Disney World! Day Three ... Epcot

We ventured over to Epcot for our third and final day at the Disney World parks.  We had 10:30am reservations at the Akershus Princess Storybook Breakfast located in the Norway pavilion.  Epcot was really cool to visit and there was a lot that we didn't have time for - I'm not sure if every Disney park is gigantic or if we just couldn't make it to everything because of a certain crazy two year old.  The Akershus Princess Storybook Breakfast was wonderful - the setting was made to look like a stone cottage and the decor inside was very medieval castle, in a "princess" sort of way.  Right as we walked in, Princess Belle was waiting to greet us and take pictures ... Jennifer was so excited and Scott didn't hesitate to jump in for a pic with the princess either.  Zach, again, couldn't have cared less and didn't really want anything to do with Belle.  After the photos and hugs, we were seated and not long after we visited the buffet the princesses began making rounds and visiting every table ... It was so great they way the take time to visit and personally chat with all the kids at the table, and they're always ready to pose for pictures.  Jennifer got to meet Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel and Snow White over the course of our breakfast.  As breakfast is coming to an end, the princesses invite all the kids to join them in a parade around the "castle" (restaurant) ... Cinderella happened to be near our table when they made the announcement so she took Jennifer's hand for the parade and Jennifer got to walk with her!  It was really well done, and the food was great.
Zach fell asleep not long after breakfast so we opted to stay at the park and just carry him around rather than head back to the room for a nap time break.  Jennifer got to meet Mulan in China, got her face painted in Africa, had gelato in Italy, and tried a cool peach soda in Japan.  We got about half way around and then decided to take the ferry boat back to the front of the park to ride some of the rides.  We rode The Seas with Nemo and Friends and did Turtle Talk with Crush.  Both were great!  There are a lot of exploration/play areas for kids, I felt like we could have easily done two days at Epoct as well because of all of the hands on areas for the kiddos.  After a couple rides we decided to jet through Canada over to the UK and had dinner at an English pub.  It was wonderful!  Then we went back to ride Soarin' and it was probably one of the best rides ... Jennifer got to go twice and really loved it!  Whenever anyone asks what her favorite ride was she always answers with "Soarin!"  Phil, Scott and I got to see CaptainEO, which was just as amazing as I remember from when I was six!
We all had a really great time visiting Epcot and we were sad to see our vacation come to an end!  We did have one last character breakfast scheduled at our resort before heading back to NC, which was nice to get to look forward to something on the day that we had to check out.

Dancing at Epcot!

Meeting Sleeping Beauty at Akershus

Meeting Ariel at Akershus

Cinderella!

Cinderella and Jennifer leading the parade

Jennifer with a kitty face and Zach being crazy

Waiting for Turtle Talk with Crush

Back at the room relaxing

Jennifer and Stitch!

They were so exhausted every night!

Mulan!

Family photo op

In the shark's mouth after the Seas with Nemo and Friends

Disney World! Day Two ... More Magic Kingdom*

Our second day at Disney World was spent at the Magic Kingdom again ... there was so much to do and see, we were really glad that we planned two days to do everything!  We got there early again and were able to basically walk onto some of the really popular rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and the new Undersea Journey of the Little Mermaid!  Zachary wasn't a big fan of the rides but he tolerated them well ... His favorites were the Magic Carpets of Aladdin and the Astro Orbiter ... and, of course, the carousel!  Jennifer's favorite was Stitch's Great Escape, but she really didn't ride anything that she didn't enjoy ... except for the Jungle Cruise!  It was another long but super fun day!

Jennifer and me in the new part of Fantasyland - this was in front of Gaston's Tavern from Beauty and the Beast

Jennifer with Cinderella's evil step-mother!

Phil and Zach and Scott and Jennifer driving race cars!

We really enjoyed staying at The Polynesian resort - hopefully we can stay there again next trip!

Zachary and Phil checking out an afternoon parade from Main Street

This picture is actually from our first day, after going on the Jungle Cruise ... I remembered liking the Jungle Cruise when I was little, but it scared Jennifer!  She couldn't stop talking about the guy wanting to trade one of our heads for three shrunken heads ... she really did not like that!

Zach had been waiting and waiting to take a ride on the train ... we finally made it!

At the entrance to the Swiss Family Robinson TreeHouse ... Jen loved being our tour guide!

Our final ride on the Magic Carpets of Aladdin

The Incredible's Dance Party was soooo fun!

Disney World! Day One ...

We had such a wonderful trip to Disney World!  Phil, the kids and I drove to Savannah, Georgia on Saturday and stopped there for the night, then continued on to Orlando on Sunday.  That afternoon we checked into our room at Disney's Polynesian resort and headed to Downtown Disney.  The Polynesian resort was beautiful and the kids were so excited to see the waterfalls, tiki torches, and of course the Lilo and Stitch decor!  Monday morning we met up with Phil's parents and brother and took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom ... we got there early enough to see the opening show and rope drop ... of course, Disney did not disappoint.  It was a great start to our day!  Monday was all about Jennifer getting to meet the princesses - she got to meet Ariel, Belle, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty!  Zachary couldn't have cared less, but he did enjoy getting to ride Aladdin's Magic Carpets and Dumbo!  Here are some pics from our first day at Disney ...

Packed into the Jetta ... it was two long days of driving, but as you can see here the kiddos had plenty to keep them occupied!

There were plenty of naps taken those two days in the car!

Our first spotting of Lilo and Stitch paraphernalia!

Eating dinner at The Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney ... Fun Fact: the animals in the restaurant "come alive" every 10 minutes and there is a "thunderstorm" every 20 minutes complete with darkness, lightning, and the sounds of rain and thunder along with the animals "coming alive" ... our children were not fans of this and we had to eat quickly!

The Magic Kingdom day one!  Jennifer chose her Tinkerbell dress for our first day at the park and Zach wanted to wear his Donald Duck shirt :)

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin ride was by far Zachary's favorite ... he rode it a total of five times over the two days we were there!

It's a Small World!

The first princess Jennifer got to meet was Ariel, she was very excited that Ariel had her fin instead of legs!

Enchanted Tales with Belle was a super cute interactive meet and greet where the kids put on a play as a surprise for princess Belle ... then Belle gives them each a bookmark as a gift and they get a hug and photo-op ... this was really well done and a very special way for the kiddos to get to meet Belle!

Jennifer is still dressed as Tink but has added a Rapunzel hat ... Cinderella called her a Fairy Princess and Jen was super excited ... this meet and greet with Cinderella was fabulous ... Cinderella spent a couple of minutes talking with each child and was super sweet!

She then hugged and posed for pictures ... we had a fast pass for this so we didn't have to wait in line but it was well worth the 40 minute wait for the people that didn't have a fast pass

Sleeping Beauty was in the same room with Cinderella so Jennifer got to meet both princesses in this same spot ... Sleeping Beauty also spent a couple of minutes talking and interacting with each child, then gave hugs and posed for pictures ... Jennifer was so excited!

We conveniently exited the Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty meet and greet through a shop that sold princess dresses (of course!) and Jennifer got some super special pixie dust sprinkled in her hair ... that pixie dust is still in her hair four days later!

Zachary wanted to ride the carousel so Phil and I took the kiddos for a ride

Jennifer and me on Dumbo!

We ended our night with the Main Street Electrical Parade and I have to say this was my favorite
part of the day!  It was a hot, busy day and we were all exhausted ... but we were also excited for
day two at the Magic Kingdom!