1st Trip To DISNEY WORLD!!!

We were thrilled a few weeks ago to find out that we could take a last minute trip to Disney World! Our kids have not been yet, so of course we jumped on the chance. Russ had to work a conference in Orlando for 4 days over Halloween, so we decided to take Caleb and Kathryn with us. We didn't know how much free time Russ would have, so we took a chance that we could get a few days in at the Magic Kingdom. It ended up being an absolutely fabulous trip. We truly enjoyed EVERY minute of it and we are so thankful that it all worked out. There are TONS of pictures in this post, so I'm sorry if it takes a long time to read :)

Since we planned everything at the last minute, we decided to not tell Caleb and Kathryn that we were going. We knew that if Caleb found out about it, he wouldn't sleep for days because of the excitement! We picked Caleb up from school early this past Friday, picked up Kathryn from a friend's house and we were off. I made each of them a disney bag that they would open up in the car and then guess where we were going. I embroidered their names on them and packed them with Disney autograph books, Disney coloring binders, Disney water bottles, Disney fruit snacks and Mickey and Minnie shirts.

Here they are in the car wondering where on earth we were taking them. They were so excited to find out!

And here they are digging into their Disney bags. They emptied everything out of the bags before Caleb finally guessed Disney World. They both were giddy with excitement and couldn't believe that we were actually going there. Kathryn couldn't believe that we were going at that very moment! We captured it all on video and it was priceless! Caleb kept saying that he just couldn't believe that this wasn't all a dream. He kept trying to pinch himself to wake up! Kathryn was tickled that we were really leaving right now and that she wouldn't have to wait!

I think it helped Caleb guess when he saw Russ:

Once they figured out where we were going, we were off. Caleb decided that it would be really cool if he pulled his tooth on the way so that the tooth fairy could come find him at Disney World. Here he is at the gas station after pulling it out:

We got to the hotel around 10:00 that night and headed off to bed. We had to get sleep for a full day at the Magic Kingdom the next day!


We were a little disappointed to wake up on Saturday morning to some rainy weather, but we decided to have a good attitude and enjoy our day anyway! Thankfully once we got to the Magic Kingdom it quit raining and we had a beautiful day! The rainy early morning did help to keep the crowds away, so we enjoyed getting to ride a lot of rides without having to wait in any long lines. It was perfect! Our first stop was main street for a picture in front of Cinderella's castle, then we were off to Peter Pan, It's a Small World, Snow White and then Dumbo.

Both Caleb and Kathryn loved the Dumbo ride. I mean, who doesn't?

Next was the Winnie the Pooh ride:

Then Buzz Lightyear's ride:

And then of course we had to meet Buzz Lightyear himself!

Chip and Dale were right next to Buzz:

Then we were off to ride Space Mountain. Caleb was so excited to ride it he could hardly contain himself. Kathryn wasn't able to ride it because she was still too short, so Caleb rode it first with Russ and then with me. He LOVED it and ended up riding it 3 more times! It was a pretty scary, jerky roller coaster and I was so impressed that he rode in the very front one time! Here are Caleb and I on our ride. Don't know who the man was in front of us!

Of course, the kids stood in awe of Cinderella's castle.

One of Kathryn's favorite parts of Disney World was getting to meet all of the characters. Here she is with Ariel and Eric from the Little Mermaid. Kathryn LOVED getting to meet her!

Next we all were excited to ride Thunder Mountain Railroad. Kathryn just met the height requirement for the ride, so she was thrilled. The first time we rode it we had to wait the longest we had to wait the entire time. So, this gave Kathryn a good time to get in a quick 30 minute nap:)

This little girl LOVED this ride. It was her favorite ride of all!

Next we went on to the Jungle Safari ride:

And here they are waiting for the Dreams Come True Parade: (Another one of Kathryn's favorites)

Caleb and Kathryn loved trying to pull the sword out of the stone. They had watched the movie on the way to Orlando, so it was fresh on their mind. Caleb was so serious about trying his hardest to get the sword out. I think every kid dreams that they will be the one to finally get the sword out :) I remember trying to do this when I was Caleb's age!

Mickey's Philharmagic 3d show was so much fun too and the kids loved it!

Here are 2 kids who were tired of walking at the end of the day!

But they did have the energy to get a picture of Pluto as we were leaving the park!

Right after we got in the car to leave, they were passed out from exhaustion!

We went back to the hotel late Saturday afternoon because Russ had a small meeting about the conference he was working. The meeting didn't last long, so after he was done we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for the rest of the night. I didn't take many more pictures that night, but we had a great time. We didn't leave the park until 11:30!

Bright and early Sunday morning we were up and out the door for our 2nd day at the Magic Kingdom:

The kids most definitely HAD to see Mickey and Minnie and get their autographs:

Then as we were leaving Mickey and Minnie we ran into Pinochio:

It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Not too hot, not too cold, just Perfect!

We ran into a dance party parade, so the kids loved getting to dance into the street with Woody and Jessie. Here Woody is pointing to himself on Caleb's Toy Story shirt:

Then it was off to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad (again). We ran into Davy Crocket Donald on the way:

Russ and Caleb got soaked on Splash Mountain. Caleb LOVED it!

Kathryn on the other hand didn't like it very much!

Here is our family going down the Splash Mountain. Notice how Kathryn has her hand covering her eyes :)

After Splash Mountain, Caleb was itching to go on Space Mountain for his 3rd time. Kathryn wanted to go see the princesses. She loved seeing Belle and Aurora.

We loved seeing the Dreams Come True show in front of the castle.

