So we survived our first Walt Disney World trip as a family of 4. Now I remember why I swore I wasn't returning to Disney until I had children and had to when I ran the Disney Marathon over 10 years ago. The whole Disney experience is super fun yet totally exhausting! Heck it took me over a week to recover enough to write this blog entry!!
So here's how the trip went.
Day 1. Off we go! Of course at the beginning of the road trip everyone was all smiles. I snapped a few pictures at the beginning of the drive yet refrained from taking more shots 7 hours in! (you're welcome) We actually only drove about 5 hours day 1 since we spent the night in Jacksonville. So it was all good!
Day 2. We made it to Disney World - woo hooo! Even the gates were exciting!
We drove into Disney from Jacksonville so that we'd have a full day at the resort before beginning our visits to the parks the next day. Good call! The resort we stayed in, Art of Animation, was fantastic! In true Disney style the resort was divided into sections and each was appropriately decorated! Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo, Cars and Lion King. (be sure to notice that Kate is in every one of the below pictures from the resort - somewhere - so you can get a sense of the size of these statues!)
Day 3 was Epcot. We ventured out early to beat the heat and the crowds! We even managed to ride some rides - including Kate! I still can't get over the fact that 40" is the height requirement for some of the thrill rides. Too bad I'm the only one in the family who really loves them. Maybe Anna Clare will willingly join me one day... (until then I'll continue pestering Brett and tricking Kate onto the big kid rides!)
So after a brief escape back to the hotel (thankfully Anna needed a nap!) we returned to Epcot for our 3:00 lunch reservation at Akershus. Akershus is a restaurant in Norway - one of the countries features in the World Showcase portion of Epcot. Thankfully a friend recommend we go there early in our trip so Kate could meet several princesses in one place. Needless to say she LOVED it!
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| Snow White |
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| Cinderella |
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| Little Mermaid |
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| Sleeping Beauty |
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| Brett liked the Princesses too! |
After our early dinner we stuck around Epcot for some more rides and fun. Everyone was seriously tuckered out by the time we finally headed back to the hotel that evening. It was a long day for everyone!
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| The only race car Anna got to go in. |
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| Kate waiting to board Test Track! |
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| Tired kiddos |
Day 4 brought us Sloane! Yippee! Kate was thrilled! The rest of us were pretty excited too! We all headed off for Magic Kingdom bright and early since the park opened at 8 am. After all Stacy and I needed to ride Space Mountain before the lines built up!
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| Even the bus ride to Magic Kingdom was super fun! |
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| A ride even Anna Clare got to enjoy! |
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| Evidence of Stacy and I ditching the kids and husbands! |
So the real fun of the day began later, after we all got a good nap. The big girls had a dinner date with Prince Charming! Okay so Cinderella, the evil step mother and step sisters were there too. It was super fun having them all come by our table one by one to chat with the girls and have their pictures taken! And have I mentioned that the food in Disney is fantastic?!? Stacy and I took advantage of the girls' fascination to enjoy the buffet. And maybe a few drinks too!
As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day we headed back to Magic Kingdom for more rides, fireworks and a light show! The best part was it was purely unintentional! We had planned to ride a few rides then head home but ended up there until nearly 11:00 that night. It might have been the best part of the trip! (sorry Brett!)
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| Fireworks over Cinderella's Castle |
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| Castle light show! |
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| About to board a roller coaster! |
Day 4 was our visit to Animal Kingdom, which turned out to be our favorite park in Disney World! The safari was so cool - like being in an awesome zoo only via an off-road vehicle! Who knew they had giraffes in WDW?!?
Though there were few rides for little ones at Animal Kingdom Anna Clare had lots of fun playing while she waited for her sister and mommy or daddy to return from the ride!
After visiting Animal Kingdom we headed back to the hotel for some quality time at the pool! After all, it was our last afternoon at Disney!
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| These expressions pretty much say it all! |
And finally we headed home the following morning. We were lucky to have a smooth ride down to Florida but our luck had apparently run out! Poor Kate seems to suffer from car sickness. She didn't feel well the entire trip home! Fortunately for us she only threw up one time at the beginning of the drive and one time as we were pulling into our neighborhood. Coulda been worse!
It was certainly a trip of a lifetime, especially for Kate! Though one we won't be repeating any time soon! Next trip to Walt Disney World is in about 3 years - before Anna Clare starts Kindergarten. Till then we'll choose the beach!
Though I neglected to take a picture of Kate when she started at her new preschool in Greenville, here is a shot I took several days later. (i love this sweet close-up!)
