Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Disney - Day 1

Before I dive into the post, I wanted to apologize for the little blog hiatus that I took.  Life got super busy, and I just needed to take a few things off of my plate.  I took some time off from social media and blogging, and it was so very good for my mental space!  That being said - I'm back and ready to catch up!

Back in July, Matt started a new job.  In his new job, he travels quite a bit.  This traveling requires him to be gone from home a few nights a week every week.  He loves his new job, but being going requires sacrifices from all of us to make this work.  For his first full quarter in his job, he hit all of his sales goals and earned a bonus.  We decided to take his first bonus and use it for something that we've all sacrificed - time.  It just seemed fitting to use extra, unplanned money from a job that requires him to be gone for some time away from home with all of us spending time together.  

We've been talking for a while about how it has been about 2 years since our last trip to Disney.  In fact, when we mentioned Disney, Cooper said "What's that?"  The last time he went, he was 4, so he doesn't remember it at all!  We looked at our calendar and booked a trip to Disney World for MLK weekend!

We drove down Friday night after school.  We basically just checked in and went to bed.  Asleep and dreaming of the next day!

Matt got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and the kids were all snuggled up like this.  They are nice to each other sometimes (even if it's when they don't realize).

We were up bright and early the next morning and ready to get on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom!

Cooper was so excited to ride the monorail!

We made it to the happiest place on earth!



I don't care how old you are - rounding that corner and seeing the castle always gives you such an amazing feeling!

This was going to be a pretty crowded weekend, so we used the Disney app to really help us avoid the lines if possible.  First up?  Zero wait for Ariel!


After the ride we went right over to meet Ariel, and it was possibly the funniest princess interaction ever.  Cooper was pumped to meet her, but then got super shy when we got in there.  The photopass photographer got his perfect shot of Cooper ignoring Ariel and her feelings about it all - haha.

Eventually she won him over!

Princess high-fives!

Once she won Cooper over, she spent some time talking to LL about her upcoming birthday!


 Group hugs!




LL and I looked at the Gaston statue while the boys took a potty break.  It was so funny to read the sign and have her ask me "why is it from him to the townspeople?".

After Ariel we went over to Dumbo...and believe it or not, this was a first for all of us.  We've never done it before!  It always has a longer wait than Magic Carpets (but is basically the same ride), so we skip it.  This time the wait wasn't bad so we hopped in line.



One of my favorite places with my favorite people?  Life is good. 

We tried to explain this to Cooper while waiting for The Barnstormer...while also explaining that throwing knives is not a good thing - haha.

We had a fast pass for Buzz next!

Obviously I have no idea where the camera is - haha.

We defeated Zurg!

When we got off the ride, we lucked out because Buzz was right outside and the wait to meet him wasn't long at all!

After Buzz, we went to Casey's for lunch.  They had a BBQ slaw dog and it was absolutely amazing.

After lunch, we jumped in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - also a first for our crew!

We had to wait about an hour, but thankfully the line had plenty of activities for the kids to do to make time pass quickly.


We had been pumping LL up for this (she is not our daredevil)..

...but then the nerves kicked in.  This picture cracked me up later.  Hold on tight because we're going anyway!  (Spoiler alert - she loved it)

You've got to get a classic snack if you have a picture of it on your shirt!

We did the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House and I was surprised at how much the kids enjoyed it!

The line to wait for Tiana and Rapunzel wasn't long, so we did that next.  Cooper's legs were tired, and he just wanted to be held.  I can't hold him for long, but I'm going to do this as long as possible!  Pretty soon I won't be able to pick him up at all anymore!

First up was Tiana.  She was so beautiful, so sweet, and just took so much time to just talk to LL.  It was great!






After his Ariel experience, Cooper decided to not meet any more princesses and just stand with me and Matt.

I am always so impressed with the princesses.  Rapunzel was great also, and LL loved talking to her.  She even talked with Cooper a little bit by the end of it.


I love this one!




It surprises me how both kids are older, yet they both still love the carrousel!

We're not too old to ride, too!



We went to Philharmagic next.  It is not my favorite at all, but Matt loves it.  We didn't do it on our last trip with Cooper, so Matt wanted to make sure to do it this time.  There was a little bit of a wait for the next show, but we didn't mind having a chance to sit down for a few minutes.


Ready for the show!

Another thing we've never done before is the teacups!  The kids asked Matt to spin us, and I'm for sure not doing that again - haha.  I was sooooo dizzy and sick feeling when we finished!


I realize this is pretty nerdy, but I absolutely love the Carousel of Progress!  We don't usually do this, either, so we made time for it this trip.  Surprisingly, the kids loved it, too!

I can't get much happier than I am right here!

We got a few souvenirs and found a spot for the fireworks!


I had a little pillow that was attached to my bookbag, and this is what Cooper did during the middle of the fireworks!  You know you're tired when you'll lay down on the ground in the middle of the show!  It was so crowded and I was terrified that people were going to step on him.

Day 1 and 15,000 steps!

We got back to the hotel and went straight to bed to get as much rest as we could for another day at the park!


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