Our first trip to Disney World was October 5 - 11, 2012. We brought Harry's parents and my godchild Karaline with us. It was everyone's first time and both Connor and Karaline would celebrate their birthday while there so it was an extra special vacation! We didn't tell the kids we were going until a few days before we left and they were very excited. I made up a scavenger hunt for them to go on and each clue had something to do with Disney. At the end they got a Mickey and Minnie and had to figure out where we were going.
It was also Connor and Karaline's first time flying so I was a little nervous, but they did awesome! Connor absolutely loved it. When we took off from New Orleans, he put his arm in the air and started yelling, "We're blasting off!"
We didn't get to Orlando until really late, so we basically got to the resort and went to sleep. We stayed at the new Art of Animation resort in a Finding Nemo family suite. It is a great place to stay! On our first day, the kids woke up to autograph books that "Mickey" left for them and then we were off to Magic Kingdom for breakfast at Crystal Palace. The kids had a great time for their first encounter with the characters. We got to see Piglet, Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger. It was Connor's third birthday so we picked up his birthday pin and of course he got his birthday cupcake for breakfast.
After breakfast, the kids picked out their souvenirs for the day and we headed to Animal Kingdom. We had a great time for our first day at Disney. Our favorite attractions in Animal Kingdom were the Kilimanjaro Safari, Festival of the Lion King, and Flights of Wonder. The grown ups really enjoyed It's Tough to be a Bug, the kids...not so much. They weren't really digging it from the beginning and when the spiders came down from the ceiling, they both lost control of themselves lol. If you were to ask them what their favorite ride was that day, they would probably say TriceraTop Spin, which is something you can find at any rinky dink fair haha. During the Lion King show, the cast members would get people from the audience to participate. They tried to get Karaline to go, but if you know her, you know she was not having it! And who could go to Disney World without getting a Mickey ears ice cream so we had to stop for one during the day. We ended our day with dinner in Epcot at Coral Reef and another birthday cupcake. It is a really fun place to eat with an aquarium in the dining room. After dinner, the kids had fun dancing and jumping around the lights on the ground near the front of the park. They didn't want to leave, but the adults were about to fall asleep standing up haha!
Mickey dropped off new shirts for the kids to wear for our second day. They were so excited to wear them! We ate breakfast at Chef Mickey in the Contemporary resort. We got to see Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. We let Connor celebrate his birthday again so we sat in the celebration section of the restaurant. He got a yellow napkin and the rest of us had blue ones. At one point, they played a celebration song and all the characters walked around waving napkins and everyone waved theirs too. It was so cute to see all the yellow napkins knowing they were celebrating something special!
After breakfast, we were off to spend the day at Epcot. This was probably the least favorite park for the kids, but Harry and I had a great time! Our favorite attraction there was Soarin, hands down! It started to rain a little so we stopped at the Coca-Cola place to try soda from around the world. Harry and I had already done this while in Las Vegas so we knew to stay clear of Beverly, but it was fun to watch everyone try it! After just a few hours, we had seen all there really is to see that the kids would be interested in so Harry's mom and dad took them back to the resort to nap and enjoy what it had to offer. Harry and I stayed to check out the World Showcase. The International Food and Wine Festival was going on so there were kiosks at each country with featured food and drinks. It was so much fun! We also did a beer tour at Rose and Crown pub and a wine tour in Germany. We met up with the rest of our group at LeCellier for dinner. They were running behind with reservations so we had a pretty long wait to be seated and we ended up missing the firework show at the end of the night. It was okay though. Connor couldn't stay awake long enough to get his meal, but our food was delicious!
Our third day meant breakfast at Ohana in the Polynesian resort where we got to see Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto. The breakfast there is family style and the guava orange juice is delicious! It was Karaline's turn to celebrate her birthday so we had another breakfast cupcake. When the celebration song came on, all the kids got maracas and danced in a Congo line with the characters around the restaurant. It was a lot of fun! The monorail wasn't running when it was time to leave so we took the boat to the Magic Kingdom for the day.
