Disney - Day 7

We were determined to fit as much as possible into our last full day of vacation. We were blessed with a kid free morning date to Hollywood Studios! We missed this park on Monday due to daddy and the stomach bug, so we were happy to go back and ride some rides together. 

We knew we had to conquer the Tower of Terror. Our 4 year old did it first, and he likes to remind us of this daily! We got off the ride repeating over and over how shocked we were that he rode this and wasn't traumatized!!!

 It was Saturday morning, so the lines were all a little longer than we had seen during the week. We rode the tower and then the Rock n' Roll roller coaster. This was Danny's first upside down roller coaster. It was fun to do that together! He's totally addicted to thrill rides now. I never thought I'd see that day! He claims that after his Blue Angels ride, he can ride anything now :). 

We were back at the resort by noon, and we all went straight down to the pool for several hours. We ate lunch by the pool, relaxed in the lazy river, and soaked up some sun.

 I could have done this for hours! Layla is such a cuddle bug these days. 

 Cindy is such a hoot in the pool. Definitely her happy place!

 Same goes for this little water baby. She's so content while playing in the pool.

 She even made a few friends!

That night we set off for one more night on the town. It didn't go exactly as planned, but it worked out fine. We had planned to take the rest of the crew for dinner and music at Downtown Disney. However, DD is an absolute mad house on the weekends. Lesson learned for sure! After sitting in traffic for about 45 minutes, we ended up at Chick Fil A :).

 We were so proud of how well Layla did sleeping in the hotel for an entire week. She slept better and longer than she does at home. Praise! 

We accumulated A LOT of souvenirs over the course of our week, but these Mickey & Minnie pillow animals were their special gifts from mom & dad. We wanted them to have something that they'd use everyday, and that they'd always have to remind them of their first trip. 

That concludes our Disney recap. We are already counting down to the next trip. We just don't have the heart to tell Eli that it won't be anytime too soon!

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas

Several months ago we purchased special tickets for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party. It was the very first one of the season, and I was SO glad that we would be there to see Disney transformed into a winter wonderland! It was really what I had most looked forward to about our trip. My mom volunteered to keep Layla that night, seeing as it would be a really late night. This was a huge help! 

Danny, Eli, and I got to Magic Kingdom around 5:00. We rode several rides we hadn't had a chance to previously in the week, and just ate up our time with Eli! It was nice for all of us to be able to ride together, too. At 7:00, the park closed to the general public. Disney operates in a miraculous way! We were amazed at how well they transitioned everyone out of the park that didn't have tickets to the party that night. The party lasted from 7-midnight. We found ourselves a great spot in front of the castle early in the evening, and were able to see perfectly the Christmas show, parade, glow show, and fireworks. The parade was one of the best Christmas parades I've ever seen! 

There were snow flurries falling all over, hot chocolate and cookies galore, and extra special guest character appearances. It was just as magical as we had anticipated. Our little guy had pure joy in his eyes all night, and THAT's what made it so perfect!

Layla wouldn't wear the Minnie ears we got her, so Eli insisted mommy wear them :).

 Eli LOVED finally getting to ride the teacups with daddy. He's a much better spinner than the rest of us!

 More Dumbo rides.

 Another favorite was definitely the Buzz ride. Laser shooting fun! It turned into a major competition between mom & dad, and sadly, I lost. 

The real deal Buzz was waiting for us when we got off the ride. Talk about a star struck child!

These two really hit it off. Buzz kept taking his hat off and had Eli laughing so hard. I know he'll never forget meeting one of his favorite characters!

 We got our spot in front of the castle and waited for all of the shows to start.

Right after this show finished, it was time for the parade to start. We had a curb front spot, too. We got really lucky. Finding a good spot to watch the parade is NO easy task.

Again, this was just the best Christmas parade. Eli got to shake hands with a lot of the characters as they came past us. 

After the parade was over, mommy and Eli made the trek to get more hot choc and cookies. We just barely made it back in time for the glow show and fireworks. 

 The turned the castle into a Christmas tree!

One of the sweetest memories from our whole trip was watching these fireworks together. We kept watching Eli's face, and it literally brought us to tears. Now we know why they called it the place where all your dreams come true! 

I'm glad I was able to get this video, because Eli watches it over and over again.

After fireworks we were off to ride some more rides. Eli thought he was so cool to be out riding roller coasters at 10:00 at night! 

 The snow falling was so pretty! We walked the streets for a bit, and then decided to head back. 

If you ever go to Disney in November or December, this is a MUST!

Disney - Day 6

Epcot

We got ourselves up and into the park before it opened. We got a front row parking spot, and got to ride several rides before it got busy. We'll be doing that again, for sure! It was really nice not having to rely on hotel shuttles all week. So glad we live close enough to drive!

 You hold your breath every time you walk into a park with a toddler. Thankfully, this was a great day for sister girl! 

 We had been told that there wasn't much in Epcot for small kids. However, we found a ton for them! I was really surprised, and we'd definitely go back with them again.

 We weren't expecting to see many characters either. Hence the workout clothes! Of course, this would be the day that we get hundreds of character pictures. Nice! 

Layla was still very unsure of her favorite characters. Mommy ended up in every single picture! 

 Fist pumps with Goofy! Eli had a blast with him! 

Cindy had her Minnie pose down.

We spent some time in this pretty garden waiting for Papa Tom and Cindy to ride something that Eli wasn't quite tall enough for. We were constantly amazed at Eli's willingness to ride every single ride in the parks!

 Mimi and her babies. Boy were we ever thankful to have the extra set of hands! 

 This Test Track ride was SO stinkin' fun! Design your own car, and then test it out on the track. It was high speed fun, and every little boy's dream!

Love this one of Cindy and her daddy!

We left the park around nap time, since we had a late night ahead of us. Mimi, Papa Tom and Cindy stayed to finish out the afternoon and catch some of the adult attractions :). Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party coming up next!

Disney - Day 5

Animal Kingdom

We were blessed with a babysitter all day for Layla. HUGE! Sweet girl was able to stay back and enjoy the resort with our friend Jocelyn, who's working as a nurse in Orlando. We were so thankful that her schedule allowed for us to borrow her for a day! She and Layla had a blast, and we were able to spend the entire day at Animal Kingdom.

We started off the day by seeing a Bugs Life in 3D. Very cute!

 We then spent a good chunk of time in Dino Land. Lots of rides, games, and even a large dino themed play area. 

 We stayed in Dino Land until it was time for the 11:00 showing of Nemo the musical. This was absolutely the best show we saw all week. 

 We walked through many of the animal exhibits, and then stood in a LONG line to go on the Safari. It was truly the only long line we had to wait in all week, so we felt bad complaining. 

 It was worth it, though!

 Somehow us girls were talked into going on the rapids ride. Somehow I picked the absolute worst possible seat. There are no after pictures, but a few of us were soaked from head to toe!

 We stayed until late afternoon so we could catch the Jammin' Jungle parade. Very fun!

 We couldn't end the day without a chocolate Mickey ice cream! 

That evening, we made a last minute decision to head back to Hollywood Studios for the Fantasmic show. It's a really neat nighttime musical and water show that they put on. 

 Unfortunately, we pushed this little guy a bit too hard that day. He was tired, and had an upset stomach. We didn't stay for much of the show, but it was still neat to go and see what it was all about.

 Poor guy was exhausted!

This was really the only night that he couldn't keep up. He was able to go to bed early or catch afternoon naps on the other days, which really helped. He slept well that night!