We had such a great time at Disney World last week! Grandma A. was nice enough to come with us and help with managing the ladies so Daddy could be free to manage all of our stuff...and there was a lot of stuff. Grandma came up on Sunday evening, and somehow we all managed to get some sleep before we left on Monday. Our flight left Raleigh at 11:30, so we didn't have to wake up extra early. We couldn't keep the girls held back any longer, and left our house just before 9:00. We got to the park and ride (Fast Park off of Lumley Road, which was very nice and prompt...plus, they pick you up and drop you off right at your vehicle), got parked, and rode the bus to the terminal. Sadly, we were leaving out of the old Terminal (A), so it was not super exciting. There were also hardly any food options, but luckily we had thought of that and had packed lunches for all of us. We got our bags checked and got through security with no problem, then wandered around for a little while while waiting for our flight. The flight took off right on time, and it went very smoothly. Erin and Mommy sat together, while Daddy, Anna, and Grandma sat right in front of us. The girls did great and spent a lot of the 90-minute flight eating their lunch. They also enjoyed the juice that the flight attendants brought, and Anna subsequently made 2 visits to the airplane potty. Daddy was able to get in there with her to help her, which was pretty impressive. They also watched a little bit of their videos and colored in their coloring books. We got to the Orlando airport and got to ride a monorail-type tram to the baggage area. Thanks to Disney's Magic Express, we didn't even need to wait for our checked bag at the baggage claim. We got right on our bus, which was very fancy and had a video going to hype us up for our trip. We got to our resort, the Art of Animation, in about 30 minutes - it was the first stop for the bus. We went to the lobby and checked that out while Daddy got us checked in. We were there about 45 minutes before the 3pm check-in time, but they had a room ready so we were able to go on in. We had packed our swimsuits in our carry-on bags, so after checking out our Nemo-themed room (which was very nice, a queen bed in a bedroom, 2 full baths, and a pull-out double bed and a pull-down Murphy bed that doubled as a kitchen table), we went to swim. Thank goodness we took advantage of that, because it was the only day that it was warm enough, and that we had enough time and energy to swim! The pool was also Nemo-themed and was lots of fun, as was the splash pad area right next to the pool. After swimming for an hour or so, we changed clothes and rode a Disney transportation bus to Downtown Disney. Mommy was set on getting the girls some mouse ears at a place where supposedly they could make their own ears by choosing each part. Turns out, my internet source was wrong and the store no longer has do-it-yourself ears, but Erin and Anna managed to find some out of the 20+ mouse ear options available. After that, we had dinner at the Wolfgang Puck Express and used our first meal from the meal plan. The food was really good, and fast! We ate outside in the warm weather, which was so nice. Daddy and the girls got pizzas, Mommy got roasted chicken and potatoes, and Grandma got salmon. After dinner, we walked around for a short time, got some chocolate samples, and then rode back to our room, bathed, and went to bed.
"Luckily", Erin was in the middle of one of her bad sleep stretches while we were on the trip. Add the excitement of being at Disney World, and she (and we) were up for about 3 hours in the middle of the night, and Daddy got a turn on the less-than-comfy couch bed while I tried to keep Erin quiet in the bedroom. It didn't stop us, though! Tuesday morning, we had breakfast in our room (cereal, Pop Tarts, and boxed milk that we had brought). We waited for our bus and got to the Magic Kingdom around 8:45, perfect timing to see the characters come out to open the park! We then followed our pre-planned RideMax plan to minimize wait time. Bob and I were alarmed that Disney chose that very day to change their FastPass system so our plan wouldn't work quite as we had planned it, but it all ended up to be ok. Our first ride was Peter Pan, a slow-moving ride in a magic boat along scenes of the story. We then went across the street to It's a Small World, which the girls enjoyed but didn't love. After that was Winnie the Pooh, which was kind of jerky and twisty, and too dark for Anna. The day went up from there where they discovered Fantasyland, including their most favorite rides - the Barnstormer (kids' roller coaster/"Goofy roller coaster") and the Dumbo ride. From there on, we went on lots of fun rides, the only failures of the day being Winnie the Pooh, Buzz Lightyear (terrifying for Anna - aliens and darkness), and the Peoplemover (we thought it would be an innocent train, but also had extended dark periods).
We had our reservations for lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table that day, so we got there in plenty of time, saw Cinderella and got our pictures taken with her, then sat down. The castle was so pretty inside, with stained glass windows, and it looked a lot like in the movie. The girls got wishing stars and magic wands, which they had all the little girls (and boys with their swords) raise at one point and say a magic spell. Bob and I are concerned about the aftermath of said spell, but so far we have not been teleported off to Never-Never Land. Daddy got gnocchi, Mommy got a pork BBQ sandwich and sweet potato fries, and Grandma got beef tenderloin. Both girls got chicken nuggets, and we also got a yummy adults' appetizer plate and the kids got grapes and cheese to snack on for "free" (really, they were anything but free). As we were eating, the princesses were introduced and came around to the tables. They were all very nice and were a huge hit. The Worst Mommy Ever forgot the girls' autograph books, but Grandma saved the day with pink post-it notes and a pen. We got very delicious desserts - chocolate mousse for Mommy and Daddy, caramel apple cheesecake for Grandma (I think), and ice cream for the girls.
