Disney World!

* I did my best to "narrow it down" to these 231 pictures and 24 videos to capture our week ;) *

We took our first trip to Disney World with the kids the week before Thanksgiving! We'd heard that particular week was "low crowds" and decided that would make for the best experience compared to our other options of going at Christmas Break, Spring Break, or summer break. Thankfully Chris and I were able to both take off work (with a few unpaid days...) and Willow's teacher wasn't concerned with her missing a week of instruction. There are so many decisions involved with planning the trip, which overwhelmed me, so we ended up using a fantastic local Disney planner to help with all of that. All decisions still had to be made but choices were narrowed down with her recommendations and it worked out well! And she's paid through Disney, so it was of no added expense to us....because there are PLENTY of expenses!!

We made a chain link as a 30-day countdown and each link had either a restaurant or FastPass listed. The kids really enjoyed looking up the ride or restaurant online, which really built the excitement (in all of us!). I hadn't written anything on the black Mickey ears and was reminded each time one of them was removed that it was such a bummer (haha). 

Traveling with the kids is SO much easier than it used to be! We did lots of coloring and sticker books and it was even better when the headrest had the iPad-type TV screen so they could pick their own movie!

Our first Disney line was for the shuttle to the resort. Thankfully it was only a 15 minute wait because we were so excited to be there!

Fun buttons for our first visit!

You can do Disney on a dime, or you can go all out. We decided to go all out since it was the kids' first time and we wanted to fully experience the "magic." We could definitely save a lot of money the next time! One of our splurges was getting themed rooms at our resorts. We stayed at Art of Animation for the first half of the week and got a Lion King themed suite. Here's a video tour as we first walked in (note that our Magic Bands served as our room keys - the kids loved that!). Here's the bed that folds up to be a table that the kids used: 

We took more "selfies" during the week than we ever thought we would in a lifetime. The kids both got really good at looking at the camera and smiling though!

We really enjoyed the Art of Animation resort. The food area was centrally located, as well as the shuttle area. You lined up depending which resort you were going to, but the line moved quickly. There were a lot of fun scenes from Disney movies throughout the resort so it was fun to just walk around and see those:

There were 3 pools with plenty of water at a depth that the kids could enjoy. We had heard, and the kids confirmed, that there were speakers under water that played music. Fun! It was also HILARIOUS to see lifeguards wearing jackets and pants while the kids were having a ball swimming. One lifeguard even had on gloves and a hat!!

There are "hidden Mickeys" located throughout the resorts and parks. Here's an example of one that the kids found in the carpet of our resort:

The first park we visited was Animal Kingdom!

Since we visited Disney "close enough" to Christmas we got to enjoy each park's Christmas tree and decorations. They were all beautiful!

We purchased a cheapo $14 umbrella stroller shortly before leaving for the trip. I was pretty confident they were both old enough to walk without a stroller, but then started thinking about the 10-12 miles daily that the Disney planner said people average and had second thoughts. Owen did walk each day but also enjoyed the stroller and being on Chris' shoulders. The stroller was a hassle to have at many points, but also saved a few meltdowns and sore shoulders!

We enjoyed all the shows we saw at Disney but the Lion King show was my favorite by far. There wasn't a bad seat in the place and the action was all around you. It was a fantastic production!

Hakuna Matata

We saw lots of animals on our safari and it was definitely worth the Fast Pass. The animals weren't terribly active and it definitely felt like there were assigned seconds to each stop, which made it feel a bit rushed, but overall worth it for the experience. 

The kids participated in their Wilderness Explorers program. At the beginning of our day they got a booklet and could earn stickers by listening to employees throughout the park who taught them about different animals or after they completed a short activity. It was a great way to learn about the animals and come away with a fun souvenir! One of the stops was to learn about bats. Have you ever seen them walk before?

We also enjoyed our Fast Pass to the Finding Nemo show. The Fast Pass enabled us to be in the first group of people to enter the theater so we got great seats up front (Owen might tell you we were too close as the characters were able to walk on a walkway beside us and the shark swooped down towards him at one point!). It was a great show with fantastic costumes and creativity on how to make the large characters move!

