If I told you how many times I got misty-eyed and actually had a few tears in my eyes while we were at Disney, you'd bust out laughing. I even had to laugh at myself a few times. To see my kids see some of those Disney World things for the first time, meet the princesses, ride the rides, and just have a blast for a week, literally made me tear up that it brought them such joy!
Reactions to seeing things for the first time:
Cinderella's Castle (Cass): Oh. My. Goodness. Gracious. Sakes.
(who taught her to say that anyway???)
Meeting Ariel (Cass): Oh wow. She is so pretty!
Eating at T-Rex Cafe (Cason - in a deep, growling voice): I eat dinosaurs!
Me: You see dinosaurs?
Cason: I EAT dinosaurs!
Me: Okay?! (Cason falls into the carnivore category, I guess)
Seeing Animal Kingdom from the ticket gates on the first day (Cass):
We get to go in there?
After eating at Cinderella's Castle for breakfast (Cass talking to Jeremy about it):
It was magical!
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The kids were so excited, and when I asked them to actually sit still so I could take picture before we left, you'd have thought I had asked them to give me their left arm or something.
Smile, kids, we're going to Disney.....
Hello
Cason, SMILE!
Uh, never mind!
She wanted a picture by herself with her princess
hair bow. You can't see them on there, but Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty are all on her bow!
Cason's first plane ride.
I kept asking him if he was ready to fly and he kept saying, "I not fly. The plane fly."
Okay, okay, whatever! :)
She thinks she's a flying pro!
Thank goodness for portable DVD players!
We got to bed pretty late, but we were still up early to hit the parks.
This entrance got a big scream from the backseat of our car!
First day: Animal Kingdom
We loved the safari ride!
Pretty scenery to look at there!
Monkeys!
Cute picture of
Cassidee looking at Mt. Everest in the background.
(One of the best roller coasters ever, by the way)
After all our fun that day,
Cason crashed quickly once we got back to the hotel. They were doing fireworks at Magic Kingdom, so Jeremy and I took
Cassidee to that.
We got there a while before they started, so we went to look around. We noticed the line to meet Tinkerbell and all the fairies wasn't too long, so Cassidee got to meet them that night.
She loved meeting Iridessa and Tinkerbell, and liked crossing her arms and acting like she had an attitude like Videa.
Here she is with Tink and the bug Blaze!
Thanking daddy for being so sweet and waiting in the line to meet the fairies!
Day 2: Hollywood Studios
Meeting Sarge from Toy Story
At this point Cason still has no idea why we are meeting all these characters and isn't too fond of them!
We got to walk
thru lots of Toy Story "stuff" to meet Woody and Buzz.
The kids thought it was funny to be strapped to a rocket!
We honestly thought we'd meet Jessie at Hollywood Studios, so Cass wore her Jessie shirt that day. She wasn't there, but Buzz sure did like
Cassidee's shirt! He liked it so much that he asked her to dance with him. Here they are dancing and Woody is playing the violin for them! That was one of those moments that made
Cassidee's day/week/month, that she is still talking about, and that caused me to wipe my eyes on my sleeve!
Do you see
Cason screaming hysterically? That's because we were telling him it was time to go and it was other peoples turn to take their picture with Mater. He cried, and cried, and cried until we had to distract him with something else. He would have stood by those two cars all day long!
I had made reservations and plans for lots of things that included
Cassidee, but didn't worry too much about
Cason since he is only 2 and might not remember much. I started feeling guilty that we were meeting all the princesses and doing
girly things so I made reservations for us to eat at the T-Rex Cafe in Downtown Disney one night. Cass loves dinosaurs and can identify lots of them, but this was mostly for
Cason. He was freaked out at first when they started moving and roaring, but once Jeremy walked him around a bit, he started growling right back at them!
And, Jeremy may have had just as much fun here as the kids did! :)
Day 3: Magic Kingdom
We spent the majority riding all the rides, obviously, but lets just go ahead and document that this momma waited in the big, hot sun for at least 30 minutes while the rest of the family sat in the air-conditioned restaurant, just so we could be first in line to meet these two people....possibly our favorite characters of all of them!
