Cheater

So we did cheat at Disney, Kaitlyn was just a teensy-tiny bit too short. Todd told her how to stand, when asked, "how tall are you" Kaitlyn would go up on her tip-toes. It was so cute and got a few laughs from some of the workers.

We forgot to get a video while at the park so here's our reenactment.

Book Review - Disney

I read a few books to get us ready for the trip. I checked this one out from the library:

It was a 2008 but still a little helpful. The one thing I liked about this is it had pictures of the rides. I just let the girls look through this to get an idea of what was ahead. I don't think it helped as much as the others in planning. It does do a good description of all the rides.

3 out of 5

A friend suggested Passporter's. This had great maps with travel times between locations in the parks, gave 3 peoples ratings on rides and shows and gave each thing a letter A-E (must do's to can skips). Described restaurants, hotels, transportation, meal plans, etc. Also was in color. Many pictures and lots of extras added in (described what you'd find in some of the shops and went into character dining) Basically, A LOT of info. I didn't care for the layout but it was helpful in picking what we were going to do. One thing I did like, for each park they had a schedule for where you should go first, next, etc. They had a day planned for families with little kids and one for older families.

4 out of 5

And the last book was Fodor Walt Disney World with Kids. Another recommendation. This was my favorite book out of the three. Easy to read, gave scare factor, where hidden mickey's were, what was scary in the ride (noise, dark, etc), good time saving trips, what to pack, and had several layouts for rides for younger kids, older kids, etc. No pictures but lots of good info on the rides and what to expect. On the scary rides, I think they were probably a little too conservative. We went on some rides that they said were very scary and we thought it was pretty mild. This was the one book I highlighted and brought with us on the trip.

4.5 out of 5

And because I wanted to make sure I was really covered, a week before we left, in the Costco magazine they had an article on Disney. They mentioned a website - touringplans.com which is fabulous. It gives a crowd calendar, download apps for wait times, which parks would be best to visit on certain days, and for a small fee you can pay for one of it's touring plans. They had over 60 plans (traveling with young kids, sleeping in late, girls ages 4-8, etc) and plans for every park. You just plug in the date and the park and wa-la! I went with a plan that told us what rides to get on first, when to get fast passes, when the park opened, what rides were closed, and much more info. This plan was awesome and worth the $8. I think this was why we were able to ride so much without long waits. There are other sites out there too Mousesavers.com andallears.net that all have great info.

Magic Kingdom - take 2

I got mouse ears the first time I went to Disneyland so I just had to get them for the girls.

I think this was my favorite day. We again started at the park when it opened at 9 but were able to rides over and over again. The crowds on this day were so small compared to Monday's crowd. (Note for next trip - do not go to the parks on Magic Hour days, they are way too crowded.) We were able to ride tons more throughout the day. I think the longest wait time we saw was 20 minutes. Everything was pretty much less than that.

First stop was Mad Hatter Tea Cups. I thought someone (me) would get sick and luckily after 3x in a row, no one did. There was no line and the girls loved this so much that we rode it again and again. Abby loved spinning us faster and faster and Kaitlyn just laughed. A new favorite ride. Since we were right by the speedway, we headed over again to drive the cars.

A good driver- looking at where she is going.

When she turns 16, you better watch out!

Love the happy faces

Todd was coming to the park a little later with Olivia and as soon as they joined us, the girls had to take him on the Tea Cups, so back we went. Then on to Toon Town. The park is still pretty empty so we rode Goofy's Barnstomer 3x in a row here too. They actually just let us stay on the coaster and sent us through. Another fun ride- the only problem is that it's very short.

Off we went to tour Mickey and Minnie's house.

The girls made themselves comfortable at Minnies.

By now the crowds were growing and we left Toon Town and headed back over to Frontierland. Goal number one today was to find Ariel, Kaitlyn's favorite princess. She was tucked away in Frontierland and luckily we got in line before we closed it several minutes before Ariel even came out (thanks Gpa!). We waited and waited and it was so stinking hot standing there. Kaitlyn decided she needed to be held and was all of a sudden scared, or maybe too shy, to see Ariel. After waiting 30-40 minutes we finally see Ariel and Eric and Kaitlyn refuses to talk or look at her - GRRRR. Abby however got along just fine with her.

I'm holding both Olivia and Kaitlyn who are scared to look at Ariel.

If you click on the picture you can get a better look.

I then wanted to ride Pirates. I remember this being one of my favorite rides as a kid when I went to Disneyland. Not as exciting as I remember. The girls have no idea who Jack Sparrow is so it was just a nice cool place to sit for them. By now we had seen everything we pretty much wanted too except Goal #2- find Tinkerbell. We gave Kaitlyn the choice, see Tink or Mickey's Philharmagic again. She voted for Mickey. As we get there, she's now upset because she wants to see Tinkerbell. Grrr. Fine, at least we can wait indoors. The line to see the fairies was 45 minutes. By the time we get through the door to Fairyland, Kaitlyn is in her mood again. Won't see Tinkerbell and hides her head in Todd's shoulder. Double GRRRRR.

