Day 4: Hollywood Studios

Our 4th day was spent at Disney's Hollywood Studios. We began our day by making sure we got a fastpass for Toy Story (turns out the fastpasses go quickly) and then headed to the Little Mermaid. After that, we had a character greeting with Mickey while we waited for the next Playhouse Disney show (since our trip, Abby Grace has loved watching the Mickey Mouse Club). We had a yummy lunch at the 50's Prime Time Cafe, and then our fastpass was up for Toy Story, such a fun ride! We also had fastpasses ready to go to ride Aerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror. We were proud of Susan for trying the roller coaster, and Carl joined us on the Tower of Terror. We also watched the Beauty and the Beast show, which Abby Grace loved (Caleb napped). Of course, we watched the afternoon parade and then did some more character meet and greets with Jo Jo's Circus and Toy Story friends. Before dinner, we let the kids play around the set of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Then we headed to Mama Melrose for some yummy Italian!

Abby Grace was able to talk her granddaddy into another balloon!

Caleb loved the lion from Jo Jo's Circus. He kept hugging him!

Abby Grace and Caleb are taking a little break!

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids or Abby Grace

Caleb is saying "cheese"--let's just say he got used to taking pictures!

Day 3: Animal Kingdom

Our day at the Animal Kingdom park was probably one of my favorite days at Disney! We began the day with a quick breakfast while we waited for our fastpass to ride Kilimanjaro Safari's--such a great ride for the kids, really everyone for that matter! After that, we had a fun (and no lines) character meet and greet with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, etc. at Camp Mickey. In fact, I think the Animal Kingdom is one of the best places to get to see many of the main characters without having to wait so long. Then it was off to the Lion King show, which was so good, and Abby Grace even got to be a part of the show. Brian and I rode Expedition Everest, which I think is one of the best thrill rides at Disney! Love it! The Nemo show was great, and Abby Grace liked playing in Dino Land. We managed to squeeze in another character greeting with Winnie the Pooh and friends before the 3:00 parade. We couldn't miss a parade because Abby Grace just loved them! Somehow we manged to leave with a safari Pluto for Abby Grace and a monkey for Caleb. Then we headed to dinner at Boma's, which is located at the Animal Kindgom Lodge. What great food! It was an African buffet with so many different, yet yummy choices! We would definitely recommend it! Anyway, it was a great day!

Abby Grace is having fun participating in the Lion King show.

Day 2: Epcot

After our princess breakfast, we headed to The Sea to see Nemo and Friends. This was probably the best part of Epcot for the kids since they have the ride and the aquarium. The other attractions in Epcot are probably more suitable for older kids or adults. However, Abby Grace did like Spaceship Earth because it included interactive computers, and her absolute favorite was Epcot's newest attraction, Soarin'! She had so much fun riding it and wanted to do it again! We did manage to see a few characters and then headed to dinner at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. This was a buffet with Cinderella, Prince Charming, and her stepmother and stepsisters. The food was okay, but the characters were great, and Abby Grace even got to dance with Prince Charming!

Epcot

Dinner at 1900 Park Fare

Dining Like a Princess

To begin our 2nd day at Disney World, we headed to Epcot for our breakfast reservation at the Royal Akershus Banquet Hall in Norway. It was so much fun to have all the Disney princesses spend time with us and to sign Abby Grace's autograph book! This is definitely a must-do for any little girl heading to Disney and one we will do again!

Caleb's 1st Haircut, Disney Style!

Caleb actually had his first haircut in the Magic Kingdom! No, Mickey Mouse didn't cut his hair, but it was almost just as fun! The barber shop was tucked away in a little spot on Main Street. I read about "first haircuts" in my Fodor's book and quickly realized it was a good deal!

Before they began to cut his hair, they gave him a bunch of Mickey Mouse stickers and put them all over him! He loved it! Notice how long his hair had gotten!

The barber was so good that Caleb didn't even know he was cutting his hair!

This is the "after" shot--what a handsome little man!

Since it was his first haircut, they gave him Micky Mouse ears that have "first haircut" embroidered on the back. He also got an official certificate, and they saved his baby hair for mommy!

Abby Grace enjoyed the haircut too--somehow she ended up with the ears!

Day 1: Magic Kingdom

On Sunday, we headed to the Magic Kingdom, but were a hour later arriving than we planned because of a marathon that was held that morning (note to self: from our resort, take the ferry instead of the buses to the Magic Kingdom). We did make our reservation (a little late) at the Crystal Palace and had breakfast with Pooh and Friends. Then we headed to Fantasy Land for the kids and made sure we took full advantage of the fastpass system. Some of the kids' favorite rides included Winnie the Pooh, Peter Plan Flight, and Snow White's Adventure (a little scary for AGB, but she still liked it). However, she did not like Philharmagic, which I love, but the 3-D effect was a little much for her. We did manage to get in a few rides ourselves on Splash Mountain and the Thunder Mountain Railroad. The kids absolutely loved the Jungle Cruise (see AGB's picture below)--I think that this was probably one of the best attractions for our family riding together. The kids also really liked the show at Cinderella's castle (well, Caleb actually fell asleep, but AGB loved it), and they loved the Dream Come True parade too. In fact, some of AGB's favorite parts about the trip were the parades and getting a balloon! On our way out, Caleb had his first haircut, Disney style, which I will show pics of in my next post. After our fun day, we headed back to our resort for some yummy BBQ at the Whispering Canyon. Then, we took a little trip to Downtown Disney to get AGB a princess dress for her upcoming princess breakfast. She chose a Snow White dress and just loved it!

These are pictures from our breakfast at the Crystal Palace.

Caleb is already used to this character thing!

What was Caleb's favorite part about Disney? The birds! I don't know how many times you would hear Caleb saying, "Bird! Bird!"

Abby Grace with her Grammy on the Jungle Cruise

Abby Grace was just thrilled to get a balloon!

Mommy had to have a picture with the Little Mermaid too!

The ER and then Disney World, first stop--Chef Mickey's

We had a wonderful trip to Walt Disney World last week! We left on Saturday, March 6 and drove all the way to Orlando (about 6+ hours) and met Brian's parents at our resort, the Wilderness Lodge. Our arrival was a little later than expected because we had to call the paramedics and make a trip to the Children's ER the night before!

Caleb started running a fever after his nap on Friday afternoon and woke throwing up. I tried to give him Tylenol, but he soon threw that up too. Then around 8 p.m., he began having febrile seizures, which if you have never experienced, can be quite scary! His eyes rolled back and he just went out for a few seconds... like I said, scary! We called the paramedics and they recommended that they take him to the ER (his fever was now almost 105). So I rode in the ambulance with Caleb, and Brian soon met us at the hospital. Miraculously, we were back home by 11:15 p.m. The doctors and nurses were so nice and efficient and ruled out anything serious. They said that the seizure was from the high fever and that they really thought he just had a viral infection. We were so thankful that he was okay and the doctor said that the Disney trip was still on and that he felt that Caleb would begin getting better immediately.

Thankfully, he did, and even though Brian and I had to stay up extremely late and pack, it was all worth it! We were just glad that Caleb was feeling better. So we were on our way, a little frazzled, but excited! Our dinner at Chef Mickey's was fun! The kids enjoyed the buffet and seeing the characters. Caleb was a little weary of them at first but warmed up quickly, especially later on in the trip, which you will see in the next few posts.