DISNEY!!

We just got back from Walt Disney World and I have so much to blog about!!  It's amazing how much we did and saw in just five short days!

We had a countdown going at our house for about 50 days.  The kids were so excited to go...and Cary and I were excited to get away from this Iowa weather.  I read quite a few blogs about what to pack, which parks to visit, and what rides to not miss.  I even had a laminated schedule (including what rides I had to avoid) that we loosely followed.  And yes, it came in handy...despite Cary's mocking of my lamination.  :)

DAY 1:
We flew out on Wednesday afternoon and got into Orlando around 6:00 that night.  Carter woke up that morning with pink eye and Brynn had a weird rash/break-out on her cheeks.  (In retrospect, we're REALLY hoping it wasn't Fifths Disease since that's so dangerous for unborn babies.   We should know more soon.  Hopefully this is the last we'll be talking about it.)  Despite having a few little sicknesses, our flights were really uneventful.  We had to wait over an hour at the rental car place so that was annoying, but otherwise, the trip was smooth.  Ironically the Donnenwerth's were on our flight from Chicago to Orlando.  I knew they were also going to be in Disney that same week with some of Mike's coworkers, but we had no idea we'd be on the same flight.  And to make it even stranger, Carter and Drew were dressed in the exact same Nike outfit.  It was crazy.  Once in Orlando, we had dinner at the hotel restaurant and all went to bed.

DAY 2:
We started the day with breakfast at the best little cafe in the town of Celebration, near our hotel. (CUTE town, by the way!) At breakfast, we gave both kids $20 that they could spend on anything during the trip.  That money was burning a hole in Carter's pocket.  He would have spent it at that very restaurant if we would have let him!

This was our day at Magic Kingdom and, although we knew it was going to be in the low 60's and rainy, we were surprised just how cold it was.  Cary didn't have a jacket with him, the kids were cozied up under ponchos most of the morning, and it just seemed cold.  I don't think it hit the 60 degree mark until mid-afternoon, but we made the most of the day.  We made it to a bunch of rides without waiting in really long lines, rode the train around the park, met Ariel, had a quick lunch, rode more rides, and caught the end of the Move It Shake It parade.

Outside of Cinderella's Castle

Riding the carousel.  It was funny that Cinderella's step-sister and step-mother were both in line in front of us.  Her step-mother rode the carousel, talked to the kids, and acted crazy - totally in character - the whole time.  Brynn thought she was creepy.  

The teacups.  I remember these from my trip in 1988!!

Riding the train...notice the ponchos keeping us warm. 

We waited about 40 minutes to meet Ariel.  It was our first character we'd seen so the kids were in awe.  I'd read on a blog that we should bring autograph books and markers for the characters to sign.  This is definitely a big thing and all of the characters expect to do this.  She was very sweet and the kids really liked her.  

Carter kept begging to ride a roller coaster.  We saw Thunder Mountain from the train ride, and so that was all that he had on his mind for the next 30 minutes.  I was surprised that he actually rode it.  The wait was only about 20 minutes and since Brynn wasn't tall enough and it's not recommended for expectant mothers, she and I went off to find another ride.  But this didn't happen without some tears. 

You have to be 40 inches to ride and Brynn was JUST under the height.  She even stood on her tip-toes to pretend to be tall enough.  The guy spent several minutes measuring her and then told her she just wasn't quite tall enough.  She cried and cried as we walked away.  And the rest of the day told me "I wish I was a wittle taller."  :(  Next time, Brynnie! 

So Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride was the next best thing.  At least we got the purple car...I'm not sure we would have handled getting the blue or green one.  :)

We stopped for some Dole Whip (apparently a MUST if you're visiting Disney).  It's basically pineapple soft-serve ice cream.  It was good, but again, it was cold out, so it just made us colder.  At this point, it was about 4:00 and we were all running out of steam.  We decided to head back to the hotel to rest and get some warmer clothes for the evening.

