Family Vacation #7

Many, many months ago I made reservations to for my Mom and I to take Rosalie to Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast with the princesses. 

We wanted to make sure that we got there in plenty of time and it ended up that we were the very first ones in line and Rosalie was declared Princess of the Day. She was given a special sticker, was first in line to meet Cinderella and a Royal announcement was made that Rosalie would lead everyone up the Royal staircase. It was so much fun!

Rosalie's favorite Disney Princess is Princess Aurora !

Rosalie was about to meet Ariel … she was so excited!

We had an amazing time at the Princess Breakfast! I'm so glad that we did this with Rosalie while she was this age. It was so much fun - the food was outstanding - and very special memories were made.

I don't have any other pictures of this day - but do want to journal about it. This particular day at Disney was interesting. The Magic Kingdom was open for 24 hours. I didn't realize that would be the case when I made reservations for the Princess Breakfast. We had to go to the parks on this day because of the reservations for the breakfast. If I had known that it was a 24 hour day - I wouldn't have made reservations for that day. It was CRAZY! We spent the morning at the Magic Kindgom. Mom and I did the breakfast with Rosalie while Rich, Dad, and the boys did the Hall of Presidents and Tom Sawyer Island. Then we headed back to Epcot to do what we had missed the last time we were there. By the afternoon we were all pretty exhausted and Rich was starting to feel terrible.
So, by 4PM we headed back to our house and went swimming. We decided to take Martin and Aaron back to MK later that night to ride some rides. Rich stayed at home with the two youngers. Well, it was a madhouse. I've never seen so many people in my life! Every restaurant was filled, every line had a 70 minutes wait and the walkways were packed with people.
We ended up walking around for a short while and then getting some ice cream and heading back home.
So, our last day in the parks was a little chaotic and way too busy for me.
Our last day in Florida was a quiet one. We went to downtown Disney and finished up some shopping that the children wanted to get done. We went swimming and out to eat and then started packing for the trip home. Great Trip! 

Family Vacation 2014 #6

On Day 6 of our vacation we headed to Animal Kingdom and Epcot.

Rosalie and Jonathan loved the dinosaur play area!

The weather was fantastic. The entire time we were there it was sunny and warm with low humidity! We loved Expedition Everest - Jonathan and Rosalie didn't ride it - but Rich, Martin, Aaron, and I rode it and loved it! I rode it the last time we came with a very terrified Aaron - I'm pretty sure that's why I didn't enjoy it last time. This time it was fantastic! We rode it once using fast pass - and since the lines weren't very long we rode it again! We also LOVED the Kali River Rapids ride - and we certainly did get wet - but it was such a fun ride! We all loved it! (well, the ones of us that rode it loved it! Mom, Dad, and Rosalie chose not to ride it)

After a few hours at Animal Kingdom we headed over to Epcot. 

While I'm not the biggest fan of waiting in line to meet characters … the wait for these characters was only 5 minutes, so we had to go meet them and give them a hug.

You many have noticed that one our kiddos is missing … well… apparently when you turn twelve, you are too old to get a picture taken with Mickey Mouse. Who knew?

This young 5 year old couldn't wait to give Minnie Mouse a hug - I love the expression while she was waiting her turn!

It was another great day at Disney!
For dinner, Mom and Dad took Aaron, Jonathan, and Rosalie to get a burger while Rich, Martin, and I traveled around the world showcase sampling lots of different foods. Our favorite was definitely the food in Morocco!

Family Vacation 2014 #5

On day 5 of our vacation we headed to The Magic Kingdom!
The weather was beautiful and sunny and it was such a fun day for all of us!

We arrived bright and early and were waiting to be let into the park!

It was such an exciting day for Rosalie - since she doesn't remember our last trip!

We headed to Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad first - and there were hardly any lines at all! Rosalie was terrified for most of the Splash Mountain rides because some brothers of her pointed out the huge drop and told her to watch the boats go down the HUGE hill. So, she spent the entire ride scared to death about the hill at the end. Oh Well. She rode everything without question the entire week - she wasn't scared, and most of the time wanted to ride them again. That hill on Splash Mountain just looked intimidating, I suppose.

We headed over to the Buzz Lightyear ride a little later - you know they all loved that one! What kid doesn't want to shoot at stuff?

A funny story:
After lunch we headed to the newest area of MK. We got in the line for what we thought was the Ariel ride. Lines had been moving quickly all day long - not long waits anywhere, really - and even when we had to wait longer than usual … the lines still kept moving. This line - was not moving - there wasn't a good airflow at all in the line. After waiting about 35-40 minutes - longer than any line we'd waited in all week, it was our turn - and they took us into a room to meet Ariel - the Little Mermaid. We were stunned. We had no idea that we were waiting to meet Ariel. We thought we were in line for a ride. The Disney cast member was trying hard to stay composed and not laugh out loud at us - when we all said - "What? This is what we were waiting for?" But no worries, folks…I acted quickly by shoving Rosalie toward Ariel. (I was seriously thankful that our 4th child was a girl!) The boys were mortified and quickly got behind any adult they could find. There is no way they were getting anywhere near the Sea Princess.
It's a memory, though … and now one that we all laugh about!

We stayed at the Magic Kingdom all day long. We decided not to park hop - because there is just so much to do at MK. We headed over to tomorrowland around the time that everyone was finding their perfect spot for the fireworks. Mom and Dad did the same thing! They didn't want to miss the fireworks show. We were more interested in riding rides, however. So, we headed over to tomorrowland. We got a fast pass to ride space mountain - and while we were waiting we got on the people mover to relax and pass time. Little Miss fell asleep while we were riding it! Too funny!
I took Martin, Aaron, and Rosalie to ride the astro orbiter…which had about a 20-25 minute wait - and Rich took Jonathan on the Buzz Lightyear ride twice! When we got off astro orbiter we went back on the Buzz Lightyear ride again. No waits! Then Martin, Aaron, and I went over and rode Space Mountain. Rich, Rosalie, and Jonathan found a place to sit down in tomorrowland to watch the fireworks. By the time we got off of Space Mountain the fireworks were just beginning, so we sat down and enjoyed the fireworks. Once they were over, we sent M & A back on Space Mountain before the rush of people came back into tomorrowland after the fireworks show was over.
We waited for M & A to ride it - yes they got in line and rode it by themselves. I was a little nervous about that, I admit … but they were fine, or course.
As we were leaving tomorrowland, we were right in front of the castle when they showed the entire castle projection show AGAIN! So, we got to ride a ton of rides without waiting in lines - AND - we got to see the projection show too! WIN-WIN!
By this time it was getting close to 11PM - and we were DONE!
Fantastic day at The Magic Kingdom!