Our girls first trip to DisneyWorld December 1st

[MrsAlly]

Just a little about us first...

Me - Ally in my 30s I test software
Hubby - Bryan in his 40s is a Network Analyst
Oldest Daughter - Claire is 3.5 (will be 4 in March)
Youngest Dauther - Sophie is 19months (will be 2 in June)

We metup there with my friend Nicki, her husband Chad and her son Mikey(5) and daughter Mia(3)



Tuesday December 1st we were up around 5:30 to get the last few things into bags, get the bags into the vehicle and just before 6am got the girls up, dressed and into the car. Bryan's friend Chris (our best man) brought us to Logan Airport with our vehicle so we didn't have to worry about getting there with the girls safely or having to pay for parking for the week! On our way I looked in the back and noticed Bryan never packed the stroller I had left in the middle of the kitchen floor - why else would I had left it there!! We figured we would figure it out when we got to Disney! We were checked in and through security very fast and had enough time to get coffee and something to eat before the flight. Our first leg was down to Miami and we were expecting Sophie to nap on that first leg but sure enough she did not. The hard part was that she wanted mommy the whole time and so I had to entertain her for almost the whole flight in one fashion or the other! We got to Miami airport and had plenty of time to get food and have the girls run around since we had hoped they would nap the whole flight since they needed it! Sure enough Claire was asleep before the plane even took off and Sophie was out not much after takeoff! It was a short leg but I didn't care, getting them to get any sleep we knew would be good! By 5pm we were in Orlando and on the Disney Magical Express bus and heading to our hotel. The whole process was pretty easy and the lines were not too long!

We got to the hotel, checked in, got our fridge swap fridge from storage and headed to the room to get changed and settled and then off to the food court to get something to eat. The prices were pretty reasonable and the food good and we had a feeling we wouldn't be eating there again! We got back to the room and changed to hit the pool since it was so nice out and we knew that pool time would be limited since that was not our priority! After the pool we went back to rinse off a bit and then I helped the girls get to bed and then headed out with a few bags to use to go get groceries. Earlier I had checked with the desk that I could take a bus to Downtown Disney and then hop on the Park Blvd. Bus to the DoubleTree and then walk a little over a half mile to Goodings supermarket and then reverse the same thing. The hard part was the walk back with a gallon of milk, half gallon of orange, 2 bottles of wine, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, a huge thing of goldfish, muffins, donuts, raisins, dried cranberries, cheese, granola bars, wheat thins, peanut butter, pirate booty, silk soymilk and something else that is escaping me. We did use most of the stuff but looking back I should have bought a smaller thing of goldfish, skipped the cheese and peanut butter and just gotten a half gallon of milk, though we did go through more than half of the container and all of the Silk but we didn't end up touching the orange juice (maybe because all our breakfasts ended up serving us never-ending glasses of it). I got back to the room after midnight but the fact that we would be able to have snacks at the room after lunch I knew would help cut down on costs a little bit and the fact we could have breakfast in our room that morning too! After putting the stuff in the fridge I took my unlimited drink cup to the food court but I ended up stopping at the bar for a nice frozen pina colada since I was so hot from carrying all those groceries back and having to stand the whole bus ride back! The pina colada was nice and strong and just what I needed to help cool me off and relax so I could actually get to sleep!


Wednesday morning the girls were up and ready to go so I had to get some snacks together and some of our stuff organized and then we had breakfast in our room - grapes, blueberries and krispie cream donuts and then we looked around the gift shop a little bit before catching a bus over to Downtown Disney. We looked for a stroller but only found a single that they wanted $50 for. We couldn't see spending that knowing our friends would be with us in a few hours and we could just head to Target to get a couple of umbrella strollers. While there we looked at many of the gift shops and rode the carousel there. So after getting Mickey ears for Claire, Sophie and I, a signature book with 2 pens, a Disney shirt for Claire's doll and a lanyard and pin for Claire we headed back to the room for naps. After getting the girls down it seemed Bryan was going to nap too so I headed to the pool with my cup, snagged some iced tea and enjoyed putting my feet in the water for a bit. When Nicki and her family came we had the guys take the kids to the playground while Nicki and I hit Target fast - I snagged some candy, a loaf of bread, some snack chips, a 6 pack of beer, 2 umbrella strollers, 2 Tinkerbelle pins, Disney shirts for the girls and some zip ties to put the strollers together. We headed back to the hotel, snagged the kids and then headed to Magic Kingdom. We knew we were not doing any rides but the plan was to get dinner, hit the evening parade walk around a bit and then catch the closing fireworks. We also got to walk almost all the way through Cinderella's Castle to look at the murals along the walls that told the story of Cinderella. I loved how the kids all quickly seemed to hit it off and even did a little bit of stroller swapping through the night to hang out! On our way to the exit we stopped through some of the shops to look at some of the different gifts, looking back I should have gotten a few things but we really thought we would have a little time to shop on our last day only to figure out we would be leaving our hotel first thing our last day to get to the airport since they like to depart 3 hours before. We headed back to the hotel and got the kids to bed and I headed out for a drink and Chad(Nicki's husband) was heading out to refill his cup at the same time too so we went down together. We both agreed to get a real drink and hit the bar. The bartender remembered me from the night before and knew exactly what I wanted. This night I ended up with 2 of them as we each bought a round of drinks. When we got back we got Nicki to come out of the room and we chatted a bit before all going to bed. Bryan was fast asleep with the girls since he knew we would be up doing a lot for the days to come.