After lunch, we continued along our schedule, seeing the Dream Along with Mickey show in front of the castle, Mickey's Philharmagic 3D show, met Rapunzel and Snow White, and did the new Enchanted Tales with Belle storytime-type thing. It rained for a little while, but we were in and out of buildings and it was really not a problem at all. We then tore ourselves away from Fantasyland and went to the Country Bear Jamboree and Jungle Cruise, opting to skip a couple of walking attractions. We rode the train back around to the park entrance and left around 5:00pm. After some investigation, we decided to take the monorail to the Polynesian resort to eat dinner at Captain Cook's quick-service in the lower level. It was really, really good (I thought). Mommy got a chicken stir-fry noodle thing, Daddy and Grandma got pork nachos, Anna got grilled cheese, and Erin got a Hawaiian chicken and pineapple skewer thing. It was so good, as were the gigantic Minnie Mouse cupcakes we got for dessert! The meal plan included a dessert for every adult meal, which I had read complaints about ("unhealthy", "unnecessary", etc.), but I really saw no issue with it. After dinner, we rode the monorail back to Magic Kingdom, then got a bus back to our hotel and crashed.
Wednesday was Animal Kingdom Day. Mommy was very excited about it, and I think I can say that the adults enjoyed it a lot more than the kids. We thought, of the other 3 parks, that it might have the most for the kids to do at their ages. We started out in Dinoland, which was made up to be like a tacky Dinosaur-themed carnival midway. The girls rode their only ride of the day, then we let them play in the Boneyard playground. Mommy and Grandma got to ride Expedition Everest, which was a super-fun roller coaster, Then we all did a couple of walking/zoo-type trails before lunch. We ate lunch at Pizzafari (get it?), which was good, and then went to the safari ride, which was a very neat 45-minute ride in a safari truck with animals VERY close to the driving path. Again, I think the adults were more impressed than the kids! After that, we met Mickey and Minnie, went on another walking trail, then got snacks back in Dinoland and went to the Finding Nemo musical show, which was very good. We got out of the Nemo show right as the parade was starting (we knew that would happen), so we were back a ways from the parade route. Plus, Anna had to go potty (we had brought them juice boxes this morning that led to several potty stops throughout the day), so the girls ended up sitting on our shoulders for the 15-minute parade. Then, we found the elusive bone-digging area/play area, so the girls played there for awhile. We then had a perilous bus ride to the Contemporary Resort (more potty issues) and peeked in a gift shop before our dinner at Chef Mickey's. Animal Kingdom seemed to be more crowded than Magic Kingdom, but we think it is because the walkways are more narrow and there are fewer attractions, so people can't spread out.
Dinner was so much fun - it was a buffet, which was a novelty in itself to the kids. They especially liked the Mickey-shaped macaroni, though Erin also partook in 3 slices of pizza, corn, chicken, and lots of other stuff. The dessert bar was a hit too! The adult food was really good with lots of fancy stuff like crab legs, beef tenderloin and turkey carving stations, and I don't even remember what else. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, and Goofy came around and posed and signed autographs, which was lots of fun. I will say that it was pretty loud in there and Erin got wild by the end, but it was still lots of fun. We rode the monorail back to Magic Kingdom (there aren't buses from one resort to another), then got our bus back to the Art of Animation. We were done with dinner by 7:00 and there were fireworks at 8:00, but all kids and adults were too tired to wait, plus we didn't have park hopper tickets or tickets to get into Magic Kingdom that day, so it would have been a gamble to even be able to see them. The girls went right to sleep and the adults packed as much as we could that night.
Thursday, we got the kids up a little earlier (6:30-7:00ish) to get everything packed up and ready to go, had breakfast, stowed our stuff in the luggage room, and hit the road back to Magic Kingdom, which opened at 8:00 for resort guests that day. The girls got to repeat all of their favorite rides in Fantasyland, including the Dumbo play area (so kids can play while they wait - there was no wait, but we had to play anyway), Mommy and Grandma went on Space Mountain (fun!), they met Ariel, Daisy Duck (she is hard to find), Minnie, Goofy, and Donald at various points in the morning. We rode the Astro Orbiter, a Dumbo-type ride but in spaceships, that was elevated above the rest of Tomorrowland. It was breezy and cold that morning, in the 40s, so it was super cold up there! We also did the speedway where the girls got to drive little racecars. Then, we took the train over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which was fun for everyone. We had wanted to eat lunch at Be Our Guest restaurant, but found a 40-minute wait when we got there, which we didn't have time to do. So we got hot dogs and macaroni at a small place by the carousel and ate before heading back to our hotel to get our stuff and catch the bus to the airport. We got our bags checked, through security, and were ready to go. Our plane may have been a little late boarding and taking off due to its late arrival, but it wasn't much. Erin and Mommy sat in Row 3, and the other three were in Row 14. The flight went fine, and we got our bags, bus, car, and dinner at Moes before coming home!
We had such a wonderful time. We are so grateful that Grandma could go with us, as she was a big help with Anna, mostly, freeing Daddy up to manage the stroller and other stuff. We really appreciated that! Two things I noticed were that everyone is just so happy at Disney World (I guess they do say that it is the happiest place on earth!) - we met lots of nice people on the buses and waiting in line - and the details everywhere were so neat, like peanuts stamped into the concrete around the Dumbo ride. Also, the food was really good. So, it was definitely a very fun trip...I'm not going to say that we can't wait to go back, but I'm sure we will be ready to go again someday...
I won't put a bunch of pictures here because this is already long enough, but they are all at this link: https://picasaweb.google.com/112036663351493870457/DisneyWorld2014#
