Here is our first "official" glimpse at Disney World on our way to Disney Springs!
Disney Springs has changed a LOT since the last time I was there and was super crowded with mostly high end stores that were not very kid friendly, so we didn't stay long. Plus is was pretty cold! I just wanted to get to bed so we could wake up and go to the Magic Kingdom!
I was super impressed that when we arrived at the Pop Century Resort a little after 8 a.m. that our room was ready for us! Disney is such a class act! After checking in and "moving in" to the room, we jumped on the bus and headed to the Magic Kingdom!!!
The park was very crowded when we first walked in. As we rolled down Main Street amid the crowd, we could see Lilly's face light up as she saw Cinderella's castle ahead! She has seen the castle so many times in pictures and in the beginning of Disney movies, but this was true magic! We had to stop and commemorate the moment.
Jack was also incredibly impressed by the castle...
Jack woke up when we took him out of the stroller and he was very interested in the the pirate ambiance as we waited in the very short line.
Family selfie! We were all very excited for our first ride in Disney World together! Lilly loved the ride! She asked me several times if we would get wet and I told her we wouldn't. Then the first thing we see is the illusion of a waterfall with a projection of Captain Barbosa on it! The boat moves right into it. Lilly ducked her head under me even though I assured her it wasn't a real waterfall, only mist. There was a small drop that I wasn't sure she would like, but she squealed "Whoo-hoo!" while gripping my hand and loved it! The rest of the ride we spent pointing out all of the funny pirates and animals along the way and singing along with the "Yo-hos!" It was the perfect way to begin her first Disney Trip!
We all rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin next. Lilly was very excited that she was able to "drive" the carpet since our seat controlled how high the carpet went. She insisted that we go as high as possible and stay that high the entire time. She held the controller the whole time to make sure we didn't get any lower and she LOVED the feeling of flying!
We then headed to Fantasyland (the new part that I had never been to!) for our first FastPass to meet Ariel at her Grotto. This was Lilly's first time meeting a princess so we were very excited!
When she actually got to meet Ariel she was very shy at first. You can see in the picture that she was twirling her hair and seemed a bit nervous. The magic of Disney is just so incredible because Lilly was so starstruck meeting Ariel! I love that the Disney characters not only look the part perfectly, but they act the part perfectly. Ariel called Lilly her little "guppie" and asked her to "swim on over". It was adorable! When we told Ariel that she was the first Princess Lilly had ever met, she drew a few extra bubbles by her name in Lilly's autograph book, which was very sweet.
This perfectly captures the joy Lilly felt meeting Ariel and how magical this experience was!
Meeting the characters is also fun for adults! I wanted to get some pictures with the characters as well, and to make sure Jack got the experience as well, even if he won't remember it because we sure will!
After meeting Ariel it was time for our appointment at the Bippity Boppity Boutique in Cinderella's Castle!!! I don't know who was more excited for this, me or Lilly! Ok, she may have been more excited than me, but I was SO EXCITED! In truth, it's an expense and I am not normally a spender, I am a saver. But I decided before we left that there were a few things we would splurge on and this was one of them!
The place was PACKED when we got there! Adorable little girls (and a few boys!) were waiting for their makeover and 15-20 salon chairs were filled with princesses being transformed by a small army of "fairy godmothers." They had a great system to give everyone their time and attention, but also be efficient.
This is a "before" shot of Lilly in her dress (which we brought with us and I highly recommend doing so for anyone considering this option).
Another "fairy godmother" came and did her "makeup" and let her pick colors from a cute little pallet (which she ALSO got to keep)
As the person who is tasked with doing Lilly's hair (when she will let me), I was impressed at how Marisol (our fairy godmother) was able to manage Lilly's fine hair and she sculpted it perfectly!
They also let her pick a sticker gem for her face and then let her keep the rest of them to use later :-)
Here is a video of the "final" touches!
I am tearing up as I look at these pictures because the joy on Lilly's face and the magic that was created for her in this experience is just so precious. I will never forget this and though I know she is young, I hope she will remember this and can hold on to this magic for a long time.
Look at our little princess sitting so pretty!
