DisneyWorld: Day 3

Wednesday was our 3rd day in Florida. We thought the girls would enjoy the day at Animal Kingdom. Again, we arrived at the park just as it opened so were able to catch the opening show with Mickey Mouse and friends.  For the whole trip, it was hard prioritizing rides, characters, and shows. So we thought we'd try Kilimanjaro Safari first since that ride had an average wait of an hour or more later in the day. Lucky for us, we had to wait like 20 minutes! In this ride, we sat in a open air vehicle and took us out through an African safari. We saw elephants, giraffes, wart hogs, baboons, hippos, lions, zebras, crocodiles, and a few others. It was kind of weird that there really wasn't a fence between us and the animals. Thank goodness we were high up!

The next thing we thought we'd do was meet a few Disney characters. The main ones were at this park- Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Miss Bunny. Leah did a great job meeting most of them. She's usually not a shy girl but didn't have many words when she met characters. Maybe she had to take it all in! Leah was most excited for Pocahontas. It was like a scavenger hunt trying to find her! We hopped on a train which took us to another part of the park then finally found her. Leah was speechless. Pocahontas commented on how she liked Leah's animal print dress. In that same area, she met a couple more characters- Jimney Cricket and Meeko (Pocahontas's friend).

 We took a short break afterwards and went to the petting zoo. Leah has come a long way in being comfortable with various animals. Last year, she was real hesitant on petting farm animals but now doesn't even think about it. She was in there brushing goats, petting sheep, and even hugging them. After the girls got their fill on the farm animals, we were starting to get hungry.  We ate lunch at this little pizza place called Pizzafari. Delicious food! It was so nice having this dining program included on our vacation package. With this we got one quick service (lunch type foods), one table service (sit down restaurants), and 2 snacks each day. Plus it all included desserts! So needless to say, we ate really good!

Next thing on the agenda was to see a show. We heard Lion King was really good. Our wait probably ended up being 40 minutes but was well worth it. It was indoor plus air conditioning, which was nice since it was like 85 degrees that day. Both girls were on the edge of their seats during the entire show- was maybe 25 minutes long. It was fun seeing the girls dance to the music and being so happy.

We took the shuttle bus back to our hotel to take a quick break. We had another show to get to for supper that evening called "Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show". We took the monorail to get to the Polynesian Resort where this show took place. When we got there, we all received lei's to wear. Of course, the girls LOVED this. Leah wanted to wear hers more as a sash. Always has to be different! Our food was great, again! It was family style- oven roasted chicken, barbeque ribs, rice, salad, honey bread, and yummy dessert- chocolate mousse! During the dinner, we watched various types of Hawaiian/Polynesian dances. They even brought all of the kids on stage to do a dance! Ellie (Leah's friend) was on the edge of her seat the entire show but Leah ended up falling asleep the last 20 minutes. She never does this so must have been REALLY tired! Both girls were pretty wiped out the end of the show and on the ride back to the hotel. It was a very memorable day!

DisneyWorld: Day 2

    The 2nd day we were there we went to Magic Kingdom. Leah and Ellie could hardly wait to finally see the castle! We rode our shuttle bus to get there, which took about 20 minutes. They even thought riding the bus was fun. It was cute seeing them sit next to each other, wearing matching jean jackets and eating their breakfast. Whoops- we weren't supposed to eat on the bus. Oh well! We got to the park right as it opened so were lucky enough to see the opening show. It started with a train coming then out popped a bunch of people including Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Jasmine, Aladdin, Chip and Dale, Tiana, Naveen, Alice, and a few others. They did a song and dance, which was really cool. Took a few pictures of it. Then they opened the doors and in we were.          

