Disney World 2015!

Well, we caved in and decided to visit the Land of the Mouse just 15 months after our first trip.  We happened upon a "good deal" (relatively speaking) for a hotel and wanted to go while we were still on year-round school and had breaks during low-crowd weeks of the year (in theory, though it did not prove to be reality).  Plus, the kids are so into Disney right now, and we wanted them to go while they still love the princesses and Mickey/Minnie.  We got Grandma A. roped in again, got everything booked, and off we went on Saturday, April 11th!  We flew direct from RDU on Southwest, leaving at 12:10pm and getting to Orlando around 2:00pm.  We hopped on the Magical Express bus after some difficulty locating the bus stop (unlike last year, the terminal we landed in did not have signs directing us).  We arrived at the Art of Animation hotel, again in a Finding Nemo suite, though it was a mirror image from the suite we had last year.  We had smartly packed our swimsuits in our carry-on bags so we were able to head right to the pool while we waited for the rest of our bags to arrive.  Then we got back and cleaned up before heading to our first dinner, the Cinderella dinner at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian resort.  To get there, we had to take a bus to the Magic Kingdom, then a boat across the lake to the Grand Floridian.  We thought the monorail was out of service, so we opted for the boat, which took awhile and had a long line, so we were about 10 minutes late, but we had called and they said that wasn't a problem.  Whew!  The restaurant was really nice and had a yummy buffet, and we got to see Cinderella, the fairy Godmother, evil stepmother, Anastasia, and Drizella.  The stepsisters were pretty funny and it was lots of fun!  Then we went back and went to bed after busy day #1.



Sunday, we got up, had breakfast in our room, and hit Magic Kingdom.  We noticed right away how much more crowded the park was than when we went last January.  It was also much hotter!  But we followed our plan and were able to ride the teacups, Dumbo, Barnstormer,



met Minnie, Daisy, Goofy, and Donald, then It's a Small World, Mickey's Philharmagic, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad,



Tom Sawyer Island, and then on to Be Our Guest for lunch.  We enjoyed our lunch very much and the food was really good.  Grandma had a roast beef sandwich and green beans, Daddy and Mommy had braised pork with mashed potatoes and green beans, Erin had pasta with tomato sauce and applesauce (and some pork and green beans from us), and Anna had a turkey sandwich with fries and applesauce.  We split 3 yummy cupcakes for dessert, one of which had the infamous gray stuff from the movie on it!  We checked out the other two dining rooms (they are the ballroom, West Wing, and the library where we ate), and the enchanted rose.  From lunch, we rode the carousel and then saw the Dream Along with Mickey live show in front of the castle with ice cream bars.  After the show, we met Cinderella and Rapunzel, then rode Dumbo, Aladdin's Magic Carpets and the Tomorrowland Speedway, then Daddy and the girls met Tinkerbell while Mommy and Grandma tried to see the Hall of Presidents, but we just missed the show and didn't want to keep everyone else waiting.  We figured out this trip that you can get more Fast Passes once you use up your allocated 3 Fast Passes for the day by visiting kiosks, so we took advantage of that for Tinkerbell and for other attractions the second and third days.  By this point, it was about 5:00, so we took the monorail to the Polynesian for dinner at Captain Cook's quick service, which we happened upon last time and really liked.  All adults got the pork nachos and girls got hot dogs.  We also shared 3 of the gigantic Minnie Mouse cupcakes.  Then it was back to the hotel (via monorail to Magic Kingdom and then bus to our hotel) for baths and bed.

Monday was Epcot day.  The kids were not too excited, but I think they enjoyed it more than they expected!  We took a very crowded and delayed bus from our resort to Epcot, then headed straight to Soarin', which was lots of fun and the kids enjoyed.  From there, we rode Living with the Land, a boat ride about agriculture including a trip through Disney's greenhouses.  Anna proclaimed that her favorite ride at one point.  From there, we used a Fast Pass at Test Track, then had a snack break while Daddy went to rent a stroller since ours from home broke on Monday.  We hit the Nemo ride after that, and then checked out the aquarium and play area in The Seas building.  Then it was on to Norway for our princess lunch at Akershus, which was very fun and delicious!  They had a salad and appetizer buffet with some Norwegian food to try, then we got entrees brought to us.  All 3 adults had meatballs with mashed potatoes, green beans, and ligonberry sauce which was very good.  Anna had pizza and Erin got a giant bowl of macaroni and cheese that she devoured.  We saw 5 princesses there, and then the girls got to be in a princess procession around the restaurant.



We caught the end of a rain shower after lunch and got to break out our ponchos for about 5 minutes.  Then it was on to the Epcot Character Spot where we saw Mickey, Goofy, and Minnie!  Then we turned around and went back to the World Showcase and got to see the 11 (?) country areas, including a really neat movie about France and a boat ride in the Mexico area.  The Flower and Garden Festival was going on in Epcot, and we saw lots of beautiful flowers and character-shaped topiaries!