Thursday we were up early but I didn't want to get the kids up way too early. They had some pop tarts and muffin for breakfast with some more fruit on our way over. We were there right at 8 for the early morning hours but got stopped along the way because we were singled out by a cast member that Snow White would be coming out and he was looking for the first Snow White - which Claire was wearing her Snow White costume as she had the evening before! We looked at each other and decided it was worth doing since Claire wanted to and how many chances would we get and sure enough not even a minute later out she came and the girls ran up to her. It was soo sweet to watch and I had Bryan doing the video camera, there was a photo pass guy and I had snapped some with our camera as well. She spent a long time talking to Claire and was asking her what her favorite dwarf was. The funny thing was that Claire has never actually seen the whole movie yet, just pieces of it from YouTube but she was soo in love with her it was very sweet to see. Sophie as well really took to her and kept hugging her as well. I knew this was the perfect magic to start our first day at Magic Kingdom and the rest of the day didn't matter since we had had some magic! After leaving Snow White we quickly made our way over to the Dumbo ride since I wanted that to be our very first ride and the Henry family we were there with was already in line for this. We only ended up being 2 rides behind them and Bryan was able to get some good pictures for them while we were waiting in line since Bryan had no want to go on a ride that early! From there we went over to the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh since we knew this would be a ride both girls would really enjoy. We left our strollers where they were and decided to head right over to the Mad Hatter Teacups and ended up getting Bryan to come on as well since we did not plan on making it spin much at all anyway! Claire was now hooked for the day and couldn't wait to go on the next ride so we got on Snow White's Scary Adventure, which for my girls wasn't so scary since they are not afraid of the dark. We had to do a bathroom break for Claire and Mia but on the way back we yelled over that we were bringing them right on Cinderella's Carousel since I knew Sophie wouldn't be as much of a fan of this one since all the horses went up and down, plus she went on one yesterday that was just right for her. We were on a roll and went over to Philharmagic which was the girls first 3D show and it was a hit - had scenes from Fantasia in it as well as most of the main Disney characters but the best part was the smell-vision and then getting a little wet as well. Sophie didn't do so well keeping the glasses on but Claire really enjoyed it and I loved watching her reach her hand out when things were coming at her! We had lunch reservations for Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary so we started to head towards the monorail but had to stop when we saw the Fairy Godmother there. This became Claire's very first signature from a character since we hadn't pulled out the book for Snow White and the girls were so excited to see her. It was such an exciting day and from this point on I knew the rest was cake because the girls had a blast and we had done so many of the core rides I wanted to hit so much that I wasn't worried about what the rest of the time brought us!

At Chef Mickey's we had a very late breakfast planned and it worked out well because the kids got to meet Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Donald Duck, they seemed a bit rushed but we were ok with that because we knew we would try to see most of them again at some point on the trip and at least we got the signatures and the kids had a great brunch before we headed back to the room for naps. Nicki even got her special cake for her birthday which was really good but because we were so full from brunch we only ate so much of it! Nicki and her family stayed out since they were not as worried about naps but I knew if we were going to be up late on some nights and try to have the girls last 5 days then it was best to have them nap and most of the time Bryan took a little nap with them as well so it worked out good. That day was pretty nice so while Bryan and the kids napped I checked out the gift shop and had an iced tea while soaking my feet in the pool and soaking up a little sun too. It was a nice day but wasn't too hot. I was enjoying the sun when I could since I heard there was rain coming and not just a random shower. The random showers were easy, the night we were at the parade we got one that literally lasted 2 minutes during the parade and since we had all the rain coats with us we just put up the stroller canopies and then covered the girls legs with my rain coat while I just stood in the rain since it didn't last long at all. After the kids got up from nap we made our way back to Magic Kingdom and was able to meet up with Nicki and her family just in time to hop on It's a Small World. It is such a great ride and since they are going to be tearing it down I didn't want the girls to miss this. I knew they would be doing something like it again but some things are just never the same!! We decided we should make our way towards the entrance since we had dinner reservations over at the Rainforest Café in Animal Kingdom, figuring we could always stop on the way if we saw something or better yet someone like a character. The one thing we had not thought about was that the 5pm parade was in full swing when we went through so it became a little difficult to get through but at the same time I had Claire with me and so Claire got to see almost all of that parade since we kept waiting for Bryan and Chad with the other kids to catch up. We didn't make it to the front till just about 6 and by the time we got to Rainforest Café it was more like 6:30 but we were lucky that they had room and we were able to sit down quickly. The food there was pretty good but a little pricy. The good part was that Sophie just shared our meals including Claire's and we all split the Volcano dessert, which was large enough to feed all of us! By the time we got back to the room it was pretty late but Claire had been so good Bryan agreed to watch all the kids while I took Claire for a quick swim since it was Nicki and Chad's night to go out but I guess she was a bit tired so they didn't end up going out after all. Bryan was still more than happy to stay behind with Sophie while I took Claire to the pool and the air was kind of cool out but the pool was nice and warm that neither of us wanted to get out but we knew with plans for breakfast in the morning we really needed to head back to the room to get to sleep. Claire really had been great the whole trip and we wanted to make sure to reward her with some special things along the trip to help encourage the good behavior!