As part of the Disney Dining Plan, we had credit for each of us to have one snack per day. It's hard to be too hungry when you're eating at a restaurant for dinner and sometimes lunch too, so we ended up with a lot of extra snack credits at the end of the week, but we did enjoy some fun Disney treats along the way. Here are some fun Disney shaped ice cream treats. Yum!

The kids were both AMAZINGLY behaved all week. We were anticipating some of our usual bickering and meltdowns (especially due to the overstimulation and long days) but were blessed with happy children all week! They even showed their parents a little "extra love" throughout the week as a nonverbal way of thanking us, I'm sure!

The monkeys in this exhibit were pretty active each time we walked by, which is good to see. Unfortunately we witnessed the baby monkey quenching its thirst in a disgusting way!

Cuddling gorillas!

We had a reservation at Rainforest Cafe for dinner. The food we ate all week was great and we were never disappointed in our reservations (thanks Disney planner!!). The atmosphere was fun at the Rainforest Cafe because there were rainforest animals throughout the whole restaurant. Every 15 minutes or so there would be a 30-second period were the lights flickered and the animals started moving. We can't say we've ever experienced THAT before!!

Part of the Disney dining plan was having desert. This brownie volcano did not disappoint!

This was the only view we had of the historic Super Moon...but the Animal Kingdom tree looks great at night, doesn't it? Even with long days, the kids were happy from sun up to sun down!

We didn't anticipate spending too much time waiting in line for characters during our trip. Neither of the kids have ever been the type to feel comfortable having their picture taken with a character or interacting with one. Even with Willow's obsession with Elsa and Anna, we didn't use a Fast Pass to meet them. The Murrays had gifted us with an autograph book so we did get 26 autographs throughout our stay. The longest line we stood in was probably 30-40 minutes and there were only a handful of those. Most lines were between 0-5 minutes. Owen was never interested in being in the photos unless he was held. For a few of them he would hand the character the book, then run off. The PhotoPass was a good investment for us. They had photographers all around the park that would take multiple pictures, then scan your Magic Band and they would be added to your account. On the My Disney Experience app, the pictures would usually show up within 10 minutes and were free to download. We still took plenty of our own pictures but these were great quality pictures to have!

Pocahontas

Russell from "Up!"

Goofy and Pluto

Uncaptured moments at Animal Kingdom:

- Kali River Rapids: a fun water ride in a large tube we were all able to do together. The temperature was about 80 for a high and low of 60, so it was warm enough to get wet but definitely not too hot!

- Willow's first "roller coaster" of the week was Primeval Whirl. Owen actually was interested in going but wasn't tall enough. The ride had a few drops and lots of tight corners. Chris got a great video of her facial expressions on the ride. She said it was her favorite ride of the week! Here we are on the Dino Rama ride.

- Quotable: At the Rainforest Cafe, Owen said, "If you look directly towards up, you'll see a cheetah."

- Quotable: On the safari, Owen said, "Check out the cantaloupes!"

Our 2nd park day was at Magic Kingdom.

The My Disney Experience app was great for helping navigate around, locate food/restrooms, see where characters were, and see wait times. We were thankful to only have 0-15 minute waits for most of our rides we didn't have a Fast Pass for! On average, the popular rides had a 45-60 minute wait. I'm not sure what the wait times are at peak times of the year, but we were thankful to not be waiting in long lines for rides!

Winnie the Pooh's house:

The Astro Orbiter:

Some extra love from Owen:

The palace was beautiful (and served as a great central landmark when navigating around the park!)!

The kids enjoyed the Teacups. I videotaped, rather than helping add to the speed of the ride. It was one of our first rides of the day and I was thankful no one got sick from it!!

The Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger spin ride was fun. You aimed and clicked a button to score points throughout the ride. 

I was able to "multi-task" a little better than Owen:

The People Mover was fun!

It's hardly possible to go to Disney World without riding It's a Small World. It might not be the most thrilling but was a short wait and worth experiencing!

Part of the Disney "magic" is that our names were on the screen on the way out of the ride!

Rapunzel's tower:

We had lunch at the Be Our Guest restaurant from Beauty and the Beast. The food was great but it seemed like a long wait considering we had a Fast Pass (it seemed to eat up valuable ride time in the middle of our day). The Disney planner raved about "the grey stuff" (from the song..."Try the grey stuff. It's delicious!"). We tried it and....it WAS delicious!!

