Disney '14: Part 3

Day 5: Another character breakfast this morning but this one was later at 10:30 since we had the morning off from the parks. We got to ride the monorail two days in a row and the kids loved it. Since we have been home, Miller keeps pretending that his train set is a monorail.

We got to the Polynesian a little early so we walked around a bit.

Our first visitor was Mickey which of course Scarlett slept  through.

Miller only recently learned who Lilo was but he still liked her.

Same for Stitch. That is his new best friend and he got a stuffed one as one of his souvenirs.

Both of the kids really liked Pluto.

She gets so excited and this face happens. I love it!

Mickey came back around and I was able to get him with Scarlett awake. She kept giggling at him and trying to give him kisses.

We walked around the grounds of the Polynesian and decided to take the boat back to the Magic Kingdom to get to the bus stop.

We kept telling Miller to hold hands and he would say, "I hold my own hand".

That night we went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. We did it last year and it was so much fun. For our next trip it will be later in the year so we can go to the Christmas party.

We were at the point where we had ridden most of the rides that we wanted to so we repeated some and then went on some extra ones. I had never been on the Astro Orbitor in all of my trips but we were right there and the wait time was short. I took Miller while Ben ran the stroller to my mom who was staking out a spot for the parade. I do not know why but this was one of my favorite times from the whole trip. Just my baby boy and I snuggling and laughing getting to experience this ride for the first  time together.

As soon as we got off the ride, Ben was already in line again and took Miller with him. I waited down below and the Monsters dance party started. Last year he did not know the movies but we have done the rotation of them being his favorite this year. As soon as he got off the Astro Orbitor, he just joined the crowd and started dancing. I am so happy we took videos of that.

Sitting with Ninny waiting on the parade to start. I believe I underestimated how entertaining those would be for the kids because they loved them.

As soon as the parade was over, we ran to the Princess Fairytale Hall to see Anna and Elsa (like literally, we raced there). We had continually seen wait times of 75 minutes of more so we got there when it was down to 40 and even then only waited 30 minutes or so. This was more for Ruby and Isla but Miller was super excited too. I did notice that he was the only boy in line who was not there with a sister who was there to see them (Scarlett does not count).

We came out to the fireworks which last year we missed because Miller was too scared. This year he loved them (thank goodness)! We did some trick or treating but then decided that we wanted to spend what time we had left riding rides. Mom watched the kids for us again and we got to go on the brand new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, which was awesome. Then the older kids wanted to ride Dumbo (for the 4th time) but Scarlett and I went to Under the Sea again. I got out when it was 11:57 and literally ran across Fantasyland to Peter Pan's Magic Flight. They were closing the ride but let me on. I was the last one on the ride and I admit, I was a bit afraid that they would turn it off and it would just be Scarlett and I stuck on there but it was fun. Scarlett sat next to me and just looked around and squealed. Again, one of my favorite moments of the trip. 

We stayed until midnight that night and those kids were troopers. Miller again loved the buses and got some as a souvenir this year.

We were able to ride 24 out of 34 rides and see all the characters we had on our list plus some (17 where last year we saw 7). It was an awesome trip! I am definitely glad that we did not go for as many days and will be doing that again in the future.

I have received so many comments from people asking how we can afford this two years in a row but just know, we do Disney cheaply. We stayed at the cheapest resort and went when they were having a sale. We only did two days at the park plus the Halloween party with no park hopper. We did not do a lot of sit down meals and brought our own snacks with us. We also budgeted for vacations all year and we used our anniversary budget for this.

I also get comments about why would we want to take kids when they will not remember it. Well, because we will. We do some many things for our kids that they will never remember, Christmas, birthday parties, the zoo, etc, but we do them to make family memories. I will never forget riding the Astro Orbitor with Miller giggling in my lap as we saw the sun setting behind the castle. Or Scarlett trying to give Mickey Mouse a big slobbery kiss when we saw him. Or her sitting next to me squealing on Peter Pan's flight at midnight at the Halloween Party. Miller got to meet all of these characters that he knows and loves. He was even excited to go potty at Rapunzel's tower and in the Beasts castle. There is only a short time where they see the magic of Disney and I definitely do not want to miss out on that.

I will admit, I have drank the Disney Kool aid and I am okay with that. I look forward to taking my kids traveling but I also look forward to coming back to Disney World. There is just no experience like it and we have the advantage of being somewhat close to it.  We are already planning our next trip, just not for next year.

Disney '14: Part 2

Day 4: We had an early morning start at a character breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. You can tell in the pictures that we all look exhausted.

We had already seen Pooh last year so Miller was excited to see him again.

Okay so he looks slightly awkward here, let me explain. With pretty much every character he would get slightly nervous and he just started this new thing where he would put his fingers in his mouth. This is right after one of us reached up and pulled his hand out of his mouth.

 Same here. In his defense, Mary Poppins and Alice were sort of formal so he did not really know what to do with them.

