Magic Kingdom Day 1

We had a blast on our first day at Magic Kingdom. The key is that you have to get there before the park opens so you can ride as many rides as possible before the crowds get there. Dumbo was our first choice and then we rode the Goofy Barnstormer roller coaster, which was brand new. They are adding a new section to Fantasyland and they just recently opened up a portion of it and the Barnstormer roller coaster was basically empty the majority of the time. I don't think people knew it was back there so we rode it over and over again. Magic Kingdom is a wonderful place to spend the day. 

Epcot Day 1

Our 3rd day at Disney was spent at Epcot. Since we stayed late the night before we decided not to go to Epcot until the afternoon. We spent the first half of the day swimming in the hotel pool and got to Epcot around 3:00 or so. Shortly after we got there it started to rain just lightly but it was a nice way to cool off from the heat. We did the Under The Seas ride multiple times, Spaceship Earth, Crush, and got to see Mickey, Minnie, Donald, & Goofy. We ended the night watching Illuminations, which is a laser light show and fireworks. Pretty spectacular. We never stayed that late last year so we hadn't seen it and this was our first time. 

By the time it rolled around the rain had picked up so we put on our rain ponchos and the rain cover on the stroller and we watched it anyway. It was fabulous! We actually watched it a 2nd time when we went back to Epcot on a different day. I took some video on my waterproof camera that I'll have to post. The best part about Disney during the non-peak time is how much can be done. Between short lines or fast passes for the really popular things, we really didn't spend a lot of time waiting in lines. It sure makes for a much more enjoyable day. 

The Under The Seas ride goes through a real aquarium. They project the Nemo characters throughout the ride and make them look like they are swimming in the aquarium with the real fish. The girls get a real kick out of it.

Hollywood Studios

Day 2 was spent at Hollywood Studios. I love Hollywood Studios because they have such great live shows and they have the Toy Story ride, which is one of my favorites. We rode it multiple times and the girls just giggle and giggle when on it.

Waiting in line for Toy Story. It's a fun 3D ride.....love it!

The picture below is while they were watching the Beauty & The Beast performance. They get in a trance watching this. I don't even think they blink.....this is a fantastic show!

This is a Honey...I Shrunk The Kids Playscape. Everything is jumbo size there. 

I think this may be my favorite "family" picture of the entire trip.

The girls got to see Woody & Buzz and they got their autograph.

 We had a wonderful day at Hollywood Studios. We only visited Animal Kingdom and Hollywood once during our trip so the rest of the time could be spent at Epcot and Magic Kingdom.

Animal Kingdom

We spent our first day at Disney visiting Animal Kingdom. We got to ride a few rides, watch the Lion King performance, watch the Nemo show, take the Safari ride, and visit Daisy Duck. Daisy was on our list to get a picture and autograph since we missed her last year. The shows are so good that they are just as good as the first time around. 

We all had a fun day!

Chef Mickey's

We pulled off the ultimate surprise for Kristen & Sarah. We planned another Disney World trip months back but this year we opted not to tell them. Last year it seemed like forever before the trip rolled around since they would ask us every day when we were leaving. I think they started to doubt that we would actually make it to Disney World because at their age.....a couple of months seems like forever. Not telling them ended up being the absolute best thing. We decided to tell them the morning before we left and they were genuinely excited and very much surprised. We literally woke them up, told them that we were going to Disney World, and that we needed to get dressed to catch our plane.  I'm certain that the moment we told them will be a moment I will remember forever.

We arrived in Orlando mid-afternoon and it was perfect timing to get settled into our hotel and then head to the Contemporary Resort for dinner. There is a restaurant in the Contemporary resort called Chef Mickey's and we had dinner reservations. We thought it would be a great way to see the characters without having to do one of the theme parks, which would make for a late night. It was a success and lots of fun for all of us (plus the buffet was excellent). Disney with the girls is an absolute delight....not sure who has more fun....the parents or the kids.