This year we stayed at the All Stars Music resort, which didn't have as many things that the kids were so excited about, but since we were at our hotel/room maybe 7-8 hours max in a 24 hour period, it didn't really matter anyways. It was still great with many awesome things to look at, and we were very pleased with our stay. When we got to Disney after leaving our house around 5:20 (which was already an hour past what we had planned on, but our alarm didn't go off) we put our stuff in our room and headed to Downtown Disney to hang out for the afternoon and night. There the kids were taking everything in and Jackson was taking down notes "of all the really cool stuff" that he was seeing on his little notepad he grabbed from our hotel room on our way out. He especially loved the Lego store, making a Darth Vadar potato head, and he had several pages by the time we got back to our room! The girls loved playing with the potato heads, looking at all the princess dresses and accessories and watching daddy dance with a group of dads at the amphitheater.
Favorites of the day: Jackson- The "Toy Story Mania" ride, meeting Buzz and Woody, and he really loved the "Star Tours" ride. He was also so incredibly excited that we got to eat lunch at "The Pizza Planet!" Ansley- "Tower of Terror", "Star Tours" and watching Beauty and the Beast. Elsie- meeting Princess Sofia! She was so excited while we were waiting in line to meet her, and while we were getting her autograph and taking pictures Elsie just stared and smiled at her. When we walked away, Elsie just started sobbing. I asked her what was wrong, she said, "I didn't get to give her a good-bye hug." Pitiful! Vada Belle's favorite- probably Fantasmic, especially since she got to eat a Mickey ice cream bar during the show.
By the time we got back to the room the kids were exhausted since they decided to barely sleep on the long drive down (which made it even longer...) and they went straight to sleep (which by this point it was after 11). On Monday we went to Magic Kingdom where the girls wanted to wear their princess dresses and looked just adorable. We met so many characters, rode almost all the rides, and got really wet in a nonstop rain shower that started around 1 and didn't stop until night. Thankfully we had ponchos and it didn't slow us down at all.
When we went and met Jasmine and Aladdin, we were drenched by this point. But, Jasmine and Aladdin took that as an opportunity to "style"the kids hair and we especially liked the Mohawk Aladdin gave Jackson. Last time we went and this time, these two were some our favorites out of all the characters that we met. They talked and talked with the kids, were making monkey sounds for Abu, and had them giggling so much. Precious!
When we went and met Rapunzel, she had the kids laughing, too. We had just gotten off of "Peter Pan's Flight," and Jackson was telling her how they were riding on flying ships. She says, "Flying ships! What kingdom are you from?" Jackson busted out with his chuckle that we just love, and when you hear that laugh you can't help from laughing, too.
When we went to do the Enchanted Tales with Belle, we were excited because it was something new for us since it wasn't there on our last trip to Disney. What an awesome and interactive show (if that is even what you call it?) it is! Jackson got to play the part of Chip (the little teacup) and when they were doing the ending and letting every kid get a hug and picture with Belle, everyone in the room just "aww-ed" when Elsie snuggled right up with Belle! Since Belle is one of Ansley's favorite princesses, she was so excited to meet her.
Favorites of the day: Jackson- Peter Pan's Flight (our kids are quite obsessed with the movie right now, so maybe that's why), and The Buzz Lightyear ride. Ansley- Splash Mountain! The girl was obsessed and asked us over and over if she could go ride it again. I don't think I could even count the number of times she asked us on Monday and Thursday (our 2nd day at MK) if we go could ride it. She also loved meeting the Princesses, of course. Elsie- she loved riding all the rides and was SO excited to meet the Princesses and other characters. It's funny to think when we went two years ago she screamed when we would try to get her picture made with someone, and this time she was the one running up to them to get the first hug. Vada Belle- Vada loved all the rides and would usually try to arch her back when we would have to get off because she didn't want to. When we went to "The Big Top" to meet some of the characters, she spotted Minnie Mouse on the other side of the room the second we walked in there. She didn't stop screaming out "Minmie" the whole time we were in there until we went and met her (which was of course the last of the 4 characters in there). We heard "Minmie" a lot as you can imagine over the course of our trip!
On Tuesday we went to Epcot and thankfully only had to deal with a quick couple of rain showers in the morning. We only went on one ride and were waiting in line to meet Mickey, Pluto and Minnie before we knew one of us had to go back to the room to get Vada Belle's lovie. Everyone that knows Vada knows that you don't go anywhere without that rabbit, and for the first time we didn't have it with us and she was NOT a happy camper. Eric and Vada took the bus to the hotel while Jackson, Ansley, Elsie and I went to go ride Nemo and watch "Turtle Talk with Crush." If you haven't been there, Crush is the sea turtle from Nemo and it is an interactive show with you asking him questions and he asks questions to "the humans" about things. Jackson and Ansley were sitting in the floor with the other kids, and Elsie hops up and runs to sit with me. Crush right then comes out from behind a rock wearing a bikini top and ask , "What is this," to which Elsie screams out not once, but twice, "Those are for the boobies!" Thankfully Crush didn't hear her, but the people sitting around us got a kick out of it. By this time Eric and Vada were back with lovie in hand, and we went on Nemo again, watched the dolphins and played in the under water kids play area.
