DisneyWorld: Day 5 (Last Day)

The last day we were in Florida. We weren't quite sure which park we should have went to. The girls really  wanted to see Tinkerbell and the fairies yet but weren't 100% sure which park they were in. Jessica and I had asked around earlier in the week and heard 2 different answers. She was told that they were in Hollywood Studios and I was told they were at Epcot. Such decisions! So we had a late start and were pressed for time as we had to leave the resort around 3pm to catch our bus to take us to the airport. So we were at the bus stop trying to decide which park to go and decided to take a chance and whichever bus was next, would be the park we will finish our vacation at. Spontaneous, huh? Sure enough, it was the Hollywood Studio bus so we hopped on and were on our way.

Hollywood Studios was pretty cool, not as big as Magic Kingdom but fun and different at the same time. My opinion, it's for older kids and adults but we found some things the girls liked. We saw a cool street parade and dance from some Disney Channel show. The girls were pretty glued to that and were both dancing. Then we heard that Buzz and Woody from Toy Story were at the park so wanted to meet them as both girls really love that movie. When we reached that area of the park, we saw quite a few of those toy army guys in the street. One minute they'd be still as can be, then we'd walk by and would move. Didn't think they were real! So we got a few pictures taken with them. This was the longest wait, by far, for the entire vacation. My estimate is that we waited about 2 hours in line to meet Buzz and Woody. At least during the wait, there was cool things to look at and do. There was various picture posing stations along the way designed as different scenes in Toy Story. One was the bedroom scene, another was pretending to be in a box, another was being strapped to a rocket and so on. The girls really didn't complain in line but knew they were getting tired. Once they met them, the wait was worth it. It's nice that they get to spend at least 3-5 minutes with them- talking and dancing. Buzz had to quick 'get his batteries changed' so luckily they got to spend more time with Woody then while they were waiting. 

After that, we had to have some lunch and did a little shopping. We also found some Monsters Inc. characters- Sully and Mike. Leah was a little timid of them, being so tall. They weren't able to sign their books but got some cute pictures. Leah said Sully was really hairy and soft. Time seemed too short at this park but had to catch that bus back. Once we were back at our resort, we took a nice walk around to remember everything- pool, beach, flower trees, pond and bridge. We also played at the park for an hour or so while us moms had a Pina Colada! We could tell the girls were sad to leave but were ready to get back to see the boys. 

They were both excited to hop back on the airplane. They waved goodbye to Disney and said 'See you later'. They kept busy on the plane with coloring, watching movies, and of course, sleeping. We got back to Minneapolis around 9pm and were happy to see daddy and Jackson. These will be such wonderful will memories to share with my little girl. I feel so grateful that we went on this trip. It's hard to spend good, quality time with each kid I have now that we have two. So this week being with Leah, I felt that I learned even more about her and am going to cherish these memories. She's such a fun, happy, funny little girl andalways love her. We'll be back in a few Disney!

Kids Update

It's been a little while since we've posted about what our kids have been up to so I'll try and think here. I'll start with Jackson. His new milestones have been- crawling (still prefers scooting but is getting fast at crawling), saying 3 words (mama, dada, all done), signing (more, puppy, mom, dad), waving hi/bye, throwing balls, and shaking his head "no". Seems like his favorite thing to say is 'a da' for 'all done'. He follows his big sis everywhere. Most of the time she loves it but not when she's focused on something then she'll yell at him. For the most part, Jax is a pretty happy boy wherever he is. He's really into playing ball, cars, trucks, books, knocking things over, and following the dog or Leah. Typical boy!

Leah's newest thing is being able to write her name and Jackson's nickname. We're so proud she can do this! When we first started teaching her how to write, she got so frustrated and would give up so easily but now is writing all of the time. She still plays with the same old toys- princess, Barbies, baby, and dress up. She now attends Sunday School at our old church in Belle Plaine. We are happier at this church being a younger population and they have more to offer for kids. She once told us that a this character in a movie was baptized and died and went to heaven. Cute! Then another time, we asked her what she learned in Sunday School and she said about the 'american woman' then we were thinking to ourselves- oh- you mean 'Samaritan Woman'! She will begin soccer this spring, once dance is over. Her last dance performance is April 30th then onto something different for the spring. She sure has been enjoying dance. The songs she will be dancing to at the spring show are- 'Pretty Woman' and 'Tigger ABC's'. Both are very fun! We also have her registered for preschool starting in the fall. She'll be going everyday for a couple hours each day. Can't believe how quick that went. She's so excited for it. The bus will pick her up from daycare and take her back. Can't get any better than that!

We just got both their pictures done so will post them soon! Jenny did them and look awesome!

DisneyWorld: Day 4

Thursday was our 4th day in Florida. As I can recall, it was probably 60 degrees that morning then got to be like 83 degrees later that day. I gave Leah a choice this day on either going to see the ocean or going to Magic Kingdom again. All before this trip, Leah kept talking about building sandcastles and finding seashells. So for sure I thought she'd choose the beach (was kind of hoping she would) but she wanted to go and see the castle again. So I just went along with it since this was her special trip.

So that morning, we went off in search of finding Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen. We got lucky again and were like the 3rd people in line so only had to wait 10 minutes. Leah was so excited to see this princess as she's one of her top 3 favorites. I couldn't keep track of all the hugs she gave her and the prince. They even commented on the beautiful flower in her hair. Leah loved that. We also met Lady Tremain (Cinderella's stepmother) and the Fairy Godmother. Another special princess we had to meet was Jasmine and Aladdin. Genie made a surprise visit, which we heard is pretty rare! I'd have to say Leah warmed up to Jasmine the most out of all the princesses. Again, she probably gave them 3 or more hugs! Then Leah got daring and decided to ride on the Magic Carpet Ride located near the princess. The wait was kind of long this time but well worth seeing Leah's reaction and bravery. She was full of laughs as the ride went around and up and down. We even got spit on by one of the camels (pretend, of course).

 After all of that fun, we needed a break from all of the crowds so went back to our hotel. Since it was such a beautiful day, we went to the pool. Leah and Ellie played for awhile then they had to go to their dinner reservation. Leah and I stayed behind at the pool. Being the little social bee she is, she met a little girl named Olivia. They really hit it off at the kiddie pool and played for quite some time. Olivia was 3 and followed Leah everyone and copied her every move. Found out she was from Arkansas and had a cute accent! We also played in the sand for awhile. Figured she better get her fill before coming back to cold Minnesota! It was cute seeing Leah's first time in a hammock. She was full of giggles!

 That evening, we had a quick supper back at the Magic Kingdom at a sandwich cafe. We wanted to make sure not to miss their night lights parade! Leah wore her little princess again. Why not, we're at Magic Kingdom? We found a great spot for the parade. The family we sat by were from Massachusetts. Leah was a little leary of the boy next to her, which was dressed up like a pirate with a skeleton face. His sister was about Leah's age and explained to her it was just make-up and pretend. He even did a pirate sword salute to her! Pretty cute! I'd have to say this seemed to be one of Leah's favorites on our trip. She's a huge parade lover and was really into it. We saw all kinds of characters including- Snow White and 7 Dwarfs, Cinderella, Alice, and tons of others. Afterwards, we were supposed to meet up with Ellie but she got tired and they headed back. Leah and I wanted to do a few night rides before saying goodbye to the castle. So we rode Cinderella's Carousel and Dumbo. Then Leah seemed tired so we headed out. We took a few more pictures of the purple lit castle and said "See you in a few years" and headed back to get some sleep.

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!