Owen agrees:

Nice photography skills, Willow!

Exploring Tom Sawyer Island:

Another highly recommended snack were Disney's Dole Whips. Yep - definitely worth it!!

Disney's Festival of Fantasy Parade was a great way to see a LOT of characters! Thankfully we were early enough to get really great seats!

We also enjoyed the Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire show. Elsa sang "Let it Go" and lit up the castle for the evening and it was beautiful! Willow has always enjoyed going to shows with me (at my school, her school, children's theater, ballet, etc.) but hasn't ever been one to clap at the end. It was precious to see her clapping on her own throughout the week at various shows!

Our favorite ride of the day was Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I was pretty hesitant when we selected this for a Fast Pass because the kids hadn't done many roller coasters and a few years ago Willow got pretty scared on an easy Grover ride at Busch Gardens. We were ecstatic to find out that both kids really enjoyed the ride, which opened up a whole new type of ride to experience on the rest of our trip! I love the moment captured in this photo!

Dinner at The Crystal Palace was a great way to see Pooh and all of his friends. The three character buffets ended up being my favorites. They were a great way to see characters without waiting in character lines AND who doesn't love a buffet?? Willow enjoyed getting autographs and her pictures taken, while Owen observed from the other side of the table (except for this ONE photo). 

Our dinner reservation was at 7:00, which does NOT mean you're being seated nor eating at 7:00. Owen couldn't quite stay awake through waiting for the last few characters to come by. 

Meanwhile...

Willow's head made a great table for Pooh! I'm not sure how those character's see well enough to do all those autographs!!

The Wishes Nighttime Spectacular show was amazing! We got out of our dinner just in time to catch the show and were able to squeeze into the crowd to have a good view. 

Unfortunately the lines to have Photo Pass photos taken after the show with the castle lit up were too long for us to be interested in waiting for, especially since it was already 9:30pm and we still needed to catch the shuttle back to the resort!

It was Owen's first time ever seeing fireworks and clearly he was underwhelmed:

Here are the characters we waited in lines to meet at Magic Kingdom:

Rapunzel

Tiana

Alice

Aladin & Jasmine

Uncaptured moments at Magic Kingdom:
- Splash Mountain: We were glad to have a Fast Pass to this water ride with a large drop. Again, I was hesitant when scheduling the Fast Pass, not knowing how the kids would be with the drop. But, not given the choice, and their excitement over other rides we'd done, helped it be a great ride for all of us!
- Monsters, Inc Laugh Floor: We all loved this funny show full of jokes with the Monsters Inc characters!
- Quotable: Before going into It's a Small World, Willow asked "There's nothing scary in there, is there?"
- Quotable: On the Barnstormer roller coaster Owen kept shouting "This.Is.So.Amazing!" I loved that he loved it!!

The next day (Tuesday) was our rest/pool day. I'd heard a friend recommend having a low-key day in the mix, so we decided the day after being up late for fireworks might be a good day to sleep in and recharge. It ended up being great and worked out that it was our day to switch resorts, which worked out well too. We enjoyed the pool at Art of Animation in the morning, then took the shuttle over to Caribbean Beach to have lunch and enjoy the pool in the afternoon!

We "splurged" with a pirate-themed room, which was fun. It was a hotel room-sized room, which worked out fine. 

We enjoyed the resort and the food and pool were great. The two main downfalls were that the main food area and pool were a solid 10-minute walk or 20-minute shuttle ride, and there were 7 shuttle stops around the resort so it was typical to have a 5-15 minute wait for a shuttle to the park you were going to. And, with our luck, when we were arriving back at the resort at the end of the day, we had 6 shuttle stops to sit through before getting to ours. 

Fancy desserts, even at the resort!

The kids enjoyed a beach area while waiting for their swimming suits (remember the 10-minute walk one-way?). There were also other beach areas that had hammock swings that looked like fun that we didn't end up having time to enjoy, but would've liked to!

Slide in action.

Owen gives the pool a rave review:

We caught a shuttle and tram to get to our dinner reservation at Chef Mickeys. Owen caught a few winks on the shuttle ride:

A little extra love from Willow:

Chef Mickeys was another buffet character meal and was great! 