After Lilly's makeover we stayed in Fantasyland and watched Mickey's Philharmagic 3-D movie. Lilly loved it! She loved all of the music and different characters, and reaching her little hands out to try to touch Tinkerbelle flying toward her or the Sorcerer's hat swirling in the air above our heads. It was awesome!
My parents arrived shortly after and we were SO excited to see them and share this incredible experience with them! My mom and I have a very special Disney bond. We used to go together (just the two of us) every year while I was in college and one year after. We both love Disney, so to be able to share Lilly's first Disney trip with my mom and stepdad was amazing!
The Disney photographer who captured the next few pictures did an AMAZING job! How cute are the kids in these pictures!?!?
What does Cinderella do in Fantasyland? She rides Prince Charming's carousel of course! While we were waiting in line, Lilly was pointing out all of the different horses she wanted to ride. I told her we would do our best, and luckily we were some of the first on so she go to pick any horse she wanted. I was excited when she asked me to ride with her instead of next to her. She is growing up so fast so I am going to treasure every moment she wants to be my little girl!
Daddy and Jack Jack rode together as well and Jack loved the Carousel! Luckily this one doesn't go quite as fast the one at Pullen Park (NC people know what I am talking about!)
After that we used our FastPass to see Enchanted Tales with Belle. The attraction starts by assigning "roles" for different people to play since we were all going to "act out" Belle and Beast meeting for the first time as a surprise for Belle. Lilly was Phillippe the horse. I was very proud of her for volunteering since sometimes she gets very shy and doesn't want to participate in these types of things.
She got to sit right up front by Belle during the entire show, which was great!
Belle lead the "cast" around the room for a little parade!
When the cast member was announcing Lilly at the end of the play, he couldn't hear what she said her name was, so he called her "Princess Kimberly." Lol!
Belle gave out signed bookmarks to all of the participants, but then she handed Lilly about 5 extra ones :-)
After that it was time for our FastPass for the Seven Dwarves Mine Train. This was a new ride that I had never been on. I was told it was similar to Big Thunder Mountain (a mild roller coaster) and since Lilly met the height requirement and insisted on going on, we decided to let her.
She was doing GREAT at first! She held my hand tight, but was giggling and shouting "Whoo-hoo!!" until the ride started to get faster! Then she was a little scared (as you can see by her face in these pictures!) Luckily there is a little break in the middle of the ride where you go through the mine and see all of the dwarves working as you slowly ride by.
Then it was fast again and had a few hills and drops!
No trip to the Magic Kingdom is complete without riding Dumbo the Flying Elephant, so that was our next stop! Jack was sleeping, so my parents stayed with him while Darren and I took Lilly. She was excited to "drive" again and insisted that we stay as high as we could the whole time.
Darren has a flare for the dramatic ;-)
After that we went on the Barnstormer, which is a kid roller coaster. We talked about how this was like a mini version of the Mine Train, and Lilly was excited to go on it. She rode with Darren and I rode right behind them.
She LOVED this ride! It was super short, but a lot of fun!
We had just enough time to go on one more ride before our dinner reservation and Lilly wanted to ride "The Pirate Ride" again, so we went to Pirates of the Caribbean one more time.
We couldn't all get into this selfie, but my parents were riding with us too.
We snapped this picture because now that Lilly was an "expert" on this ride, she was talking to Jack during the beginning and telling him not to worry about the "waterfall" and that it was only a little drop and she was right there. When I looked down, I saw that they were holding hands and my heart just melted!
We left the Magic Kingdom and took the Monorail over to the Grand Floridian resort. The Monorail was super busy so we split up and were in different cars, but we were in a bit of hurry so that was the best we could do.
The Grand Floridian is a gorgeous hotel and huge, but we found 1900 Park Fair and checked in for our reservation.
This was our first character meal experience. Basically the characters walked around the dining room table to table and dinner was buffet style. This was a great concept, but a little tricky with little ones!
Prince Charming was the first to come to our table. I couldn't help but laugh at how SHY Lilly was around him! He was commenting on how she was dressed as Cinderella and how beautiful she looked, and he was very sweet, but Lilly could barely look at him!
