Since MK is clearly the kiddos favorite, we spent a lot of time there. It was especially easy to spend a few hours there on the days we did EC and HS since those could be covered in a relatively short period of time. When Ella & Molly posed for the picture above, the Disney photographer didn't tell them what they were so excited about. They loved it when we pulled the photos up that night in our room! Since our first attempt with Ariel was such a disaster, we decided to try again. Sophie was still pretty timid at the beginning, but she eventually warmed up. They talked about Flounder and Sophie FINALLY sang for her. It was adorable and worth the five day wait. We also managed to catch Peter Pan on our way to Adventureland. Sophie would have nothing to do with him. The only man ...
Disney
Walt Disney World | Day Four
Our original plan for New Year's Day was for the girls to rest at the resort with Gran, while Josh, Poppy & I headed to Universal Studios for the day. We were all so exhausted by this point, however, that we opted to spend the day in our pajamas instead. We waited until after dinner to head into the parks for the day and decided a quick evening in Hollywood Studios was the perfect way to spend our time. We headed straight to the arena to watch Mickey's Fantasmic show. It is a laser light and water show that is so much fun! The amphitheater is huge and the girls loved it! Josh & I enjoyed the Christmas lights so much the night before, that we decided it was a must see for the rest of our family, too. There is so much to look at, the lights are choreographed to "dance" with ...
Walt Disney World | Day Three
Our third day in the parks was New Year's Eve and was probably my favorite day of the entire trip. We had breakfast reservations at Animal Kingdom's Tusker House Restaurant before the park even opened that morning, so we didn't have to wait in any lines! I had read to avoid Magic Kingdom and Epcot on the holidays, so eating breakfast and spending the day here was an excellent choice. It was a chilly morning, so we were all bundled up, but it ended up being a beautiful day! We started out with a sleepy family picture in front of the Tree of Life from Disney's The Lion King. We spotted Everest while we were waiting in Africa for breakfast. My dad & I would later wait in an hours-long line to ride this roller coaster while the girls were enjoying nature trails with my mom and Josh. ...
Walt Disney World | Day Two
Day two was a VERY light photography day. We essentially repeated ourselves and spent another day in Magic Kingdom. We were only there until early afternoon so that we could get a nice long nap in that afternoon. We rode a hand-full of rides we missed on the first day and let the girls have an encore on all of their favorites from the first day. We started out by grabbing a fastpass for Space Mountain and then rode the Jungle Cruise while we waited on things to warm up a bit. The captains on the cruise are always pretty cheesy and witty, but the girls enjoyed all of the fake animals and it was a nice relaxing way to start the day. Especially considering the stress that laid out ahead. We told Ella that she didn't have to ride anything she didn't want to except for Space Mountain. She is ...
Walt Disney World | Day One
I was just as excited about waking up Saturday morning as the girls were. In fact, I woke up about 4:45 and just couldn't close my eyes again. I laid in bed reading until an acceptable hour and then it was time to meet the Mouse! We had heard from Guest Services the night before that MK had reached capacity and been closed for three days running, so our plan was to be there a half hour before the gates opened and it was a good one. The girls opted for the Ferry Boat to cross over to the park and I was secretly thrilled. I love riding the ferry because it offers the first glimpse of Cinderella's castle! We took Ella to Disney World in 2009, but it had been awhile. This was the first trip for SK and my cousin, Molly, so they were all understandably excited as we began our ...
The Disney Surprise
If you've been reading my blog for more than six months, then you know what a big surprise we had in store for the girls on Christmas morning. Unfortunately for you, it's been a long time since then with no photographs or updates on how well that all went over. I decided that since it's finally 90 degrees outside, we could all cool down with a few posts from our wonderful week between Christmas and New Year's Day. For those of you who are new to the blog, let's recap. Josh & I took Ella to Walt Disney World in the spring before her third birthday. It was a spur of the moment decision that followed an almost month of work-related travel for me. I was exhausted and I missed my family like crazy and we got the awesome opportunity to stay in an all-expenses-paid time-share not far from ...
Our Magical First Day
I was just as excited about waking up Saturday morning as the girls were. In fact, I woke up about 4:45 and just couldn't close my eyes again. I laid in bed reading until an acceptable hour and then it was time to meet the Mouse! We had heard from Guest Services the night before that MK had reached capacity and been closed for three days running, so our plan was to be there a half hour before the gates opened and it was a good one. The girls opted for the Ferry Boat to cross over to the park and I was secretly thrilled. I love riding the ferry because it offers the first glimpse of Cinderella's castle! We took Ella to Disney World in 2009, but it had been awhile. This was the first trip for SK and my cousin, Molly, so they were all understandably excited as we began our approach. One ...
Crappiest Christmas Photography Ever
In my defense, we were so preoccupied with enjoying the moment that I didn't take many pictures. I so wanted to see the look on their faces when they opened each gift and couldn't wait to see how they reacted to our surprise, that the camera was kind of an afterthought. Add to that the fact that my camera was a trillion years old and there is absolutely no natural light in our living room and the few pictures I did get are blurry and the color is wonky. Even photoshop couldn't rescue me this time! Just pretend they are beautiful and rest assured that we got the entire morning on video for posterity. Although we managed to get through the entire morning without a single pajama-clad photograph as a family in front our tree, I did set up the tripod as we were walking out the door for lunch ...