Day One: Epcot
I'm glad our first day was at Epcot because it was a little less busy and there were fewer rides, so it was a great way to ease our way into the Disney experience. Also, we had special reservations for a "princess" dinner at a restaurant in the park that evening.
Our little mermaid was bubbling with excitement (see what I did there?) as we waited for the shuttle in the morning.
Our first ride! It was a simulated space flight with a "less intense" option and a "more intense" option. We start out "less intense" and afterward the kids immediately wanted to do the "more intense" one. The G-force the second time around was a bit too much for me, but they loved it.
Waiting in line for our space shuttle.
On to the next ride.
Scanning our fast passes. Fast passes became quite the thing on this trip. Every time we got in line for a ride, Danny would turn to me and ask, "Do we have a fast pass?" Now that we're back to real life, we like to joke about how we wish we had fast passes here too.
The kids had fun teasing the statues...until they started to tease back.
Pausing for lunch.
Sometimes the coolest part of a ride was the vehicle. Here, we rode in shells through Nemo's underwater world.
Fish are friends, not food!
Taking it all in.
Test Track was one of our favorite rides. You got to design your own car to ride in!
And afterward, they had real cars you could play in. Jill and Danny thoroughly enjoyed the role reversal as they ordered me to get in the back and buckle my seatbelt. "I want you buckled by the time I count to five!" Jill yelled. That sounds familiar...
We did a looot of walking. I logged about 12-14K steps on my Fitbit every day.
Taking a break to explore the Epcot playground.
Mickey pretzels were everyone's favorite snack.
Having a ball.
Close-up of our clan.
We ran into Alice on our way to the princess dinner. I guess she wasn't invited to the dinner since she isn't technically a princess. Or maybe she was just late for a tea party...
The first princess who greeted us at the door of the restaurant was Belle. Jill was glowing. Aaron was embarrassed (but posed for the picture anyway because he didn't want to hurt Belle's feelings). Danny wanted nothing to do with it.
In case you couldn't hear it, that was Jill asking Belle if the Beast was a good kisser. I'll give you one guess who gave her that idea (it was Daddy).
After we sat down at our table, princesses started filing through one by one. First came Aurora. Again, Jill was excited, Aaron was reluctant, and Danny was opposed.
By the time Cinderella came around, Aaron had phoned it in too so Jill got all the attention.
Mermaid sisters.
Snow White was probably the sweetest. It was pretty interesting how each princess had perfected their character to a T. They had the high princess voice, delicate princess gestures, and they each had a very clear set of talking points relating to their character's life. Like I said, Disney makes magic with scientific precision!
Next there was a "princess parade" all through the restaurant. Jill obviously stole the show.
At the end of our first day I gave Jill a hug and said, "The best part of my day was seeing your face light up when you met the princesses." She stroked my cheek and sweetly said, "The best part of my day was hearing you scream like an old lady on the rides."
On our second day, we went to Magic Kingdom. We were a little tired because Aaron woke up in the middle of the night wheezing and gasping for air, and we actually called the paramedics because we were so worried. Ultimately, all was well and Disney gave us three extra fast passes so we could do as many rides as we wanted and still have time to rest. See what I mean?? Magical!
Riding the ferry to the park.
It was a little chilly in the morning...
Grabbing as many swords as he could hold in the gift shop after Pirates of the Caribbean. Almost every ride let you out into a gift shop, proving once again that Disney has this down to a science.
Aaargh!
Aladdin's magic carpet ride.
Cruisin' through the jungle.
Swiss family Broyles.
Any stroller that can carry this much weight is alright in my book.
Celebrity sighting!
Daddy's massive turkey leg lunch.
Ready to roll up Big Thunder Mountain!
My sweet boy.
Splash Mountain may have been at the top of everyone's lists.
Oma learned the hard way that the front seat gets the wettest!
That sweet smile.
Taking an ice cream break.
Danny wanted to buy every weapon in every gift shop.
Each kid got a Disney gift card that they could spend on whatever souvenir they wanted. Jill chose two stuffed animals: the white cat from Aristocats and Eeyore, affectionately renamed Snowball and Olivia (Eeyore's twin sister), respectively.
Thanks to Disney's generous fast pass donation, we were able to leave the park a bit early. Even then, we were pretty tired.
