Epcot and Meeting Belle

After breakfast at Chef Mickey's we headed to Epcot.

 

 

 

There were a few rides here that the kids liked; Tressie was tall enough to ride Soarin' and loved it.
But I think it's safe to say that the highlight of Epcot for her was meeting Belle.
And I have to say, Belle was a super sweetheart!

Look at T's hand on Belle's arm : )

Gunner's highlight was meeting Donald Duck.
'Duck' turned out to be his favorite character of the trip.
We were headed out of a building and I seriously didn't even see Donald who had moved inside out of the rain and GW started throwing a fit about leaving.
Well, he wanted to see Donald Duck!

 

 

Breakfast at Chef Mickey's

We started one day off with breakfast at Chef Mickey's.

Chef Mickey's is a fun restaurant centered around the kids meeting Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and Pluto. 

 

 

 

This photo screams 'cruise ship photo' to me for some reason?!

 

 

Someone had a kiss for Minnie Mouse!

 

 

Very fun breakfast for the kids!

Animal Kingdom and Ohana

We spent Thursday at Animal Kingdom.

 

The Safari is so cool.

It's so neat to me how they have all of these animals out there and you never see a single fence or wire.
Well done Disney.  Well done.

The kids were excited to meet Chip and Dale, and Rafiki.

 

Tressie rode her first "big kid" ride at Animal Kingdom.
Gaga and I opted out of getting soaked on the rapids ride, but T loved it!!

That night we had dinner at one of our favorite Disney restaurants, 'Ohana.
They serve a delicious Hawaiian feast that is cooked over an open flame and the atmosphere is great!
T had fun playing a game of push the coconut with the broom; Gunner slept most of this outing, waking up just in time to eat a cupcake, and I had my favorite dessert of the entire trip, Bananas Foster Bread Pudding.

 

We finished the day off with some good pool time at the resort.

 

More Magic Kingdom Fun

The rides and the parades!

 

When we took T to Disney World in 2011, the Carousel was one of her favorite rides and it was absolutely no different for little brother on this trip.

We commonly heard, "ride horse," from Gug.

 

The Festival of Fantasy Parade was great!
We had a great spot and the kids got to interact with a lot of the characters.

 

High-fives with Goofy!

 

And of course, the rides!!!

So many great Magic Kingdom memories!

The Stars

Very first stop at the Magic Kingdom was to meet the one and only Mickey Mouse!

T was of course thrilled; Mickey even asked her to do the Hot Dog dance with him.

GW thought it was all right.  It took several days into the trip for him to warm up to the life size mice and the like.

 

 

 

Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Goofy have a fun new little hangout in the new part of Fantasyland.
I love their costumes!
{GW was taking a nap in his stroller during all of this fun.}

And besides hanging out with the Princesses at lunch, T got to see lots more of them throughout the day.

But her day was made, when she got to meet Anna and Elsa.

 

Walking out after meeting them, T stops, sighs, and says, "Ah, my life is complete."
Now if that doesn't make a Mama and Daddy smile and feel good! :)

A Magical Day

We spent our first full day at the Magic Kingdom.

Yes, we did all of the rides and characters, but first, I wanted to share with you a few of the special things we did that day.

 

As much as I hate to admit it, GW's hair was getting to be out of control.

So if I had to break down and get him a haircut, at least it'd be at Disney World.

He was a really good little boy for his haircut {and did look mighty cute afterwards}, so he got to pick out some candy. 

 

 

GW's little haircut was minor when compared to the royal treatment that T got at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.

For her princess transformation, she of course chose Elsa.

Her Fairy Godmother, combed, teased, sprayed and painted and our little Tressie was transformed into an adorable little Queen Elsa.

 

 

 

 

Not just any lunch would do for a queen.

Months ago, Gaga secured a coveted lunch reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table.



And what else would a little Prince Charming do while his sister socializes with princesses?!?

 

 This was a truly magical day!!

 

So, we took a little trip...

And yesterday, John Wayne informed me that I still had not blogged about any of it.

And then I informed him, that I'm a blog slacker now.  Remember.

 

Anyways...our little trip.

We took these cuties to Disney World!

 

 

We stayed at a hotel close to the airport the night before our departure and we still had to leave the hotel at 5AM to catch our flight!

The flight...GW SCREAMED the first five minutes we were on the plane.

SCREAMED.

John Wayne's looking at me with the, "see, I told you so" look.

I'm trying to stay calm.

Thank goodness, the screaming really did only last for like five minutes and the flight went well.

We arrived in Orlando early afternoon.
If you've never taken a Disney vacation, do it.
They take care of getting your luggage from baggage claim and delivering it to your room for you.
You just jump on a luxury coach and are delivered to your resort's front door.

Upon arriving at our resort, I had taken a few little decorations {including a cute "From Wild Horse to Disney World sign} to decorate our room window for the kids.
{Other people do this at Disney...it's not just me.}

 

Then it was off to explore Hollywood Studios, home of Disney's Frozen Fun!

Gaga and Papa went with us -- the more the merrier.
And it's always a good thing when you out number the kids : )

T, and let's be honest GW too, really loved the Frozen sing-a-long.
They kinda know the words to all the songs : )

And then leave it to Disney to create a frozen playground, in Florida, in the middle of summer.

 We met some of the kid's other favorites and rode a few rides.

Then the adults took turns watching the kids and riding big kid rides.  Wahoo!!!

We finished up with dinner at the Sci-Fi Drive-In Diner.

We were able to put a good first day in once we arrived!!