Walt Disney World: September 2017

We're back from Disney World and I have a ton of pictures to share with you all! It was a wonderful trip and lots of memories were made. I'm just sad that it's over!

We revealed the trip to the kids with a little scavenger hunt around the apartment. Madeline was all over it and left Luke in the dust. 

Can I pause for a second and point out how little we packed?! We fit everything in these three small backpacks! We flew Frontier who even charges for carry-ons. The only thing that is free is a personal item which has to fit under the seat. I was pretty reluctant and didn't think it would be possible, but George talked me into it and, well, I did it! I must admit, it made traveling so much easier. 

Our flight out wasn't until 8PM on Friday. We arrived to the hotel at 11:30PM. Madeline was very sleepy, but perked up as soon as we arrived at Art of Animation. She loved our room and immediately started unpacking and arranging our stuff. 

Saturday was a pool day and relaxation day for us since we only bought a 2 day park ticket. The first thing the kids wanted to do was explore the hotel. Art of Animation has 4 themes: Cars (where we stayed), Nemo, Little Mermaid, and Lion King. Afterward exploring, we ate breakfast in the cafeteria area of our hotel (we had a Disney dining plan) and then went swimming. After swimming, the kids were ready for a nap. We knew that they were playing hard because we had to wake them up from every nap our entire time at Disney World. 

After nap, we went to the cafeteria for a treat. Her first Mickey ice cream bar! :)

Then we took the bus over to the Magic Kingdom area and rode the Monorail over to the Polynesian for dinner. Madeline quickly spotted the pool and water play area. We were not prepared with swimsuits, but we made it work. 

 The Polynesian Resort happens to sell Pineapple Dole Whip floats. Mom- this one is for you! ;) 

The next day, we woke up early for our day at Hollywood Studios and Epcot. We had such a jam packed day. We did just about every show at Hollywood Studios -- Playhouse Disney, the Little Mermaid, Frozen sing-a-long, Indiana Jones, and Beauty and the Beast. Our music and movie loving kids were so captivated by every single show. Luke even sat there and watched from start to finish. The highlight of the day for me was when Madeline rode my favorite ride, Tower of Terror, TWICE!!  It was funny because she was super excited to ride Tower of Terror, but got really freaked out once it got going. She seemed completely stunned when it was over. She knew she had the option to ride it again with George since we had a rider switch pass, and sure enough she was up for riding it a second time. Later that night, she told me that next time she would let George and I ride it without her.  I'm not sure what the verdict was exactly, I just love that she's a dare devil and willing to try new things. Around 5PM, we took the boat over to Epcot. We walked around the entire World Showcase. It was Food and Wine festival and we were able to use our dining plan to try some of the different food options. Madeline and Luke met Anna and Elsa, which was of course a highlight. We also rode the Nemo ride and Soarin' and the went to Turtle Talk with Crush. We ended the night with the Illuminations fireworks show. By the time we got back to the hotel at 10ish, we were so exhausted!  Madeline fell asleep on the bus.

You can't see her face in this picture, but she looked terrified. Classic! 

 

We saved Magic Kingdom for our second park day as the grand finale to the trip. Madeline knew we arrived when she saw Cinderella's castle! :) There was a show going on at the castle when we arrived.  More Anna and Elsa! We got our fill of "Let it Go!" on this trip. Haha! Magic Kingdom was actually pretty busy for September, but we were strategic with our fast passes and got to do pretty much everything we were hoping to do. Thunder Mountain and Seven Dwarves Mine Train were Madeline's favorite rides, Luke's was probably It's a Small World :) :) and they both loved the parade and firework show! We went back to the hotel for nap time during our day at the Magic Kingdom. Luke fell asleep in the stroller at Hollywood Studios, but that wasn't happening the second day and we knew it would be a late night and both kids (and adults) really needed a nap to stay up that late for a second night. 

 

I brought some cotton candy back for nap time! 

Notice Luke's face!! 

Madeline has been earning some money over the past couple of months so we brought the envelope of "her dollars" and she picked out a toy. She knew just what she wanted...an Elsa doll, of course! She spent her entire envelope, plus we had to spot her a few dollars! 

 

We ended the evening with the fireworks show, one last ride on Seven Dwarves Mine Train, and an ice cream sundae on Main Street. The perfect ending to our day!

We got a late check-out so the next morning we all slept in as much as Luke allowed. We got breakfast and managed to squeeze in more swim time and Luke's nap before it was time to head out. Here's one last picture at our hotel before we got on the bus back to the airport.

I took little Instagram videos each day. Here are those too!