Some of us were more tired than others.
I mean really tired.
But not too tired to swim in the pool, obviously.
Day Three: Magic Kingdom
On our third day, we went back to Magic Kingdom. We didn't plan it this way, but it was Superbowl Sunday. And apparently there is a lot of overlap between Disney fans and football fans because we didn't have to wait in a single line that was longer than 20 minutes all day!
This time, I got my act together and dressed them in matching Mickey shirts.
Which ride should we do first?
Aren't there supposed to be pink elephants?
I have a special place in my heart for Dumbo because I have always loved the song "Baby Mine" from that movie. I still sing it to each of my kids every single night.
All we need is the magic feather!
Before we went on It's A Small World, Oma told Aaron the story about taking me to Disney when I was two, and how every ride (especially Pirates of the Caribbean) scared the crap out of me, until this one. Apparently I whimpered in relief, "This is a nice place" and forced my parents to take me on it 20 more times. Aaron thought that was hilarious and kept asking to hear the story over and over. Jill, on the other hand, thought it was the most boring ride ever.
When some of the princesses came out to sing and dance in front of the castle, Danny had the best view in the park!
Jill enjoyed the show too.
Christmas card shot.
We ran into Merida right before lunch. I personally thought she was the most impressive of all the princesses because she had this perfect little smirk, because she signed Jill's autograph book in Gaelic letters, and because she was brave and didn't need a prince to save her.
Space Mountain was the only roller coaster they didn't love. Well, Jill loved it. The boys thought it was too scary.
Patience, young Padawan.
Mmmm, sugar.
I made Daddy take teacup duty since I don't really like puking.
Good thing Daddy has a strong stomach!
Hmm, maybe this is the Christmas card shot.
Selfies with Oma.
Any day that ends with ice cream is a good day.
Telling herself about all her adventures on the shuttle ride home.
Day Four: Hollywood Studios
Our last day was pretty much all about Star Wars. There were some periodic forays into the muppets, Frozen, Indiana Jones, and even Aerosmith, but then it was back to more light saber fights, stormtrooper marches, and wookie cuddles.
The first thing we did when we got inside was to rush to the Jedi training sign-up station. There was already a long line, and by the time we got to the front, the only open slots were later in the afternoon. But luckily, we met some interesting people while we were waiting in line.
Aaron's Darth Vader sweatshirt endeared him to the storm troopers.
After Jedi training sign-ups, we popped over to visit Chewbacca.
He didn't have too many (intelligible) things to say.
But he gave great hugs.
Next we went to meet Kylo Ren. This is Aaron's excited face as we were waiting to be ushered in.
Kylo was significantly less cuddly than Chewie.
(Although he was right about Jill, she is pretty clever.)
And he definitely didn't give hugs.
But he sure did know how to pose for a dramatic picture.
Next it was off to the Frozen Sing-A-Long.
Which was followed by a stormtrooper march led by Captain Phasma.
Pretty impressive. Dare I say, magical?
Darth Vader observing his troops.
This is the face of a true star wars fan.
This is the face of someone who just caught sight of a Mickey pretzel.
Time to ride in a space shuttle with C3PO!
Aaron used up his gift card balance on a custom-designed double light saber.
It was bigger than he was!
Danny bought a couple of light sabers too, so they were evenly matched.
The slinky dog ride was one of our favorite roller coasters.
Took a few tries to get a perfectly-timed picture with slinky dog in the background.
When our time for Jedi training rolled around, the kids were super excited. This was by far the highlight of the day. They each got a special robe and a lot of instructions.
Then they all lined up to march over to the training site.
Here come the Jedi!
Unfortunately, the march over freaked Danny out a little bit because he lost sight of me for a few seconds. So when we got to the site, he decided to opt out and stay close by my side.
But he still enjoyed watching from the sidelines.
Aaron and Jill, on the other hand, were all in!
Learning their Jedi moves.
And just in time!
Feel the power of the dark side.
Darth Vader was no match for Aaron...
...or Jill!
Jedi graduation.
'
Testing out their new skills.
Representing the force.
And just like that, it was time to go home! It was a great week and a great time. And even though there will be no more rides or fast passes or Mickey pretzels for awhile, we'll always have our memories. And our light sabers.
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