I wish I could show you Cason running full speed at them to say hi to Woody.....
and yes, he got over his character fear very quickly!
Another moment that melted my heart.
The kids were just so happy!!!
I would have tipped these folks if that were allowed. They made my kids day!
One of the things that
Cassidee was most looking forward to was going to the
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Cinderella's Castle. She was ready to get all dolled up and be a princess for the week!
She had a great fairy godmother-in-training that did her hair and makeup and nails.
She made the experience very special for
Cassidee!
The final product!
Going to the boutique Monday afternoon was perfect timing, because Tuesday morning we had breakfast reservations at the castle, just me and Cass!
That's one excited little girl!
We walked into the castle and as I was checking in they were giving her a sticker and escorting her into a room.....okay?!
I walked in and they announced that she was named "Princess of the Day" and was to lead everyone upstairs to their tables. We were seated at a table and were the first table seen by each princess as they came out.
Eat up girl, that a $25 plate of french toast sticks! :)
Although meeting Cinderella and the other princesses was great, the highlight of her day was meeting Ariel, her favorite. Ariel spent lots of time at our table.....it's like they know.....
Anyway,
Cassidee still talks about the stories that Ariel told while she was with us!
At the end of the breakfast we were given wishing stars and were told to close our eyes and make a wish.
Cassidee took this very seriously and still hasn't told me what her wish was for....
Pretty stained glass window in the castle!
Ironically the first characters we saw after leaving Cinderella's Castle was her step-mother and step-sisters. They asked Cass where she had been. The conversation went something like this:
Sisters: Where did you get that purple wand?
C: Cinderella's Castle, where I was eating breakfast.
Sisters: You know what to do with that wand, right? It's only good for hitting your sister with!
C: I don't have a sister.
Sisters: Well, use it to hit your brother!
C: I'm not supposed to hit my brother....
I was cracking up that she didn't understand their humor and she asked me later why they kept saying "yuck" when she would talk about Cinderella! I guess we need to watch that movie again.
Although, later she did tell me: "I wish I had told that step-mother that she really should be nicer and not tear Cinderella's dress for the ball next time!" :)
On Tuesday night we had tickets to go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.
It. Was. So. FUN!
Obviously the kids went in their Halloween costumes!
We weren't sure where to start exactly, and it was really crowded when we first got there. We started off in Tomorrowland and rode the Buzz Lightyear ride that is a favorite of the kids. By this time all the regular park people were leaving and lines were short for most rides. The kids had been wanting to ride on the speedway.
Someone tell me why I always end up with a 2 year old trying to drive me around? I was controlling the pedals, but I think we both left there with a bit of whiplash! Cason doesn't follow the lines very well....oh wait, he can't even see where he is going!!!
We had a highlight of the evening, and I know you are already guessing that it involved Toy Story characters. Of course it did!
We stumbled upon Woody and Jessie's dance party while we were searching for a restroom.
I didn't even dance and it was the best part of the evening for me!
There were maybe 8-10 kids in the whole room at one time, so that was a lot of personal attention given to each kid by the characters.
Cason was a character pro by this point and danced by Woody the whole time. I was actually afraid Woody's size 27 shoes were going to crush Cason, because he was so close to him!
Cassidee attached herself to Jessie, of course, and danced for 2 or 3 songs!
I'm not exaggerating when I say that Cason bawled like a big 'o baby when we left there. He wanted to stay there all night!
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We also got to have our picture taken with all 7 dwarfs at one time. That was pretty fun since Cassidee's current favorite disney movie is Snow White right now.
Unfortunately, the fireworks started right above our heads as the people before us were going. Cason began wailing, and Cassidee really wanted to hold her ears because it was so loud, so we have a less than great picture of our family.
Oh well!
Toontown may have been the kids favorite place in Magic Kingdom to visit. Cassidee like looking at Mickey and Minnie's houses, and Cason loved Goofy's roller coaster!
