Disney 2019: Part One--Travel Day and Day One!

At the end of January, we had the privilege to go to DISNEY WORLD with our family!! It was so magical! Truly. #takemeback   The girls had to go to school on Wednesday, but we picked them up around noon, and then Brandon dropped Beethoven off at the boarding place. Brandt and I stayed home that day to clean house and get everything ready at home, so that when we got back later the following Sunday evening, we could just go straight to bed and be ready for Monday morning! I had jammies laid out for our return as well as clothes ready for Monday and lunches packed with everything but the cold stuff--I was so thankful for that when we did get back! ;)    Trying to wait until it was time to leave for the airport was torture for our kiddos--especially once they knew their cousins were already in Florida. They could NOT wait.      So, we loaded up and headed to the airport a little earlier than we needed to and camped out at the airport. Brandt loved watching the planes. Avaree and I read, and Felicity colored on the floor! :) 

 Excited kiddos!

 Excited Mommy and Daddy!

 Brandt watched every plane and could not wait to see our plane pull up! This was his first flight ever!

 Sister was sooooo ready to meet her favorite princesses! :)

 We had a CFA picnic on the floor around 3:30 since we would get to Orlando around bedtime and would still need to board the Magical Express. Then, we took a family picture before boarding the plane to send to Gigi and G-Pops, Aunt J, Uncle D, Blair and Brie to tell them that we were indeed almost on our way to meet them at Disney World!!!

 The girls sat by me, and Brandt sat by Daddy on the plane!

 Brandt was pretty nervous about flying once we got on the plane. He asked lots of questions about how fast we would go and would it be scary, etc. A few minutes after take off we looked over, and he was sound asleep in his seat! :) This turned out to be a gift since we would lose and hour and get there late.

 

 Brandt was also on my lap, but he was not up for a picture on the Magical Express. ;)

 We made it to Orlando along with many, many dance teams, and we boarded our Magical Express bus to our hotel! We stayed at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort. The hotel was lovely. 

DAY ONE!

That morning, all the kiddos were SOOOOO excited! (Who am I kidding? The adults were, TOO!) We waited to board our bus (and honestly this was one of only two times that we had to wait quite awhile for a bus. That's not too shabby considering how much more affordable our hotel was than those on the monorail!) Poor Gigi was still having trouble with her foot, so she was in a scooter, but she was a trooper getting on and off the bus!

Once we got into the park, we split to maximize our time since we wanted to ride the big roller coasters, so it was our little fam + G-Pops! We did a LOT in just a few hours.

 

 Magic Kingdom is our happy place!! (Side note: I found this shirt for B online at Target for $12. It says, "I'm so fly I never land!" We saw one other guy in the park with it on, and they got a picture together in front of the castle! haha!). Unfortunately, WE didn't get a picture in front of the castle. OOPS. I guess we'll have to go back! ;)

We got into the park a little later than we wanted due to the buses, and Mama had to potty once we got there, SO we didn't get to ride Space Mountain right away (the line was already too long), so we headed straight for two of our faves--Dumbo and The Barnstormer!

I got to ride with my sissy girl!

Daddy got to ride with Ave, and Brandt got to ride with G-Pops! So fun!

Next, we stopped for a quick picture in front of Belle's castle on our way to ride Under the Sea with Ariel--it's still one of my faves!

Then, we decided to ride our favorite horses! :) It's true that you can ride these anywhere, but there's something extra magical about riding them at Disney World!

Everyone loved it!

After that, we headed to another favorite--the Philarmagic show! This was Felicity and Brandt's first time there, and they loved it! I heard G-Pops giggling, too! :)

Next, we were off to The Magic Carpet Ride!! This was the first ride we had to wait for, and Felicity started to feel the effects of not getting much sleep the night before. Good thing G-Pops was there to hold her! :)

Next, we headed to our first fast pass of the day--SPACE MOUNTAIN! This was Avaree's favorite when she was four, and I hadn't ridden it since I was in 5th grade! It was SO FUN! Of course, this was Felicity's FIRST time to ride it, and she was SO brave to want to sit in the front!

