Disney World

We got pretty much the best Christmas gift ever last year, my parents brought us, as well as my brothers, on a weeklong Disney World vacation. I miss waking up to zebras and ostriches outside our balcony, hopping on a bus and spending the day surrounded by all things Disney, then capping off the evening with a family dinner alongside all our favorite characters. I'm not sure how it's already been more than four months since our trip. There was so much anticipation leading up to it, and then, in a completely magical, sugary, sleep-deprived whirlwind, it was over. You can bet I'm still gonna blog about it though. 

This trip was Declan's first ever flight, and the trip there was pretty brutal. Our flight, which I believe was supposed to leave at 10 pm got pushed back to 2 am. Basically we got deposited in an empty terminal with NO food or drinks so Declan didn't get his pre-bedtime milk, and we paid the price BIG TIME. From the second we walked onto the plane he was screaming hysterically, trying to escape. I wanted to hold him on my lap for takeoff, but they wouldn't allow that, so he had to be strapped down crying his head off. Once the plane was in the air I sat wedged on the floor between the seats in front of us so Decky could sleep on two chairs. As uncomfortable as that was, that was the most peaceful part of the flight. So yeah, brutal. But - he did great on the flight back, so right now he's got like a C average for flying. Not awful, with only two flights under his belt.

After that plane ride you'd think we'd go straight to the room to crash all day, but nope. We are Disney rockstars. A four hour delayed flight, zero sleep, and screaming kids were not going to get us down. We went straight to Animal Kingdom for our fast passes on the new Na'vi River Journey. We all enjoyed it, even though I haven't seen Avatar since it came out, so most of the references to the movie were lost on me. Animal Kingdom wound up being our favorite park of the trip because:

• it's the most different from Disneyland, so it earned lots of novelty points 
• it has the safari ride, which was hands down both boys' favorite 
• Expedition Everest is the best roller coaster EVER 
• and they have an amazing play area for the kiddos in Dino Land 
• Oh, and carnival games - who doesn't love those?? 

We capped off the night at Epcot where we magically had the park to ourselves and wandered through all the countries, drinking British beer and chasing two sprinting kiddos who somehow had boundless energy and were literally two countries ahead of us at any given moment. Joe had to run full speed to catch up, and I tried to chase them down, but, you know, my beer was spilling so... #priorities

Speaking of Epcot, that was our second favorite park, and would probably have been our favorite if it was just me and Joe. We were lucky enough to get some alone time there and just wander around sampling various country's food and drinks and taking in all the sights. If we lived close enough, I'd definitely do a date night there again. As for the kiddos, they loved the Three Caballeros ride, which is tucked away in Mexico and never had any wait. We overutilized that ride whenever we needed a break. We didn't get a chance to try out the Frozen ride because it broke down, but I'm sure that would've been a hit as well. The finding Nemo area kept the kids entertained for hours throughout our trip. We were able to walk onto that ride several times in a row in the evening, and the kids loved wandering around the aquarium. There's also a nice little play area outside the Mission Space ride, past the gift shop. Can you tell we highly value play areas? Sometimes parents need breaks too...

Magic Kingdom was definitely the most like Disneyland, and it was also the most crowded of the parks, so I don't feel like we explored it as much as we would have otherwise. The Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride was the highlight for us, since the Snow White ride at Disneyland is pretty lame. The Seven Dwarfs ride is the first real roller coaster Ez has ever ridden and he wavered between a little scared and absolutely loving it. The smile on his face (see below) was one of my favorite parts of the trip. If the line hadn't been so insane we would've ridden it over and over. 

Hollywood Studios was the last kingdom we visited, and it was our least favorite. I think a lot of stuff is closed for the upcoming Star Wars Land and Toy Story Land (which would've been AMAZING to visit!) and there wasn't a ton of kid stuff, so we hung around for Grampa's birthday lunch and then headed back to Animal Kingdom. I will say, that buffet was probably the most memorable, because Decky barfed, not once, but twice, and we caught it all on camera since it happened to be right when Minnie and Daisy were at our table. Never a dull moment with these kids...

On our last day in Florida, we were super fortunate that our blogger turned real life friend Courtney (of Sweet Turtle Soup) and her sweet family came out to swim and visit with us. I've followed along with her family's Disney adventures for so long and it was amazing to be able to transfer that to the real world. It was the perfect end to a perfect trip, and in a total blogger fail I didn't get a single photo...whoops. 

If I had to recap the highlights of the trip, I would say Declan leading the way sprinting through Epcot was pretty hysterical, Ez getting a brand new monorail every day because they break so easily and the stores exchange them no questions asked became a running joke, rides and carnival games with my brothers, Father Christmas with my mom, the Winnie the Pooh buffet's parade with Grampa and Ez, an Epcot date with Joe, and, when it all comes down to it, lots and lots of amazing family memories that I know we'll all remember forever. Ez still stops what he's doing whenever a Disney World commercial comes on to shout, "That's Disney World!! WE WENT THERE!!!" Thank you so much to my mom for planning the perfect vacation. We love you!