 

  

 

Our next park day was at Epcot!

We rode the ride inside the Epcot ball, Spaceship Earth. At the end, our pictures were on the map! Again, that Disney magic!

There was so much to enjoy at Epcot, that we didn't hardly have time for it all! Behind us is the lake that is surrounded by little villages representing 11 different countries. Unfortunately we didn't get around to the countries until after dinner when it was dark. There was more to experience than there was time for in one day for sure!

Checking out jellyfish in the aquarium:

The Turtle Talk with Crush experience was fun. A girl from the audience got to ask him a question, which he answered as well as making people laugh with his jokes. 

While we were in the aquarium we lucked out in seeing them to some research testing on dolphins' eye sight. It was interesting to watch and they had the dolphins "pose" at the end for pictures. 

Another fun Mickey-shaped snack!

Since the kids did ok with the roller coaster at Magic Kingdom, we did the Test Track ride at Epcot (without a Fast Pass and a 5 minute wait!). The kids got to design their own car to "test drive." 

 

  

 

We had dinner at the Coral Reef restaurant. It had great food and a great view!

Epcot's tree!

We caught a fun acrobat show in Mexico:

We didn't get a Fast Pass for the new Frozen ride, Frozen Ever After, due to thinking neither kid would go up to the characters. Clearly we were wrong, but the wait time never dropped lower than 60 minutes and we just couldn't dedicate that much time to waiting in line when we were able to meet them in a separate area in 30 minutes. 

Elsa

We bought matching themed shirts for our Epcot day (Inside Out) and Hollywood Studios day (Star Wars). Chris said I was most excited about meeting the Inside Out characters....and he was right =)

Joy over meeting Joy!!

Sadness and Joy

Anna

Owen gave Willow a hug for this picture with NO prompting! See? Disney IS the happiest place on Earth!

You could scan your Magic Band then take pictures with your car you created. 

Uncaptured moments at Epcot:

- Soarin': This was a super-fun ride that made you feel like you were flying with your feet hanging down! It was a bit tense for the kids but well worth the Fast Pass!

- The Seas with Nemo & Friends: This was what I refer to as a "drive thru" type ride, similar to It's a Small World, where you see things as you ride by. It's not too "thrilling" and there was not more than a 5 minute wait, so a Fast Pass wasn't necessary, but the kids enjoyed it and we ended up riding it a second time after dinner. 

- IllumiNations:Reflections of Earth: This nighttime show was ok. We didn't have great seats and were a bit worn out but it was a good show on the lake in the middle of the park.
- A fun music area at Epcot!

With the kids being so in to Legos, there was no way we could be in Orlando without spending a day at Legoland. After using the My Disney Experience app and Photo Pass, I was a bit out of sorts at Legoland needing to use a paper map!! The kids had a great time though and it was another park that was hard to experience fully in one day.

The kids are holding up Lego minifigs that we brought from home. The website said that employees wear minifigs on their nametag and will trade with you. Owen traded his but Willow was only looking to trade for the Lego Friend Andrea. 

Of course they'd have Legos to play with while you wait!

A two-story carousel!

The Lego displays were incredible! You can hardly tell they're made from Legos!! Willow loved the Heartlake City area!

A life-sized Lego Friend!

 

 

Owen wasn't quite so sure he wanted to try this Heartlake City ride. Mia's Riding Adventure. Willow and I rode it but it was probably the scariest one Willow did all week! She did great!

 

 

There were some fun shows they got to see (Heartlake City and a 4D Lego show).

Lego Friends

The Lego displays were unreal! This one actually blew smoke and "took off" (aka moved up) every 10 minutes:

 

 

Of course the boys were in awe of the Star Wars models:

Wow! Check out Owen's pose!

Willow got to steer the boat on one ride!

And drive a Lego car for another!

The kids even got to create their own Lego car and test it out on a ramp!

(Don't mind the illegal picture of the picture we didn't buy. Remember my sorrow over no Photo Pass?? Maybe Disney should buy Lego!!) Despite Owen's fear over the drops on this Legoland roller coaster, he has since not been able to stop talking about it being his favorite ride. Go figure!

Another driving ride (can you see Owen tucked in there with Chris?):

I'm not sure Owen knows how to make a mean/serious face!