Friday we had reservations for a Princess Storybook breakfast in Norway at Epcot and today Nicki, Chad, Mikey and Mia joined us on the busses and we were at Epcot before our reservation time but had to wait at the gate since they were waiting for the person to verify reservations. It was wild to be walking through Epcot before opening on what looked like it was going to be a rainy day. Good thing we came prepared, though we had no idea how hard it was going to rain today!! We made our way back to Norway and were quickly qued into the line to have our photo taken with Belle - we had the girls just have their picture taken with her since this was their special moment. Because we were a party over 6 we were allowed 2 pictures so we had Claire and Sophie take one then Mikey and Mia take one. We loved that this meal came with the photo, where as the Chef Mickey you take the picture with a statue and it is an extra charge. The great thing about both of them though is that on the large photo in the upper left hand corner is a PhotoPass code, so you can get the digital image if you do the photopass and then you get to see the other shots they took as well(they usually take 2 or 3). After they brought us to our table and then showed us the cold food buffet which had lots of fruit, pastries, bagels, yogurt, smoked salmon, capers and some other stuff and then let us know they would be bringing plates of hot food for us to share, much like family style and by far this was one of our favorite sit down meals for the price, we will definitely do this one again. Over the course of our meal around came 4 other princesses - Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Ariel and they didn't seemed rushed at all and the girls enjoyed seeing them so much. We were sure to have out our signature books for each of them to sign and Claire by this time was a pro at taking it out and finding the next empty page for them. After the breakfast we found that the World Showcase wasn't open till a little later so we headed towards the front of Epcot and hopped on Spaceship Earth and it was amazing how quickly Sophie fell asleep.

Usually after a large breakfast she can get a little sleepy but as soon as we were going up in the car and the stars were all around and the soothing music came on she was out. It was nice to just enjoy the ride with her sleeping while Bryan and Claire were in the car behind me. I was able to hear Claire getting all excited too. Once you get off the ride you get right off into Innovations where I held Sophie who continued to sleep and Bryan played with some of the stuff with Claire. By the time we came out it was raining pretty good so we made our way over to The Seas with Nemo & Friends and by that time Sophie was awake and seemed to really enjoy the ride, though Claire by far enjoyed it the most! It all worked out well because when you get off of the Nemo ride you are right there to get in line for Turtle Talk with Crush. Nicki and her family decided to skip out on it but Claire had seen a little about it after watching a Samantha Brown travel show and so we decided to stay and do it. I wasn't sure if Claire would sit up front by herself but I explained to her how it worked and that mommy wouldn't be sitting that far behind her and sure enough I got her to sit with the other kids while I snagged a single seat in the first row for adults and Bryan snagged a seat further back with Sophie. I was amazed to see her raise her hand a few times and repeat things when Crush asked. She really enjoyed it but the first thing she told me after was that he didn't call on her so seems she was really hoping to be called on! By the time we left there it was lunchtime and we met up with Nicky and her family who had just got off of The Land ride and we headed over to Mexico to get some food since that’s what some were up for and we figured we could find plenty of stuff. By this time the rain was coming down hard so we stopped and picked up an umbrella to help us get around. The great part of Mexico was that the Cantina de San Angel had very large umbrellas that overlapped a bit so we were able to sit where we didn't get wet and I went up to get food while Bryan sat with the girls. I was glad that Bryan and I split a burrito since they were so large and the girls kids meals came with nachos so we ended up splitting them. When we were finishing up eating the manager came around to ask us if we needed anything and how we were doing and in our usual fashion we chatted with him a bit and next thing we know he brought us 2 large churros on the house, which we quickly shared one of them with Mikey and Mia as well since we knew our girls could never finish a whole one on their own. They had to be one of the best we had ever had though because they were sooo fresh!! We then headed into the Mexico World Showcase since it was raining so hard and there was no way we were going to walk back to the monorail yet so we had the kids get their masks at the kidstop station and I broke out the passport for Claire to get stamped at the different locations. We ended up splitting up with Nicky and the family because they were heading back with their kids so we decided to go on El Rio del Tiempo which was a nice "river" that showcased the other 2 cabineros trying to find Donald Duck. It was nice and relaxing and we got to be out of the rain longer. Claire seems to really enjoy some of these rides and they are easy since Sophie tends to relax and enjoy them as well. We took a look around at the marketplace and ended up getting a nice tambourine for the girls since they enjoyed them so much! The girls were starting to get tired so I figured it was time to get back to the room and we were lucky that when we got out the rain wasn't so hard but boy was the stroller wet so we took a bunch of paper towels and put them on the seat then had Claire sit on it. Since she had her costume on we knew it wouldn't be too bad but didn't want to take too much of a chance.