There was also a play area and drums in the Outpost area.  But how could I forget seeing Mary Poppins in the United Kingdom?!?  Grandma and Anna were VERY excited!  After going around the loop and getting gelato and beer (depending on who you were), we hit our last ride, Spaceship Earth, on the way out.  That is in the big ball-looking structure and was dark and scary for Erin, the first time I've seen her afraid on a ride.  From then on she wanted to go on rides that were outside only, but we did get her to do some indoor ones too.  We caught the bus and got back to our hotel with plans to eat dinner at the pool and swim, only as it started raining!  So we ate in our resort food court for the first time - burger for Grandma, make-your-own pasta for Daddy, steak sandwich for Mommy, and pasta and meatballs for both kids.  It was good, and the rain was done by the time we finished, so we went to the pool and had it mostly to ourselves!

Tuesday, we got up and packed everything in our room, checked our bags, got our boarding passes, and headed back to Magic Kingdom with high hopes for less crowds.  This did not prove to be the case, but we were able to get everything done that we wanted to.  We went straight to Peter Pan, checking the wait time for Elsa and Anna on the way (which was about 2 hours every time we looked, and no Fast Passes were available...luckily no tears were shed).  Then we rode the teacups again, then the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, the newest ride in Fantasyland.  It was really good - kind of like a small roller coaster, with a "mine" with big sparkly gems in it, and it also went by the cottage with Snow White and the dwarfs!  We then went to Enchanted Tales with Belle, the interactive storytime and thanked the divine intervention that allowed for Erin to have the part of Mrs. Potts that she had been hoping for/counting on for weeks.



Then we went back to Big Thunder Mountain for an encore and stopped by to see Princess Tiana on our way to lunch.  Tiana was a little later to arrive than we expected, but we made it to lunch right on time at the Crystal Palace, right nearby.  The buffet was crowded, but it did settle down and we all enjoyed the food and our time with Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, and Pooh!  The kids were more interested in them than I expected, but who can resist big fuzzy animals?!?  After lunch, we didn't have anything else planned until heading back to the hotel to leave, so we went back to Fantasyland for Dumbo, the spray playground, Barnstormer, Carousel,



and then got snacks to go before we caught our bus to the resort, got our bags, and got the bus to the airport.  We got through security which was really busy, had McDonalds for dinner, then got on our flight.  It went great, but was just a little bumpy in parts due to storms.  We landed just after 8pm, got our checked bags, shuttled to our car, partook in the free car wash, then were home before 9:15pm.

So, it was a wonderful trip and we are so glad that Grandma was able to come with us!  It was hot - around 85 degrees and humid, but we were in and out of air conditioning, drank lots of water, and did fine.  It was also much more crowded than the week in January that we went last time; if and when we do go back, I'd definitely try for wintertime!  Our pictures are HERE, and I'll be adding a few more from our phones and from Grandma.  The girls had a great time, and we did too!

March!

Well, that month went fast!  We don't have too much to show for ourselves, but I am proud to say that I finally got caught up on downloading/uploading the few pictures that we have taken, most of which are HERE.  Bob went to California the first week of the month, and the girls went to the dentist.  Like last time, Erin did wonderfully and Anna was the problem.  Maybe one time we can get out of there without any tears!  Anna had a very belated Valentine's program at preschool on the 4th which had been rescheduled due to the snow.  It was cute and she did a great job!

Erin had Dr. Seuss Day at school on the 6th - she and Thing 2 dressed up!





















We went to all three of the fish fries at church this Lent, 2 of which were in March.  They were so good!

We went to Concord the weekend of the 7th-8th to visit everyone, including Grandma and Grandpa Harvey who were visiting on their way back to Fort Wayne from Florida!  We had such a nice time and really enjoyed seeing everyone!

We had a busy week of the 9th, just with normal things and a few extras thrown in.  I had a nice treat from Friday to Sunday when I got to go to the beach with neighbor friend Tara, her mom, and another one of her friends.  It was so nice to relax and sleep in a little bit!  I think the girls and Daddy had a fun weekend too, even though they went to the Reptile Day at the Natural Science museum.

We had fun on the 16th with our friends the Mannings over to play!  Anna got to check out St. Mary Magdalene's kindergarten classroom and teachers on the 19th, where they deemed her ready for kindergarten.  We had 5 yards of mulch delivered on the 20th and hired our neighbor buddy Tommy to spread it for us - which was great!  We knocked out a lot of other yard work that weekend as well.

Anna was on spring break the following week, so we had even more togetherness than usual.  We ventured to Chapel Hill on Tuesday to the Morehead Planetarium.  I thought it was really neat, and she did too, until the black hole in the Magic Treehouse show scared her.  Daddy ventured to a new state, Oregon, that week as well.  He didn't seem to be too impressed with the scenery in Portland and in the Oregon State University area.

Those are the highlights of March!  Erin's last day was the 27th, and she is out until April 20th, so it's one of her shorter breaks.  We are really excited for our second trip to Disney World coming up!