We just got back from a week long trip to Disney World. It was awesome! Before I get to the pictures, I wanted to share a few things that made our trip great, in case anyone reading might like to know.
We booked a package directly through Disney World that included our room, park tickets, and dining plan. We only got this package for the first 3 days because my whole family arrived a few days after we got there, so we all rented a huge house and stayed there for the second half of our trip. Both options were nice for different reasons and it worked well to combine them both. It was nice to spend the first few days with just Rob and the kids and really focus on what we wanted to do without having to worry about meeting up with anyone. And it was great to use the buses that go from the hotel to the parks and not worry about driving. But it was also fun later in the week to let the kids go on rides with their cousins and spend more time with the extended family. We LOVED the dining plan (you can only get this if you stay at a Disney hotel). It was expensive but since we had already paid for it when we booked the package, it was a nice feeling to know that we weren't spending what it said on the bill! It was a ton of food, and since we really love food, it was fun to order things that were $40+ per person without worrying about it. Dessert was always included and so were snacks (like popcorn and ice cream and iced lemonade) so it was a fun splurge! The dining plan was only good for the days we stayed at the hotel, so we brought our own snacks the other days to help keep the rest of our food costs down.
We used the new FastPass+ system and it worked great to book these online ahead of time (or on the app while we were at the parks). Apparently, they just changed the fastpass rules a week or two before we got there, but since we had never been there before, we didn't have anything to compare it to. I also subscribed to touringplans.com ($12, I think) and made personalized plans for each day. It was confusing at first, but once I figured it all out, I was really glad to have our days planned in advance. You choose all the rides/shows/breaks/dining you want to do and you can even add your fastpass times that you scheduled ahead of time and it optimizes your plan to give you the best times to go to each thing to minimize wait time and make it so you're not walking back and forth across the whole park ten times a day. You can even adjust for walking speed. We followed the plans for the most part and never ended up waiting in line too long (except for Friday because it was the beginning of the president's day weekend and it was super crowded!). They also have an app that you can use in the parks and keep track of your schedule and change it as you go if you decide to skip something or do something that is not on your plan. I will definitely use it again if we go back.
So now for the pictures!
Day 1: Travel, swimming at the hotel pool and Downtown Disney
Dancing at the Downtown Disney dance party the first night.
Dinner at Downtown Disney. She was already exhausted.
Day 2: Animal Kingdom
We spent our first day at Animal Kingdom. They have a big play area with a dinosaur dig "sand"box. Bobby was digging in here for almost an hour. We did this in the afternoon, so it was a nice way to relax.
On the safari
We definitely needed 2 strollers
Dinner at Sanaa at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. One of the coolest dining experiences ever...and also very delicious. We got leg of lamb and chocolate mousse. I couldn't resist taking a bite of the mousse before I snapped the picture.
We got a table right by the window and the animals were right outside. It was so cool. We got Bobby a toy camera that day and he loved "taking pictures" of this crane that sat right by our table the whole time.
More dinner guests
Notice the wildebeests out the window. At one point there were antelope but when the wildebeests came they all ran away in a mini stampede.
Blurry picture, but there's a giraffe back there. We had reservations for 5pm and it was perfect because by the time we left it was getting dark and you couldn't really see the animals well by then.
Animal Kingdom was fun but there wasn't a ton that interested the kids. It was nice for a slower paced day. We loved the parade and we all had a really good time at this park.
Day 3: Magic Kingdom
Just watching them on the teacups made me sick. There was no way I was getting on that ride.
Lunch was another awesome meal. We went to the new Be Our Guest restaurant. We got there at about 10:50 and we still had to wait about 20 minutes. I highly recommend this restaurant because you eat in the Beast's castle and the food is great. It was a fun experience. I definitely recommend going no later than 11:00 because the wait would be way too long! I had a croque moisuer and Rob had the roast beef sandwich and both were so good that we shared half and half.
Bobby really loved all the desserts we got on the dining plan.
I bought Adeline this princess dress from the consignment store last Halloween and gave it to her as a surprise the first night we got there. This turned out to be a very good move because all the princess dresses that they sell at Disney World are $65 each! I paid $5.
The Carousel might have been the favorite ride of the whole trip (for Bobby at least). We rode it 3 times that day. Luckily, there was never a line!
We met up with my sister's family in the afternoon and did a few rides with them.
Story time with Belle. Pictures aren't great. The room was dark. I'm sure they do that so only the pictures they take turn out nice so you'll buy them. Both kids loved meeting Belle.
We spent a lot of afternoon time in the child care centers watching movies. The kids needed a break but most days it was too much of a hassle to leave the parks and come back later. Bobby fell asleep in the stroller a few times but Adeline just wouldn't nap so we needed some kind of a break. We also learned that Adeline gets super grumpy when she is overly tired and Bobby gets slap happy and wild and really funny when he's overly tired. It was a new side of Bobby that we had never seen before.
Meanwhile, back at the carousel...
Buzz Lightyear ride. Bobby got scared on most rides and on this one he wanted me to shoot all the bad guys for him.
Bobby was asleep for princess Tiana.
And we're back!