Obviously the Disney villians really come out at Halloween, so we went to find a few. Cass wasn't a big fan of meeting the "mean people," but I assured her it was cool to have some pictures with them. I have no idea how to spell this one's name and I'm too lazy to look it up. She's the bad witch from Sleeping Beauty.....
The castle looked so awesome at night. It would change colors from blue/green to red/orange and other colors.
Cass and I found a good spot for a pic of her!
These next few pics are a little out of order....
Day 5: Epcot
This was taken at the end of the day while waiting to see Chip -n- Dale.
Cassidee was perched up there, looking all cute, but when I told her to smile Cason comes running over and asked for his picture with her. (he was getting used to being told to do that by this point!) He just looked so cute crawling up there and then grabbing her hand.
Again, I can only hope this sibling love lasts a while between them!
We went to meet Winnie Pooh and Tigger.
Cassidee used to watch that show all the time. It doesn't really come on anymore (or maybe it does really, really early in the morning) so Cason's never watched it.
Jeremy told Cason to go meet Tigger and that Tigger loved to bounce.
Cason immediately runs over, hugs both of them, and then just starts jumping!
Tigger joined in and they were both hopping around the room.
It was so cute!
This should be picture 1 of Day 5: Epcot, taken by Cassidee, but it got placed here for some reason. Oh well!
Epcot was another super fun day for Cassidee. We had reservations for Cassidee, Becky, and I to do the princess lunch at Akershus. This lunch was hosted by Belle, so here is she and Cassidee.
Cassidee and Nana
During lunch they do a princess processional. Cinderella asked Cassidee to join her and so Cassidee walked with Cinderella the whole time around the restaurant.
Cassidee's getting her princess wave on!
After lunch we walked around and stumbled onto Mulan. She was the only other princess we hadn't met yet.
She kissed both the kids, which cracked them up!
We found Belle and Beast.
Cason got another kiss!
Cassidee and Cason inside Bruce's mouth!
Picture with the Nemo characters/statues!
Cass and Daddy on the Nemo ride!
After the Nemo ride Cason conked out. He layed on a restaurant bench with me while daddy and Cassidee rode "Soarin". Cass loved it. Jeremy wasn't impressed.
Now onto some hotel pictures.
The first night we were there I walked out of the bathroom and asked Jeremy for help. I knew how to turn on the water, but I didn't know where the water came out into the tub. There was no spout. Hello....it came out of the ceiling. I guess I've lived a sheltered life!
Our room and balcony had a great view of the huge pool (which we never swam in as to not mess up Cassidee's hair!)
Pretty girl!
Big boy eating a sucker for breakfast!
What? We were on vacation! :) Ha!
Here is another picture that Cass took of the two of us!
It's kinda sad, but I think this may be the only picture with all 6 of us in it!
Day 6: 'Pick your favorite thing and lets do it one last time' day!
Cassidee wanted to ride Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios, so we went there first.
While Jeremy was getting in line for that, I took the kids to meet Handy Manny.
Cason was excited, Cass wasn't. She was even kinda mad that I made her get his autograph, and she totally refused to have her picture taken with him.
I asked her why. She said....
"Mom, I don't even watch that show anymore. I'm so over it."
Okay....
Cassidee, while waiting in the line for Toy Story Mania. All the colors kinda tripped me out! :)
We waited in line for 84 minutes to ride Toy Story. All the fast passes for the day were gone by 10 AM, if that tells you how crowded that park was. We left after riding that ride.
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Cassidee's last request was to ride the safari ride at Animal Kingdom again. We even saw some different animals than what we saw the first time.
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One last picture by the big tree.
Everyone was tired.
We were starving because it was 3 and we hadn't eaten lunch.
We were all cranky!
And Cason's fingers were either in his nose or his mouth!
Perfect!
And here is my very last Disney picture....
Cassidee's happy to be riding Rafiki's train.
Cason was sitting in between Jeremy and I because he was about to try to climb out that window!
And, Jeremy's look says it all....it's time to board the plane home!
That's the end of our Disney trip. Looking at all those pictures makes me tired again, but I can't wait to go back with my kids again!