We all napped late and we didn't end up leaving the room till around 5pm and headed back to Epcot for dinner. Claire had really enjoyed the passport so we decided to go ahead and do more of the countries. On our way over we had some snacks since the girls had slept a really long nap. We knew because of it dinner would need to be late as well and the girls decided they were not ready for dinner yet so when we got there it was sprinkling and so we hit the Epcot Character Connection since the line did not seem very long at all. The great part about this was that we were able to take all our coats off and the line you waited in had TV screens up high with old Disney cartoons playing. The girls were mesmorized and it was pretty nice to see some really old cartoons I hadn't seen since I was a kid. Once we got to the front of the line we were asked for our photo pass and got to meet Mickey, then Pluto, then Minnie, then Donald and last but not least Goofy and the great part was once you stood in the long line there was only a 1 or 2 group wait to get to the next character so we had seen 5 characters and got great pictures in less than 20 minutes. We had Mickey and Minnie both sign a postcard so we could send it to a family in Ontario who will be going to Disney in January. We then made our way around the world to get the girls some food and our first stop was Germany since we knew we might be able to find sausages or hotdogs aka braught worst and wiener schnitzel and sure enough the Biergarten had it! Bryan and I had braught worst and the girls had wiener schnitzel. I tried the wiener schnitzel and it was better than any hotdog I had ever had and since we were there I figured I would get Bryan and I a beer to split in a nice soulvineer cup. Since we were there we went over to the Kidcot Fun spot for Germany to get the girls passport stamped and while in the gift shop Bryan spotted a great hat that he loved and since I knew I wouldn't be able to get back there without him I just asked him then and there if he wanted it for Christmas, which of course he did!! Claire had done well eating so we decided from there to go over to Italy to see if we could find her a treat and sure enough we found some wonderful chocolates and picked out a few. Claire is more like me than I realized because she too really enjoys fine chocolates and absolutely loved the dark chocolate piece she picked out though she really wanted a lollypop and I told her that even though she had a piece of chocolate we would find her that lollypop! Italy had a Kidcot there too so we made sure to get a stamp there as well. I thought this was a nice way to do it where we go to places we have had some kind of experience at for the stamps, it wasn't about getting a stamp at each country. After getting some chocolate I had the idea for a dessert for Sophie - a nice crepe over in France and a hot coco for the girls, an espresso for Bryan and a latte for me and that's exactly what we did. Since we were in France we went and looked at the gift shop and Claire fell in love with a pink beret and then asked really nicely for a little mini Eiffel tower that was there. I couldn't help but get both for her since she soo enjoys everything about Paris. I can't wait till she gets older and we bring her there!! The Kidcot location was in the gift shop, which we noticed many of them were - this meant the odds were we would hit them all since we really wanted to look at each of the gift shops, though not all necessarily that night. It was great on a cool wet night and while walking around we watched some of the caroling that was going on in the America Gardens Theatre and snagged the girls each a light up toy for behaving so well, Claire picked Buzz Lightyear and Sophie picked Tinkerbelle. We noticed the time so we started to head toward the front to hit the bus to get back but since the girls had a super long nap we stopped a few times to watch the fireworks and then when we were right out front of the World Showcase we stopped so they could see the rest of the fireworks. I'm amazed at 18months how much Sophie loves fireworks and doesn't mind the loud noise at all, it's great because we were all able to enjoy them and then we headed back to the hotel but on the way had a hard time finding her the lollypop till we got towards the front and we hit the huge gift shop that sure enough had a princess one so we let her have some of it as we headed to the bus station. One thing we quickly realized was that getting back to our hotel on the bus in the evening before closing was hard because the busses didn't come for a long time and then we found out they had messed up the signs so all 3 All Stars Hotels were all combined to 1 bus, though I didn't know the other ones coming either because we have gotten on one of the others before but good thing Sophie had fallen asleep before we even got on the bus and Claire was doing really well, I was amazed we hadn't had any meltdowns at this point considering their eating and sleeping schedules were a little off but they were definitely eating plenty and not going hungry since we were snacking here and there as needed but they were also getting plenty of rest. Normally when Bryan and I use to vacation (pre-kids) we would go go go since my philosophy was that I could sleep when I got home but with the girls I know that them getting lots of rest and plenty to eat and rewarded as much as possible even if it's a pressed penny or a piece of chocolate or a lollypop late at night!