Tigger came up and just grabbed him and he loved it. They are also old friends from last year.

I love how the Mad Hatter just went with it. He was hilarious!

We got to ride Buzz's Space Ranger Spin and Miller loved it. He went and checked out the captured Zurg and reprimanded him. He is telling him, "No no".

Another old friend but Miller was excited to see him. No fingers in his mouth here.

Last year we had to force him on rides and this year he started to get it and enjoy them. I can not wait to see what the next trip will be like.

She was asleep and woke up beaming on Aladdin s Magic Carpet. She loved the ride.

Peter Pan. You know I never realized how annoying a character he was until I watched the movie recently and this guy was perfect in that regard as well.

Ahhhh,  I love her! She was helping Ninny stake out a spot for the parade with the other 3 kids while the rest of us parents went on Space Mountain. Thanks mom! (Speaking of that ride, I remember loving it the last time I went on it. I liked it but it went so much faster than I remember and I found myself a little anxious about being in the dark).

He was doing such a good job sharing.

The parade got rained out so we went on the People Mover.

This kid and Isla loved how the camel and Stitch at Downtown Disney wold spit on them. We took a few videos of them running around getting wet and giggling.

We had pretty much gone on every ride so we decided to just deal with the wait time and go on Pirates of the Caribbean. We adults and Scarlett liked it but Miller had his eyes closed so hard the whole time that he ended up falling asleep.

We had an early start so I figured that we would take a mid day break but we stuck it out and stayed at the park until 8:30 after the parade.

Okay so there is one more part to share.

Happy birthday Miller!

 

Seriously, how is this guy 3 years old already?!?!?! It completely baffles me that I have a little boy now and not a baby anymore. Sometimes I get sentimental and miss when he was younger but honestly, we have gotten so far and I really enjoy the age he is at. The past 3 years have been the most challenging and absolute best of my life and I fall in love with him more and more each day.  

Happy birthday Miller monkey! You are my favorite boy and best buddy.

Our 6th Anniversary

It has been 6 years and these crazy kids have gone from this.... 

......to this.

6 years, two kids, and a house and this is where we are. I hope the next 6 years are full of just as much happiness, and adventures (and babies?).

Disney '14: Part 1

Another year and another successful trip to Disney World. I was a little nervous about this years trip since we now have two kids to deal with but it was a major success.

Day 1: We left super early Sunday morning because we had dinner reservations at 5:10, yet we still cut it pretty close. We checked into our hotel and had about 10 minutes for diaper changes before we had to leave for dinner. We went to the Beaches and Cream Soda shop because I thought it would be fun. We were still a little on edge from a long day of traveling but dinner was good. Well lets be honest, dinner was okay but dessert was great. 

Day 2: Our first day at the Magic Kingdom. Heather and I had wracked our brains and came up with outfits that were inspired by characters without being costumes. Miller was the prince from Snow White. I made  the shirt a few months before and ever since then he was dying to wear it. He looked adorable!

I was Snow White, Ben was Peter Pan, Scarlett was Ariel, Mom was Pocahontas, Heather was Cinderella, Steve was Cinderella's Prince Charming, Isla was Elsa and Ruby was Anna. We got soooo many compliments on our outfits. We even had a bus driver stop her bus and yell out her door to us.

Our first ride was Dumbo. Scarlett started out asleep on daddy but woke up and tried to figure out what was going on

I went to Disney with my Mammaw and Pappaw when I was 3. I loved Cinderella and really wanted to see her. My pappaw always tells the story about how we could not find her but we saw Snow White one time. I cut the line of kids waiting to see her and asked her where Cinderella is. She told me she was in the castle but would come out soon. I did not see her on that trip, or any of the other 4 times I went but we were going to see her  this  time. I told her that story and how my Pappaw loved telling it. She was so sweet and kept telling me to tell him that she said hello. I know that she is just playing a part but it was sweet.

We also got to see Rapunzel which was great because "Tangled" is one of Miller's favorite movies right now.

Scarlett got a chance to get down for a minute while we rode the steamboat.

Ariel was such a sweetie and got so excited when she saw Scarlett's outfit.

Miller is in love with Belle so I was ecstatic that we got to see her at Enchanted Tales with Belle.

The kid passed out hard and missed  the parade. I was disappointed because he would have loved it, but we took pictures and videos and he has enjoyed looking at those at least.

We went back to hotel for a little rest and went back that evening when it was of course raining. Tinkerbell was so spunky and funny.

All of us decked out in our rain gear.

Day 3: We went to Downtown Disney to look around and have lunch at Rainforest Cafe. The thunder scared the kids a bit but they eventually got used to it and had a good time.

Mousekeeping arranged all of Miller's friends. We told him it was Mickey Mouse because he was good. Mickey Mouse is the Santa of Disney.

I hate to always do this but I had to divided this into three parts. I still need to edit the other posts.