This was the best we could do to get a picture!
Anastasia was next and she was a RIOT! She had a nasally character voice and was so silly. She sort of bossed Lilly around and told her how to stand and hold her dress, but Lilly LOVED it!
Then she said she wanted a picture with the "rich people" :)
One thing I loved was that Lilly was very excited about her autograph book. She would make sure it was ready each time she saw a character getting close and she would choose a page that she wanted them to sign.
The Stepmother even comes around for pictures. I love that they stay "in character" even during these meet and greets. It was awesome.
Jack was all dressed up for the occasion :-)
When Cinderella finally came Lilly was shy again :-) You'll see in a lot of her pictures with characters that she holds her hands up to her chin. She was just overwhelmed by how cool this experience was! She was dressed as Cinderella and meeting Cinderella!
It was amazing to see her so excited to meeting Cinderella!
By the time Grisella came around, Lilly was more interested in her food ;-)
After some debate since it was a little cold and getting late, we decided to head back to the park to watch the Fireworks. It was a little chilly but very comfortable. We found a great spot at the end of Main Street near the entrance and only waiting for about 10 minutes before the show started.
Lilly couldn't see from her stroller so I picked her up and held her...the entire time. I would have put her down, but hearing her reaction to the lights, music and fireworks was priceless! She was in complete awe of this amazing show and absolutely loved it! I am so glad that we decided to stay!
Clearly our first day at Disney was a HUGE success because we tired Lilly out so much that she literally fell asleep in Darren's hand on the bis ride home. Jack was sleeping in my arms and Lilly was sleeping in Darren's hand...just adorable!
One day she will hate me for this picture, but today I am posting it! Getting her makeover was amazing, but taking that tight bun DOWN was a new experience for our little princess! Ladies, you know what your head feels like after wearing your hair up for a whole day. Lilly was not used to this and was so upset! She didn't know how to make her head feel better and refused to wash her hair that night like I suggested, so she asked for a wet washcloth to put on her head and then was just so tired that she finally fell asleep. I felt bad, but I couldn't help laughing as well...
The next day we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios. It was a bit of a shaky start because I was trying not to plan the day, and then there were glitches with the Tower of Terror (which was our first FastPass) and the line would have been 45 minutes for FastPass! We didn't want to wait that long, especially since the kids couldn't ride, so we took some pictures instead and then headed over to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid.
As we were waiting for our lunch reservation, one of the MANY Stormtrooper marches went by and distracted Darren. They were calling our table and I was waving my arms like a crazy person trying to get his attention, since they specifically check that all of your party is present when you check in and now he was down the road! lol
Our lunch at Hollywood and Vine was awesome! It was another buffet with Disney Junior characters! Lilly LOVES Disney Junior, so I knew she would be excited, but what made this even more awesome was how much JACK loved the characters! He was completely fascinated by them and wanted to grab them, shake their hands, "kiss" them...etc. It was so cute!
Look at how Jack is holding on to Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates! How cute is that?
Jake was SO great with Jack as well. He stayed at our table and played with him for a few minutes since Jack loved him so much. I was super impressed!
Here's Handy Manny!
Jack loved him too and was grabbing at him as we were trying to take a picture!
Doc McStuffins! Lilly was very excited to meet her, since Doc is one of our favorites.
She gave her the biggest hug!
It's funny but Lilly was definitely less intimidated by the "animated" characters than she was by the "human" characters. I would have thought it would be the other way around, but she took right to these guys and was much more shy around the princesses.
Look how Doc is holding Jack's hand :-)
Last but not least was the character we were most excited to meet: Sofia the First!!! Lilly even put down her ice cream to meet Sofia! ;-) Sofia got right down to Lilly's level to interact with her, hug her and pose for pictures. It was so amazing to watch!
Of course, Jack was completely fascinated by Sofia and wanted to hold on to her as well. Apparently the best way to entertain a 9 month old is with life sized animated characters...who knew?