The next morning we couldn't let the girls just sleep because we had 8:30 reservations at the Crystal Palace for breakfast with Pooh and the gang. We got up a bit late and actually got on the bus and to MK before Nicki and her family though they had driven so we had some time to look around and it was wild being in Magic Kingdom before opening because it was so quiet but unfortunately it was another rainy day, though it was suppose to clear up. Nicki and her family were not far behind and we were more than early for our reservation but we were quickly seated. We had a nice long breakfast and got to see Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eyore. Claire seemed to be in love with the Mickey waffles and the croissants, I was in love with the fact they had hard boiled eggs and croissants, while Sophie and Bryan were loving everything!

We took a long time for breakfast and was talking with Nicki who decided they were not going to hit Disney Hollywood Studios till later on and we let them know that we planned on skipping it all together, doing MK that morning and after lunch heading back to Epcot since there was so much more there we wanted to see. There were a few rides they wanted to go on at MK and we knew that the girls wanted to go back on It's a Small World so we agreed to split up and so we did. We were headed towards It's a small world but noticed Ariel's Grotto was pretty quiet so we decided to get in line since next to there was also a nice place to leave the strollers. The line was a little longer than we expected but I guess we were waiting for Ariel to actually come out. Sophie loved meeting her and was so cute about it and Claire was super excited. While there I had Ariel sign a postcard that later would be sent to the girls and some how I was able to sneak it in without Claire realizing what I was having her sign! After we headed over to It's a Small World sure enough not even half way through it Sophie fell asleep. It seemed that a big breakfast followed by a slow moving ride was the magic Sophie needed for a bit of a nap. Since she was asleep I had Bryan help me get out of the boat so she continued to sleep and we went over and hopped right on Peter Pan. It was funny because Claire said 2 days prior she didn't want to go on it but then yesterday she said she did and so this morning we said it was a surprise and she didn't realize till we were getting on that it was but in the end she enjoyed it very much.

From there we decided to go over to the Haunted Mansion since people kept saying the only thing scary about it was the dark and Claire wasn't afraid of the dark. Sophie was still asleep as we made our way through the ride and Bryan held her while I held Claire and I kept telling her that it was all pretend and she seemed to really enjoy it. She thought it was funny at the end when they show the ghost in our car. Sophie was awake by this point so we hit the bathrooms and then hit the Pirates of the Caribbean since again the dark was the only thing people commented on. Well when we got on it I asked for the front row thinking the girls would have a better view since the boats were multiple rows but then I thought we were in trouble because Claire got a little scared at the face projected in the fog but then I told Claire it was just pretend and asked her to reach out with me and we touched it so she was fine with it. The ride was great and then we were in the dark. I thought this was great because we could hear a waterfall, which I thought we were going to come out in the open to seeing a big waterfall but next thing we know we are dropping so I grab hold of Claire good because I had no idea how far we would be falling but I finally realized why there was a little bit of water on the front of the boat when we got in and I was sure hoping we were not going to get that wet! Sure enough we didn't and the drop was not very far at all but after that Claire was super excited and it seemed Sophie was too and the enjoyed the rest of the ride too but Claire kept asking questions about the town being on fire and the pirates in jail which were easy to answer but I just loved that she really was paying attention to all that was going on around.