We started our day in Magic Kingdom with a train ride around most of the park. We got off in Fantasyland and toured half of the park. We loved everything about the day! The kids loved the Dumbo ride which is exactly like the Triceratops Spin in Animal Kingdom. I don't know why they like it so much haha! The Buzz Lightyear ride was so much fun. It was probably our favorite of the day. After we left the Buzz ride, we realized that someone had taken our stroller. A security officer hooked us up with a park stroller while they tried to find ours. While waiting for them to figure that out me and Harry decided to check out Stitch's Great Escape. Connor wasn't tall enough to go, but we brought Karaline because the officer said it wasn't too bad and it didn't move...BIG MISTAKE! It was loud and dark and a harness came down over you so that you couldn't move. The monster things spit water on you and Karaline had a nervous breakdown. All I could do was try to hold her hand and talk to her to calm her down but she wanted out! The go carts were also a big hit. Karaline was a terrible driver! She was cracking up laughing at me laughing at her. Just as we were leaving, they announced that the Dream Come True parade was about to start. We lucked out big time! The kids LOVED it! When Cinderella passed she noticed Karaline's button and told her Happy Birthday. She was in awe! It was so cute! After a fun day at the park we went to our resort to freshen up and then it was time for dinner at Whispering Canyon Café in Wilderness Lodge. Of course Karaline's favorite part was the bathroom because there was a little kid sink area for her to wash her hands. A lot of bathrooms around Disney have this. Very convenient! Two of the funniest moments happened when we got back to our room. We were all so exhausted that Connor got in the tub with his shirt on and Harry didn't even notice at first. Every one got a kick out of that. Then they got their birthday presents from Mimi and Pop. Karaline got a Cinderella costume and Connor got a Woody one. Their reactions were priceless! Karaline felt like a real princess and Connor immediately turned into a cowboy. It was a great ending to an amazing day!
Day four started with breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table in Magic Kingdom. Our walk to the castle was very memorable. Our breakfast reservation was early so we got to go into the park a few minutes before it opened. There were a lot of cast members out on the street waiting for the crowd. The kids dressed in the costumes they got the night before and the cast members talked to them as if they really were Cinderella and Woody! They greeted them with "Good morning princess, Good morning sheriff, Good morning Woody" as we walked down the street. It was so cute! We got to meet Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, Jasmine, and Ariel at breakfast. It really was magical to be in the castle and Karaline loved every minute. Connor wasn't thrilled with all the princesses, but it was Karaline's special breakfast. They gave all the kids a star to make a wish on. All the girls also got wands and the boys got swords. And of course...it ended with Karaline's birthday cupcake!
When we finished breakfast, we toured the other half of Magic Kingdom. It was another great day! I loved how the characters stayed in character, even when talking to the grown ups. It makes it very special. All the princesses loved our little Woody as you can tell by the lipstick on his cheek! We got to try to famous Dole Whip and it is as good as everyone says it is! Tinkerbelle was really the only character that we had to wait for a good amount of time to see. Karaline even fell asleep in the stroller while we were in line. I'm kind of glad she did because Tink made sure she still got her picture and it is so sweet! We headed to Ohana for supper after a long day at the park. The supper is also family style and it was a lot of food! Our bellies were definitely full. After dinner we went back to Magic Kingdom to catch the electric parade and firework show. The parade was awesome and the kids danced and had a great time! Our 15 hour days were starting to catch up with us though. We were exhausted, but we didn't care!
Our last day was at Hollywood Studios and it started with breakfast at Hollywood and Vine. We met Agent Oso, Jake, June, and Handy Manny. They got the kids up to dance every now and then and they had a blast! After breakfast we set out to explore the park.
After breakfast Harry went straight to Toy Story Mania to get out fast passes. We were so excited for that ride! The kids got their faces painted and they were so cute. Hollywood Studios was fun and had really cute shows, but Toy Story was hands down our favorite. When we were about to get off, Connor said no we need to go that way, pointing to the cars going into the ride! Even us grown ups felt like little kids. Visiting Mike and Sully was our last stop in the park before dinner. They ended it on such a fun note by playing with the kids and rocking their Mickey and Minnie. Dinner was at Hollywood Brown Derby and we had a feast! We had several extra dinners left on our dining plan so we pretty much ordered the entire menu. It was delicious! We had an early flight and Fantasmic didn't start until 8:00 so we decided to skip it and go back to the resort. There's always next time!
I think our first trip to Disney will probably always be one of my all time favorite vacations. We had such a good time and the kids were so well behaved. I couldn't have asked for a better experience. I totally understand why people go so many times. I can't wait to go back! We made every moment fun...even while waiting for the bus to pick us up at 3:30 am to bring us to the airport!
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