MIA and our Disney Dream Vacation

Hello Everyone!

I hope this post finds everyone doing well! I've been MIA for quite sometime. In the time I've been gone we've gone on trips, did some self searching, made the transition to stay at home mom from a full time job that I have had since I was 18, and more. I'll write about the adventure soon now that I have more time! For this post I want to share our Disney trip!

We recently returned from our Disney dream vacation. From start to finish the trip was magical. We were able to be there for an entire week!!! The weeks leading to the trip we had a countdown and many surprises for the girls.

We made reservations for a rental car and when we went to pick it up, we were upgraded to a Town and Country van with dvd players! no extra cost! We left at 3 am on the dot the next morning. Traffic was awesome and we rode with the windows down and listened to music the whole way. The kids were great. They mainly looked outside and colored. They napped a lot.

We arrived in Florida around 3 pm. We had plans to go to the beach first, but found out on the way there that the beaches were experiencing a red tide from the hurricane the week before. So we called our travel agency and they placed us in a hotel down the street from Disney world at no additional cost. We mainly spent that evening enjoying local foods and souvenir shops. I'm from Florida, but this was the girls first trip to Florida so I wanted them to have the full tacky tourist experience.

The next morning we packed up and went to check in at Disney's All Star Sports Resorts. We took the day to explore the hotels and Downtown Disney. The girls loved the bus ride and seeing the monorails. That evening we played on the football field at our resort with other kids. The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn, we grabbed a hearty breakfast at the resort's cafe and we headed to the Magic Kingdom. We took the ferry boat over and were greeted by the opening ceremony. We quickly passed churro stands and waving cast members. We rounded the corner and saw the castle. The first time for my girls, the first time with my family. Very emotional.

The first ride we went on was Pirates of the Caribbean, which was my first ride when I was little. The girls both loved it. Then we did the Jungle Cruise and the Magic Carpets, The Enchanted Tiki Room, Country Bear Jamboree, Splash Mountain (twice because of child swapping) and then Tom Sawyer's Island. We came back around so they could meet some characters. Daisy fell asleep before we could make it to the first one. Laila got to meet Aladdin and Jasmine. It was so magical. They hugged and kissed her, she talked their heads off and got many kisses from Jasmine. As we walked away, the cast member that stood with the characters ran after us. She was so touched by the encounter that she gave us a fast pass, a free 5x10 photo, and a meet and greet pass for Tinkerbell. Magic like this continued throughout the entire trip. The girls were dancing to piano music in the Grand Floridian and two cast members ran up and began dancing with the girls. Before we knew it, the girls had an arm full of treats from Main Street Creations. That night we turned in early because we had extra magic hours the next day. We got back to the resort, filled our mugs with ice cold water and ate a huge cheese pizza. I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow that evening.

The next morning we went back to the Magic Kingdom. We were able to ride the rest of the rides. There was a big dance party in the middle of Tomorrow land and the girls moved and grooved. They had a huge circle around them with people recording and taking pictures of them. During fireworks (Wishes), the same show I watched with my parents before they passed away, I bawled my eyes out. I looked over and Laila had tears streaming down her face. She leaned over and said "Thank you for making my dreams come true..." After the fireworks ended the park cleared out. We used our pass to ride the Seven Dwarves Mine Train and Laila and I binge rode Peter Pan and It's a Small World. Jeff sat with Daisy as she rested. We woke Daisy up to go meet the Talking Mickey on Main Street. Both girls were in awe. They hugged, talked about how magical Disney World is and gave kisses. We took the ferry boat back to the van and Laila and Daisy slept our whole walk back. Laila has talked in her sleep since she was about two. As we approached the van, she said so quietly in the tiniest voice "I told you that pixie dust is real...". Jeff and I made eye contact and immediately began crying. It is indeed real.

The next morning we decided to go to Epcot. It was very magical there. We rode most of the rides and took in the sites. We were there during the food and wine festival, so with me being German and all, we went and enjoyed some real German beer. Laila got to meet Anna and Elsa in Norway (Daisy fell asleep again) The whole day we took it easy. We got to meet Geir Ness, the creator of the fragrance Laila in Norway. It's my favorite perfume and one of the inspirations for Laila's name.He was so happy to meet her and learn her name that he gave us a whole bunch of samples, an autograph and he even featured Laila on his social media!!! We were lucky that both parks had really nice air conditioned nursing rooms as Daisy is still nursing. We finished the day at Spaceship earth and took our time walking back to the van. We crashed hard again that night. I've never slept so soundly as I did than after a day in the parks.

We ended it with those two parks. We wanted to have quality time in each park and not overwhelm them since they are still so young ( 4 and 2 ). The next morning during check out we went to restroom and Laila and I had a toilet in the lobby explode water all over us. I went to let a manger know and he quickly apologized and insisted that we let him buy us new clothing so we wouldn't have to unpack the van looking for clothes. He gave us $80 worth of Disney clothing. It was amazing. We were even given free food. You cannot beat the magic and hospitality at Disney World.  We hopped in the van and started the long voyage back home to Tennessee.

I will NEVER forget this trip. Every second was magical. I don't think the kids complained once while we were there. We are already looking forward to our next trip. I will write more on traveling and doing Disney with kids under 5. I highly recommend going to Disney World if you are able to. This is truly a magical age.

Thank you for taking the time to read about our trip and I'm happy to be able be blogging again.

Talk to you all soon!!!