Claire was on a roll wanting to do and see things and since we were not far we went over to check out the Country Bear Jamboree, which I had seen when I was 21 and Bryan had seen when he came as a kid. While waiting for showtime we got some popcorn as a little snack before going in. The Jamboree was just as I had remembered it and at the end we look over at Sophie who was signing the word for more, because she wanted to see more of it. I find it so cute when she does that and even though she can say the word more now it seems the sign has so much more emotion in it than the word does for her! Claire loved the show as well and wanted to stay and see it again but we told her we could go on another ride instead and since we were not far we headed over to Aladdin's magic carpet ride and all 4 of us went on. The view from up high was great and the day seemed to be getting a little nicer. After that ride we wanted to get back to the strollers and then headed to Mickey's Toon Town thinking we might be able to find something to eat for lunch. We didn't find anything for lunch but since we were there we stopped and looked at Mickey, then Minnie's house since I knew they would be torn down in a year or so for a whole new area. We had skipped the character spot behind Mickey's house because I thought it just had Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Daisy and/or Pluto in there, though upon coming home we found out otherwise (we should have checked it out first and unfortunately it meant we missed Tinkerbelle but there will always be next time!)! We were all getting hungry so we headed out and ended up picking up food at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café and got 2 kids meals and a double bacon burger with an extra bun and extra cheese since Bryan just wanted a cheeseburger but this worked out great because it was about $2 for the extra bun and cheese but to just do 2 burgers would have cost me at least and extra $6 if not more! I learned to switch out the sides with the girls too this way they get to split the sides and get a little of each. Since Sophie had slept over an hour and a half in the morning we decided to just wing the rest of the day and so after lunch and bathroom breaks we headed over to Buzz Lightyear's Ranger Spin and Bryan convinced Claire while waiting in line to lay her head on his shoulder and that if she took a nap on him we wouldn't have to go back to the hotel and sure enough with our nice long wait in line she slept almost a good half hour to where we had to wake her up just before we got on the ride since we promised her we would. Claire absolutely loved the ride and we had a blast through it! Since Claire had newly seen Monsters Inc. I figured we should just leave the stroller where it was near the Buzz ride and head right over to the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. The show was great and the girls loved it and we loved so many of the jokes too and how they used audience members! Claire was so cute because she kept raising her head but I'm not sure if she really knew some of the time why she was raising it but I loved seeing her want to get involved! While we were waiting to get in to the Laugh Floor Nicki got a hold of me and let me know that there was something messed up with our parkhopper passes and so we agreed we would message her when we were on our way to Epcot and they were going to meet us there since they wanted to go back to Epcot too.

After the Laugh Floor we rounded up our strollers and took the Monorail over to Epcot, we sure loved seeing the hotels connected and hoped that next time we came we could afford to stay at one of those hotels to make getting around so much easier! When we were on our way I texted Nicki and she met us up front to get our tickets all squared away and then we went to find the rest of her family who were over at the Innoventions, some of them were really neat and some of them, like the trash truck we already used in our area! We all agreed we wanted to hit more of the world and so we decided to start the opposite way and I was so intrigued by the waterfall I thought it was to signify Niagara Falls but later found out it was suppose to be the Rocky Mountains! We stopped at the Kidcot and Claire decorated one of the little diecuts they gave at each country and we got her passport stamped as well. We then headed to England, looked around the gift shop, then went to the Kidcot and who did we find but Mary Poppins AND Alice in Wonderland right outside. So we got right in the line for Alice and sure enough a castmember got right behind us and sent everyone else away so we would be the last to see Alice. Claire was so excited to see her and she really wanted to meet Mary Poppins as well but it seems we were a little late for Mary as she also had a castmember at the end of her line and we were too late, though Claire was happy to see her even though she didn't get to meet her. We wanted to find something to eat but seems Mikey and Mia were a bit off and then Chad reminded Nicki that she had to pickup her package at the front of Epcot by a certain time so they decided to just head back to the hotel early, though I'm not sure what they were doing for dinner but we knew our girls needed dinner and so we went to hit the next country but next thing we know Claire is asleep in the stroller and Sophie asleep in Bryan's Arm we headed over to France but realized there was no counter service that would have actual food not pastries so we went to Morocco and sure enough we found at Tangierine Café a wonderful Shawarma platter that had hummus, tabouleh, couscous salad, moroccan bread with lamb and chicken for $13.95 and for and extra dollar or two I got extra bread and then got a glass of moroccan wine and a frozen tangierine drink, which while the girls slept, Bryan and I split and I pretty much fed him while he held Sophie since we had let Nicki take our other stroller back with them since they seemed to need it more than us. When the girls woke they enjoyed mini pita pockets but did not want any hummus and we broke out some of our snacks since it just seemed the girls were not all that hungry. We agreed to let Claire look at some of the shops in Morocco before we headed back to our room and that also meant that she got lucky in getting her stamp for Morocco as well. We headed back to the hotel and were excited that the next day we didn't have to be anywhere for a certain time.

Our 5th day at the parks, Sunday came quickly, it was so sad to know we were heading out to the parks for our last time but knowing we might want to stay out late we let the girls sleep a bit since we had also been out a little late the night before. Claire was upset when I told her she couldn't wear one of her costumes again but was ok when I offered for her to wear a matching dress with Sophie and sweaters. We got a text from Nicki on our way out the door and it seems they were already there going through the gates for opening, I had a feeling our timing would be a bit off but I was ok with that knowing that they would only be there a half day but we had a full day to get through. The girls had eaten poptarts and fruit in the room and as usual we filled their big thermos cup up with milk and headed to Animal Kingdom. We knew the very first order of business would be to get on the Safari ride since the earlier you go the more animals you see. We did make a few stops at some animals along the way but got there pretty quickly and waited in line. The great part about this line though was that you could take your stroller with you and they actually put them aside for you. The great part of the ride was that the seats were extra ride so the 4 of us were in 1 row. The girls really enjoyed how bumpy the ride got but we all seemed to enjoy the amount of animals we saw. There seemed to be so many of them and some of the giraffe were really close to the truck it was amazing, we really wanted to reach out and try to touch them but opted not to! After the ride we went the long way out that took us by all kinds of other animals, it was like taking a trip to the zoo there were so many and even got our photo taken from the photopass people at the waterfall.

