Best. Trip. Ever. (with kids)

Okay, so I'm a bit of a traveling gal.  I've roamed around in Korea, Spain, France, Italy, Bermuda, Jamaica, and all around the good ole US of A.  Since we have had our sweet baby humans this rambling around has pretty much came to a hault, with the exception of a beach or mountain trip here or there.  Listen, having three babies in four years is pretty serious work.  So, in the spirit of celebrating our family being the complete party of five that we are, we packed up our three bambinos and headed to the happiest place on earth, Disneyworld. 

I must admit going into this trip I was a sceptic.  Sure I love Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, watching movies and the music of Dinsey, but I was far, far, far from being the mom with mouse ears and singing "It's a Small World" as I'm pushing a giant double stroller around the parks trying to make my fastpass times and being sure to remember to grab my babyswap pass once we are in.  By the end of the the trip we were all decked out with ears and repeating small world for the 800th time - and loving it!   Here is a peek at our MAGICAL week!  (by the way I now believe in fairy dust, cause we had some going on)

Going in to this I must admit, I did my homework (thanks to several Disney veteran friends and to the DIS discussion boards)  I had made reservations at all the right places, planned where to go each day, and reseached what rides my little people could (and could not) ride - I was not about wasting time!  I only had a couple things in mind I wanted to do as "must do's" each day - everything else was up in the air!  I must say we covered some ground!  We were shocked what we accomplished with three little people. Also, must give props here to having a super bunch of kids that were willing to roll with it 95% of the time, and when they weren't we just stopped, took a break, and had a Mickey Mouse Ice Cream (this made everything all better for even me). 

day 1 - the drive down

- after taking about two hours to get out of the house, we began our drive down, it looked a little something like this.... Eli (7 months) sleeping....Trae (just turned 4) reading.... Addie Lynn (2 1/2) coloring....

I must admit, we were shocked when we made it six hours with only one stop to potty and eat.  They were fabulous!  We stayed on Disney at All Star Movies Resort - TOY STORY building of course.  Check in was a tiny pain, but after that was straightened out we quickly made it to our first park....

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS  

The first part of the fun began on the tram.... Notice we are decked out in our Gamecock gear...  Gotta keep it real.

Now, keep in mind our sweet girl Addie Lynn is very shy at times (only in public) She was very scared at Halloween of anything in a costume so we were expecting some being scared of characters.  Now, we lined up along main street for the "BLOCK PARTY PARADE"  Little did I know that the bear from Toy Story 3 would be right in our face for the event.  Not a great move.  Check out her first character scare here.... While I was filming, I had no idea he came right twards her!  Ooops!

Other favorite parts of the parade included Mr. Potato Head dancing with Trae, The Incredibles, and Monsters Inc (my fav)

 

Highlights of the day included Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage (we had front row seats) It was awesome!  Kids LOVED it!

Total highlight of the day was the Osbourne Spectacle of Lights, totally fun and fabulous!

 (I LOVE this video of it, especially Addie Lynn picking her nose halfway through)

day 2 - Magic Kingdom here we come!

So, this day was all about the rides, I knew we would be spending two days in MK so I divided it up.  Today we conqured FantasyLand, Toontown, and Tommorrowland.  Highlights of the day include... that first peek of the castle (yes, I did get a little weapy) VERY MAGICAL MOMENT!

breakfast at Crystal Palace was amazing!  The chacters were fabulous!  Among my favorite pics are this grin of Trae's and the family pic of all of us (and YES Eli LOVED them!)

In Minnie's House (Addie Lynn had on a Minnie dress, passed to us by my friend Samantha - people complimented her all day!)

Another highlight to this day was to see the castle at night, so breathtaking, not to overlook it is all decked out now for Christmas so lights and decor is everywhere!  Lots of cheer!  :)

 As mentioned earlier, we stayed at All Star Movies in the Toy Story building so every time we walked in and out of our room we were taking pics!  :)  We loved the 40 ft BUZZ!

 
FYI - this was after a 12 hour day at Magic Kingdom! 

day 3 - Epcot is a world of it's own! 

Okay, so some people say never do Epcot with young ones and some say it is great - my vote is GREAT!  We had several more than magical moments here, and plenty of rides kids could do!  My only regret was we didn't spend another day to go back and tour the World Showcase. 

First amazing moment - we walk through the doors to see a line for Stich (Trae was so excited) Stich spent so much time with him, he took his autograph book and ran!)  lol  This was one of Trae's favorite parts!

The Nemo Ride and Turtle Talk with crush was awesome!  This is usually how we rode when we split up (if I wasn't feeding Eli while on a ride)!  :)

 

We also came across Pocahontas (stunning gal)  She spent lots of time with the kids as well!  They loved this since we let them watch the movie on the ride down.

 

Now, we come to one of THE MOST MAGICAL PARTS of our trip!  I think this was worth IT ALL!  I had set up dinner at Akershus (Princess Storybook Dining)  Whatever you do at Disney, you must do character meals.  SO WORTH it with kids, double worth it since we had free dining.  First,I got Addie Lynn all ready, then when we walk through the door we were greeted by a photo with Belle (they will give you a set of photo's as a gift before leaving)

Once we are seated the princess have a processional, watch this video to see how this was a great moment for our princess Addie Lynn! 

This was pricelss, and yes, I cried!  It was so sweet, she ran back to me so excited she was shaking!  :)  Then the princesses came around one by one and took great time and care with each child, SO PRECIOUS!  Here is how it all unfolded, first Cinderella grabs Addie Lynn's hand and they go dancing around the place, upon returning she teaches the girls how to bow.

 Then the individual greeting begin.  First Sleeping Beauty comes around and makes a huge deal out of Addie Lynn being dressed up as Ariel, she calls her over and tells her a "secret" - Ariel will be SO excited to see her and she was!  She asked Addie Lynn "Are you a fast swimmer like me?"  and Addie Lynn said "No, I'm not."  LOL

 Super fun day at Epcot!  One last pic in front of the "big golf ball" - Trae said before leaving.