While at lunch I had come up with a general plan for the rest of the day to make sure we got to do everything we wanted to do. Our first stop was Toy Story Mania ride to use our FastPass. This ride was AWESOME! It was 3-D AND interactive! Your little car pulls up to various "carnival" style games and you use a gun on your cart to shoot the targets (all of which are 3D). Darren, Jack, Lilly and I rode in one car. Jack was with Darren and Lilly was with me. Lilly had a BLAST shooting the targets, but probably not quite as much fun as Darren ;-) At the end they tell you your "score" and Darren beat us by...I don't even know how much, but Lilly still "won" because...well, she's 4!
After that we saw that there was a character meet and greet for Moana! Lilly LOVES this movie and I knew she would love to meet Moana! I was mad at myself that I didn't bring Lilly's Moana necklace with us to this park because I didn't know Moana would be here, but oh well (mommy problems, right?) Jack was sleeping in the Ergo, but we all posed for a picture with Moana. I loved that Moana told Lilly to pose "strong" with her hands on her hips. Lilly loves to be a princess, but she is also a strong young girl and I want to always encourage her to be both.
After that we went to the Beauty and the Beast show. It was amazing because we got to sit in the front row thanks to my mom! I have seen this show many times, but this was AWESOME! At the end Belle even waved to Lilly because we were literally 10 feet away.
There is a Disney Junior show now that I had never seen. The downside is you have to sit on the floor (which was hard with a sleeping baby in an Ergo), but totally worth it to see Lilly's joy! It was mostly puppetry, but they had all of the best Disney Junior characters and it was interactive for the kids. Lilly loved when the "snow" came down and when the gold doubloons fell from the ceiling. Of course she also loved when it was time to get up and DANCE!
After we left that show there were two Storm troopers walking around. They were clearly on a mission because they didn't stop for anyone, but we were hoping to get them to arrest...I mean, take a picture with Darren :-)
We went on the Great Movie Ride, watched the tail end of the Star Wars show and then grabbed dinner before heading to Fantasmic! We had "reserved" seating from our lunch package, which is good because the place was PACKED and they said it was standing room only without reserved seating. Lilly sat on my mom's lap next to Dennis and Darren and I sat next to them with Jack. I was so glad that my mom and Dennis were getting to watch the show with Lilly :-) I ended up feeding Jack as the show started (which was tricky since it's really LOUD and he is easily distracted), but i tried to keep his ears covered and he fell asleep in my arms. :-)
Darren helped me to get him into the Ergo and he slept through the entire show! In truth that was nice because then we got to just sit and watch and not wrestle with Jack ;-)
Fantasmic is an absolutely AMAZING show! Disney pulls out all of the stops for this one. I hadn't seen it in years and was pleasantly surprised that it hadn't changed. I could hear Lilly squealing and pointing out all of the characters, the lights and the pyrotechnics. I spent some of the show just watching her and my Mom watching the show <3
Jack stayed asleep in the Ergo even on the bus ride home. Our sweet little boy was so tired that we didn't even put him in pajamas when we got back to the hotel, we just transferred him to his pack n play in his clothes and he stayed asleep.
The next morning the kids got up a little early and while Darren was showering, they were playing on the bed together. Amidst all of the magic and hubbub of Disney, I loved this quiet, sweet moment watching Lilly and Jack play together. They just love each other so much and I cannot wait to see how this sibling relationship develops over time.
We went to the Animal Kingdom and arrived when the park opened. I love this park and was very excited to share it with Lilly. I had come up with a general plan for the day the night before since the previous day had felt a little hectic, so we started with the 3D show It's Tough to Be a Bug inside the Tree of Life. It's a super cute show and since Lilly loves A Bug's Life, she was very excited.
We took a few minutes to take some pictures before the crowds got too big. One thing that was a little frustrating was that there were even lines for the photographers a lot of the time! We tried to catch them at odd times so we didn't have to wait, but there were times when the lines for the photographers were 7-10 families long!
