For those of you that don't want to hear about yet another Disney vacation - skip this entry and go to the next for the pictures., it is long.
We just got back from our family vacation. We went just me, Barrett, Elena & Landon. We met Tina, Mike, Gabe, Ms. Tony & Mr. Mike up there but we didn't see them but maybe three times the entire trip.
This was the best family vacation we have had in a long time. Although it was a little long, it was great. We focused on the kids. Thank goodness Landon takes naps everyday. If not, Barrett may not have been nearly as fun. Landon and Barrett went back to the room everyday after lunch for a quick nap and then returned to the park all refreshed and recooped. Elena and I stayed at the park to ride rides and see characters without them.
We left home Saturday night around 9pm. We drove all night and got to Disney World around 7am Sunday. We checked in, had breakfast, and made it to the park for opening. We stayed in Magic Kingdom until time for our first scheduled Character Meal. We met up with Tina and them for a late lunch at Chef Mickey's. This was a great meal. The kids had a ball. Landon was not particularly fond of the characters. He was great until they looked at him like they were possibly going to interact with him. Then he would scream. After this meal, we all went back to the hotel for a nap because we were exhausted. Magic Kingdom had extra magic hours this night so we went back to the park after nap and rode it out until about 11pm.
On Monday, we went to Hollywood Studios. We saw all kinds of great shows this day and rode a couple of rides. We had lunch with Playhouse Disney characters. Again we met up with everyone else for our lunch. The kids seemed to enjoy this meal. By this time, Landon was loving the characters. I guess he thought they were big stuffed animals. He seemed to not be able to get enough of them. We let the kids play a little on the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground. After this, we went back to the hotel to swim and rest for the night.
Tuesday was Animal Kingdom. We woke up early and went to Animal Kingdom where we had a safari breakfast scheduled with Donald and Daisy. This breakfast was 40 minutes late so we just sat around most of the morning waiting. Once the breakfast started though, it was great. The kids got to see Mickey, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy. The breakfast was delicious so if anyone has a chance to try it, they should. After breakfast we headed over to the safari ride. Everyone loved this ride. I think this is the only ride the entire trip that we all did together. It looked like they were doing a little bit of refurb on this ride because there was a lot of netting around certain areas. The kids napped just after this ride so Me, Barrett, Tina & Mike darted over to Expedition Everest while Ms. Tony & Mr. Mike watched our sleeping babies. This was the only adult ride we got to ride the entire trip. After that we went over and let the kids play in the dinosaur section and then we headed to the hotel. We all took a short nap because this night was our busy night. We had a halloween party scheduled at the Magic Kingdom. We all got dressed up. We went in theme. Barrett was Captain Hook, I was Wendy, Elena was Tinkerbell, and Landon was Peter Pan. In my opinion, we were precious. Tina and her clan did theme as well. Tina was Snow White, Mike was Dopey, and Gabe was Grumpy. They went one step up and made all of their costumes. They were so freaking cute. I was totally impressed with them. This night was fun. We did a lot of trick-or-treating, a lot of characters, and a lot of riding. There were hardly any lines for anything except pictures with Snow White. She was there with all seven dwarves. Her line was well over an hour long. Barrett and Landon left after the Halloween parade and Elena and I stayed until the park closed at midnight. We had a ball. We got our faces painted, danced with characters, played in the playground and lots of other stuff. We had a great time, however, Wednesday came early.
Wednesday, I think, was our best day of the entire trip. We had lots of great things planned. We woke up on Wednesday and knew we were going to Epcot. But we told Elena that we were going to do a little shopping first. We went to Downtown Disney and the first thing we saw pulling into the parking lot was 3 little girls all dressed up leaving to go with their parents. Elena squealed about how much they looked like princesses and she wished she could be a princess too. We didn't say anything to that. We just walked around like we were shopping. Barrett took her off a little ways and I went into the magical Bibbiti Boppidi Boutique to check in. I told her Fairy Godmother that this was a surprise and she didn't know we were there for that. The Fairy Godmother took her dress, shoes, and crown and laid it out in the dressing chamber. Then she walked out of the store onto the sidewalk and announced that the Fairy Godmother was looking for Princess Elena. Once she found Princess Elena she told her that she had a suprise and was summoned to find her and turn her into a princess. To me, this was great. Elena was super excited but totally nervous at the same time. She had no idea what to expect. She was transformed right there by her very own fairy godmother. She loved it and definitely wants to do this again. After the dressup time, she went to her very own photo studio where they did a photo shoot on her all dressed up. She was so freaking cute. After all of this excitement, we did go to Epcot where we had dinner scheduled with all of the princesses. Elena wanted them to see her all dressed up so she stayed in costume the entire day. We rode rides and did lots of other great stuff before our dinner. Now dinner was a whole different story. While Elena enjoyed all of the pretty princesses and their fawning over her, Landon was IN LOVE! I have never seen him get so excited. As soon as the first princess made her way to our table, he literally crawled out of his high chair and completely over me to get to Cinderella. He got kissed by all of the princesses and was loving it. He couldn't smile and wave and charm them enough. I literally had to leave the restaurant after the last princess came through because my son was flipping out that he couldn't get to them anymore. So between these two experiences of the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and the princesses, this was the highlight of our trip.
