DISNEYWORLD

We went to Disneyworld! It was a BLAST! Fair warning...this post is going to be LONG. I don't want to forget anything about this day and so I want to put it all in writing. Here goes... We woke the kids up and were on the road at 445am - I thought the kids would sleep most of the way, but they were so excited that they were awake the entire way up. Of course Luke falls asleep as we pull into the parks. He got a bit of a nap though since we were meeting up with Justin's brother's family at their hotel. Once everyone was ready we loaded up all 6 kids, 1 teenager, and 6 adults and boarded the shuttle to the 'happiest place on earth' First stop was pictures by Cinderella's castle.

Since the first ride you see after passing through the castle is Charming's Carousel (not to mention Taija asked about a million times to go on a carousel in the preceding 3 days) that was up next. Taija LOVED it so much she rode it again with Pa.

The rest of the crew (Mika spent the day moving from shade cover to shade cover with Grammy) took a trip through It's a Small World. Time was crucial in the morning as Taija and Emily had a very special appointment with their Fairy Godmothers to be turned into princesses. They had so MUCH FUN! They got their hair and makeup done, nails painted, and a little pink back-pack to keep all of their treasures in.

Once they were all ready we had reservations at the Royal Table. Upon entering we met with Cinderella and had our picture taken.

During lunch Snow White, Aurora, Belle, and Ariel came by to see us and take pictures with the girls. It was such a FANTASTIC way to meet the princesses without waiting in any lines!

While we were doing the princess stuff Luke, Daddy, Mika and Grammy went on the carousel again, had lunch, and Luke took a half hour nap. They were ready to go when we finished! Next up was the Pirates ride for Pa so we tagged along and rode Aladdin's Magic Carpet. By this time poor Luke was DRENCHED in sweat...it was so HOT! We figured we would head towards the air-conditioned rides. The kids LOVED the Tea Cups - surprisingly I didn't even get sick!

Next up Larry, Ryan, Emily, William, Taija and I went to ride Winnie the Pooh (Daddy and Luke rode tea cups again). The line was forever long, but luckily we finally made it on the ride. The kids were about done at this point so we were planning on hitting a few more rides to finish out our day. Kim and I found out Tigger and Pooh would be appearing in 15 minutes and there wasn't a line yet...so we waited by the Hundred Acre Woods for our special guests. The kids LOVED them. Luke was too cute (a little biased I know) hugging Pooh and Tigger and just giggling and smiling at them. Even Taija (notorious for freaking out when confronted by a giant, walking character) was loving it.

Once our turn was over Mika needed a little mommy time so Justin and Larry took Taija and Ryan to the Speedway for some race car driving. Luke and I had our turn a little later on the cars. I thought he might be too little to drive them, but he was just big enough to steer (well, if you call not seeing over the steering wheel and just moving it back and forth giving mommy whiplash not too small). We hustled over to the Peter Pan ride next since our fast passes were now usable. LOVE not waiting in line! This concluded the ride portion of our trip, but now it was time to make our way out of the parks. So of course it starts to downpour! By the time we made it to the entrance we were SOAKED. The kids were good sports and we changed into dry things once we made it back to the van. All in all it was a WONDERFUL day at Disneyworld!