DW Day 3 Part 1: Chef Mickey's and Hollywood Studios

 Welcome to the longest day of our life.  I initially wanted to post the entire day on one post but when I loaded the pictures I was over the limit, so 2 posts it is.

Our day started at 4:30 a.m., well mine did at least.  I got ready and woke everyone at 5:30 so we could drive to breakfast because there were no shuttles running that early.  I expected my bunch to be whiny babies but apparently Mickey and friends make everything better.  Chef Mickey's was so incredible.  Not only was the food exceptional, the fact that every character came to your table was super convenient.  As much as I was glad I had a plan for everything we did, missing an autograph because of a wait was aggravating.  Having the chance to meet all of them in a short very organized amount of time was perfect.

 After breakfast we drove back to the hotel and jumped on the shuttle to Hollywood Studios.  I must say I was caught completely off guard by the number of people there.  It was by far the most crowded of all of the parks.  Disney offers what they call a fast pass which cuts down your wait time.  You are allowed 3 fast passes per day and with the Magic Band you can get 3 more.  The only thing about a fast pass is that you have to use it at a certain time.  In other words, scheduling goes to a whole different level.  You can even fast pass a show.  We did the fast pass for Rockin' Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, and the Toy Story ride (a must).  For some reason, I don't have a lot of pictures from the park.  I so regret not having a picture from the funniest part of the trip.  AK and MP decided they wanted to ride the Tower of Terror with me like it was no big deal.  I remembered it as busy a simple drop and then it was over.  Bah!  They pushed us out and dropped us, and again, and again.  I would do anything to have a video of AK.  Oh.  my.  word!!!  That poor girl.  Even the people in front of us were consoling her.  As for MP, the girl didn't make a peep.  I'm pretty sure she was just in shock.

This day was so super hot and I just felt sorry for this guy.

There is a little disadvantage to our family size when it comes to doing things in pairs.  We did lots of waiting and people watching while Daddy was taking selfies.  Good news is AK loved Rockin' Rollercoaster!

Sweet precious got to see all her favorite Disney Junior characters in one place.

                           

Several of the things I had planned for the day were under construction which was a total bummer.  By the time we had everything done we knew we wanted to do everybody was kind of crashing.  We had one last show to go to before we were going to take a break and rest.  We hadn't had lunch and didn't really have time to get anything before Beauty and the Beast started.  Since I had already seen the show I sent them on and I agreed to pick up everyones lunch.  Well, that was hilarious.  I kept the stroller to help me carry some things, which left Mike carrying HG from one side of the park to the other.  Bless him!  I was so excited to eat at Pizza Planet, you know from Toy Story.  I stood in line for what seemed like forever, but I wanted the total experience.  Disney makes sure you stay full, real full.  I got to the counter and ordered 5 meals.  That's five pizzas, 2 salads, 5 cupcakes, and 5 drinks.  That all comes with it and I had to carry it to the other side of the park.  Just put that pretty little picture in your mind.

 None of the rest of us had the nerve to take a picture at this point, but all pretty much looked like HG by now.

One last picture before we break.  I wish I knew where this pose came from.

Disney World Day 2: Epcot

Let me start this by telling you that the next few posts will be on picture overload.  Sorry, but I know several people who check this blog daily who love them.

Let me also say that I spent hours planning every single minute of this trip.  Day 1 was a disaster and was nothing like I had planned.  I was determined to try again on Day 2 and well, ha.  We got up early and on the first bus to Epcot because we had a sch to keep.  SN:  If you are planing a DW trip, you will never do EVERYTHING, never.  I am not sure why but I was super pumped for Epcot, even though I didn't really think the girls would like it.  We got there about 5 mins before opening and were some of the first people in the park and on the "big silver ball" ride.  It never gets old.  The only thing I really cared about was visiting the World Showcase.  Well, believe it or not my great planning skills got us there an hour before the World Showcase opened.  Whomp, whomp!  Who would have thought?  We hadn't eaten breakfast because I had planned to have breakfast in England.  On to plan B, that was not existent.  We headed over to Future World promising the girls that we were not going to starve them.  We accomplished an entire part of the park I hadn't even planned on before we could even technically "get in".  WINNING!!

