Dreaming of Disney, Part Two!

What better time to get caught up on our last vacation than on our current one?  Still hard to believe the amazing Disney experience was a whole season ago, but even as we are making new beach memories in the Outer Banks, the fun we had in FL is still pretty fresh!  This post has the Magic Kingdom pics, which began and ended our 4-park visit.  We ended up having several favorite memories there and Maelee was able to meet all of the characters she was hoping to see.  Beginning with...

Minnie!

We saw the stylish mouse get ready for pictures right as we were entering the park so we went straight to the line to meet her.  It ended up being one of the longer lines we had to wait in, but both girls were pretty excited!  And the timing worked out pretty well as we had a Fast Pass to meet Tinker Bell so we went straight from Minnie to Tink, with a sprinkle of pixie dust on the way so we could shrink to her size :)

So happy to be there!

The first roller coaster "ride" of the trip ended up being the favorite- Aladin's Magic Carpet Ride.

And while not one of Maelee's favorite movies, meeting Jasmine & Aladin was definitely the most fun character meet and greet.  These two were so sweet with her and just let her talk and talk... She told all sorts of stories and they both responded without missing a beat. 

And one more time on the Magic Carpet before moving on!

Round & round with Nana & daddy on the tea cups :)

Even Lilee loved riding on Dumbo!

The Barnstormer- Maelee loves to go on the faster rides with daddy!

Excitedly chatting with Ariel

Ice cream break!

Time for Small World!!!

That face says it all...
And Lilee took it all in as well!!!

Time to meet some Princesses!

Reminding Cinderella that she didn't need an autograph since she got it last night at the dinner :)

But still so happy to see her again!

Rapunzel's turn!

And then...

Elsa!!!

We weren't able to get a Fast Pass for these popular princesses and were anticipating having to wait in line up to 2 hrs or so to see them.  Sooo, we were shocked when we finished meeting Cinderella & Rapunzel (who were in the same building as the Frozen ladies) and saw the wait time was only 45 min!  So right back in we went.  And we were even more shocked that it took even less time than that to meet these famous sisters.  Maelee went right in for a hug when meeting Esla and ended up jumping into Anna's arms before saying farewell!

Just a little excited...

Love the pose

One happy girl!


And thanks to some generous birthday cash, Maelee was able to pick her own souvenirs.
She couldn't resist choosing the Elsa "little girl" doll for her first one.

Amazing first day at the Magic Kingdom!

On the other side of the castle, about to head back for the night

Then this one gets her second wind on the tram back to the parking lot!

Our first day at the Magic Kingdom was pretty special and we were so thrilled to have been able to meet, and talk with, so many characters.  Maelee wore her birthday pin and received lots of sweet wishes and we all enjoyed both the classic Disney experiences and the new ones. We were a bit surprised that Maelee was not too fond of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (one of my favorites!!!), due to the creepy, "floating" face in the waterfall at the beginning of the ride, but she pretty much loved everything else.  Lilee was just tickled to be able to ride on anything and it was so fun to see her get so much out of the experience, too.

Our last day of the trip was back at the Magic Kingdom, with repeats of all the favorites, along with some of the must-dos that we missed the first day.  Starting with Enchanted Tales with Belle where the kids got to be a part of the story- Maelee was a dish...

ma belle petite :)

Overall, the food was pretty decent and we were especially impressed with the decadent, complimentary chocolate cake given to Maelee as a sweet birthday treat!

After lunch, Maelee worked up the courage to ride Splash Mountain with us (thanks in part to the river rapids ride at the Animal Kingdom) and squealed/screamed through the entire downhill drop. It wasn't until we saw the picture from the ride afterward that we realized just how much terror was in her scream!  Yes, we did feel slightly guilty that we were giddily enjoying the steep decline while our sweet girl was clearly not all smiles... especially when seeing that two rows behind us there was a mom clutching her child into her, shielding him from the splash! Sigh... Built character though, right?

We did it!

(and yes, Maelee and I wore ponchos- which I don't regret!)

Then it was time for some milder thrills at the Speedway

And Lilee loved the People Mover in Tomorrowland

While Maelee braved the sky high Astro Orbiter with daddy

Back to another favorite for the whole family- Dumbo!

Then one more time seeing Minnie, with a chance to see Daisy to boot

And one last ride around the track with mommy this time!
Maelee loved feeling in control of the wheel :)

A final photo of all of us in front of Cinderella's Castle

And finally with the Big Mouse himself.
What sweet symmetry for our Disney World trip to begin with Minnie and end with Mickey...

Two worn out little girls...

Final slideshow of pics from the Magic Kingdom:

But one big happy family all in all.  What a trip!  We are so grateful to my parents for such an incredible experience and loved every minute of Disney World.  We are already hoping to return when Lilee is about Maelee's age. 

So many special memories! And thus concludes the spring posts with our current summer happenings not too far behind... :)

Dreaming of Disney... Part ONE!

It is hard to believe that our trip to Disney World was two months ago!!!  Definitely one of those "feels like yesterday/feels like forever ago" memories...   

The sorting, packing, shopping, prepping, cleaning, updating, moving out, moving in, shopping, unpacking, re-sorting, cleaning, decorating, shopping that has been the last several weeks of my life is finally slowing down!  Sooo, I'm forcing myself to stop searching through endless pieces of fabric for valences  and countless rug options to get back to pictures of those sweet memories.  