They were even starting to set up the Legoland Christmas tree in the morning when we arrived. We lucked out on our way out of the park when a worker handed the kids a couple Legos off of the tree!! (Was it built properly if you have "extra" Legos at the end??).

A larger-than-life-sized Lego Friend at the Disney Springs Lego Store.

We had reservations for the T-Rex restaurant in Disney Springs that night. Again, it was good food and a fun atmosphere. Every 20-30 minutes the lights would darken for a quick "earthquake" causing the dinosaurs to move and make noise. The funniest part was a dinosaur by our table roaring every time Willow started to try and make her order with the waitress. She started and was interrupted probably 3 times =) 

 

 

This dessert was equally as delicious as our volcano at the Rainforest Cafe, but this one erupted! I'm not sure we'll ever experience an erupting dessert ever again!

It was already dark when we left the T-Rex restaurant so we didn't explore Disney Springs too much, besides the Lego Store. This Lego Lock Ness monster was fun though!

A fun surprise back at the resort:

The last park we went to was Hollywood Studios.

 The Epcot Christmas tree:

Owen is in a major Star Wars phase right now, so we knew he'd be pretty excited. Willow knows quite a bit about Star Wars too so we knew she'd enjoy it also. Our day started off rushing to wait in a 75 minute line to sign the kids up for Jedi Knight training. We knew Owen was hesitant about it but would love it once he was actually doing it.

They had a couple Star Wars marches and shows on a stage but unfortunately we never got there early enough to get good seats. Owen loved seeing all the characters from a distance though!

 

 

 

  

 

Owen loved seeing the Stormtroopers who were walking around (they were hilarious!!) but wouldn't leave my side to get his picture with them, so....selfie it was!

Green Army man

One of our favorite rides (maybe my all-time favorite) was the Toy Story Mania ride. The ride takes you in front of a screen that you shoot at moving targets to earn points. The ride then moves you to a different screen with different moving targets. There were probably 10 different screens you could earn points at. As a "gift" for us standing in line for over an hour for Jedi Knight training, they gave us a free additional Fast Pass, which we ended up using for Toy Story Mania since we all enjoyed it so much!

Again...Owen enjoyed watching more than participating, though he did double his score the second ride compared to the first:

We enjoyed lunch at Mama Melrose. It was good food but, again, ate up valuable time at the park in the middle of the day. Here's Owen enjoying his spaghetti and giving Chris kisses.

 

When it came time to go for the Jedi Knight training, Owen dug his heels in the ground and refused to go. Willow participated though, and despite some moments of fear, she fought Darth Vader and became a Jedi Knight! Owen was bursting with excitement for her though and gave her a huge hug when she was done.

 

Darth Vader

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

  

 Willow's "graduating class" of Jedi Knights:

 

We had a Fast Pass (for close up seats) for the Frozen sing-along show. The kids didn't sign-along, but enjoyed the humorous show.

 

Owen's typical position when he's around anything "loud:"

Our 3rd and final character buffet was at Hollywood & Vine. Again, it was great food and a great way to see lots of characters!

 

 

We enjoyed the Fantasmic show that evening. The pictures truly don't capture what an amazing show it was! Great special features!

Cotton candy makes waiting for a shuttle late at night a little easier!

There were some great characters that we enjoyed waiting in short lines for:

Olaf

I couldn't stop laughing when we met Kylo Ren. We were even told to put our hands down when pretending to use "The Force" in our photo with him. Did they really think we had powers???

Kylo Ren

Chewbacca

Doc McStuffins

My favorite autograph!

Jake (and the Neverland Pirates)

Sophia the First

 

Uncaptured Hollywood Studios moments:

- Owen saying "This.Is.So.Awesome" at least 8 times during the Star Tours: The Adventures Continue ride.

Here are the Disney autographs that we ended up with.

Owen enjoyed running ahead of us to the shuttle stop each morning. We at least got him trained to stop and look back for us every so often!

 

The kids each picked out a treat at Disney before we headed back so we'd have something special to enjoy our first day back after having had so many treats daily throughout the week!

 

Chris even made Mickey-shaped pancakes for us our first morning at home as the withdrawals set it:

It was a magical week!