Tinkerbell was so nice trying to get Kaitlyn to turn around.

The rest of the day goes by pretty smoothly. Todd took Olivia back to the hotel for a few hours and the rest of us headed for the afternoon parade. Abby and Kaitlyn just died and went to heaven seeing all the princesses pass by in the floats. They screamed all the names and were constantly waving. Simple joys of a child. (Why couldn't Kaitlyn be like this with Ariel and Tink?) The girls got to decide what they wanted to do for the rest of the day.

By the time Todd joined up with us early evening, we had stacks of Fast Passes for Thunder RR, Space Mountain, and Splash Mountain. Kaitlyn got stopped this time for big Thunder. They wouldn't let her on and I made a stink that she had ridden it 3x already that day - she did. The guy called his supervisor to come over. Kaitlyn was back to stink mode- it's this supposed to be the happiest place on Earth? We couldn't get her to stand, she slouched, stood on tiptoes and fought us with everything. Finally she stood up and the supervisor said she could ride if she stretched. Happy day. The last ride was going to be Splash Mt. and Kaitlyn, of course didn't want to ride it. Todd convinced her and actually enjoyed it. Abby said it's her favorite because you can sing, dance and you get wet.

K loves Big Thunder RR

Another ride we rode over and over and over again - Space Mt.

Abby looked like that in every ride.

I was just being a dork.

Olivia chillin' with Gma and Gpa

To top of the evening, there were more fireworks and at this point Abby says, "everything is spinning." Someone had a full day. Of course it's not a trip unless someone throws up. That night back in our hotel room at 1:00 I hear Abby crying a little bit. Doesn't say anything. I ask her if she's ok. No response just a little more crying. I go over to see how she's doing and flip on the light. Yep. The world was spinning and Abby threw up all over her bed she was sharing with Kaitlyn. At least we made it to the end of the trip until something like that happened.

All in all it was a fabulous trip and I hope to do it again when Olivia is a little older. Thanks for bearing with me as I try and write down our memories so we don't forget in years to come. If you read all of the travel log stuff, congratulations, you win the prize.

Tickets to the park = arm

Buying anything Disney = leg

Watching the girls expression as they first see Cinderella's castle, meeting Mickey, Princesses, etc = Priceless

Animal Kingdom

The man made tree with all the animals carved into it.

Since we stayed out so late the night before we had a really late start this morning. By the time we arrived at the Animal Kingdom it was already 11:30. The park was only staying open until 5 so we weren't able to see everything but we still had a fun filled day.

It was so hot already that one of the first stops was to ride Kali River Rapids. Kaitlyn came back upset that she was wet, she was soaking. I had my chance to ride it since I stayed back with Olivia. Kaitlyn enjoyed squirting us as we came floating by with the water cannon.

Expedition Everest was next. This was mine and Abby's favorite ride out of the parks. I rode with Abby on this one and she truly is an adrenaline junky! It was probably the most intense ride we rode throughout the week.

Kaitlyn's favorite of the day was watching Finding Nemo the musical. At this time Olivia was starting to feel feverish. I don't know if it was the hours, being in the sun, or teething but Todd left and took her back to the hotel.

The rest of us enjoyed watching The Bird's of Wonder, Jammin' Jungle Parade

and the Safari Ride.

We were at the end of the parade and there weren't many kids around us so the girls got lots of attention from all of the characters.

Later that night we had dinner in one of the restaurants in our hotel. Lucky for us, Pluto and Goofy visit there. Again, not much eating was done by the girls. Kaitlyn stuck her head in Pluto's mouth and Olivia was cute playing peek-a-boo with Pluto.

The girls dancing during the parade. I think their bum shaking is so cute.

shake it from sassy momma on Vimeo.

Magic Kingdom - take 1

After two busy days with Nasa and EPCOT, Sunday was a great day to sleep in and rest and get ready for a jam packed day at the Magic Kingdom. We were at the gate and ready to go when the ropes dropped at 9:00 and headed straight back to Fantasy Land for Dumbo. The squeals and giggles from the girls was wonderful. Such a simple ride that's so fun. We spent the morning riding all the fun little kid rides, getting autographs, and wearing ourselves out. What was great was that Olivia could ride anything as long as there was no height requirement so she was able to get plenty of rides in too.