Just for fun... here's a refresher of how we broke the news to Maelee.  The big reveal came in a birthday present of a Disney princess autograph book with the words "I will go to Disney World!" written on the first few pages.  Needless to say, it did not click right away!  But as she slowly processed that this was actually happening, we had one excited little 5 year old:

And a little over 36 hours later, we were on an airplane to Florida!

 

 And at the resort, quickly outfitted with a tiara and wand, not even 48 hrs after the news broke.

We stayed at a gorgeous Hilton resort through my parent's RCI timeshare which worked out great- two spacious, beautiful rooms, a full kitchen, patio that looked out onto the pool grounds... which both girls enjoyed!  Lilee loved the fountains and we didn't waste much time after arriving before trying it all out.

On our first full day, we had the super special treat of a quick visit from my cousin, Niel, and his family- Kristin, Caleb, and Luke.  We were so grateful they drove  up to see us!  Maelee loves every minute she gets with Caleb and they quickly made themselves comfortable together. 

 Just a little "Where's Waldo" time

 Luke trying to figure out what to make of Lilee :)

Then out we go! 

They all loved those fountains...

 And the pool!

Our Disney experience began later that afternoon with dinner at the Grand Floridian featuring Cinderella herself, complete with Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, & Drizella.  It was awesome.  Pretty tasty food and those characters were fabulous!  Far cry from our last Cinderella interaction (click here if you need a reminder)..lol. 

 Ready to go!

 Maelee had to know what kind of shoes she had on :)

The sisters were absolutely hilarious and one of my favorite memories of the whole trip was at the dinner when Lilee was just wandering around the restaurant.  I ended up having to chase her away from photo-bombing a family getting their picture with Drizella and without missing a beat, she loudly exclaims, "Control your baby, lady!"  She was a hoot.

Maelee met little "Princess Tiana" while in the bathroom (one of the things we love most about our girl is how friendly she is and will just start making conversation with everyone she meets no matter where we are!) and those two were just adorable together.  They were practically inseparable towards the end of our meal!

Our trip definitely began with a bang!

Slideshow of resort & Cinderella Dinner:

We had a four-day park hopper pass so we took in the Magic Kingdom at the beginning and the end, with Epcot and Hollywood Studios in one day, and the Animal Kingdom the other.  Since there are hundreds of pics just from the Magic Kingdom, I'm breaking up these posts and only including the other three parks in this post.  So it's a little mixed up, but so it goes with sooo many pics!!!

The fast pass system was a life-saver for us and allowed us to hit many of the must-do rides with no line!  So our Epcot time started with an underwater Nemo ride, followed with some fun with the shark characters...

 Then a delicious lunch at the Coral Reef restaurant, surrounded by floor to ceiling aquariums!
Maelee loved counting the sharks :)

 And this one loved her stroller naps! :)

 A fun journey through time on the Spaceship Earth ride

 One fun morning at Epcot, then onto an entertaining afternoon at the Hollywood Studios!

We started with a theater performance of the Little Mermaid which Lilee LOVED!  She was hilarious.  Lots of clapping and (loud) babbling.  Then an outdoor performance of the Beauty & the Beast, followed by a puppet-like performance of some favorite Disney Jr characters, and finally, the can't-be-missed Frozen Sing Along! Lilee was slowly running out of steam trying to sit through everything so I took her out to explore during the Disney Jr show and Steve walked around with her during the Frozen show. 

 Captivated...


Tickled...

 

Totally beside herself!

And both Steve and Lilee loved their time walking around the streets and sets of the Hollywood Studios park :)

 Happy to be walking around in the city of her birth!

 That sweet time with Lilee was one of Steve's favorite memories from the trip :)

 And one of our favorite autographs from the trip- signed, "Green Army Man"

In the middle of our week, we spent the day at the Animal Kingdom where we took in lots of animals, two more incredible live shows, and one wild ride.  Another great day!

Lilee especially loved it...

  

 And Maelee didn't mind all the animals either!

 Especially this guy who came within inches of our vehicle!

 Fun beating the drums...

 But even more fun riding the rapids!

We were so proud of Maelee for braving the river ride- we all got pretty wet, but the poor grandma (not Nana!) riding in the boat with us get the most soaked of all!  She was a trooper! Then we got to take in two amazing live shows, first an extravagant circus-type performance with characters from the Lion King, and then Finding Nemo done puppet-style where people controlled the sea life and sang their hearts out!

 Phenomenally talented performers

 Ready for another awesome show

 With more phenomenal talent!

 We missed most of the dino area since the park closed early that day but not without a fun ride on the triceratops! (You can see Maelee's little head next to Steve!)

All in all, we had a great time at all three parks and were consistently blown away by the talent of the performers.  I was also struck with how the Disney "cast members" (aka staff) were so low-key in the sense that they weren't at all phased by kids' antics and it was truly evident that the most important thing was the guest's experience. 

Here are dozens more shots from Epcot, Disney Studios, & Animal Kingdom:

While it's no secret that most of this trip was centered around our newly turned 5 year old, we really did all have an awesome time, and Steve and I even had the additional blessing of enjoying the Magic Kingdom for a Disney Date Night!  Since we got back on the earlier side from the Animal Kingdom, the girls got some Nana & Pop-Pop + pizza time while Steve and I took in some rides.

 Clearly, we had a good time :)

And I'll leave it at that for the Disney post, Part 1!  And here's hoping Part 2 won't take another two months...  The pictures are organized at least, so stay tuned!