Our next stop was The Festival of the Lion King! This is one of my favorite shows at Disney! I was wearing Jack in the Ergo and he was getting sleepy as we walked into the theater so I stood and rocked him back and forth until he fell asleep. Then I sat down next to Lilly. We were in the "elephants" section and in the second row! It was amazing to see the performers, costumes and floats so close up! Lilly was a little tired still and didn't want to get up and dance in the "parade" at the end, but she enjoyed the show :-)
After that we went to the Flights of Wonder show so I could feed Jack (plus we like the show of course!) Lilly loved seeing all of the birds flying and stayed to get a closer look at them at the end of the show. After a quick lunch at Yak and Yeti, we went to use our FastPass to meet Mickey and Minnie!!!!!!!
Lilly was SO excited to meet Mickey! She was a little shy at first, but Mickey got down to meet her and was being incredibly sweet! He hugged her and "kissed" her (complete with making the kissing sound) and signed her autograph book. Mickey even gave me a big hug and kiss!
Lilly was warmed up and went right over the Minnie. She gave her a big hug and asked her to sign her autograph book as well.
We brought Jack over to meet the characters and Lilly was laughing because Jack was grabbing at their faces and trying to give them "kisses" as well.
I was impressed once again with these characters! They were SO sweet with Jack and with Lilly! They spent time with them, made them feel comfortable, held their hands, "kissed" them and were just beyond my expectations! Disney knows how to truly make these experiences magical for kids of all ages...and for adults too!
After that we went to the Finding Nemo show, which was amazing! I love the puppetry and the music in that show. And then we headed to Everest for our FastPass. We stopped to take a few pictures along the way. Lilly was too small for this ride so my parents stayed back with her and we got a RiderSwitch Pass. After we rode it the first time, my parents told us just to ride it again since they weren't interested in riding. Mom took Lilly to get a snack while we were on the ride and Lilly wanted a chocolate chip cookie. She told my mom that she wasn't allowed to have that as a snack since that was a treat lol! My mom told her it would be ok ;-) I love her.
Once Darren knew where the camera was where they take your picture, he took full advantage!
We headed back to Dinoland and my parents went on the Dinosaur ride while we were on Triceratops Spin (which is basically Dumbo but in a Triceratops. :-)
After that Lilly played in the Boneyard playground and then she and Jack went to "dig for fossils" as well. Honestly, Lilly would have played here for the rest of the day! Apparently we could have just gone to a big playground instead of Disney World...who knew??
I loved seeing her so fearless as she climbed cargo nets, went down huge slides and explored this giant playground.
We went for a second safari ride in the evening to see if it would be a different experience and it was awesome once again! It's incredible how many animals you see and how close they are! I might have missed a few as I was watching this adorable boy a lot of the time ;-)
My parents wanted to get Lilly a souvenir, so she picked out a light up musical Ariel bubble wand. She LOVED it! Jack also loved it when she would blow the bubbles around him. She waved his little arms trying to pop all of the bubbles and giggled.
After dinner we stayed to watch the night show on the Tree of Life for a little while. It was gorgeous! They had incredible colors and projections all over the tree and the music was incredible. It was a perfect end to a perfect day!
The next morning we had breakfast at Chef Mickey at the Contemporary resort. After a short monorail ride, we arrived and got ready to meet Mickey and the whole gang!
This was a really fun character meal because it was all of the classic Disney characters in one place! Since we had met Minnie and Mickey at Animal Kingdom the day before and had such a fantastic experience, I was super excited for the kids to meet all of the characters today.
Lilly was anxious to meet the characters and was not very interested in her breakfast. She kept watching them walk from table to table and asked when it would be her turn. She had her autograph book out and ready and chose a particular page for each one.
Goofy came by and was so much fun! He is a BIG character! I was glad that Lilly wasn't intimidated by him at all, but look at how she has to look up at him in this picture! It was so cute.
I loved that each character took time to visit with her, sign her book, pose for as many pictures as we asked and they were just so fun! I haven't met the Disney characters in I can't remember how long, so this was very nostalgic for me as well :)
Of course, Jack was a HUGE fan of all of the characters, even the gigantic Goofy!