Getting to and from Magic Kingdom isn't really the quickest thing.  After walking through the park and getting to the exit, you have to take either the monorail or ferry to the parking area.  We made the mistake of taking the ferry during this trip (and quickly learned that the monorail was warmer and faster).  I'm sure on a warm, sunny day, the ferry is great.  Not today.  Then once you get to the parking lot, you have to take a tram to your car.  We had our sit-and-stand stroller with us (a life-saver for sure!  Both kids sat in it and it was great to carry all of our stuff...ponchos, water bottles, our backpack, camera, etc.), but you have to fold that up to get into the tram.  And after a 5 minute tram ride, you're to your area of the parking lot.  So then once you find your car and load everybody up, we had about a 10 minute drive to our hotel.  Which of course, involves parking, unloading again, going up to the second floor and FINALLY - 50 minutes later - you're home.

So we rested for an hour and put on as many layers as we could and headed back to the park.  Yes - we were crazy to do the whole driving, parking, tram, thing again...but we took the monorail this time which was so much better.  We had dinner reservations at the Crystal Palace at 7:40.  As for making dinner reservations, I made these online the day that we booked the trip in December and had very few dinner options at that point.  This was a restaurant with all of the Winnie the Pooh characters - not our ideal pick - BUT it was nice to know we had a table somewhere.  The whole park was crowded near the restaurant because of the 7:00 Electrical Parade.  We waited outside of the restaurant until our table was ready around 8:10.  This was actually perfect because we got to see the Wishes light show and fireworks display right in front of us!

Dinner was great - it was a buffet with lots of options.  I basically had Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, green beans and corn casserole.  Cary had a bunch of weird salads and some other things that I definitely passed up.  And the kids both had mac and cheese and chicken nuggets.  And while we ate, all of the characters came to our table for photos, hugs and to sign autographs.  The bill was around $140 but it was worth it to not wait in the lines to meet the characters and have a relaxed dinner.

Cary told Carter that Piglet was always his favorite.  So Carter told Piglet that.  And then Piglet wanted a photo alone with Cary.  So funny!!  

Immediately after dinner, it was almost time for the 9:00 Electrical Parade to start.  We found a place to watch - not front row - but we could still see.  I had brought glow sticks and things from the Dollar Store and they were a big hit.  The kids were actually super excited about them!

After the parade, it was about 9:30 and Brynn looked a bit tired, but we decided to try to hit up a few rides in the Tomorrowland part of the park.  We rode Buzz Lightyear's ride, Cary and Carter drove race cars at the Speedway, and then we noticed Space Mountain straight ahead of us.  How had we missed that earlier in the day??  Apparently at 10:00, there is barely a line...so the boys rode Space Mountain and had the best time.  Carter still says that was his favorite part of the entire trip!  By the time they were done, Brynn was about to pass out and I was getting tired too.  We bought two balloons - for a total of $30!! - and left the park.  And we all crashed once we got back to the hotel.

DAY 3:
This was our "off" day.  We went back to Celebration for muffins at a little bakery.  And then we drove to Downtown Disney - a shopping area that didn't have an admission fee.  This was nothing too exciting, but we did find the Lego store and the Disney store.  Carter spent his $20 on two new Lego City cars (Angry Birds are soooo last month...Legos are the cool thing now.)  :)  And Brynn picked out two princess figurine sets at the Disney Store.

Then we went back to the hotel for some pool time.  This. Was. Amazing.  I am such a sucker for the beach/pool with a cold drink (Diet Mt. Dew this time...), a good book, and a hot sun.  We were so glad that we'd packed the kids' life jackets...they were able to get in on their own and swim around while we sat on the edge.  Cary got in with them most of the time, and they loved when he'd throw them around.

After several hours of pool time, we freshened up and went to the Disney Boardwalk to meet the Donnenwerth's.  We met them in the parking lot and saw that Amy and I were dressed almost exactly the same.  Two pregnant girls in navy and white dresses, white jean jackets, straight hair and big sunglasses.  We're meant to be friends. :)

WHERE IS HER BELLY???  She's due 2 weeks ahead of me...this isn't quite fair!! 

The boys and their (beer) bellies.  :)

The boardwalk was kind of a bust.  There wasn't much to do.  All of the restaurants needed reservations (which we didn't have).  So we got a table at the ESPN restaurant and ate dinner there. Brynn cried through most of dinner, felt a little warm, and nearly fell asleep on my lap.  So we sort of left the restaurant in a rush and went back to put the kids to bed.  We were sad to only get that short time with Mike, Amy, Macy and Drew, but glad that we got to see them at all!!  In Florida, of all places!

DAY 4:
This day was CRAZY.  The kids woke up happy and ready for a good day, so we made the most of our last day there.

