Disney - Day 4

Last minute before we left for our trip I decided to extend it a day so that we could have a free day to relax in the middle of the week.  I am so glad we did.  My feet couldn't take another day of straight walking for 12 hours or they might have fallen off.  I booked a late breakfast so we could sleep in and we finally took advantage of the awesome pool at the hotel.  I wanted to do breakfast at the Polynesian resort because I remember going there as a kid.  If we ever have enough money to stay there when we come again in the future I definitely will.  The hotel is beautiful!  Lush green landscaping everywhere, polynesian decor and most of all, the monorail runs right through it so it's super convenient to get to the parks.  No parking, waiting, trams or walking.  So nice!  Anyway, the characters there were Lilo and Stitch and Addison had never seen the movie so I rented it before we left and she watched it everyday for a week.  She loved it.  The second we got to Disney and went to the giant Disney store she has been talking about getting a Stitch doll.  I said she could pick 1 thing for the whole week so I wanted her to wait and think about what she really wanted.  Every day she still kept saying she wanted the Stitch doll so she was especially excited about today's breakfast.  Cooper was super shy for some reason this morning and wanted nothing to do with the characters at first so he's missing from a few! 

The girls and Lilo

Pluto trying to strangle Phillip and rub Cooper's hair.  This is the 4th character that has rubbed all over Cooper's hair.  I don't know if it's the red or what but Cooper thinks it's so funny.

Pluto trying to lick Addison.  He did it to Cooper too and they both thought it was the funniest thing.  

The moment Addison had been waiting for.  It did not disappoint!  Of course Phillip had to make a crazy face.

My boys

The beach area of our hotel.  We never made it there today even though I meant to.  It's beautiful though!

I had considered going to one of the Disney water parks while we were here and I'm so glad I didn't spend the money.  The pool at the hotel was amazing and it had it's very own water slides.  The kids couldn't have had more fun even at a big water park.  After watching Addison, Cooper wanted to try the slide too.  I wasn't sure how he'd do but he love it and begged to go on it again and again.  There was another much bigger slide that was a completely dark tunnel.  It was so fun and Addison went on it about 50 times.  She's become quite the little daredevil on this trip.

This was the little kids area.  It was awesome.  Cooper was tired so I just grabbed a chair and had him nap while Addison played for a while.  Of course she made a couple new friends because she always seems to whenever we go anywhere.  She especially loved the giant bucket that dumped water every 5 minutes.

P.S.  When we went to get dinner in the food court of the hotel, Addison and I looked at the gift shop and I finally broke down and let her get the Stitch doll she's been asking for.  I wanted to wait until Friday but I don't think she was going to change her mind.  At least I won't have to hear about it anymore! ; )  After coming back with that, I told Cooper he could pick something too so we went back and he picked a light-up Buzz.  No surprise there.  Glad to be done with the shopping and glad we got a relaxing day at the hotel!  

Disney - Day 3

I knew we couldn't do everything in one day at Magic Kingdom so we went on Tuesday too.  I had really wanted to take the ferry instead of the monorail because I love the view of the castle from the ferry.  The only problem with that is that it was about 55 degrees so we were SO cold because it's so windy on the boat.  Oh well, at least I got the view I wanted!  We went straight to Tomorrowland since that was the only place we didn't get to on Monday.  We got everything done that we wanted to by noon so we spent the rest of the day doing repeats of the stuff the kids loved.  It was so nice to be able to spend more time there and actually get to do some shows and parades.  We even got to meet some of the characters that the kids love.  It was well worth the waits.  

Buzz Ranger Spin.  We went on this twice because Cooper loved it so much.  He loved shooting Zerg and the bad guys.  It was cute.

Tomorrowland Speedway.  I remember this being way faster when I was a kid.  It was super slow but the kids loved it.  Cooper drove himself and he thought it was so funny to hit the rail in the middle so he kept doing it on purpose.  

Coop and the captured Zerg!

I took Addison on Space Mountain (worst idea ever and I still feel bad about it) and while we were in there Phillip stood in line to see Chip and Dale so when we came out we got to see them right away.  It made Addison feel better immediately.  

I didn't realize that on Space Mountain you had to sit one person at a time so I couldn't sit next to Addison.  I forgot how jerky and fast it was.  I remember hating it but I heard that they changed it so I wanted to try it again.  I sat behind her so I kept trying to pat her head to reassure her but the whole time I was just thinking about how bad I felt that she had to go on it. I felt like I was going to hurl so I had no idea how Addison was doing.  I was actually shocked that she wasn't crying when we got off of it.  She said it was scary and she didn't like it but at least she didn't throw up or something.  I certainly wanted to!

After Chip and Dale, we saw Buzz in a little corner with a LONG line to see him.  Cooper hadn't done much so we decided to brave the line anyway.  I am so glad we did.  It was by far one of Coop's favorite things.  He was so excited!  I'm still surprised with how much he liked seeing the characters.  

I just love Cooper's face in this picture!