Russ took Caleb to ride Pirates of the Carribean because Kathryn really wanted to meet Tinkerbell. As you can see, meeting the Characters was Kathryn's favorite part of all. She would rather meet the characters then ride the rides!

Of course, after Tink we had to meet Peter Pan:

Here we are about to fly high on Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride:

We thought Caleb would love the Hall of President's. Bless his heart, he was so exhausted by this part of the day that he fell asleep and missed all of it. Of course, Kathryn did too! It was entertaining for Russ and I though.

We needed to wake the kids up some after the president's so we went over to Tom Sawyer's island to explore a little. Here they are holding on to the wobbly bridge:

Being at Disney World for both Russ and I brought back a lot of good family memories. One of Russ' favorites is eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on Tom Sawyer's island. Unfortunately, they don't sell any food anymore on the island, so here are Russ and the kids remember the good ole' days at the same table he Russ and his brothers ate when they were little:

We had to leave the Magic Kingdom around 7 that night because of the Halloween Party going on. We weren't sad though because we were all so tired!!! We went back to the hotel, ordered a pizza and went to bed!

On Monday Russ had to work the conference all day. I took the kids to a character breakfast that morning. They loved meeting Minnie, Goofy and Donald in their summer beach outfits!

After the breakfast we drove over to Downtown Disney to do some shopping. The kids loved playing in the Lego store. Here they are standing next to Buzz Lightyear made entirely out of legos.

We played in the lego store for a little while and then shopped around the big Disney store. We didn't stay long though because Caleb and Kathryn were exhausted. It was halloween and we had to get back to the hotel to take naps and then get dressed for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom!

It was a sold out night and it was AWESOME! Everyone dressed up and trick or treated around the park. Of course, it is Disney World and everything they do is incredible. The park was decorated with pumpkins and fall things everywhere. They put on a huge firework show, a fun halloween parade and gave out lots of candy at trick or treat stations around the park. Even the Disney characters were dressed up in halloween costumes. The lighting, the music, everything was wonderful. It was all fun halloween, not so scary, so I was happy about that. We got to ride a lot of rides and it was a night to remember.

The kids got SO much candy it was ridiculous. Here they are at one of the trick or treat stations:

There was a fun dance party with Woody and Jessie. Here are Caleb and Kathryn doing the limbo:

They even got to dance with Bullseye from Toy Story:

After Toy Story we had to go ride Thunder Mountain Railroad yet again. Both Caleb and Kathryn loved this ride and they would raise their hands up for the entire ride. No fear! It was fun getting to ride this at night. We even got to ride it 2 times in a row because there was no one in line and we didn't have to get off!

Of course, when Kathryn found out that the Prince's were with the Princesses, she couldn't resist. We were even able to make Caleb get in some pictures with the Princesses because the Prince's were with them. Here they are with Rapunzel and Flynn:

Cinderella and Prince Charming:

and Snow White with her Prince:

After seeing the Princesses we headed down Main Street to watch the firework show. It was really cool the way it was timed perfectly to the music, which was all sung by the villains in the Disney Movies. Even the castle had an eery lighting. Caleb was so sick of taking pictures at this point that he literally threw a fit after I took this picture. He threw himself around the street yelling "I'm sick of taking pictures. My mom won't quit wanting to take all these pictures!" Russ and I were so embarassed by his behavior and immediately reprimanded him. Everyone was watching his outburst! He was so tired by this point he could hardly control himself. I had to keep reminding him that it was all for the memories..all for the memories! Fortunately we saw this type of behavior all over the parks, so he wasn't the only tired kid there :)

While waiting for the fireworks to begin they got to get out their glowing wand and sword:

After the fireworks we immediately went to get our seats for a villains show that was put on in front of the castle. While we were all waiting, Caleb put on a show for everyone with his glow sword. That kid always loves to get attention!

While we were waiting for the Halloween parade to begin, the Disney cast members had the kids in the crowd put on their own parade down the street:

The parade was one of the best I have ever seen and we had front row seats. We saw so many Disney Characters from the movies (mainly the villains) and boy do they put on quite a show. The lights, actors, dancers, costumes, music, choreography, everything was amazing. Even the headless horsemen who started the parade was really neat!

After the parade we had time for a few more rides. Caleb and Russ took off to ride Space Mountain one more time and so Kathryn just had to meet Aladdin and Abu. She says Abu is her favorite :)

The park closed at midnight and we didn't even get to our car until 1:00 a.m and our hotel at 1:30 a.m. It is the latest our kids have ever stayed up but it was worth it. It was all just magical! I know that sounds silly, but Disney really does bring out the kid in everyone!

Before we left on Tuesday, Caleb and Kathryn took part in a daily tradition at the Peabody Hotel: The duck march. Every day at 11 a.m. the ducks march into the building on a red carpet and walk up the stairs into the duck fountain in the lobby. Caleb and Kathryn were the Honorary Grand Masters and they helped Grand Master Donald himself. He showed them the duck palace on the roof of the hotel and told them all about the ducks. It really is interesting and fun. The ducks pretty much just ran down the carpet and into the fountain, but the kids loved it. The Grand Master even gave the kids certificates, a book and a stuffed duck to keep for memories!

Our trip really was a dream come true. We were so thankful that everything worked out and that we were able to enjoy our time. We enjoyed spending time with Caleb and Kathryn, but we did miss our Clayton. We decided to let him spend some one on one time with his Mimi and Grampy for a few days and then with his Nana and Papa. He had a great time with them but we look forward to the next time we go when he will go with us!