She cried. She wanted to go to school.
What she didn't know was that our van was packed the night before with suitcases for our surprise trip.
We headed to school to pick up Sarah and Jack around 10:00 AM. They were completely confused. Their teachers knew I would be picking them up, but the teachers did a fabulous job of keeping it a secret.
They got in the van and asked what we were doing. We of course said, "Family Fun Day."
We drove to Park N Fly and pulled into a parking spot. The kids haven't flown anywhere since Sarah was almost 2 and Jack was a few months old. They had no idea what Park N Fly was so their suspicions weren't raised.
I had three little Disney trinkets wrapped up and handed the small presents to each of them. I told them that there was a clue inside about what we were going to do for Family Fun Day. They opened the presents and saw Mickey Mouse's face.
Sarah said, with very little emotion, "We're doing something about Disney World or Disneyland."
I said, "Uh huh..."
Jack said, "Are we GOING to Disney World??"
Jason, who was filming this whole thing, started smiling. I started smiling. And said, "Yep! Would that be fun? Do you want to go to Disney World today instead of going to school?"
Then Sarah clued in. "Wait! We're GOING to Disney World?! Like right now?"
"Yep! Bags are packed and we're heading to the airport in that shuttle right there."
Then they were ALL excited! There was a whole lot of excited jabbering on the Park N Fly van.
They were just as pumped about flying somewhere as the fact that we were going to DW. Their eyes were huge going through security. They liked getting boarding passes.
They watched planes coming in and flying out. My heart was so happy. I knew if THIS was exciting, DW was going to blow their minds!!
We stayed at The Art of Animation resort. I figured for our first time there, we should be surrounded by themed rooms and bright colors.
The first night we explored the hotel and played in the gift shop. Because that's fun, right?
Considering we've had to rid ourselves of lice in the past, you'd think I'd be a little icked out by trying on hats that have undoubtedly been tried on by other kids. But, hey, we're on vacation. Living large... and dangerously. ;)
FRIDAY, MAGIC KINGDOM
Our first day in the park, we met princesses, rode rides, went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party. We took a break midday because otherwise we would've been at the park for more than 12 hours. We were everywhere and were exhausted by the end of the day. But it was AWESOME :)
We stayed another two hours after this pic was taken. We look tired here. We looked REALLY tired two hours later. But so worth it. :)
SATURDAY, ANIMAL KINGDOM
We slept in Saturday morning and went to Animal Kingdom around 10ish. We did the safari, rode some rides, played in the playground, and met Mickey and Minnie. The big kids rode the Dinosaur ride with Jason. They closed their eyes about 60 seconds into it. Apparently they were a little scared of the dinosaurs.
It was sooo hot that day. Little did we know the cooler temps were a-comin'. Good thing we went swimming that afternoon.
That night we went to the Contemporary and ate at Chef Mickey's. The great thing about meeting characters twice is that they have the exact same signature every time they sign your book. (Yes, my kids wanted multiple autographs from the same characters.) Those characters have their autographs down to a science. It really helps convince the kids that they are seeing THE Mickey every time they run into him.
I wanted to get in one.
SUNDAY, MAGIC KINGDOM (again)
We went back to MK on Sunday because we didn't have Park Hoppers and we had breakfast at the Grand Floridian and dinner with Cinderella that night. So we just hung out at MK all day long.
Breakfast was soooo yummy. We met Alice, the Mad Hatter, Tigger, Pooh, and Mary Poppins.
Then we took the ferry to MK and played. We repeated some rides from Friday but did some new ones too.
Jack begged me to do Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with him. We took this pic of the ride while we waited. So much fun :)
Sunday night was the best dinner we had BY FAR. We had reservations to have dinner in Cinderella's castle. It was such an awesome experience.
Instead of getting pagers and being paged when our table was ready, we were called to the table as "The Royal McGlamery Family." Jason and I were "Lord" and "Lady". The girls were princesses and they made Jack a knight, calling him "Sir" and giving him a sword and a shield.
The food was amazing. The fanfare as they announced each princess was magical. The girls were given magic wands, and every child got a wishing star. At the end of the night, all of the kids waved their wands or swords and made a wish as the lights twinkled.
We all agreed that it was the MUST-DO, best part of our trip.
(Caroline was cold and put on her sweater. Jack's favorite princess was Jasmine... Wonder why that is.. ;) We also got pics with Cinderella when we first came in. I didn't take any on my phone though.)
The girls changed out of their Rapunzel dresses, and we put on warmer clothes because cooler temps had arrived.
We played a little longer at MK and couldn't pass up the Dance Party that was happening in Tomorrowland.
I love a good dance party.
The video is better than the still shots. But trust me... we danced. And I had no idea that Sarah knew most of the words to Beyoncé's "Single Ladies". I think she was equally surprised that I was singing along.
MONDAY, HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
When in Rome do as the Romans do. When in Disney World for the first time, eat with as many characters as you can.
Why not?
Monday's lunch was more for Caroline. It was the Disney Jr lunch.
They had an impromptu dance party during lunch so Jack got up and participated. A kid after my own heart. When given the chance, dance! :)
While Jason, Sarah, and Jack rode Star Tours, Caroline met Daisy and Donald. But she took the other kids' autograph books too. We didn't want them to miss out on any signatures.
We met Chip and Dale and played some before heading back to the hotel to pack up.