Thursday was back to Magic Kingdom for rides, rides, rides. This is, by far, the kids favorite park. They can literally ride all day without stopping. Especially on the off season like now. The only line we waited in was to see Tinkerbell at Pixie Hollow. We waited over an hour to see her while Barrett and Landon were napping. Elena really wanted to see the fairies, so we waited. She made friends with a little boy in line and they played snowboarding on the iphone while time passed. When Landon and Barrett came back, we had dinner at the Crystal Palace with Pooh and friends. We try to do this meal all of the time because it is such a laid back environment and the kids really enjoy it. We got to see Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore. Elena loved Piglet and Landon loved Tigger. Tigger would not leave our table. Eeyore literally had to move him out of the way so that he could have his turn. Tigger loved all of the kisses Landon gave him. Elena got knocked down by Eeyore. They were doing a dance around and when it was over Eeyore headed back to his table. Those guys can't see out of the bottom of those costumes. Elena jumped right in front of him and he ran over her. He felt terrible but she was fine. After dinner, we watched the parade and rode more rides. Then back to the hotel for bed.
Friday was Elena's tea party day. We didn't do anything in the morning except a little shopping and sleeping in. At 2 o'clock Elena had a tea party scheduled with Alice in Wonderland. It was just for children so the parents just dropped them off and then had to wait an hour to pick them up. It was set up so cute. It was a very long, child size table set up in tea party theme. That is all I know. All Elena talked about was the clown (Mad Hatter). She thought he was hilarious. I don't know if we will do this experience again or not. I can't say it was worth the money. They gave her a small bouquet of garden flowers, a cupcake, and a cheap plastic mug. She did get a picture but it was not even good quality. She liked it though, so I guess we will see when she gets a little older if this is an experience she will want to do again. After the tea party, we went over to Epcot and rode a few rides then had dinner in Germany at Biergarten. This is one of our favorite non-character meals. The food is always awesome and the dinner show is great. They always have a live band performing typical German singing and dancing. They even have a dance floor that people can go out and dance on. Elena and I did a little dancing during the meal. The kids ate like pigs, like they couldn't get enough. I bet Landon ate 10 sausages by himself. After our dinner, we headed back to the hotel for our last sleep at Disney World because we had a VERY early morning the next day.
Saturday we had to be in Magic Kingdom for 7:30 which meant we had to catch the 6:45 bus. We had breakfast scheduled in the castle. This was the first time we did this and I don't know yet how I feel about it. The environment and the atmosphere was beautiful. Let me start at the beginning of the morning, the best part. We got to go into Magic Kingdom 1.5 hours before the park even opened. We got pictures on Main Street with noone else in the background. The kids took pictures going to the castle and they are priceless. Elena is all dressed up in her Cinderella costume walking up the castle ramp all by herself. She looks like she is going home. Anyway, we get to the castle and go in to take a picture with Cinderella. Then we are escorted up the stairs to the dining room. It was beautiful. The breakfast, however, was definitely not worth the money. It was rushed and the princesses flew through. We barely even got to say hello. Elena was given a wand and Landon was given a sword but they were so cheaply made that they rattle when you shake them. I just wasn't totally impressed with this experience. It was nice to do, but I don't know how many times I will spend that money again. After breakfast, we rode a few more rides and then headed back to the hotel for our long, long ride home.
Overall, we had a great trip. We all had a good time. We were ready to come home though. 7 days in Disney World is a lot. Next time we will make our trip a little shorter and not try to squeeze so much into it. Sorry for the long post but I had a lot to tell about. Pictures will follow. I will try to break them up into days.