I will confess, I got upset at Todd for deviating from the plan and we couldn't find him or Abby. We had split up earlier but as they were riding the carousal, the rest of us were standing in line to get autographs from Mary Poppins and Bert, right next to the carousal. Thinking that Todd saw us, I know Abby did, they would join us in line. Nope. They headed for another ride. As Mom Yost and I were getting closer to Mary, Kaitlyn freaks out and starts to take off. I'm holding screaming Olivia and we're trying to keep our place in line since it's now closed and Mom Yost is trying to bring Kaitlyn back, who is screaming. I was a little frazzled and I let Todd know. I should of just kept my cool. Todd did ride a ride that we said we were going to do, he couldn't hear his phone, and thought that we were already on the ride. After I cooled down, everything was fine.

Riding the carousal

Abby and Todd taking their turn.

It's a jolly holiday with Mary.

Shortly after my blow up, the next stop was story time with Belle. Belle is Abby's favorite princess so it was a real treat that she got called up from the audience to help tell the story - she played the part of Lumiere. Abby was a natural.

It was then off for what ended up being one of Kaitlyn's favorite rides. By the end of the trip, she was a really good driver. She drove the course probably 10 times.

Since it was a day where those staying on a resort could have extra magic hours, we headed back to the hotel for some naps. The park was staying open until 2 am and we were hoping to get some riding in with "smaller" crowds.

After a nice rest, there was some more screaming from Kaitlyn as we entered into the Buzz Lightyear Ride for fear of the Robot (let it be known that I won with 110,000 points). After that, the rest of the night was easy going. Abby loved Space Mountain and rode it 3 times in a row. Todd and I just laughed at the way she screamed and hollered. Kaitlyn loved Big Thunder Railroad and I felt that we had to keep a firm grip on her as she slid around in the seat. And of course, everyone but Kaitlyn liked Splash Mountain. Kaitlyn didn't appreciate getting wet.

The Spectromagic parade was that night and we enjoyed all the cool lights along with the fireworks. We wanted to take advantage of extra magic hours but I finally took Olivia back to the hotel around 11:30 and everyone else stayed out until about 12:30/1:00. The crowds were still large and waits were long so the only extra things that were done were a couple of rides and watching Mickey's Philharmagic, which by the way, is a fabulous show and lots of fun (by the time the trip was done I believe the girls watched it 4-5 times). I can't believe we stayed out that late but the girls were troopers.

EPCOT

The first stop for our adventures in Disney World was EPCOT. We were staying at the Swan so we took a ferry boat over to the park and arrived as it was opening. (WARNING: there are a lot of pictures so feel free to just skip. This was our families first visit to Disney World and I'm writing it down so I don't forget some things.) We were lucky to have Todd's parents join us on our trip. They were so willing to take Olivia and sometimes Kaitlyn while we rode rides. The girls bonded and had a great time with their Grandparents.

We spent most of the morning in Future World and didn't see nearly half of what was there. After getting Fast Passes to some rides we headed off for the character signing. I didn't know what to expect from Olivia who really doesn't know these characters and Kaitlyn who screams from terror at Santa Claus and the THX robot. All of the girls rushed to Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto. They were in heaven! Olivia giggled with joy and the girls just hugged the characters and were dancing for joy. The especially loved that Pluto and Goofy had to put their autograph books on their noses to sign.

I like how Olivia's face is smashed into Mickey.

I think Minnie was Olivia's favorite and

Kaitlyn was thrilled she got a kiss on the cheek from Minnie.

We were surprised to find out that Abby is an adrenaline junky. She wanted to ride the big rides over and over again. She made Gpa Yost nervous on their first ride of Soarin as she held her arms up and screamed with joy. We rode all the big rides with her, Test Track, Mission: Space, Soarin', and the smaller rides too.

When we rode Mission: Space, we took some friend's advice and saved it for the end of the day. We rode the "less intense" green version and all came out disappointed. We thought it was weak. We then took off for Test Track, which is a blast, Todd decided to take Abby back to Mission: Space and ride the more intense orange ride. Abby said she felt there was no difference. It however, left Todd a little woozy. He said the G-forces were pretty strong. When the day was over, Abby's favorite ride ended up being "Finding Nemo" which surprised us since it's very calm. I personally loved the talk with Crush.

Kaitlyn struggled with going into some theaters for fear that the THX robot was there. If you closely enough you can see the terror on Kaitlyn's face as she is inside Bruce the shark. She went through phases throughout the day of being scared and wanting to be held to everything was perfect. Kaitlyn's favorite was Soarin'. We probably rode it 4 times.

The big highlight that day was dinner with the Princesses. We were unable to get into Cinderella's castle but we were able to get into Akershus. The girls were so excited to see all the princesses come around to the tables that they hardly ate. It was a lot of fun and the princesses spent time at each table, I highly recommend it.

Belle in her sneakers ready for dinner.

Kaitlyn was dressed as Mermaid but as we were headed out the door, she took it off and refused to wear it.

One of my favorite shots- Alice playing patty-cake with Olivia.

I love the look on Abby's face in this one.

Princess Jasmine

Sleeping Beauty was there as we came in.

Happy to meet Cinderella.