Once we were back at the hotel, Jack was asked if he'd like to do the hokey pokey in the middle of the cafeteria. Um, YEAH he would!! :)
TUESDAY, DOWNTOWN DISNEY AND EPCOT
Tuesday we checked out of our hotel and rented a car. Our vacation wasn't over.... but the kids didn't know that. They thought this was our last hurrah.
We went to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and had the whole princess experience there.
I just realized we didn't take any pics at Epcot. :( Oh well.
The kids loved Spaceship Earth, the Nemo ride, and touring all of the countries. By this point Jason had horrible blisters on his feet but he was pushing through.
We still had four more days! :)
We told the kids that on our way to the airport we would stop by and see some friends we had in the area.
We pulled up to this big home and let the kids ring the doorbell. My mom answered the door, and they were SHOCKED. My parents, my sister, my brother-in-law, and the cousins were there. Then we told them that we were going to stay with them for the next few days and celebrate my mom's birthday.
They couldn't believe we were staying! Oh happy day!
WEDNESDAY, MAGIC KINGDOM (yes, again)
Since we had been to all of the parks, we decided to go to the kids' favorite park, which was MK.
Mom and Dad hung out with us all day, and they must've brought the cold Texas weather with them... because it was COLD Wednesday. Good grief!
On Wednesday, we did Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, which was a really fun interactive animated comedy show. (That most likely makes no sense.) Anyway, you could text a joke to Mike Wazowski and he might use it in his show. Mike chose 3 jokes, and Jack's was one of the ones he picked! :)
Jack was so happy; he thought he was famous. ;)
We rode Peter Pan, the carousel, Small World, Under the Sea, Dumbo, Big Thunder... and on and on. We packed a lot in!
Then we stayed late again to watch the Main Street Electrical parade.
We took "We're cold and tired but still smiling" selfies while we waited for the show.
And one of us slept while we waited...
The blur is likely from my shaking cold fingers.
THURSDAY, EPCOT (again)
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
My brother and his wife flew in from Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with us. They arrived Thursday afternoon.
Thursday morning we went to Epcot. We did Soarin' and Turtle Talk with Crush... along with other rides we had done two days before. :)
I didn't get many pics of the family with my phone. We did Disney Photopass pics and videoed a bunch, but I failed to get still shots.
Here's the poor showing of Epcot and family pictures--
And even the ones I took were out of focus. Booo....
But we got some cute ones the next day.
EXCITING THANKSGIVING NEWS ALERT:
At dinner, my brother announced that his wife, Abby, is pregnant!! WOO HOO!! BABIES :)
That's right... babIES. She's having twins!! And they already know that one is a boy. The other wasn't cooperative during the ultrasound. :)
The older cousins are SO PUMPED about having new little guys around soon. Congrats to Brian and Abby!! I know they're gonna be great parents!
FRIDAY, (guess where....) Yep. MAGIC KINGDOM (We could've given tours of the place at this point, but it was still fun!)
Friday we all stayed together as one BIG happy family for the first half of the day.
Somehow all 14 of us (16 if you count the twins ;) ) stayed together and had a blast riding rides and seeing shows.
I didn't get many pictures. We got a lot of photopass shots, but here's what I've got....
Dance parties... Again. But super fun with the cousins this time. I took a few pics before I joined the conga line. :)
The boys. Talking about It's a Small World.
Meeting the wicked stepsisters and stepmother. Alex was riding another ride, and Caroline was too scared to meet them.
We went to Tom Sawyer island. We got some Christmas ornaments. We rode tons of rides, and then it was time to go. Then it hit Jack that this awesomely long vacation was almost over.
We went back to the house and packed. Then-- in an effort to cheer everyone up-- we had a drink on the screened-in porch while the kids swam in the heated pool.
Ah. Florida. Swimming the day after Thanksgiving.
SATURDAY (today) GO HOME
Our flight was out bright and early this morning.
We've rested, uploaded videos, blogged :), done homework, and tried to get back into some sort of normal bedtime routine. It's sad to think that we have to resume our regular lives on Monday.
We had a fantastic time!!
.....................................
A few things I'm taking away from this trip:
1. I'm glad we waited to DW when the kids are old enough to not take naps anymore. I think it'd be a bum deal to have to plan around naps. Planned down time? Sure. Nap time? No.
2. The kids were so appreciative of this whole trip. They thanked us for letting them get on an airplane. They thanked us for letting us spend the night at DW. They thanked us for all of the souvenirs we bought. They didn't whine. They didn't complain. They were old enough to be grateful.... which is what you want when you're spending that kind of money on a trip designed to make them happy.
Caroline may have been a little grumpy at times, but she followed the older kids' leads and perked up quickly.
3. If you're taking a big vacation, then go all in. Go all-inclusive or get the dining plan or whatever. It's better to have fun and not stress over how much you're spending.
4. Surprises are fun! I think the kids will always remember being pulled out of school unexpectedly and being whisked away to the airport. Good times.
5. Our kids make us laugh. They are fun to be with. They say funny things. We spent more than a week without computer games and an overload of TV shows. We played together, and I had forgotten how much I like doing that with them.
6. Although we bought (and I brought some pre-purchased from the Disney Store) souvenirs, as cheesy as it sounds, the best things we ALL took away from our trip were stories.
We went around the dinner table tonight and rehashed our vacation. It was Jack's idea. The kids still want to talk about everything they just did and saw. We each named our favorite ride, show, and character we met. Then we went around and said what we wanted to ride next time, which show we want to see, and which character we want to meet.
Memories were made. That's all I wanted. And that's exactly what I got. :)
