Disney World with two small kids is A LOT of work but, I promise, every amount of planning, sweating,
We started our Disney adventure on Saturday morning bright and early. We drove straight through to Orlando (after staying the night in Corbin & leaving our doggies at Nana & Grandad's house) and made it to our hotel around 8 that night. First we checked into our hotel, Caribbean Beach Resort. The concierge gave us balloons and First Time Visitor buttons for the girls. They felt special right away!
After we got settled & unpacked we waited for Gracen's pack n play to arrive and then headed over to the food court for a late snack. Our room was in building 45 of Jamaica & was in the BEST location. If you ever stay here make sure to request a room in building 45! It is right next to the bridge that leads to the food court & pool and is the first stop on the bus stops making sure you always get a seat on the bus (soooo important when traveling with little kids). Caribbean Beach is a really large resort so being so close to all the extra amenities made our stay there awesome! The rooms weren't anything fancy but considering we only used them to sleep they were perfect! We went to bed around 10 that night and were so excited for our first day at Disney!
We woke up bright and early Sunday morning & hopped a short bus ride to Hollywood Studios. We knew a cast member who was helping us get free tickets & park hopper passes and that's where we met. We had planned to head straight to Epcot after getting the tickets because we had a late character princess breakfast scheduled at Akershus but after Toby realized it was Star Wars day at Hollywood he insisted we look around a bit :) Leighton was not thrilled lol. She was dead set on seeing some Disney royalty :)
We flattered Toby and walked around to look for Darth Vadar. I think he would have waited in the line to get his picture taken with him but considering Lei had crocidile tears in her eyes and kept saying, "Dese scary people are NOT Disney," he opted for a quick snapshot of the big guy and then we headed to Epcot.
Leighton was so happy to put on her Princess Cinderella costume, Gracen, not so much. I tried three times to get her costume on her but she shrilled and screammed "Nooooooo, OFFFFFFFFF!" so I decided a meltdown before 9 am was NOT worth it :)
Our Akershus reservation wasn't until 10:40 so we decided to stop by and see Mickey & Friends before heading to eat. Since we were there so early there weren't any lines. The girls were all smiles walking up and Gracen was shouting, "Miieeeeyyyy!" but once we got up to the actual characters they totally froze up. Leighton refused to go up to Mickey and Gracen was not a huge fan either. She did give him a high five though haha.
Leighton didn't want to meet any of the characters but she did want to wave at them. Disney is SO wonderful about catering to each child and each different personality. Minnie was so sweet waving at Lei and made sure she had special time with her even if it didn't involve a picture.
After the first character
Once we got inside, they whisked the 'Royal Daniel' family over to get a picture with Belle! Gracen was NOT a fan at ALL. She may have even bopped Princess Belle on the head O_O only my Gracen. Still, I insisted we get a family picture but notice Gracen and me are in front (and out of bopping distance) of the Princess! Oh that child!
Once we were seated our waitress took our drink orders and told us to help ourselves to the buffet (bagels, fruit, muffins, cheeses & meats) and they would bring out our hot options family style (bacon, sausage, eggs, potatoes). The food was ok. Nothing great but hey Disney is not known for their food ;) The Princess experience was amazing!!!
Leighton was still unsure about hanging with the Princesses. They called for all the children to line up and do a parade around the restaurant with the Princesses (Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, Snow White & Mulan were there on our day) and Leighton didn't want to go. She didn't even want to go with us but Mulan came over and grabbed her hand and she marched around with her. She felt SO special and came back to the table grinning from ear to ear! It was adorable. From that moment on, she was ALL about meeting the princesses!
While we ate, each princess stopped by our table to meet us & take a picture. Leighton thought this was so fun. She was still a little nervous but wanted her picture with all of them! She wasn't so sure about Snow White (she's never seen the movie) so I went with her to meet her. Leighton's eyes were closed in the picture but STILL I had to document the moment here :)
After the breakfast Leighton was on cloud nine. She wanted her picture with every character. I am SO glad we scheduled the character breakfast for the first day. It really helped Lei break the ice with the characters! Gracen still was not having it so we just stopped trying. She was content to wave at them from her stroller :)
After a short ride on the monorail we finally arrived at MAGIC KINGDOM! We were so excited for all the fun that awaited us. Gracen ate an apple on the way over & I learned that apple juice is the hardest stain to get out of whites...EVER!
To make things easier on us we brought each girl an umbrella stroller & we brought one backpack with us. Toby and I took turns carrying it or we hung it on the stroller. It made it easy to just grab the girls & the bag when we were on the rides & it carried all of our "essentials." Things I packed in our backpack: Diapers, Wipes, Hand Sanitizer, Bottled Water in a small flexible cooler, suntan lotion SPF 50, granola bars, bananas, apples, camera, wristlet that hooked to the inside that contained our tickets, cash, credit cards, etc., ponchos for everyone and a small umbrella. It was a really hot day so once we got inside the park we bought each girl a mist fan. We kept them with us everyday and we lifesavers! Gracen LOVED spraying herself over and over and OVER :)
We got to the park the same time the parade was starting. We parked the strollers on Main Street and watched the parade. It was adorable & both girls were SO excited to see more characters.
After some photos in front of the castle we headed to Fantasyland. I tried to document every memory but didn't worry about getting that "perfect" picture each time. I didn't want to wear the girls out with pictures so I just snapped & moved on ;) Obviously...
Once in Fantasyland we went and got our fast pass for Ariel's Under the Sea. Then, Toby and Lei rode the carousel and I took Lei to Ariel's Grotto to meet the REAL Ariel :) Gracen was sound asleep in her stroller at this point so Toby parked in the shade with her so she could rest.
Ariel was SO wonderful. A certain Mama may have even teared up and cried when Lei jumped into her arms and Ariel called her angelfish. See...Disney dork :) Ariel totally doted on Lei and spent a good 5 minutes with her. It was definitely my favorite character meeting. Oh, the LOVE.
After meeting Ariel, Little Sis was awake and we had some time to kill before our fast pass time. So we rode the tea cups! It was Gracen's first ride of the day and she loved them! (Not that I had any doubt she would...wild child).
Finally it was time for our fast pass! The Under the Sea ride was awesome! SO so cool. Lei & Gray were in a Disney trance the whole ride.
Next we headed to get another fast pass for Winnie the Pooh. We walked right on to Mickey's 3D Philharmonic and it was neat but nothing to compared to Ariel. The girls were loving every second of Disney and that put a HUGE smile on mine & Toby's faces :)
Before it was time for our Winnie the Pooh fast pass we waited to do Enchanted Tales with Belle. It's an interactive tour/show and the girls enjoyed it (though no one wanted to participate in the show lol). Leighton did jump up in line to meet Belle at the end. Gracen waited in line with her but quickly ran back to my arms when it was time for her picture. Girl is not a fan of the characters!
The girls were so excited to ride Winnie the Pooh and it did not disappoint. Gracen loved every ride SO much and since she wasn't enjoying the characters I was happy she liked something :) Leighton loved the ride so much she insisted on buying a Baby Pooh after she got off the ride. She was in love!
After Winnie we decided to head back to the resort. We were coming back to Magic Kingdom the next day so there was no rush to do everything all at once. Once back at the resort we grabbed a quick dinner at the food court and then let the girls swim until it was dark. Gracen was obsessed with the kids water slide. It dumped a crazy amount of water on you and she would scream "WHOA!" Leighton was not a fan of getting drenched and decided to just wade around in the shallow pool :)
After our pool fun we headed back to the room and called it a night! I packed our backpack for the next day and we all fell right asleep! It was a great first day!
Stay tuned for Part 2..........................
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