Pluto has always been one of y favorites, so I was especially excited for him and so was Jack! Pluto was so sweet to Jack and let Jack "pet" him and give him "kisses"
Lilly was just so excited to be around all of these characters! I was so thankful that she wasn't scared or shy and that she was just in the moment and enjoying it. Of course getting Jack to look anywhere but at Pluto would be next to impossible, so this is the best we could do ;-)
Lilly went right up to Mickey when he came over like they were old friends :-) I think since she "met" him yesterday, she felt like Mickey would know her. So adorable!
Jack, one again, wanted to give kisses, but this time he actually latched on to Mickey's nose! Look at Lilly's face watching him! Haha! I was a little embarrassed, but I wiped Mickey's nose off for him and he posed for more pictures, so I don't think he minded too much.
Keeping Jack away from Mickey's nose was a little tricky as we took pictures!
Minnie was next! It was neat to get pictures with the "classic" Minnie with her signature outfit and yellow shoes :-)
Minnie had the right idea by holding Jack's hands!
Donald Duck!!
You can see in this picture that Jack is just dying to reach out and grab Donald! Look at how happy Lilly is :-)
After breakfast we headed to the Magic Kingdom for the day. We started off in Fantasyland and rode the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, which was very cute! Lilly wanted to ride the Seven Dwarve's Mine Train again but the line was very long so we avoided that ;-) We went on Peter Pan as well. It was funny because just as the lap bar was going down, the cast member told Darren that Jack had to be on his lap and Darren said Ok, but he didn't want him under the bar, so he lifted him just as it was coming down. The cast member didn't like that and stopped the ride! It's a continuous ride, so everyone's ride had to stop! Oops!
After that we went on It's a Small World again since there was no line and I needed to feed Jack :-) It is sort of amazing how many places around Disney World that I nursed. I also want to add that I never faced any opposition and that Disney World is supportive of mothers and families, including having a special Baby Care Center in every park.
After that we used our FastPass to meet Tiana and Rapunzel! Once again, Lilly was super shy with the princesses! I think she was in complete awe that she was actually meeting Tiana and Rapunzel, since they are two of her favorites! The Princesses were so sweet and kind to Lilly! I loved that Tiana got down to be on her level (even in that huge gorgeous dress) and she was so poised and kind.
Again, huge props to the amazing cast members at Disney! Rapunzel also got right down to meet Lilly and could tell Lilly was shy. She told Lilly some funny jokes about working on her moves with a frying pan and how she doesn't normally like to wear shoes and tried to help Lilly feel more comfortable. When we all got in the picture, Lilly eased up a bit and took Rapunzel's hand. It was adorable!
Darren and my parents took Lilly on Splash Mountain for the first time while I stayed back to feed and change Jack. Lilly had been asking about Splash Mountain since our first day so I was very excited for her to ride. I thought the drop might be a little scary for her, but I knew the ride itself would be fun.
Little did I know that the real issue would be her clothes getting a little wet! Since Darren and Lilly were in the front, they took the brunt of the splash at the bottom and Lilly was very upset that her clothing was wet! When I saw her after the ride, she burst into tears! I thought for sure she was traumatized by the big drop, but then Darren said, "Tell Mommy why you're upset," and Lilly said, "Mommy my clothes are wet! I need to change!" I couldn't help but laugh!
We had a rider swap pass so my parents stayed with the kids so I could ride it with Darren since this is one of my all time favorite rides! I LOVE this ride!
After that we went over the Adventureland to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean again :-) We didn't have a FastPass and the line was supposed to be about 25 minutes. When we were walking up to the line a cast member saw us and said "Hi! Do you all have a FastPass?" We said we didn't, and she said, "Oh ok! Follow me!" and she lead us up to the FastPass entrance. She told us to just go ahead through the FastPass line! I still am not sure what prompted her to do this for us (perhaps are incredibly adorable children???) but it was very cool! We walked right up and got on the ride for the second time!
We had late lunch reservations at Be Our Guest which is the Beast's Castle. I knew it counted as a "quick service" meal credit, but I didn't expect the insanity of the line we had to wait on just to order our food. We "checked in" a the booth and we were given menus to look at and were directed to the line of people standing outside the door. Jack was getting very restless (it was pretty hot that day) and we were all getting hungry. I ended up nursing him while standing in the line to get him to settle, but that wasn't very comfortable for either of us!
