Disney World 2013 - First Time Experiencing the Magic

 After years of hoping and convincing Matt to go, our family finally made it to Disney World!! We went November 9-26, 2014 so that Abigail could still fly free and to go during a not busy time. But we were wrong it was still Crazy Busy!! At least for the first half of the week. So the day we flew in we decided to spend some time at the pool along with our Little Mermaid friends. Yes it was warm enough to swim outdoors in FL even in Nov. We found ourselves quite sweaty and swore we would never do DW in the summer. How do people survive it with the crowds and heat?!?

 Our first morning in the parks we decided to start it off with a royal bang! Hayden and I went to a Princess Breakfast where we got to meet and visit with all the princesses plus have a delicious buffet. This was at the Norwegian Castle in Epcot.

 The price for this breakfast buffet was about $35/ person. Here is what Hayden wanted on her plate. Not even sure if she ate all that.

 I on the other hand most certainly wanted to get my money's worth and kept going back for more. Kari and I may or may not have shoved our napkins full of left over food and put them in our purses.

 We were so lucky to be able to take this trip with my brother Chris and his family. The boys, Lex, and Abbie decided to sleep in a little bit at the hotel and meet up with us later.

 Here is Lily, Hayden, Emi and Jane with Sleeping Beauty. I curled Hayden's hair to look just like a princess and of course the humidity just killed it.  I was disappointed for the pictures sakes but these girls were star struck by each princess that came by our table to talk with us and take pictures.

 I loved how each princess especially Snow White perfectly took on the personality of each princess. Each movement of the hands, wrists, hips, etc is so deliberate. Each movement they try to make picture perfect, especially the hugs.

 Right before we came, my girls were both on a Little Mermaid kick, so Hayden was mostly excited to see Ariel.

 It also happened to be Kari's birthday so they brought her a little birthday treat.

 Thought we better snap some pictures of this big ball before the place got swarmed with people. We got inside Epcot before it was opened for the breakfast.

 Even though Disney is fun, I think there is just a lot to take in with the little kids and we did have a lot of the picture above. It's hard to find a happy balance for everyone and each age group. I think next time, I won't be so focused on planning out everything to the T to rush us here and there so that we can ride every ride and see every little thing. I think I needed to slow down, listen to the kids a little more and just enjoy the moment with them more. We did pretty good with this, but its easy to get caught up in the rush when each of these parks are just SOOOO huge with SOOOOO much to see and do. We did Epcot two days and we still didn't see and do everything.

 I was also surprised that for the little kids especially seeing and talking to the characters were one of their favorite parts. I would have thought rides would be the best - and they loved those, but characters really would put a smile on their face and often times would snap them out of a grumpy mood.

 Our two princesses waiting for The Sea Turtle show looking at the aquariums. This show was quite cute!!

 Showing off our magic bands.

 9lb lemons - pretty cool.

 Mexico

 Germany

 Matt took the girls back to our Disney Resort  - American Music or something like that. Man, I am already forgetting... It was nice that two afternoons Carter and I got to focus totally on him.

 MICKEY!!!!

 The kids all got some mickey/minnie souvenirs and Hayden no surprise chose the wedding ones.

 This day (day 2) we were at Hollywood Studios. We only did HS one day and if we could have gone back and changed things we would have gone here twice. Abbie was being quite fiesty (shocker I know) so we found these princesses and peter pan sets and if we just left her alone to play with her toys she was fine. Key was no one, especially another child bug here. Oh Abster!! And do notice a common thread through out the pictures - Abbie's bare feet. She REFUSED to wear shoes!! We would threaten that she couldn't ride a ride, she would put them on for the least amount of time possible and then off they went.

 Rockin Rollercoaster

 Disney puts on a couple of 30 min shows of their movies and they are FANTASTIC!! So perfect for the kids. They hit all the major story lines and songs with phenomenal costumes, but not too long that the kids get bored or antsy.

 I think Sofia was Abbie's favorite princess we saw. We waited a long time for her so I am glad it was worth it.

 As we were walking along we happened to run into a bunch of random characters just walking along with out lines. Jack pot!

 This was one of their special Christmas events. They had thousands if not millions of lights strung and going off with music and even fake snow.

 Day 3 - Magic Kingdom. Kari and I made the four little girls matching skirts. They looked so cute all matching!!

 It was quite an effort trying to get them to all pose to show their skirts. Here's the best I got.

 Oh Jane Bug how I love your Goofy Grin!!

 Carter was so excited that he got to drive. Let's just say it's not a bad thing that we have some time to work on a few things.

 I always heard the Disney Parades are one of the best parts - it was true!!

 Jane Bug is a HUGE Pluto fan. During the parade he saw her yelling out to him and came up and gave her a big hug. She grabbed on tight and Kari had to pry her off. This I think will be one of my favorite memories.

 Abbie and I dancing in the rain.

