Disney World-Day 6 & 7 (Magic Kingdom , Typhoon Lagoon & Epcot)

Friday was our last full day at the parks and also our last day with my mom and aunt with us.  They came to the park that morning hitting up all the rides we missed the first time through Magic Kingdom. 

Princess Elana...who loved Mara's dress

Cinderella

One of the highlights of this day was meeting Elena and Cinderella.  Mara loves the Disney Junior show Elena so it was really neat that she was there to meet as well.  There wasn't a lot of other rides we had missed the first day so we also got some shopping done!

Maddy wasn't so sure about this.

From there we headed backto the hotel where they got packed and said our good byes.  Lunch was served and a much needed rest was taken.  I also took on the task of laundry while the rain came down around us.  As the week went on the rain seemed to be happening earlier and earlier in the day. This actually worked out really nice for us this day. 

Naps were a must

With laundry and naps done, we headed back to Magic Kingdom. We really wanted to have the girls see the fireworks and Josh had one more roller coaster he wanted to ride.  While he headed there, I took the girls on round two of some of our favorites.  We got to do Ariel's ride and Winnie the Pooh before he caught up with us to find out spots for the show. 

glow sticks

The fireworks were magical.  I mean that sounds corney but Disney does such a great idea.  We loved watching the castle transform to the different Disney shows and the corresponding fireworks behind it.  I had also purchased some glow sticks previously so it just made a fun ending to a wonderful week.  :)

Our last day we had planned to spend at the waterpark.  Although we did get there when it opened we didn't really have a ton of time.  The Florida storms rolled in about noon and that was it for the rest of the day.  I felt really bad for Josh as he wasn't able to ride any of the larger water slides before we had to make a mad dash for the bus with the rest of the park. 

Kind of makes my heart melt

That afternoon we headed back to Epcot to meet up with one of my besties and her husband who live down there. We hadn't seen them since our last time in Florida and were excited to catch up.  We grabbed dinner in Italy at an amazing pizza place and just roamed around the countries.  We topped the night off with some fireworks!

I can't say enough about this vacation.  Sure the heat and the rain made some parts of it hard but the magic more than made up for it.  Watching my girls' faces (even Maddy at her young age) was the best.  Mara still talks in length about the trip and I cannot wait to take them back when they are older.  Thank you Usborne for such an amazing time.  I know we wouldn't have thought of this trip had it not been offered. 

Disney World-Day 5 (Epcot)

The day started early with one of the exclusive Usborne events of the trip.  Breakfast was scheduled for Italy and Germany of the World Showcase!  We were super excited to see which characters would be at the event but even more to find out what Baby #3 was!

My girls in Italy

We decided that it was at this event we would do our own mini gender reveal.  We had talked it though before and brought a mini Mickey and Minnie mouse to the event.  We knew for sure they would be there and thought it would be fun if they told us whether it was another "Mickey or Minnie"!  We enlisted the help of the character handler giving her the envelope with the goods and waited our turn. 

Checking out one of the fountains

With the other girls we didn't do anything fun so it was really neat to feel the anticipation leading up to the reveal.  We took some pictures and then got a drum roll going.  It was another Minnie!! So neat and just a special moment of the morning. 

Just give Maddy all the Mickies

After breakfast we went directly to the Frozen ride, which was a highlight of the day for all.  It's just done so well and both my girls are familiar with the movie.  Mara even did great with the mini drop in that I thought she may be scared with. 

From there we headed to the front of Epcot to knock out the rides there.  Josh and I left the girls with my mom and aunt to do Soarin' together.  I remember doing it the last time I was there and it was even neater this time!  We also hit up Living on the Land, Finding Nemo, Spaceship Earth, The Circle of Life, and Donald's ride in Mexico. 

Belle

We headed back to the hotel for lunch and a rest as it really started to get hot in the day.  Of course right when we needed to leave for our dinner reservations again it started pouring.  We were so over the Florida down pours at this point but that night we had a very special reservation at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall which is all the princesses.  I knew there was no cancelling that!

Cinderella was a dinner favorite

Snow White

Royally wet we headed in but oh man was it worth it.  I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the resturant and liked that it was a buffet style character meal.  The girls got to meet Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel and Sleeping Beauty.  They loved it.  Mara kept asking if they would come by again.  She could have stayed there all night! Probably the highlight of my dinner was the princess parade around the dinning hall.  I didn't think Mara would partake as she's a bit shy but she lined up and did it! I was so proud of her for being brave.  Maddy even got involved when Sleeping Beauty came by and took her hand.  Gosh I am so frustrated I didn't get a picture of it!

Maddy in the parade

After dinner the rain had cleared so we made one last pit stop to meet Anna and Elsa.  Maddy was hilarious squatting down next to both of them and Mara just took it all in.  Epcot is one of my favorite parks for all the neat attractions and food.  I loved getting to share it with my girls!

