingdom truly was a 'magical' place. The kids absolutely loved it! It was so fun to be able to experience it all through their eyes. We didn't get to see or do everything we wanted on this day so we were glad we were going back on Friday.


Tuesday was a day dedicated to Animal Kingdom. I successfully convinced my parents that they had to be there early so we could get on the safari ride. While waiting for them to arrive we headed on over to Dinoland to ride on a few rides like TriceraTop Spin & the Primeval Whirl...



Once my parents arrived we rendezvoused at the 'Tree of Life' in the heart of the Animal Kingdom....




And then we headed over to the safari ride where we all got on board a big jeep and headed out into the plains of Africa. This was definitely a highlight of this park. We got to see all kinds of animals like giraffes...



And elephants...just to name a few.


And Brolan took this cool picture of a tree that looks like it is growing upside down.
These pictures were taken on the Pangani Forest Exploration Trails...





Animal Kingdom was a beautiful park filled with lots of animals and lush greenery. Disney definitely spares no expense when it comes to all the little details. We managed to fit in 2 shows at Animal Kingdom, 'Festival of the Lion King' and 'Finding Nemo the Musical'. They were both fantastic shows but the kids favorite was definitely Finding Nemo.

We also managed to meet Donald while we were here.

Here are a few more pictures of us in by the 'Tree of Life'....


And with our friend Flick from 'A Bug's Life'.

It was another 'magical' day at Animal Kingdom!

Wednesday was the day we went over to Hollywood Studios. We were told by many and warned in a book that I had read that the new 'Toy Story Mania' ride was THE new ride here. You either needed to ride it first or get a FASTPASS immediately upon entering the park.. So, we got to the park before it opened and strategically positioned ourselves for a mad sprint over to the ride (which happened to be near the back of the park, of course). It was almost comical to watch the mad dash of crazy families trying to get to this ride (us being one of them). When we got to the ride it was packed with people. We decided to take our chances and get in line to ride. At least Disney knows how to keep everybody entertained in line...

Mr. Potato Head was telling jokes and interacting with the crowds passing by. It turned out we only had to wait 20 minutes to get on the ride and it definitely didn't dissapoint. Everybody had a blast one this one. We would have loved to have rode it again but by the time that we got out of the ride the wait was already over 70 minutes! And we were moving on...

The girls and I took in the 'Voyage of the Little Mermaid' show while the boys 'conveniently' had to go to the bathroom. Once we got out of that show a bunch of characters were hanging out in the main courtyard. The kids picked getting into the line to meet Chip N Dale...

The kids also got their picture taken with the Cars characters.

Another highlight for the kids was riding on the 'Star Tours' simulator ride. It was based on Star Wars so Ian thought it was the coolest! My parents even liked this ride.

And Brolan & I also rode this thing...

Where you are dropped down an elevator shaft...and then shot back up...and then dropped again...and then shot back up...and dropped again...I gripped Brolan's arm and screamed the whole time. Even funnier than imagining that scenario was that while we were on the 'Tower of Terror' my parents and the kids went to the Beauty and the Beast musical. Why is that funny you ask? Well, because it was torture for Ian the whole time. My mom said that he sat slouched in his seat with the map over his head the whole time. I'm not sure what my mom enjoyed more the musical or watching Ian.

It was a cold day at the park (it never made it out of the 50s) so we were ready to call it quits around dinner time. Still, it was another 'magical' day!


On Thursday my parents left for Naples to visit my aunt and uncle while we were having a day off from the parks. It was meant to be a sleep in, low key day. Unfortunately, Ian came into our room at 6am and starting throwing up. He ended up being down for the count for the entire day. I felt so bad for him but I was thankful that this wasn't happening at one of the parks. I'm glad he was able to take the day and stay in bed. I ended up taking the girls back to Downtown Disney for the afternoon to do a little shopping and walking around. We were sure to bring Ian back a few souvenirs to make him feel better. Here are a few pictures from our day.

Our final day was back at the Magic Kingdom. This was our day to go on the rides that we didn't get to on Monday and to go back to some of our favorites. The highlights from this day included the whole family riding Big Thunder Moutain roller coaster

Sami getting to meet Alice and the rabbit. Alice was such a sweet girl. She spent a lot of time talking to Sami and asking her questions.

While Brolan took Ian & Kaelyn on Space Mountain Sami & I rode on the Teacups.

By the end of the week we were all exhausted...

But I truly wasn't ready to go home. I could have stayed a few more days. I now can truly say that 'I get it' and that there really isn't any place like it on earth. It was so fun to experience it through the kid's eyes and as '1st timers'. Maybe the next time you ask me about Disney you just might see a little twinkle in my eye!