It started with a trip to Epcot.  We got to the park about 20 minutes before the gates opened at 9:00.  Once into the park, we headed straight back to the Norway area, where Anna and Elsa from Frozen were signing autographs.  The kids were pumped to meet them.  But the line was and hour and half wait!  How does that even happen?  The park JUST opened!!  Sorry kids, no Anna and Elsa this time.  Luckily we had breakfast reservations at 9:30 at the Akurshus Royal Banquet Hall - where we got to meet all of the princesses.  This was pretty amazing!  We met Belle, Cinderella, Ariel (again!), Snow White, and Aurora.  It was a good breakfast, you get a complimentary professional photo with one of the princesses, and the kids get to parade around the restaurant with the princesses.  It did cost almost $200....but again...we got to see all of the princesses without waiting an hour and half for each one!

First we met Belle and got our photo taken.  Brynn loved that she looked just like her! ;) 

Carter didn't necessarily WANT to stand with the princesses, but he didn't want to feel left out either.  

He was just happy they had his favorite food - BACON.  This kid should go to Baconfest next year.  

Then we met Cinderella.  

And Ariel...but she had her legs this time! 

Princess Aurora - although I called her Briar Rose and then felt terrible when she signed her autograph Aurora.  We had to google the difference...which apparently there isn't one.  She goes by both!

And finally Snow White!  Brynn even got to carry her bouquet!! 

So we decided to leave Epcot because it was clear that there weren't a ton of rides and most things were adult-focused.  On our way out, we noticed a character spot where you could meet Mickey, Minnie and Goofy.

Brynn says her favorite part of the trip was when Minnie kissed her on the nose!  

By this time, it was about 11:30 and we decided to go back to swim.  Another great, warm day by the pool.  It started to hit me that we had to leave the next day.  We had tried the night earlier to add a day to our trip but found that the airlines charge $230 per person to make any changes.  It just wasn't worth it.  So this was the last of the sun and palm trees for the trip.  Back to the Iowa cold. Depressing.

We soaked up about 3 hours of sun and then cleaned up and headed back to the parks.  This time we decided to go to Hollywood Studios.  We ate a mid-afternoon burger and tried to get Fast Passes to the Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller Coaster.  No luck...they were sold out and both had 60 minute wait times.  Carter was bummed...no real rides here for them.  We found the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground and played there for awhile.

And then we found a place where you could make your own light saber.  Super cool!

And by this time - at 6:00 - we decided that Hollywood Studios was not as magical as Magic Kingdom.  We decided to book it back to Magic Kingdom for one more night of fun!  It took us exactly 45 minutes (remember the whole tram to the car, drive to the park, tram again, monorail rig-a-ma-roll).

First thing, we got Fast Passes to whatever rides were left.  We ended up with the Barnstormer (a smaller roller coaster that Brynn could ride too), the Buzz Lightyear ride, and the Speedway.  The kids had to do a kid-swap for the Barnstormer since I couldn't ride.  So Cary took Brynn first while Carter ran through a little splash area and then they switched.  We found the world's best caramel apple (Apple Pie apple), rode the teacups, the People Mover, and Buzz Lightyear.  We danced at the Incredibles Dance Party, and saw that the Space Mountain line was 90 minutes long.  And so, by 9:00, it was time to say farewell to Disney.

Brynn woke up the next morning with a fever and she slept most of the flights home.  We were back in the -5 degree Iowa weather by 1:00.  Boo.  But it gave us a chance to nap, play, do some laundry, and get ready for the week ahead.

Some final thoughts....
-Our kids were great!  They didn't whine much, they were easy to please, they were patient while waiting for rides, didn't cry when a line was too long, and were just fun to be with.  I think their ages were perfect.

-That being said, older kids would be great too.  It would just be a different trip...more roller coasters, less characters.  They do make it wonderful for all ages.

-Carter is truly the clumsiest kid we've met.  He trips constantly and touches every single hand rail that is available.  He's going to pick up so many germs.

-But he's also so easy-going and is up for whatever.  It was fun to watch the excitement in his eyes after Space Mountain...he was so proud!

-Brynn is old now.  She's no longer the tough-to-manage 2 year old.  She's older and easier and fun.  She was a delight...despite not feeling well on the plane ride.

-We will go back...when this new baby is about 3.  We promised the kids so we've got to stick with it! :)