Elsa!!

Look at that Maddy squat lol

Anna

Disney World-Day 4 (Animal Kingdom)

Day 4 was spent at Animal Kingdom.  I love the idea of Animal Kingdom but my experience has just never been great.  I think it's because the park is just so HUGE.  A lot of walking is involved and there isn't a ton of shade at the park.  The large trees keep the heat in and do not allow for much breeze.

The giraffes were a hit!

The smallest elephant on the reserve

Despite this we tried to have a good morning! We started off making a beeline for the African Safari.  We didn't have fast passes and I wanted to get this knocked out before our other rides of the day.  PLUS from our time in Africa, I know that the animals were only going to get harder to see during the day as it got hotter.  The safari did not disapoint!  We saw elephants, rhino, lions, giraffe, and other safari staples.  Defintily nothing like the real thing but so neat regardless.  Maddy was going nuts as she is our animal lover!

Mara wasn't so sure initially about this hug

Maddy was just unsure in general

From there we split with Josh headed to Mt. Everest (rollarcoaster) and us to the new Pandora rides.  Oh my gosh let me tell you the hype on Pandora was crazy.  It was over 3 hours wait! There is no way that ride is worth it....We had fast passes for the river cruise and walked easily onto to that without any issues.  I'll admit it was done really well and I'm glad we did it.  

Goofy making sure mom was getting the bill correct

We met up with Josh who had a blast on the rollercoaster, riding it twice, at the tree of life.  He had to take a call so Mara and Grandma took this opportunity for a little shopping.  We then walked to the Dinoland and rode the flying dinos (not sure their actual name but its like Dumbo at Magic Kingdom just dinosaurs).

Daisy was by far her favorite

Duck says Maddy

By then it was time for lunch and I had made reservations at Tusker House.  I couldn't resist the nostalgic nature from our time in Kenya and secertly wished I could endulge in an ice cold Tusker Malt for old times sake.  This resturant is a character meal and buffet.  Unlike some of the other basic ones, I feel like the food here is so worth it.  We had a fun selection of flavors and tastes from all over Africa and Asia.  The girls got so into meeting the fab 5 as we saw Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Goofy.

Tree of Life

After lunch we were a little lost as to what to do.  We decided to stick around for the finding nemo show and it did not disappoint.  I thought it might be a little weird with the combination of puppets and actors on stage together but it's really done well.

Blury but you get the idea

There weren't any other rides the girls could do and the rest of the park is set up like a zoo.  Despite wanting to see more animals we were exausted at this point and headed back to the hotel.  We took a long break this day hitting up the hotel pool and being lazy.

Finally we did decide to go back to the park, only of course to get stuck in a downpour again.  Our descisions kept backfiring as we made a mad dash to Lion King only to get seperated and soaked.  Screaming children aside the show was fabulous and I wish we had taken it in in better spirits.

Wet but enjoying Lion King

The rain had stopped when we exited the show only to start back up again as we headed to the buses.  Our luck this entire trip.  So we got soaked......That night we decided to cut our loses and just grab a quick dinner from the food court at the hotel and go to bed early!

Tusker House resturant

Disney World-Day 3 (Magic Kingdom)

Day 3 by far was the most "magical" for me! We had planned on spending the day at Magic Kingdom which is just the backbone of the Disney experience.  I know there would be the most at this park for my girls and they would really enjoy it!

Mickey opens the park!

Maddy is amazed

We got there early to catch the opening show and it just really started the day off on the right foot.  (Mara was a crab until Mickey hit the stage).  After the show we headed through the castle and started our long list of rides for the day.

Meeting Ariel

Poor Aunt Mary got to ride the spinning tea cups with Mara

I loved getting there early as we literally just walked onto everything!  We hit up Peter Pan's Flight, Little Mermaid (both the ride and meeting Ariel), Winnie the Pooh, spinning teacups, and the carosoul all within a matter of an hour.  Mara still claims that the Peter Pan ride was her absolute favorite and I wish we would have been able to do it again.  Meeting Ariel was also a huge highlight as she was really the first princess we did!

The Merry-Go-Round was a hit with everyone

At this point we split up and Josh headed to tomorrowland to ride space mountain.  The girls and I went to meet Belle at Enchanted Tales.  Of course Mara was too shy to participate in the actual show but loved when Belle took her hand for the parade around the library!  From there it was off to meet Rapunzel, who is Mara's favorite, and Tiana. She really came alive and was talking to her.  I love that she was starting to get the hang of this whole meet and greet thing!  Maddy was obviously unimpressed as she slept through the whole thing.