I understand that this was a sought after reservation and that some people didn't get to even go in because they didn't have a reservation, but this was the only time that I felt like Disney fell short of the amazing service I expect.
Luckily the ambiance and the food were WORTH it! Wow!
Jack was making himself comfortable in his highchair as he at his lunch!
We didn't take many pictures, so this is the best I have of the ballroom (Darren was trying to hold Jack and take a picture). You can see the fancy chairs, gorgeous chandelier and the incredible ambiance around us. The windows in the back were also "enchanted" and showed it snowing outside. We walked into the other rooms in the Castle and saw the enchanted rose in the West Wing, the music box that Maurice made for Belle and the Beast and beautiful paintings and tapestries that chronicled the story of Belle and the Beast. It was a VERY cool dining experience!
We headed to Tomorrowland to use our FastPass for Buzz LightYear Space Ranger Spin. This is such a fun ride! It's sort of like Toy Story Mania, except you are shooting at aliens with a "laser" and it's not 3-D. Lilly and Darren used the blasters and I "drove" the car by spinning us to aim at the targets. Lilly was squealing with laughter as we spun around and tried to shoot at all of the aliens. It was a lot of fun!
Darren was obviously posing for the camera ;-)
In classic Disney fashion, we exited the ride through a Toy Story themed gift shop and found a cute set of Mickey ears for Jack. Too bad they were way too big!
After riding the People Mover and going to the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor show, a cast member recommended that we go see the Friendship Faire show at the castle. It was so much fun!!! The Disney gang was there and they also welcomed characters from The Princess and the Frog, Rapunzel and of course, Frozen! Lilly LOVED it! I had to hold her the entire time (which was no easy feat!) but again, it was totally worth it! We were singing along, dancing and loving the show!
After finding Lilly some ice cream that she had been asking for all day, we went back to Adventureland. Darren and I took Lilly up the Swiss Family Treehouse (she was telling us to hurry up in this picture because she was so excited). It was amazing to talk to her about the design of the tree house and the hear her pointing out the details she saw. and inferring how the family used different things or made things work in the jungle.
Of course, we rode Pirates of the Caribbean again ;-) and we went to the Enchanted Tikki Room. Everyone was getting tired and we still needed to pack up to check out tomorrow, so we decided we would leave the park. On our way out, we noticed that the line to meet Tinkerbelle was really short so we made a pit stop to meet our favorite fairy!
They pretend to "shrink" you down to Pixie size before you meet Tinkerbelle and then the room is filled with "giant" objects to create the illusion that you are tiny. These are the little things that set Disney apart from all other places.
Tinkerbelle was adorable and was telling Lilly all about her fairy friends, found objects and pixie dust. Lilly was a little shy again, but she clearly had a great time meeting Tink.
I admit I was so sad to leave the Magic Kingdom. I absolutely love it and sharing it with Lilly, Jack, Darren and my parents was so special. I was feeling nostalgic and just wasn't quite ready to let go, so I asked that we stop for one last picture. My parents had stayed to try to ride one more ride, so unfortunately they weren't in these pictures, but I love the way they turned out.
After packing up and checking out, we hopped in the van and drove to Epcot. We arrived right at park opening so it wasn't super busy yet. Right when we walked in we noticed Daisy Duck near Spaceship Earth with NO LINE! We got behind one other family and then Lilly was able to meet the last "classic" Disney character that we hadn't found anywhere else :-) Once again, she was so much more at ease with the costumed character and was very excited to get her autograph and pose for pictures.
In true Jack fashion, Jack was enchanted by Daisy and grabbed her eyelash! Oops! Luckily Daisy just rolled with it and took Jack's hand :-)
After meeting Daisy we headed straight for Soarin' since we didn't have a FastPass and I knew the line would be short first thing in the morning. Jack needed to eat, so Lilly and Darren go on the line (it was about 10 minutes when we got there) and I sat in the food court and fed Jack until he fell asleep. My parents were on their way as well and were going to meet us at Soarin.
