Florida vacation- 3 DISNEY!!

 4/15-  It's Disney day!!   We debated even going to Disney while we were down here.  The kids hardly know that a magical place like this exists, so why spend the money?!  But our house was a mere 6 miles from Magic Kingdom, so we decided we couldn't not go!  We got up nice and early to get there for the grand opening ceremony.  We sunscreened while we waited and when the show began, the boys stood in awe.

Some singers started off the show...

Then the train whistle blew and we knew something amazing was about to happen.  In rolled some of the characters!!  What a fun way to start the morning!!!

Myka pointed and yelled, "Mimi!"  (she calls Mickey "Minnie", also)

Then the gates opened and the crowds rushed in to see this....  so beautiful!  We were so impressed that even the custodial staff was lining the street, lip syncing the song, saying 'Good morning,' and greeting us as we walked by.  Disney does it right.

Luke's cousin lives in Florida and frequents Disney often.  She gave us great advice on where to head first to avoid crowds.  We got right on several rides with no wait!  Here's Luke and Cainan on Dumbo.

Grandma Bartlett and Boaz...

Then we walked right onto the Barnstormer roller coaster.  This was one of the favorite rides of the day.

Grandpa made us laugh by dodging the water sprinklers.

We headed here to see some of our favorite characters.  The kids love Pete, so even seeing this billboard of him made them excited.

While we waited for the doors to open, I pushed Kezia around in the shade and the others walked through a gift shop.

We were the first ones in line and got to meet four characters!!  Here they are with Goofy.  Cainan was a bit hesitant.

Donald!!

Grandpa had to hold Myka to get her in the picture.

Giving a hug to Daisy.

Yep... just hanging with Daisy.

And Myka meets her hero... Minnie!!  I have no idea where she picked up her love for Minnie, but boy does Myka love her.  Myka wasn't sure what to think when we first saw her.  It took her a bit to figure out what was going on.

Minnie gave the boys some high fives and then Myka was a bit more comfortable.

Myka didn't take her eyes off Minnie... partly in awe... partly scared to death, I'm sure.

This might be one of my favorite pictures of the day.  Love this sweet girl.  After we got done meeting the characters, she kept saying "Mimi!!" for awhile.

Then we hopped on the train for a ride and saw the park.

This is what Kezia did most of the day... just chillin' with one foot in the air.

Boaz was convinced this was Snow White's house.  We haven't seen many of the Disney movies because one of our children is a bit sensitive when it comes to 'scary parts.'  But before we went, I checked out a bunch of books about some of the major stories and we read all about Snow White, Cinderella, etc.  It was a fun way to gear up for the trip.

We saw the monorail that we got to ride into the park! Luke heard that this monorail shuttles 250,000 people a day.  Unreal.

This was Boaz's posture most of the day.  :)

Off to the next ride.

Waiting in line for the race cars!

Boaz picking out the fastest car.

Uncle Justin entertained Myka while we drove race cars.  I was so pumped to actually be able to go on rides!  I've been pregnant every time we've been at an amusement park for 5 years!!

Grandpa and Cainan followed me.  I had my car floored, but seemed to be slowing them down.

Luke and Boaz brought up the rear.  Boaz was frustrated with how slow the cars went.

Yep- Cainan is in there somewhere!

We started the day thinking that we'd go home for lunch and naps, then return for the late afternoon/evening. It was already 11:30 and the kids were getting hungry.  It seemed silly to pack up and leave already, so we decided to stay and plow through the day.  Luckily I'd had Luke grab our cooler of lunches (that we intended for them to eat in the car on the way back for naps).

We moved inside where it was nice and cool... and there was entertainment!!  All the adults got sandwiches and joined in the picnic fun.

Our lunch entertainment... Jonny Eclipse.  He played a keyboard and sang oldies.  Grandpa love it.  Grandpa... was this the highlight of your day??  :)

While we were eating lunch, we saw Tigger and Pooh walk by.  We hunted them down and thought about standing in line to meet them.  Instead, we held the kids up to take a peek and called it good!  :)

Then we hit the carousel.

Cainan hangs on for dear life...

Carol and I took the girls on, as well. They were pretty ambivalent, but they can say they went on a ride at Disney!  We parked the strollers nearby and couldn't believe the massive amounts of strollers in the 'parking lot.'  Unbelievable!

The castle.

Winnie the Pooh ride...

It was a hot hot day.  After a couple more ride, a 3D movie that freaked the girls out, and some ice cream- we decided to find a shady spot, have a snack, and wait for the parade.  Do these kids look beat??

Here comes the parade!

This is a horrible picture, but this Woody guy was super tall and huge.

He came in to give the kids a high five and Myka flipped.  She bawled until.....

she saw Minnie!!!

Mimi!!!

Love this....  "Look!!!"

We watched Mary Poppins last week and were excited to see them on the back of this float.  Burt waved at the boys and they thought that was so cool.

Peter Pan was one of the favorite stories we read.  (I will admit that I changed some of the words/scenes as I read!)   We were amazed at how all of these characters looked real and fake at the same time.  All the people looked cartoony... it was crazy.

A highlight of the day...  Cinderella's wicked stepmother came over to Boaz, took his hand and said, "Are you married?  Are you married yet?"  Boaz sheepishly said, "No."  She replied, "Good.  Then you'll marry my daughter.  How's tomorrow sound to you?  Tomorrow okay?"  It was hilarious.  They pranced away and  Boaz turned to me with wide eyes... "They were kidding, right Mom?"   So so funny.

The Beast was impressive.  After the parade, we headed to another area of the park for more fun.

We went into a show called the Tiki Room, where mechanical birds sangs.  Myka loved it, until the thunder and lightening started crashing.  Then she cried and the others in the room laughed.  After the Tiki Room, we went on another favorite ride... Aladdin's Magic Carpets.  Cainan sat in front with me and was excited to control the lever.

Grandma and Boaz in the back seat.

The boys liked the ride so much that they took Grandpa and Dad on it!

Next we hopped on the Jungle Cruise.  Uncle Justin managed our Fast Passes for the day and man those were amazing!!  We pretty much walked right onto rides when it was our scheduled time.  We didn't wait more than 5-10 minutes. Amazing.  The boys loved this giant snake.

Check out this giant elephant!!  The animals on the cruise were amazing, but we could have done without our tour guide and her awful constant jokes.  (I know she was just doing her job, but it was awful.)

I can't remember what scared her on this cruise, but this was pretty much the scene all day.  She would cry because something was a little overwhelming.

Then Grandma or someone else would hold her and give her a paci and she'd be fine and take the rest of the experience in.

The elephants were our favorite part of the Jungle Cruise.

We did a few more things and then Grandpa Bartlett offered to take us all out for dinner if we'd just leave.  :)  It was 5:30pm and we were all getting tired.  It was a good time to get out and go get a good meal. On the way out, we waved goodbye to Mickey.

"Bye, Mickey!"  We loved our visit!!

We went out to eat, headed back and jumped in the pool quick (because we were a sweaty mess of a bunch!), and it wasn't long before the kids looked like this...

It was such a great day. It may not have been huge adventure for us, but it was really really fun to see the kids excited about everything.  They enjoyed their Disney experience immensely.