I think G-Pops loved it, too! It took us both a second to get our equilibrium back! ;) Felicity's faces are my favorite! After we rode, we did rider swap with Brandon, so Ave got to ride again with him. G-Pops, Brandt and I found some popcorn while we waited! :) The popcorn was one of Brandt's favorite things about Disney World! He did NOT enjoy sharing it though...

Then, we met up with everyone else at Pinnochio Haus for a quick lunch before our fast passes for Enchanted Tales with Belle! It was hard to get 11 fast passes at the same time, so I got 5 passes and six passes that overlapped by 30 minutes. It worked perfectly! Right before we went in, we needed a family picture in front of Belle and her father's house! 
The photographer said, "Show me Gaston's muscles!" ;)

Our sweet little BEAST was excited to get this part in Enchanted Tales with Belle, but when after he roared at the beginning of the story, he became shy and did not want to continue. He sure was adorable though.  Avaree was a plate, Felicity was salt and pepper, Blair was Chip, and Brie was the cutest horsie ever! :) It was PRECIOUS.

Even my Avaree girl was thrilled to see Belle!

Of course, all of Felicity's dreams came true at this moment. She even had tears in her eyes.

Next up, we all headed to ride SMALL WORLD! I just love this boat ride. We had so much fun singing the song over and over and over again (well, all of us except for Daddy and Uncle D--they didn't love the song for some reason! ;)) We had so much fun looking up private tours and planning our next vacay while we waited for our turn! haha!

This was 100% the kind of ride that Brandt loved. He is now completely against roller coasters. I'm sure that will change one day, but for now, he likes the slow and easy rides.

Next, it was time to find a spot for the Festival of Fantasy Parade!!!!!!! This was amazing, but it was even more special to watch these little girls faces LIGHT up! :) Even my big nine-year-old was loving the parade and waving at all of her favorite childhood characters!

Look at those happy faces!!!!

It's Belle and the Beast!!!!

Elsa and Anna!

At this point, my phone died, but we walked over to Adventure-land to let the ones that had not already ridden The Magic Carpets ride it, and meanwhile Daddy enjoyed some DOLE WHIP! In fact, he got pineapple upside down cake with dole whip on top AND the traditional Dole Whip. He was one happy guy! I can't believe that I don't have a picture of that. Then, we all rode the Jungle Cruise! It was super fun. 

Next, we headed toward the main entrance of MK to take the monorail over to the Grand Floridian for our reservations at 1900 Park Faire. We were super excited for "Cinderella and Prince Charming's Happily Ever After Dinner." 

After dinner, we took pictures with THE SLIPPER. :) Look at these beautiful princesses. Aunt J brought crowns and glitter, and they transformed on the monorail over! 

Prince Charming came by our table first!!!

 Someone had stars in her eyes for the Prince!

 Cinderella! Look at those faces!!

 The stepsisters were HILARIOUS and perfectly in character.

Sweet cousins!

Blair and Felicity with me!!!

My little Prince Charming asked for a picture on our way out! :)

Once we got back to MK, every one was lined up and ready for fireworks in front of the castle, but we squeezed our way through and got to Fantasyland to use our last Fast Passes for The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! It was AMAZING! It was truly so very, very magical to see fireworks in the sky as we were riding this. It was beautiful, and EVERYONE got to ride it! :) You'll see their various faces below. 

Poor Baby Boy was not a fan! Felicity was so brave!

Even now, he is looking at this picture and telling me how much he doesn't like this picture or this ride. :)

After we got off of this ride, we watched the fireworks from the middle of the park and didn't even get out of MK until close to 9 (even though the park closed at 8). Gigi and G-Pops got the kids light up toys, and it was dark and beautiful, so they were having a ball! It was soooo beautiful! 

Magic Kingdom is dreamy, and there is never enough time to explore it all. Maybe next time we can spend two days there. I already want to go back. :) 

Brandt fell asleep on the bus (as he did every night) holding his light up Buzz Lightyear, and the kids slept hard! I changed out our snack bags, got our Friday bag of clothes out, and we all headed to bed before another super fun day in the parks! 

Next up: Animal Kingdom--a park we had never been to before and loved so much!