Disney *Part 1*

I have heard Disney World is a magical place....well I wasn't feeling it at first but let me start at the beginning!

Well we decided to drive down to Florida this year! We have flown down here every year for the last 7 years so my husband really wanted the boys to experience "seeing the country-side" While I said they have seen it fine from the airplane window the last several years I understood what he meant :)

But there is something to be said about getting on a plane and 2 hours later being in Florida!

Well he convinced me and we prepared for the "long drive"

I was actually getting a little excited! The boys travel very well but I was not sure how Ellie would do?!?!

I started buying little cheap gifts for the boys and wrapped them up so they could open one every so often on our drive down!

So last Tuesday we picked Dawson up from school and started heading south! I loved seeing Dawson's face when we pulled into his school to pick him up! I could tell he was bursting with excitement! Well we hit the open road and all was going well! We stopped for supper just south of Indy! The plan was to eat and let them run around a little then get back in the truck and hopefully everyone would eventually fall asleep and when they would wake we would be close to Disney World! Insert a very sarcastic laugh right here ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Well lets just say it was the LONGEST DRIVE OF MY LIFE!!!

We have come to the conclusion we will be flying every year and wherever we go for the next several years until Ellie is old enough to understand she needs to stay in her car seat and that it is fun to sleep in the truck!

The boys did wonderful! No fighting, they slept great, no complaining at all!

Ellie on the other hand barely slept at all but screamed most of the way down :( She did not in any way enjoy "seeing the country-side")

Our plan was to drive straight through the night, trying to make it easier on the kids! We figured they could sleep all night and when they wake we would be close to Disney! Well enough about that!

So we arrived at Disney! 2 tired parents with little to no sleep and one very grumpy little girl, but two very well rested and happy boys!!

The blessing of it all is the Lord knows our every need before we even know what we need! He is so good like that! I was hot and sweaty and thought I may be pushed over the edge if our room was not ready when we checked in. And he came through just like He always does and our room was ReAdY!!! Our plan was to unpack, get a shower, and brush our teeth (little things like that made me so happy at that moment), and have everyone take a nap...then hit Magic Kingdom later that afternoon! Well the boys had lots of energy and despite the lack of sleep Ellie got the night before she was having no part of a nap so Kris and I drug ourselves out of bed and prepared to face the first park! The boys were so excited and we were starting to get there! When we arrived at Magic Kingdom we made our way in and the boys were in awe!!

We were getting there, but a little on the sleep deprived side to fully feel the magic at this point!

Our first stop was at the Theatre right inside the gates of the park! We first saw Mickey and Minnie and only had to wait a couple of minutes! Ellie loved Mickey and Minnie Mouse! It was adorable! She kept waving and waving at them!

But where oh where is Dawson and Branson you say?!?! Well they were seriously FrEaKiNg out when they saw Mickey and Minnie. They did not want to see them or get anywhere near them. They did not even want to walk across the room to the exit door! Kris and I looked at each other with that look like "tell me we did not just spend all this money to have our boys freaked out by dressed up characters! This is going to be one LONG week." Well they cried but made it past the characters quickly to the exit. We tried talking with them that it is just people dressed up and they are well aware of that but it still scared them. At this point I wasn't feeling the magic :)

Well in the same building was 3 of the princesses and they had no problem taking a picture when them and meeting them. There reasoning was that they could see their face. Ok I'll accept that but once again it will be a long week if they don't get used to this! Here they are with Aurora! Despite Ellie's look she did like her :)

Belle

Cinderella!

I must say there is nothing like seeing the castle!! I was getting a little giddy at this point despite the lack of sleep issue :)

And then it started raining, and raining, and raining, and raining :(

So we loaded back into the bus and headed back to our room!

We came back to the room the first night and we were all asleep by 8:30 :) We slept a solid 10 hours and it felt WoNdErFuL!!! On day 2 we woke up to rain. We headed to breakfast and came back to the room! We broke down and bought some Disney ponchos! We stayed in the room till 2:00 that afternoon due to tornado warnings!

Ellie got a good afternoon nap! Then we got a knock on the door! A Disney Employee delivered a Mickey bag filled with all kinds of snacks and another bag filled with a stuffed animal for each one of our kids! I have to admit I was taken back that someone would do this for us!! It seriously made our day! The kids were jumping up an d down all excited about their new stuffed animals and they have slept with them every night since! So a BIG thank you to whoever blessed us with such a generous gift!

Well despite the rain we put ponchos on and headed to Magic Kingdom! When we arrived the rainy day parade was going on and I was quite impressed! The kids got to see several of the characters!

Cutie Pie in her poncho!

Branson and Daddy! Dawson would be way behind them trying to hide from the characters during the parade! He wasn't feeling the magic!

After the rain we headed to the back of the park and saw Peter Pan!

And then it started pouring! Not a sprinkle but POURING DOWN RAIN!

But despite the pouring down rain and trying to keep the stroller and 10 bags I thought we needed to take, dry we had so much fun!

Ellie sporting her poncho with her finger in her nose! That's my girl!

Ellie and the boys loved the carousal! We were also able to ride the Dumbo ride (in the rain :) and were we able to ride "Its a small world!" It was fun but I still wondered in the back of my head is this really worth the money!

(the bag of goodies!)

After a few rides we headed back to our resort for supper!

Stay tuned for part 2 of Disney....will we feel the magic?!?!?!