Disney World

We had the pleasure of taking the kids to Disney World the last week in May. We were traveling to FL for my brother's high school graduation and decided to take a short detour and meet my parents and brother to take the boys on their first Disney trip while they were still free!!! Dani was able to fly in for the Disney World days and enjoyed her third trip to Disney with us!!

We had a great time despite it raining our ENTIRE trip!!! Needless to say, between the rain and juggling the kids I didn't have my camera out as much as I would have liked so my pictures are not as overwhelming as they could have been :) But like Josh said sometimes it is best to forget the pictures and make the memories....and that's just what we did!!

We quickly learned that Disney with two small children was not going to be all that we had hoped and would be consumed more with "going with the flow" instead of "sticking to the plan". If anything this was more of an adjustment for me than anyone else but I quickly adjusted and enjoyed just being together and sometimes we just had to stop at the pond and take a minute to look at the ducks with the boys!! After all, that's what we paid so much money to see....right??!! HA!!

DAY 1: EPCOT

(I FORGOT my camera this day....let me tell you I was M-A-D...so thank goodness for cell phones and Disney photo passes!!)

Cade about to meet Mickey for the FIRST time!!!!

 The boys loved the aquarium outside of the Nemo ride....

We rode:

Seas with Nemo and Friends
Spaceship Earth
The American Adventure
Living the Land
Maelstrom

We also saw the illuminations fireworks show that night, which Cade and Brooks both SCREAMED because it scared them.

We also ate at the T-Rex restaurant in downtown Disney that night. It was wonderful, the kids loved the atmosphere and getting to "pet" the dinosaurs and they weren't so sure about the "meteor shower" every 20 minutes, but eventually got used to it.

DAY 2: ANIMAL KINGDOM

We kicked off day 2 with a character breakfast at Cape May Cafe complete with chocolate chip Mickey waffles, Dani's favorite!! We got to eat breakfast with Donald, Goofy, and Minnie Mouse!! Cade and Brooks were both VERY unsure of the characters!! They shed a couple of tears but all in all it was a good experience :)

After we ate breakfast we explored a little and had a little photo session while we waited for Animal Kingdom to open up.....

Cade was being a little character, he would pose until I took a picture of him....what a cutie!!

And then we arrived...

First ride of the day...Safari

Cade and Dani loved this ride because we got to see alot of animals out since we went so early in the day!! Brooks was not so interested, he was ready for his morning nap!!

I think this was my mom's favorite part of the safari.....

Then we went and saw some more fish...a crowd favorite with the little guys!!

We took some silly pics while the guys and Dani rode some rides and Brooks took a nap....

 The tree of life...

My personal favorite part...the Lion King show!! Cade LOVED it!!! He was so into it and would clap after every act...he thought it was great....

 Brooks on the other hand...NOT interested, but as long as I kept feeding him, he sat still (aside from pulling a few stranger's hair and jumping on the bleachers)!!

Here is the picture of Josh, Dani, Dad, and Russ riding Mt. Everest....Russ was being silly, my dad was trying not to get sick, Dani was trying to decide if it was fun or scary and Josh was trying to make her believe it was fun....(and the two random people in the front, we don't know)

It was storming a lot this day so we didn't get to do as much as we would have liked but

Everyone rode:

-The Safari Expedition
-Finding Nemo the Musical
-It's Tough to be a Bug

The guys and Dani rode:

-Expedition Everest
-Kali River Rapids (I joined in on this one)
-Dinosaur

And me, my mom and the kids went and saw the Lion King while it was storming and they guys rode on some rides.

That night we ate dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, Dani's choice!! That girl loves buffalo wings!!!

(Papa and the boys at Buffalo Wild Wings)

DAY 3: MAGIC KINGDOM

After lunch my parents, Russ and Brooks all left to go back to my parents house in Venice, FL. Russ had to be back at school for some graduation stuff, so we let them takes Brooks with them (I was a sad mama, it was my FIRST time being away from him overnight, he did great though!!!). Here is Russ and Brooks riding the monorail  back to the car, Brooks LOVES his Uncle Russ!!

Disney Parade....Cade was mesmerized while Dani wiggled her way to the front to get a good view of all the action....

Ok this is kind of sad but we only rode ONE ride as a family in Magic Kingdom...It's a Small World!! So hopefully that is an indication of how cooperative the weather and the kids were that day.

Dani, Josh, Russ, and my Dad did ride Space Mountain together and Josh and Dani got to ride Stitch's Great Escape.The lines were super long and it was steadily raining the whole time!!

We did get some great pictures and we got to see two parades while we were there. Cade fell asleep about 3 so we decided to go back to the room and dry off and come back for the light parade and fireworks.
Our last night in Disney we ate at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney, we at ice cream at the Ghiradelli Chocolate Factory, went shopping, had some silly and fun times together and then we went and watched the light parade and fireworks at Magic Kingdom.

Can you believe these are child size portions???

On our way home on our last night Dani asked each of us what was our favorite part of Disney:

-Josh said watching everyone else have fun and watching Dani overcome her fears of riding the rides
-I said enjoying Cade get so surprised about Mickey, the characters and the Castle, the Lion King show and just all being together as a family.
-Dani said that the last night was her favorite, eating in Downtown Disney and spending time together at the fireworks.

What a sweet, simple reminder that no matter how much money is spent, the times that mean the most to your children are the times that are spent as a family, being silly and enjoying each other's company!!

What a great trip!!! Our dreams came true at Disney, we can't wait to return someday soon!! Many thanks to my parents for coming along, supporting and enjoying the journey with us!!