After getting some cuddle time with Jack, I got to take Lilly on the ride while Darren got some cuddle time :-)
After the Living with the Land boat ride, Mom and Dennis got some cuddle time as well :-) Clearly Jack and Lilly love Grandma and Grandpa very much!
We went over to The Seas with Nemo and friends ride and Turtle Talk with Crush. While we waited for the show, Lilly met a friend and they explored the jellyfish tank together.
Lilly had fun at the interactive exhibits after Turtle Talk. She loved one part where you hit different buttons to light up little boxes that showed different things that sharks would eat. She and I climbed into "Bruce's mouth" but Lilly did NOT want a picture!
Wwe had lunch reservations at Akerhaus in Norway for a Princess Storybook Luncheon. It was starting to sprinkle out so it was a great time to head inside. When we first walked in, Belle was waiting to greet guests! I was happy to see that Lilly was much more at ease today! I knew we would be meeting a lot of princesses and I was now more excited than ever for this very special meal!
This was one of the only characters meals that was a sit down meal (though there was an appetizer/salad bar as well). That was good, but it made Lilly antsy as she waited not only for her food but to meet the princesses!
The first Princess to come by was Cinderella! Lilly was so excited to see her again and talked to her happily about the princess crown jewel that she had on her forehead!
That smile melts my heart every time! Lilly was SO excited!
Ariel came by next. She was adorable. She also called Lilly a little "guppy" and pointed out the "dinglehopper" (fork) on the table.
I think Lilly was feeling a bit shy around Snow White because this princess looked EXACTLY like the pictures/movie/doll! They found Snow White's true dopplganger here! She was so sweet and even sounded just like her!
I loved that she even had Snow White's mannerisms down!
Before Snow White left, they announced that there would be a Princess Procession for anyone who wanted to participate. Snow White took Lilly's hand an lead Lilly and all of the other little girls and princesses throughout the restaurant in a Princess Procession. I have a super cute video, but it's too big to upload, so hopefully these pictures do it justice a little bit.
Aurora was very funny! She did not stop talking the entire time she was visiting us! She went on and on about the fairies, Prince Phillip, Lilly's beautiful jewel and I can't even remember what else! She was very outgoing and seemed to help bring Lilly out of her shell a little bit.
Lilly finished eating and she had met all of the princesses, so she was coloring as she patiently waited for the rest of us. Dennis was asking her about what she was coloring, complimenting her drawing and being so sweet with her. I was feeding Jack (and then holding a sleeping Jack!) so Darren snapped this picture of the two of them. Meeting Princesses is great, but bonding with your grandpa is truly special <3
Darren took over with Jack so I could eat a little. He didn't seem to mind <3
After lunch we toured the World Showcase. We stopped in to a few stores and told Lilly she could pick a souvenir. At first she asked for a princess dress. I hated to say no to the first thing she asked for, but after we discussed how many dresses she already has and that a dress might not seem special since she already has so many, she decided to look for something else :-)
Lilly found a pink sword in a store in Germany and asked if she could have it. I had visions of poking passersby with a sword for the rest of the day and almost said "no" but when I saw her face holding the sword and she promised to be careful, we decided to get it for her.
As we continued through the World Showcase (including a stop at the French Bakery for some pastries to go!) Lilly fell asleep in her stroller. This was the first time on the trip that she fell asleep at the park <3
Our very last ride was Frozen Ever After in Norway. We had a FastPass, thank goodness, because the line was 95 minutes! It was a very cute ride, but it was NOT a ride worth waiting 95 minutes for! Lilly loved seeing the Frozen characters, but she has never mentioned it when she tells people about the trip and she didn't seem overjoyed with it after we rode it, so parents, if you don't have a FastPass, save your time and just skip it!
Disney World is a lot of hoopla at times, it is expensive and it requires a lot of pre-planning, but it is truly worth it. The memories that we have from this trip are incredible and the magic our children experienced will never be quite the same as it will at this age. Jack won't remember, but we will. I like to think Lilly will remember, but if she doesn't we can look back over this blog together and reminisce. I can't write this blog without mentioning how grateful we are to my parents for joining us for this very special experience. We love you!