By that time we had messaged back and forth with Nicki and realized we missed them leaving because she hadn't seen some of our messages. We all really wanted to say goodbye but sometimes these things happen! After we got out of there we went right over to get some lunch at Pizzafari and we got the girls mac n cheese and pizza with grapes and carrot sticks to split while Bryan and I split a salad and a hot Italian style sandwich. We were doing well until Claire decided to have a little meltdown and had to go for a timeout, which was hard because we had hoped to see some of the characters before we left. She quickly recovered and took her timeout and after lunch was over we continued to Camp Minnie-Mickey and we let the girls choose which character they wanted to see and of course Minnie won out! The line was long but it was worth it as Minnie was dressed up in her holiday attire and the girls were excited to see her again! We agreed it was time to head back to the hotel for naps but I had a plan to hit the Tree for a photo of all of us as well as a photo of Claire holding baby Simba. We ended up wanting to get a little treat and after seeing so many shops for them and I never have had one, we stopped and got a funnel cake. We all split it and the girls seemed to enjoy it very much! On our way back I waited with the girls while Bryan made a bathroom run and to whom did I see but Lilo and Stitch standing to take autographs so I got right into line with the girls figuring this would be a great addition to the girls signatures even though they had seen Lilo prior, this would be a first for Stitch and they loved her so much anyway! The girls welcomed her very quickly with huge hugs and Sophie would not stop going back and giving Lilo hugs, she even held her while signing their autograph book. The funny thing was that they kept going back and I kept trying to pull them away so the next people could go but everyone kept sighing at how cute they were that I didn't fret about it too much. We then headed over to the tree for our family photo in front of the tree and we also had him try to take a photo of Claire holding baby Simba, which amazingly they were able to do. A few more of just the girls and we were off to the gift shop, we wanted to try to find an ornament to signify our trip. We did find a Camp Minnie-Mickey like one and decided on that and also snagged a few postcards. We knew we had spent longer of a day there than we wanted to originally and that we also missed much of the park but so much of the other part was too old for the girls so we felt it was better to save it for another trip.

We headed back to our room for naps and I ended up having to wake Bryan and the girls up because it was 5pm and we knew it would take some time to get to Epcot for our last evening and since we had been so late we had the girls snack on our walk to the bus and made sure to change them into pants for the night since the evenings tended to get cool. We got to the World Showcase just before sunset and decided to take the boat over to Germany and then walked down to Japan. We were hoping to get some food there since I really was hoping for some sushi but with the girls we decided maybe that wasn't the best idea since we knew we would most likely not be able to do the sit down restaurant so instead we decided to look around through the gift shop since we knew that Claire would enjoy seeing the Hello Kitty stuff at least. We made our way through and we refrained from getting much, though I did get a bunch of nice sets of chopsticks since I really needed some for work and we also got a few lucky cat figurines that were in different colors to signify different things. We then headed to the Kidcot to get the passport stamped and since Claire was thirsty for something other than milk I got her a lychee juice, which she loved and I also snagged a couple of candies for her to try, which come to think of it, she still has yet to try because she didn't behave that night! This time I made things easy on myself and put Sophie in the ergo carrier and just brought 1 stroller with us. We stopped at the American Adventure area to see if they had anything food wise and it really seemed like they didn't have anything that we were interested in or already had on our vacation, though we did stop at the Kidcot station to get the girls their stamp and quickly made our way to China since we knew they would have food the girls would like there. We were amazed they didn't have lo mein but they did have shrimp fried rice so we got that, Sesame Chicken Salad and Vegetarian Stir fry for us to split and a mango smoothie for the girls and plum wine for Bryan and I to share. Claire had a lovely meltdown that she didn’t want to eat and next thing we know I pulled her out of the eating area and had her take a timeout out next to a beautiful garden area. I was glad for this because I could enjoy the view while she settled down but the timeout ended up being a lot longer since it took too long for her to settle and her timeout did not start till she stopped throwing a fit. Unfortunately she lost out on dessert because of this but when she got back to the table she ended up eating and getting to still get her Kidcot stamp for China. We realized that there was only one place left - Norway. Even though we had already been there for the Princess breakfast everything was still closed so we had never gotten our stamp. This time Bryan wore the ergo carrier with Sophie and I broke out the glow sticks for the girls since it was dark by this time and headed to Norway and checked out the gift shop. This time I got something for me - Laila a perfume from Norway that had a great smell to it and would become one of my Christmas gifts from Bryan. We went to the Kidcot station and then the girls were fascinated by the big troll statue. It was funny to watch Claire almost be afraid of it and not want to go near it. Claire really didn't want to be in the stroller or walk anymore so I had her get in the ergo carrier on my back and we headed towards the bus stop since we still had to get back and pack since we had an 8:30 bus to the airport in the morning. On our way out we stopped and got some candied pecans that we all split and took one more look at the big Epcot ball before leaving. It was hard to leave because we had so much fun but we knew we would be back in a few years and hoped to have just as much fun as before.