Meeting Tiania

After that it was time to head back to the hotel for lunch and a rest.  I didn't fully understand the brutality of Florida heat until this trip.  It just zapped the energy out of us!!

Outside Enchanted Tales

I love how Bellegot down on the floor with Maddy

The favorite!

Of course later that afternoon we headed back only to be rained out.  Today we were not interested in a repeat of the previous downpour so we took shelter in the train station.  When it finally let up enough we dashed across Main Street to meet Tinker Bell!  Mara's reaction: Mom she talked so fast! I don't know what she said!

Lunch at the hotel

Here comes the rain

By then the rain had let up so we headed to dinner.  This night I had booked us the family Thanksgiving feast at Liberty Tavern.  It was an expensive dinner but I had heard so many amazing reviews about it add in my LOVE for all things Thanksgiving and I just had too.  It was delicious served family style we feasted on turkey, pork, pot roast, potatoes, stuffing, corn, rolls, etc.  So amazing!!

Watching the carpets fly

Tink!

Since we had fully stuffed ourselves it was time to walk a bit and burn off those calories.  We headed to Aladdin's Magic Carpets and then did a classic in the Country Bear Jambouree.  Our last ride of the night was a short train ride to tomorrowland where we were forced to get off and join the hoards of folks making their way to the fireworks.

One last ride for the day

As we decided to stay for the show we glanced down and both of the girls were passed out.  FAIL!  Although I think Josh would have stayed, I felt it was kind of silly with both girls asleep.  We made our way out to the busses and boarded just as the first fireworks lit up the sky above the castle.

This day was one of my favorites of the entire trip! Just so many fun moments and pure joy from my girls!!

Night falls on the castle

Disney World-Day 2 (Hollywood Studios)

Day 2 was our first real day in the parks! We decided to start with Hollywood Studios mainly because of the crowd levels on that day.  Our first stop that morning was breakfast at Hollywood Vine.  Hollywood Vine is a buffet style resturant where you can meet Sofia the First, Doc McStuffins, Handy Mandy and Jake the Pirate.  Mara LOVES Disney Jr. so I thought it would be a casual way to introduce her to them and I'm all about some breakfast!

Getting into the park early for Breakfast!

breakfast with some of our favorite characters

The girls reacted exactly how I thought they would be with the characters.  They were shy and nervous never wanting to get up and talk to them or hug them.  I was completely fine with this as I really wanted this breakfast to be a sort of introduction to characters as I knew it would be a BIG part of our Disney experience.

Little did she know she would be meeting him soon!

Here comes Sofia!

After lunch we headed to the rides hitting the Great Movie Ride first.  Probably not the best use of our time because the girls didn't seem to enjoy it and were a tad scared by some of the darker parts.  My favorite ride of our entire trip was next as we had fast passes for Toy Story Adventure.  Maddy wasn't having this one either. Not sure if it was the 3D nature of the ride or that the cart moved pretty fast for her either way Josh and I had a blast competing for the top score (which I got!).

This about melted my heart

not Maddy's favorite ride ever

We split up here so Josh could ride the Tower of Terror while we met the power couple, Minnie and Mickey! The girls were adorable with this meet and greet.  Mara gave Minnie a hug and admired her pink dress and jewels.  Maddy wanted nothing to do with Minnie.  For Mickey it was the opposite! Mara was not about him but all Maddy wanted to do was play peek-a-boo giggling the entire time!

She was SO excited!

Admiring her bracelets

Just a regular game of peek-a-boo...

With the most famous mouse

As we walked out of the meet and greet we got a special treat and saw Goofy, Chip and Dale! So fun to just walk into characters on the street!

Chip and Dale stop to say hi!

It was onto the Little Mermaid from there which the girls really enjoyed.  I appreciated the air conditioning as it was starting to get pretty hot.  We reconnected with Josh from there and headed back to the hotel for a bit of a break grabbing lunch in the resturant there.

Interupted by a storm trooper parade

Later that afternoon was our first taste of the nasty rains Florida has instore.  We were able to see the Frozen show (AMAZING) but while waiting in line to see Olaf it started to downpour.  Not like a light mist but like water up to your ankles rain.

Two tired girls...and parents ready for frozen

Of course we had a time frame to keep so we had to venture out in it.  Little did we know it wouldn't be the last time we dealt with this kind of rain but we sure got our system down.  Stroller cover on.  Ignore screaming kids.  Push as hard as you can to bus stop.  Keep head down.

Once dry and fed in the hotel we tucked the kids in bed and headed out on our own.  This night was one of the special events Usborne had arranged for the trip earners.  Although the original water park plan was cancelled due to weather we had a nice time at the indoor luau.  If anything it was a night out just the two of us!  We finished it with a drink (mocktail for me) at the hotel bar and planned the attack for Day 3 at Magic Kingdom!

UBAM family