While Philip took Addison on Splash Mountain (her favorite ride) for the 5th time, Cooper and I stood in the extra long line to see Woody and Jessie.  Again, I'm so glad we did.  He was just so happy about it.  This trip was really more for Addison since I wanted to do it before she got out of the princess stage but Cooper was just as happy and there were really only a few things he couldn't go on.  

Love this picture!

The first time I took Addison on Splash Mountain she was terrified.  She held on to me so tight and refused to even open her eyes during the big drop.  This went on for a few more times until she would at least sit up and look.  Well on her 6th time she said she wanted to put her hands up.  I was really excited and hoped she would actually do it.  Then we got put up in the very front so I thought she would chicken out but she said that as long as I held on to her super tight she would do it and she did!  I was so proud!  I'm too cheap to spend the $20 on the picture they take so I just took a picture of the picture.  Works for me!  

One of my favorite moments of today was on Pirates of the Carribean.  I really wanted to go on it again even though Cooper didn't want to and Addison said she wanted to sit by him to protect him.  The whole time she had her arms around him and talked softly to him saying it was ok and that he was safe and it was all pretend.  He didn't get scared once and even said he liked it when he got off.  It was so, so sweet.  Love my kids!  

Oh, and that reminds me.  Before we left on Saturday I was really really worried about the weather.  They said we were supposed to get some severe storms, it was going to rain all afternoon, etc... so I had prepared Addison that it was for sure going to rain so we would see how that would affect our day.  We got a few tiny sprinkles on the way to Disney and then nothing afterward.  It was amazing. I literally couldn't believe our luck.  After her makeover we went to lunch and Addison said "Look mom,  it didn't rain".  I said "I know, I can't believe it, it's a miracle".  She said "well, I knew it wasn't going to rain because I prayed that it wouldn't.  I asked Heavenly Father to please not let rain so we could have fun".  I almost cried.  What a sweet child I have!

Disney - Day 2!

Magic Kingdom day!  Yay!  To me, Magic Kingdom is Disney so I was practically busting at the seams to get there before it opened.  I was so excited!  We had a plan of action to ride as many rides as possible and the day went perfectly.  We hardly waited in any lines, the kids were great and best of all, the high was only 75 degrees for the day.  Couldn't have been better!  

The kids all ready to go and waiting for it to open!

The morning characters do a little song and dance before it opens.  The kids thought it was awesome.

First up was Dumbo.  Addison had been talking about this for 2 days and she was happy it went really high and that she could control how high it went. 

Obligatory Tea Cup ride.  Ugh, I hate this ride because it makes me sick but the kids really wanted to do it.  At least they were happy about it

Playing in Pooh's Corner waiting in line for the Winnie the Pooh ride

On the Small World ride.  Love it so much!  It's definitely one of my favorites.  Apparently Phillip was taking some video of us on the ride and when he looked over at me, I was just happily singing along to the song not paying attention to anything else.  He thinks it's the funniest thing ever.  

3D Mickey's PhilarMagic.  I didn't want to do this because it looked boring but we got a surprise Fastpass for it so we went and I have to say that I totally loved it.  It was really sweet and funny.  Cooper especially loved all of the 3D effects and tried to reach out a few times and was laughing at a lot of it.  Totally worth it.  

Pooped out after lunch.  We switched off taking Addison on Splash Mountain a few times.  It worked out perfectly.

Addison and I after the big drop on Splash Mountain.  We're in the back.

Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder in the afternoon parade.  Addison's favorite.

Waiting for Pirates of the Carribean ride.  I love this ride.  Cooper wanted to ride it at first but after a cannon shot up and sprayed water on us, he cried and wanted to get off.  I still loved it!

He did however like the store outside of the ride.  He loves pirate stuff.  Arrrgh...

My other little pirate

Cooper and me on Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride.  A lot like Dumbo but I liked this one better I think.

Jungle Cruise.  I remember loving this ride as a kid and the jokes were still just a corny but it wasn't as good as I remembered.  The kids totally loved it though.

The kids in front of the beautiful castle.  Glad they were smiling.  I couldn't believe how many great pictures we had been getting with them smiling great.  They just seemed to always be smiling.  It was great!

I wanted to get the kids Mickey/Minnie ears and they are so cute! They had a million different ones to choose from but I love the classic look.  I still have mine from when I was a kid.

Someone was blowing bubbles and they were trying to catch them

We had dinner at The Crystal Palace which had Winnie the Pooh characters.  Neither of my kids have really been into Pooh but they both really loved seeing the characters.  Addison really got into getting autographs for her book so it was nice to do all of these dinners so we didn't have to wait in a bunch of lines to meet them.

Cooper giving Tigger a hi-five

Right after dinner we ran outside to catch the electrical parade on Main street.  It was awesome.  The lights were amazing.

Love the castle all lit up at night

Waiting not so patiently for the fireworks

Beautiful!!

The second the fireworks were over Addison asked if she could go to sleep.  We had gotten up at 6:30 and the fireworks ended at 10:30.  I can't believe we made it all day, especially without a meltdown.  We had planned to go back to the hotel in the afternoon for naps but after Cooper slept in the stroller there was really no point.  It was a fantastic day!