  The girls got their own passports where they could get a stamp in every country.  I love this fun and simple little activity.  It's a perfect way to see every single country because the anticipation of the littles to get to the next is just crazy.  They also get to learn a little about every country from the person giving them their stamp.  That's another little thing about Disney that is just great!  The people working in every "country" are actually from that country.  It's makes it more real, you know?  Back to our day that just started.

We made it to England and sweet precious couldn't do it anymore.  We needed food, stat!

                                        


                                       

 We got to France and had some amazing crepes.  Hallelujah!  Notice someone is on their second breakfast in 30 minutes.

 After visiting France, we had a tight sch to meet lots of characters.  There I go with that sch again.  We got to Morocco 5 minutes after Aladdin and Jasmine would be making an appearance just to find out they had already taken the max amount for that time period.  My feelings were really starting to get hurt.  On to the next!

We learned a secret from one of the workers to get to the visiting spot about 10 minutes early.

Golden!! 

 After learning that, our sch was flawless.  Whoohoo!  My time wasn't wasted and these girls hearts were full.

We had lunch at La Cantina de San Angel, and it was just as wonderful as I had remembered.  I highly recommend.  We did a couple more things and then headed home to clean up, nap and get ready for an epic dinner.  The nap part translated to 15 minutes of air conditioned rocking of the shuttle bus.

That night we had reservations at Akershus, the restaurant in Norway.  I was a little anxious about this decision because I wasn't exactly sure about Norwegian food.  It has outstanding reviews and I knew where there were princesses, there would be happy girls.

I think this could have been my favorite picture of the whole trip.  Then HG had to go and look like she hadn't had a nap or something.  Still, I love it!

Akershus turned out to be one of the greatest parts of the entire trip.  The food was unbelievable!  All of the princesses visited every table and spent time with everyone.  Close to the end of the night they took all of the girls on a parade around the restaurant.  An experience of a lifetime!

There are no words!

 The kiss that lasted 3 days.

Disney World Day 1

So when we made the decision to make this trip I knew I wanted to tell the girls in some really amazing way.  It honestly didn't take me long at all to decide there was no better way than cookies from my sweet friend, Holly.

I pretty much told her what I was going for and she created the perfect cookies for the surprise.

I dreamed of the perfect little bags to put the cookies in for the girls to open.

I had to settle with last minute from Target.  Pretty cute though!

 I must say Disney World takes care of the military.  We were able to get discounted tickets as well as a discounted hotel rate at the Animal Kingdom Lodge which was absolutely unbelievable!  

Disney is running a trial right now for their MagicBands and only certain resorts were given the option to participate.  We just happened to be some of the lucky ones.

These bands were unreal!  They were your tickets, room key, meal plan, everything.  It made life so convenient.

Our first day started so stressful.  We went to the Animal Kingdom, but had not checked into the room first which messed everything up.  When you check in, everything is activated.  My suggestion to you is to always check in before doing anything.  It will make your life much less stressful.  

We met lots of characters and saw the incredible Lion King show.  That show is worth the admission, seriously.

 When we finally got everything activated we each were presented these buttons.  They had me at these buttons!

The tree of life

 After sweating and stressing for several hours we decided to call it a wrap at the AK.  We got checked into the hotel, cleaned up and headed to Downtown Disney for dinner at Rainforest Cafe.  I hadn't unpacked the real camera yet and managed to get no pictures from that night.

The moment the girls knew our secret I will never forget.  It is so great to be surprised by others, but there is nothing like surprising your own children.  Thank you to all of you who kept our secret!  I may never be able to keep it again!