Favorites of the day: Jackson- Just like last time, Jackson loved Soarin', but he also got to ride Test Track for the first time and absolutely loved it. He laughed and laughed the whole ride. Ansley- She says her favorite thing is when she got to ride Soarin' for the 1st time. Elsie- She loved the Nemo ride and the ride in Mexico with Donald Duck. Vada Belle loved the Nemo ride, too, and she really enjoyed watching the dolphins and other fish in the huge fish tanks. The kids all brought their Mickey ears hat that we got on our last trip with them again, so before we left Epcot we went and got Vada Belle her own Mickey Ears hat- a Little Mermaid one, and as you can see from the pictures, she could've cared less about wearing them!
By the time we got back to the hotel, we went to go eat at the food court, and at this point the kids decided they would rather choose sleep over food! So funny!
Hollywood Studios (which I love!), is where we spent Wednesday. We watched all of the wonderful shows there, met even more characters, and Jackson and Ansley were even tall enough to ride "Tower of Terror"! We did the parent swap on all of the rides the little girls weren't able to go on, so when we went to go ride that one, I made Eric go with them first. I just knew that it would scare them and I didn't want to be the one with them when it happened. Ha! When they came off I was surprised to see them laughing!!! Ansley immediately grabbed my hand to go again, but Jackson said he thought he would just hang out with dad and the girls. While we were waiting for them, Vada Belle fell asleep so I decided to use one of our snacks (the free dining plans are the way to go, by the way!) to get Elsie an ice cream, and she didn't mind at all waiting for dad and her siblings.
Favorites of the day: Jackson- The "Toy Story Mania" ride, meeting Buzz and Woody, and he really loved the "Star Tours" ride. He was also so incredibly excited that we got to eat lunch at "The Pizza Planet!" Ansley- "Tower of Terror", "Star Tours" and watching Beauty and the Beast. Elsie- meeting Princess Sofia! She was so excited while we were waiting in line to meet her, and while we were getting her autograph and taking pictures Elsie just stared and smiled at her. When we walked away, Elsie just started sobbing. I asked her what was wrong, she said, "I didn't get to give her a good-bye hug." Pitiful! Vada Belle's favorite- probably Fantasmic, especially since she got to eat a Mickey ice cream bar during the show.
Our last day at the parks we went back to Magic Kingdom where we got to meet Ariel, Tiana, Hook, Chip and Dale. By the time we went to see Chip and Dale, I had just told Eric that I was done meeting characters. We walked right up on them, there wasn't a long line and Jackson really was excited to see them and wanted to get their picture. After he stood in line time after time with his sisters to meet the princesses I knew it was only fair to let him meet someone that he really wanted to. (Then just a few minutes later we walked right up on Hook with barely a line-ha!). Vada Belle was exhausted at this point, and when I handed her over to one of the chipmunks (I don't remember which one it was) she snuggled right up next to him and was just sucking those fingers. After snapping a few pictures I went to go pick her back up, and the chipmunk motioned for me to go on. He hugged her a little tighter and she almost went to sleep right there. Precious.
While we were riding the People Mover, we saw some characters dancing along with a DJ at what they called Club 626 (which Jackson informed us that is Stich's number- obviously I've never watch the Lilo and Stitch movies!). The kids loved hanging out and dancing with Goofy, Pluto, Chip, Dale, and Stitch, of course. They would come right down with all the kids and dance and dance with them. Elsie kept running over to the chipmunk and once when I asked her if she didn't want to come dance with Stitch and said, "No. I'm dancing with Alvin!" Wrong chipmunk, sister!
We got to watch the "Move It! Shake It!" Celebrate It!" parade, as well as the "Dreams Come True" parade, which both were just amazing. They had to stop the "Move It" parade because of a quick rain shower that popped up, but we love that parade and enjoyed what we got to see.
While we weren't meeting characters or watching parades, we were running from ride to ride.
We heard from the time we got there from Ansley, "When are we going to go ride the fox ride?" (Splash Mountain) Like I said earlier, she was obsessed! We went to go ride it, and even though all the other rides had barely a wait, it was an hour long. We got a fast pass, rode it at our designated time, and did the parent swap so Jackson and Ansley got to ride it twice back to back. Near the end of the night, we went to "Space Mounatin" so Eric and Jackson could ride it (Ansley was still too short) while the girls and I watched "Wishes." Eric said while he and Jackson were walking to get on the ride Jackson seemed a little nervous and he says, "Is it going to be dark?" Ummmm! Eric said when they got off Jackson said, "THAT WAS AWESOME!" He immediately asked me if I would ride it with him again. We did and by the time we got off it was just a few minutes before 10, when the park closed. Eric grabbed the big kids and said they were going to run to "Splash Mountain" one more time for Ansley before it closed, and I asked Elsie to pick one more ride for her last ride of the trip. We were right at the teacups when I asked her, so that was what she choose. Her and Vada Belle giggled and laughed, and when we got off it was about 2 minutes to 10 and since we were right at the Winnie the Pooh ride, which Vada Belle loved, we ran and hopped right on it. We then went and watched the nighttime electrical parade, while we waited on dad, Jackson and Ansley.
Favorites of the day: Jackson- Space Mountain and dancing with Stitch; Ansley- Splash Mountain and Club 626 dance party; Elsie- meeting Ariel and The Little Mermaid ride; Vada Belle- meeting the chipmunks and the Winnie the Pooh ride
Once we finally left Magic Kingdom we went back and ate a super late dinner which the kids may have been falling asleep during the middle of.
The next morning it was time to pack up and head home, but not before a little swim and using the free arcade points we were given (which equaled out to be one for each of the kids- they enjoyed their one game though.) :)
It was a wonderful week away full of late nights, laughs and so many memories. It was just as much fun as our first trip to Disney with the kids! Now... time to start saving for hopefully our next trip there in a couple of years!
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