 Abbie was on a huge and still is some days skirt kick while in DW. Knowing that the girls liked to wear their tutu skirts I packed them all in one of the suitcases. Abbie's brain was on skirt overload seeing them all together like that.  This particular day she had on four. One skirt is hiding underneath all of the others. Changing her diaper was quite tricky with all that fluff going on! Who ever said less is more had not met Abbie Absters.

 She also very much enjoys pretending to be an animal. Carter was playing fetch with her. Yes this may totally gross some out, but to me its just another way to build your immune system.

 The kiddie crew. Day 5 at Animal Kingdom. (Day 4 was day #2 at Epcot - wish we would have done Hollywood Studios again)

 Mount Kilimanjaro in the background.

 A momma and baby rhino. The safari was awesome!!!!!!!!!

 Goofy Santa!!

 Disney does a fantastic job and lowering the height limits to get more kids to be able to ride more rides. Carter could ride every single ride and he LOVED it!!! This was a twisty ride, I was the lucky one that got to ride all the twisty rides with the kids.  You are welcome other adults in our group!! :)

 After seeing how wide Kari could get her mouth to go to get over one of these gigantic ice cream cookies, how could I not take a picture and then post it?!?  And for those of you in the future who go to DW - these cookies might look oh so delicious but just resist.  They were quite disappointing!!

Day 6 - Magic Kingdom  Loved the Christmas decor on mainstreet!!!!

 We attended a dance party.

 Abbie was over the moon in this moment. Another favorite moment for me.

 The big girl behind the wheel.

 We needed a special treat to push the grumpies away. Once again no socks for Abs. We actually lost her 2nd pair of shoes the day before at Animal kingdom at the end of the day. We were prepared to buy her some more if the DW staff insisted she wore shoes, but since the kiddie crocs they sold there were $35 we decided we would hold off until we were forced. We were not, so the rest of our trip and flight home she was shoeless.  But you know, that's just how we roll. It's weird how extremely up tight I am about some things and how terribly laid back I am about other things.

 Jane Bug's favorite ride for all of DW is It's a Small World. She sings along the entire time. This second ride was dedicated to her.

 Magic Kingdom was good on a couple rides to have play areas for the kids while waiting in line.

 You know we thought that we would maybe see this site a few times, we hoped once a day while on our trip. Um no!!!!! This was the one and only time this happened!!!! and It was only for about 20 min. This girl has one strong will.  Ain't no body telling this girl what to do and when to sleep.

 Some more fake snow on mainstreet!! Snow and sweat doesn't usually go together unless you are Olaf from Frozen.

 Kari was desperate to find this gingerbread house that you can actually go inside of. We went on a wild goose chase and by the time we found it, it was closed and we couldn't go inside for Kari to buy her treat. Darn!! It was cool to see.

 Our sight as we tried to hunt down the gingerbread house.

 

The kids fell asleep on the bus to the hotel and were all piled on each other in quite humorous ways.

 

 These pictures are now from Matt's phone and so they are not in order of the time line above. Our first night we walked around down town disney.  The above was made100% of Legos at the Lego store. Sahweet!!

 Carter at the spaceship ride. We did the G force side and it was really fun, just a little scary, and made me queasy.

 Carter had a lot of fun designing his own car at test track.

 To become a Jedi knight is at Hollywood Studios. What we didn't know was you have to run as soon as it opens to the spot where you sign your kid up for a time slot. So Carter missed out on being able to train to be a Jedi. This would be one of my big do overs!!

 The show fantasmic was one of our favorites!!! Def worth it!!!!

 Snuggling up tight with his Mickeys.

 Jack Sparrow made Carter one of his offical pirates at Magic Kingdom.

 I am pretty sure this was one of those times we took advantage of the baby swap. We learned how to really work the system with the baby swap in addition to our fast passes. I highly recommend using creativity in this department. I sure do love these girls!!!

 Another favorite moment. Enchanted Tales with Belle at Magic Kingdom was so magical. The little kids get to help act out the play. Carter was the Beast, Hayden the silver wear, and Abbie was chip.

 The castle is magical.

 We got to meet up with our friends the Lowrys. Why did we not get a picture with us all together?!?!??  This just shows even adults get exhausted at Disney!!!

 This was such a fun group! I LOVED going with family so that we can share the memories together!!!

I am already ready to go back. It was so much fun. I think it will be even more enjoyable to next time. Can't wait!!!!!

Here are some videos.

 First, the Enchanted Tales with Belle  this will remain as probably my favorite thing we did.

Enchanted telles with Belle pt 2

Carter charms Belle

Abigail as Chip

Dancing/ Splashing Cousins It was so nice when they had great play areas for the kids while the bigger kids/adults went on the big rides. This was at Animal Kingdom.

Hayden and Big Thunder Railroad I love this video. It reminds me of how brave my little Hayden is. She loves to be daring. This is not something that seems obvious about her. But this girl loves thrilling rides. I love her laughs in this video.

Abigail and the Electrical Parade

Abiagail and the Electrical Parade pt 2

Slow Motion Big Thunder Railroad - can you see our group?

Matt's favorite part - the stunt shows