The morning came quickly and we were scrambling to get everything packed and put away, then I had to make a run to get a cart since we had a fridge to return as well. So many made fun of me for having so much luggage for a week long trip but good thing I had because a lot of the warm weather clothes I never even wore while all the cool weather stuff did - if I had packed lighter then I would have been too cold, same for the girls stuff!! We had all our stuff to the front by 8am but had to move stuff around because 2 of our bags came in overweight while the other was way under but the castmember was great about re-weighing everything for us a few times till we got it right. I ended up having to throw away the jar of peanut butter I was hoping to take back with me since we hadn't used it but knew it wasn't worth us going over! I think next time I may have to purchase one of those handheld weight things so I can figure it out myself in advance!

I had Bryan make 1 quick run to the gift shop for a couple of postcards and because we were on the bus so quickly we were not only able to write them out but I was able to run off the bus and hand them to a castmember to mail them for me so they could get in the mail right away and we wouldn't have to search at the airport for some place! We were quickly to the airport and were very excited because we knew we didn't have to deal with checking in at our airline or our checked baggage at that point, we just had to get through security and then gate check our strollers. We got to our gate with plenty of time and even though we had the girls have something to eat in the morning when we were packing I figured they would enjoy a snack and Bryan and I could use some food so I took Claire with me to Starbucks and got some banana nut loaf and a vanilla milk while I got coffees for Bryan and I. When I got back though I just loved the disconnect because Bryan had gotten Sophie some milk and she was eating away - oh well can't have too much for snacks on a plane. Our flights back were first class and this was nice because not only did we get to get on first but we also were given some juice as soon as we were settled in. Claire was all excited to have this huge seat to herself! I asked the flight attendant if she had any wings, which she did not but not long after the pilot stopped by and said hi and when we were talking he looked to her and said he had something for her and sure enough, he had a set of wings. Claire was so excited to have me put them on and she even had me take a picture of her sitting there in her chair with her wings in place! This flight was nice and short and we landed in Miami uneventfully. We quickly made our way to our departing gate for the second leg to Boston and were a little disappointed with how far we were from everything eats wise so settled for hotdogs for the girls and an ham and cheese croissant for us. The one problem though was that we had forgotten that on a first class flight we get food, so it ended up working out we didn't get much to eat because we had a nice meal for each of us and could have gotten a 3rd if we wanted to. On the first leg Sophie was cranky much of the time as she was our first flight down from Boston but this flight it didn't take her long to get settled. Claire was out pretty quickly on this flight as well, as we had hoped. The other great perk to first class is that they offered to bring one of our meals while the other holds Sophie and then the next meal once the first was finished. This was a perfect setup and since I had already had a little to eat I went with the salad and a glass of white wine. It was nice having the never-ending glass since they kept coming back and giving me more but it was nice that Bryan let me eat first and by the time I got Sophie she was completely asleep. He went for the salmon and was quite pleased with it. One of the best parts was that they offered each of us what seemed to be fresh baked cookies - cranberry chocolate chip. By this time Claire was awake so she enjoyed hers as a snack and we all watched parts of the Disney movie Up. We got back to Boston and were amazed at how much snow was on the ground and by the time we got our bags Bryan's brother Ron was there to pick us up.

We were back home, made mac n cheese for dinner for the girls and ordered out sushi for dinner since we were both dying for it since we had hoped to have it at Epcot the night before. We were to bed a little early for all of us but much needed since the next day we all had to go back to work and the girls back to school. Such a wonderful trip, we are excited to go back and hope to be able to within 2 years, I'd love to go just before Sophie's 3rd birthday but not sure that May would really be a good time to go. Eventually we will be back and we have even considered that it might be best to go to DisneyLand next time. We are pretty open but either way we had a trip and with all the magic we had we are ok with the fact that we missed some of the rides we wanted to go on and didn't see some of the characters like Tinkerbell we wanted to but in the end it was such a magical time and I will never forget the wonderful time we had as a family. This trip was much needed because of Bryan being laid off and helped us regroup and show how well Bryan and I can work together in taking care of our kids!