    First stop- meet Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. Got lucky again- were one of the first in line and later heard it was a 2 hour wait! I'd have to say Rapunzel's meet and greet was my favorite. They took about 20 girls in at a time, then they'd set each one up with some paper and crayons to color during the wait. Next, Rapunzel and Flynn came out to say hello and then did a dance with them around the table. After that we waited about 15 minutes to get their autograph and a picture with them. Leah was stunnned to meet her and kept feeling her hair while she was talking to Leah. Of course, she got a little shy but understandable- she's a princess! Being the excited mom I am, got a little choked up seeing my daughter's dreams come true!

    Next we decided to take a character break and go on some rides. Leah wasn't brave enough yet to ride on Dumbo, which Ellie did. Instead, we chose something a little easier- It's a Small World ride. Easy enough! Leah thought all the things in there were cool and liked the idea of being in a boat! It was a special mother/daughter moment. We checked out a few shops after that. Then Leah spotted Cinderella's stepsisters in the street along with the stepmother! They were fun to see, being in character and all!

    We met up again with her friend, Ellie and ate some lunch and then were off to meet Ariel and Eric. It was a longer wait this time but totally worth it. It's so special to see the awe in your daughters eyes when they say her name and take that special time with them. Eric noticed he wasn't in her autograph book- whoops! After that, we caught the last part of their street parade. Being the parade lover Leah is, had an awesome time. She was dancing and staring at all of the characters. We saw Woody and Jesse, Goofy, Mickey, Baloo, Donald and some others. Then it was time for a hotel break. The girls were beat and took a 2 hour nap! While they napped, we had a mommy drink outside our room!

     When they woke up, we were off to Magic Kingdom again; this time to meet Cinderella in her castle! The girls wore their own princess dress for the night. Everyone at the park even treated them like princesses by bowing to them and calling them princess. So cute! We had made reservations to eat at Cinderella's Royal Table in the castle and with that you get to meet her and 4 other princesses- Aurora, Belle, Ariel, and Snow White. It was totally worth it! The food was wonderful and each of the princesses spent about 5 minutes with the girls. They were all in character- spoke in a higher tone of voice and had the body language. Again, it was another tearful moment seeing Leah meet Cinderella. She's one of her favorite princesses, probably every girls. Leah hugged her so tight, it looked like she couldn't breathe!

    After the dinner, we went on a few rides including It's a Small World, Snow White, Cinderella's Carousel, and the Mad Tea Party (Leah didn't ride that one- a little too much). It was surreal seeing the fireworks and the castle change colors at night. The staff at the parks even blow bubbles at the kids! It truly is a magical place!

DisneyWorld: Day 1

Day 1:
       As most of you know, Leah and I went on a trip to DisneyWorld with a friend of mine and her daughter. We thought this was a trip they'd love right now being as into princesses as they are. Who knows when that will wear off! So we decided to go for it!
        We ended up staying at an airport hotel the night before we left just because of the snowy weather we had. I had to admit that I was worried if our plane was even going to fly out that morning but sure enough, it left 10 minutes late! Leah did great getting on the plane, chewing her gum, watching her movie, and keeping herself occupied with her friend Ellie. She was even laughing as the plane took off and landed. She said she could see daddy outside the window in his truck once we flew over Florida!

        Once we landed, we got onto the Disney shuttle bus to take us to our hotel. The bus was luxiourious! A lot more comfy than the plane. It was playing Disney music and couldn't really understand a word our Cuban busdriver spoke but was exciting! Ellie fell asleep on the bus ride to the hotel but Leah was too pumped about everything. She was busy watching the video our bus played about DisneyWorld and looking out the window.
         When we arrived at our hotel, we decided to take it easy the rest of the day. The girls went swimming, we picked up our stroller rentals, and ate at the hotel buffet- yummy! Our hotel was awesome! It was called Coronodo Springs Resort and had a mexican style to it. As big as it was, you couldn't tell it was busy there since it's so spread out. The girls even picked fallen flowers from all of the flower trees there! No way, did I miss the snow! We probably ended up going to bed around 9pm that night! We were beat and excited for the next day!