We ate dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. It was served family style and was all you can eat. Bobby especially enjoyed the family sized bowl of mac and cheese. I forgot to take a picture of the meat plate they brought with turkey, steak, and pork. We also had sweet potatoes, green beans, and mashed potatoes and gravy!
Enjoying more dessert! this was a big bowl of cake with apple and cranberry filling topped with ice cream. Yum!
Day 4: Epcot
Selfies on the bus. Can you tell Adeline was just a little excited to go to the princess breakfast? We made reservations for the princess breakfast at epcot (which was also included in our dining plan). Adeline was so excited for weeks ahead of time and wanted to wear her "rose dress" (the dress I made her for Halloween).
The parade with the princesses
According to Adeline, you can't go to a royal ball without dancing, so she danced with Rob.
We met Belle first thing at the breakfast. They take nice photos with her at the beginning and print them out and give them to you while you're eating. So, yes, we have better pictures than this one. That was a nice perk.
The princesses walk around to all the tables and take pictures with all the kids.
Wait a minute, Aurora looks familiar...It was the same girl who was Belle the day before. You can't tell as well from these 2 pics, but it was definitely the same girl.
Is it just me, or does this girl really NOT look like Ariel?
The rest of Epcot wasn't as exciting for the kids because its not really geared toward little kids, but we still had fun. It didn't help that I got a horrible headache that afternoon (note: if you go to the first aid station, they will give you free headache medicine!).
Adeline insisted we have another "ball" out in the open area in front of the lake.
This was the last day of our dining plan and we had some snack credits we needed to use. So we went to the France area and ate lots of chocolate!
We met Aladdin and Jasmine in the Morocco area. Bobby was napping this time. Adeline was pretty shy with Aladdin there.
Fuzzy picture of me, but notice the dark clouds in the sky. We got caught in a big storm. Luckily, we got into a restaurant about 2 minutes before the downpour started.
We ate dinner in Morocco and it was delicious lamb and chicken and pita bread with hummus and tabouli. It was fantastic.
After dinner we put on our rain gear and raced to the buses.
Day 5: Hollywood Studios
Another yummy lunch. That is a massive butterfinger cupcake!
Very fuzzy proof that Adeline and Bobby went on the Tower of Terror. Depending on what ride it was, some of the measurements said Bobby was 40 in and some said he was barley too short. I told him that we could wait while Rob and Adeline went on the ride since he doesn't like dark rides or scary rides (or even remotely scary rides) but he did not want to be left out so he suffered through it. Of course, he hated it, and so did Adeline but when they got off the ride they told all their cousins that they loved it and it was their favorite. When we offered to go on it again, they both said "no thank you!"
I really wanted to go to the drawing class in the animation part. I knew the kids would be too young for it, but I wanted to go anyway. I was mostly annoyed that the chairs were too far away from the table for the kids to even reach the paper so Adeline spent the whole time on Rob's lap and Bobby in mine so it wasn't the best experience. But we still both learned to draw Mickey so it was half way fun.
It was a cold day! We saw lots of shows, including Beauty and the Beast (which was fantastic) and the stunt show (impressive for me and Rob and the kids thought it was okay).
With Fantasia being the kids favorite movie, we had to meet Sorcerer Mickey. We bought the kids little Disney books at Walmart and had a sharpie for the characters to sign the books with. Bobby had a Mickey Mouse book.
Adeline was too shy to hug Mickey so we settled for a high five.
We left the park in the afternoon and headed over to the Fantasia Gardens mini golf. This cost extra but we had a couple free passes from our hotel package so we only had to pay for one person. Since this is the only Fantasia themed thing at Disney World, we knew the kids would want to do it. It was a nice change of pace to get away from the crowds and lines and enjoy the afternoon at a slower pace. It was the kids first experience with mini golf and they had fun, but didn't really get it...at all.
We did end up going back to the park in the evening to see the Fantasmic show and the kids absolutely loved it, so that was worth going back for.
Day 6: Magic Kingdom Again
Riding the magic carpets
Acting shy because Flynn Rider was there. Even though he was shy, Bobby was so excited when he saw Flynn Rider. We just thought we were going to see Rapunzel and Snow White, so it was a nice surprise that we got to meet Flynn and Prince Charming as well!
Dance party with the Incredibles. This was super fun. Frozone came to dance with Bobby but he hid behind me most of the time.
Other Stuff:
I went back to Epcot on Saturday with Kelsey and Andy and Max while Rob stayed back at the house with the kids and everyone else. I had read about the "school bread" in Norway online and everyone raved about it, so I got some. I was not as impressed. We also saw Elsa and Anna (from Frozen) walking by. The line to see them was 3 hours long. And the workers said the wait would be even longer as the day went on. Insane! I don't understand why anyone would wait in line for 3+ hours for that!
Adeline spent all her time the last few days in her princess dresses (when she wasn't swimming, that is) and loved getting her hair braided.
Brayden's birthday was on Friday, so we had a party for him.
Got a casual family picture of everyone in my family.
It was not exactly hot out, so a lot of the time in the pool was spent warming up in the hot tub.
Overall, it was a fantastic trip. We all had a blast, but we're also glad to be back home (at least Rob and I are!). It might take us a few days to get back on a normal schedule and catch up on the sleep we all need from an exhausting week.
