Disney Dreams

Nothing is more obvious than how overdue this post is...but we'll just ignore that fact and get to the good stuff!

We had been planning a trip to Disney World since around March. We decided early on to surprise the girls at the very last minute. It was actually pretty easy to keep the secret. Until about two weeks before the trip. It was incredibly hard to hold in my own excitement!

My mom went on the trip with us...her dream as a kid was to go to DW so we were excited to have her join us for her first time, too!

I picked the girls up from school on a Wednesday in October. My mom and Brent were at the house waiting in the girls' bedroom to reveal the surprise. I had them put up their backpacks and wash their hands...our usual routine.

Then I told them that there was something in their room they needed to look at. They ran down the hall to find Daddy and Mimi grinning from ear to ear, holding Minnie Mouse dolls. We asked them if they knew where Minnie lived. When they said yes, we asked if they ever wanted to go to Disney World. Of course they said yes again!

Then we said, "Well, do you want to go TOMORROW???"

Again...the answer was yes :)

We got up at 4:00 a.m. the next morning and spent a long day traveling, getting settled in the hotel, and visiting the Magic Kingdom! We stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort. Everything was perfect!

Magic Kingdom!!
Their first time to see The Castle!

Later that evening we went to Epcot where we had reservations to eat dinner with the Princesses!
Belle! (Allie's favorite)
Aurora! (Lauryn's favorite)
The next day we went to Universal Studios...we loved the Toy Story attractions!
Daddy and his happy, happy girls!

Day 3 - breakfast with Mickey!
Minnie Mouse in person!
It rained that entire day. We tried to be brave and headed over to Animal Kingdom. Although we had ponchos on, we were completely soaked. The rain was coming in sideways, so we never really stood a chance.

We wanted to at least see the Lion King show, and it was worth the misery standing in the rain because Lauryn was pulled out of the audience to be a part of the show! She was so excited!

It continued to downpour all day and into the night. We woke up on Day 4 to find it still raining. We decided that we weren't going to waste any part of our trip, so we pulled on the ponchos and headed to the Magic Kingdom. We didn't spend a lot of time there on the first day, so we wanted to be sure and spend as much time there as possible.

It rained all morning, but the girls were amazing. They never complained and still had a great time! We found lots of indoor rides, and by the time we finished lunch, the rain had stopped!
It drizzled off and on for the rest of the afternoon but it was definitely tolerable after what we'd had for the past 36 hours! Here we are in front of Thunder Mountain Railroad, one of the girls' favorite rides!
Riding the train
Silly girl!
We left MK to eat dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, and the Stepsisters. It was my favorite meal of the trip. All of the actors were in character the entire time, which made it very entertaining!

We came back to MK in time for the Fireworks show. It was absolutely incredible. The girls were "ooh-ing" and "aah-ing" the whole time. It was unbelievable.
On Day 5 we only had a few hours before we had to leave for the airport, so we went to Animal Kingdom to see everything we missed due to the rain earlier in the week.

The Safari ride was awesome!

Riding the bus back to the resort. Time to go home :(
One last picture before we leave!
One picture that I didn't share was the one we took right after riding The Tower of Terror. It is now (and probably will be forever) a family joke. Let's just say if we have the opportunity to visit DW again, that is one ride that the girls and I will NOT ride again.

The girls each had some spending money to buy whatever they wanted. They were pretty good about not buying the first thing they saw. Lauryn spent the majority of her money on this stuffed leopard. She named it Carla and it has slept with her ever since our trip.
Allie was given the choice of spending her last bit of money on anything in the gift shop. She could choose from coloring books, stuffed animals, princess pencils, etc.

It shouldn't shock anyone who knows her well, that she chose a great, big lollipop.
And couldn't have been happier.

This was a trip we will NEVER forget. My only wish would be that we could do it all over again (minus the rain, of course). What a wonderful memory for our family! We are blessed!