Disney World, Day 1

Sunday was our first day at Disney. We actually all slept in after a long day of traveling before -- we didn't get up until almost 9. Before heading to Disney, our first stop was some breakfast. We'd decided to eat a (semi) big breakfast each morning & a big dinner at night. By the time we finished breakfast we were all VERY excited to start our Disney adventure! We actually got to park close enough to walk to the ferryboat landing, which was awesome. There are some big advantages to getting there a little later in the morning. :) The kids were so excited to learn that we had to take a boat to get to Disneyworld. The boat wasn't crowded and we were able to walk around and look at the view as we traveled the short trip across the water. Charlotte was pretty happy and laid back while checking out the view.

What we were all waiting for was our first glimpse of this:

and it didn't disappoint. Madeleine, especially, was excited to see Cinderella's castle.

After docking, going through security, and feeding our tickets (big fun for the kids!) into the turnstiles, we were FINALLY inside! We headed down Mainstreet and timed it perfectly to see the 11am show!

The kids were soooo excited to see all of their favorite characters immediately upon entering the park. It made it all the more real for them.

I love this picture of Madeleine. I took this just as the princesses came on the stage. She was mesmerized by them.

After the show -- complete with fireworks! -- we headed to Adventureland. Our first stop was the Swiss Family Treehouse. We'd watched Swiss Family Robinson just a couple of weeks before and when I told the kids they had their treehouse at Disney, it became high on their list. I also knew it shouldn't have much of a wait, so it made for a good first stop. We were able to go right up and through it without a wait and they LOVED it! We took our time and I think the kitchen part was their favorite. I have to admit, I thought it was pretty cool, too. Our next stop was the Jungle Cruise. This was Harrison's absolute favorite & we did it more than once. :) It's a super-hokie water boat ride with *fake* animals, but he just loved it!

Matt & I had decided in advance that this trip was about the kids and family time. We tried our very best to do everything they wanted to do. We knew that meant we wouldn't be riding any of the scary rides. We chose things that had shorter lines -- and as luck would have it -- we actually waited only 2 times in a line longer than 20 minutes. So so thankful that the park wasn't overly crowded!!

After all that walking & the heat starting to build we stopped for some popsicles. Yum! We probably spent a mini-fortune on ice cream while we were there, but it was so worth it!

The rest of the day was filled with rides. Sadly, none of them made for the best pictures. We rode Small World, the Carousel, Teapots, and saw PhilharMagic. Let me say, that PhilharMagic was MY favorite. So so so cute! It's a short 3-D movie that touches on most of the famous scenes from the princess movies. It even has smell-effects and touch-effects. Love this! We actually did this more than once.

During all of this miss Charlotte was a DOLL! She had the best time on all of the rides and especially loved PhilharMagic. I think we underestimated the fun that Disney would be for her. We thought she'd just tolerate it all, but she had the time of her life! And, when she got tired, she just napped in her stroller....we'd often look down to find her dozing in there.

That afternoon we headed back to MainStreet for the parade at 3. Here we got to see a lot of our favorite characters....Belle, Cinderella, Wendy, Woody & Jessie and more! We had great seats and had another round of Ice Cream while we watched!

One of the best things we did was to pack snacks and a cooler each day. I kept the snacks in our backpack & we let the kids snack while we were in line. All that walking made us all hungry & thirsty! We had plenty of water & caprisuns right there and it saved us a lot of time waiting in line to get drinks (and lots of $$$). :)

After the parade and some shopping we were DONE. The kids weren't used to the heat and I think we were all still a bit tired from traveling. So we headed back to the hotel to swim and rest.

Not surprisingly, the kids perked up right away when we got to the hotel to swim. Our hotel had an awesome pool(s). The had a huge kiddie pool where we headed that afternoon. Matt and I took turns watching them while the other one watched Charlotte in the room.

The room we had was HUGE. We had a king bed with a pullout sofa (for the kids) and we brought the pack n'play for Charlotte. This was Charlotte's favorite spot there. She could just squeezed between the wall and air conditioner and just see out the window. We had a pool view, so she could see the kids swimming!

After swimming, we headed to a nearby Fuddruckers for dinner. We had to start off with our favorite orea milkshake, of course!

By the time our food came, Charlotte was through. She was beyond tired and wasn't too thrilled at sitting through dinner. So, we just got our food to go and headed back to the hotel to eat. Lesson learned. The next night we ordered dinner to-go. :)