We’ve been dying to take the kids to Disney for a very long time. With an uncle that is a huge Disney fanatic, there’s no way our children could ever escape Disney fever. They would talk about going to Disney every time we’d watch a Disney movie or see the Disney commercials during their favorite shows. We’d just casually remind them that it would happen someday.

During Christmas this past year, our family dream came true as we were blessed by my sweet in-laws with an extended family trip to Disney World. On February 12th we departed Denver for Orlando for six of the best, most exhausting, fun-filled days of our lives. I’d love to share with you some of our favorite things from our trip.

Lodging

We had the pleasure of staying at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, which the kids, and adults, all enjoyed. That was like a park in and of itself. Each section was themed from a different movie. We stayed in the Lion King suites, which was like living with Simba and friends. So cool! The kids really enjoyed the Big Blue Pool when we weren’t busy at the parks. There was even a toddler splash area for Cece. Even taking a walk around the resort was fun. They had ALL the cars there from the Cars movies, which Jonas was excited about. The kids even got to take a drawing class on our off day and Samson has his framed in his room.

The Parks

Animal Kingdom

We started our trip at Animal Kingdom. It rained most of the morning, but I was prepared with some stylish Dollar Store ponchos. The kids experienced their first roller coaster, Expedition Everest. I had never been on this one and didn’t realize how intense it was! Two of the three kids (Jonas and Emery) spent the majority of the ride passed out from the sheer g-force! It was both hilarious, and scary, at the same time. We all loved the safari ride early in the day when the animals were all out. Both the Nemo and Lion King shows do not disappoint! And the water and light show that evening was just magical.

Magic Kingdom

The next day was Emery’s 9th birthday and we got to celebrate her by spending some special time at the Magic Kingdom. We started by entering the park early for breakfast at Be Our Guest, then got right in to see Ariel in her grotto after we finished eating. I like to think that Cece now has a special bond with her, being the only character she wasn’t deathly afraid of during the trip. We treated Emery to a princess makeover at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for her birthday gift, then had lunch at Cinderella’s Table. Uncle Graham treated them all to Mickey ears and we had a truly magical day. Did I mention that Emery passed out AGAIN on the Dwarf Mine Train? We all agree that if we do this again that we need to spend two days at Magic Kingdom. We didn’t get to do everything we wanted but we still had a great time.

Hollywood Studios

The third park we visited was Hollywood Studios. That’s where the new Toy Story Land is. We headed there first and spend the first few hours enjoying the few rides they had there. Oh, and Emery passed out once again on the Slinky Dog coaster! After that, we told her no more! A lot of the park was closed off, as they’re building some new Star Wars attractions. Samson put on a brave face and did Tower of Terror with us adults. That’s one I won’t EVER be going on again! We ended the evening eating at the Sci-Fi Drive In Theatre, which was super fun. This was my least favorite park, but I know if we ever go back, the boys will be thrilled to see the new Star Wars attractions.

Epcot

Epcot was the last park we visited. It’s one of my favorites. The ability to visit so many different countries and cultures so quickly is fun. While we had Fast Passes for most of the rides we did, we didn’t have one for the Frozen ride there. The kids got to experience a true “Disney wait”, and did surprisingly well. This was also the hottest day of our trip, which made them tired quicker. As we were making our way through Great Britain, we found out that Alice was meeting people. She’s my favorite, so we had to stop. We headed back a bit earlier to the resort this day as the kids weren’t really digging it. I think they were all pretty wiped by then.

Disney Dining

My in-laws planned the trip through a Disney travel agent and she set up all our dining for us. It was AWESOME! She got us into a few meals that would be really hard to get into on our own, like Cinderella’s Table. The best part of doing the dining plan was the character meals! These were gold to my kids. We got to see most of the princesses at our Cinderella’s Table lunch. Then at Chef Mickey’s for breakfast the morning we left, we got to see Mickey and the whole gang! We would have had to wait hours in the park to see even just a handful of them. And who wants to waste precious park time waiting to meet a character. If you’re in doubt about doing the character meals, I say go for it! If you have to pick one, Chef Mickey’s would be my suggestion.

This was seriously the trip of a lifetime. One my kids will never forget. The first few days after returning home they continually asked me when we could go back. I even found Emery on her bed two mornings after our return near tears. When I asked her what was wrong she simply said, “I miss Disney. It felt like home.” In the words of Rapunzel, “Best…vacation..EVER!”

Let me leave you with this sweet image. This is the first ride we did at Animal Kingdom. I feel like it depicts each of our personalities a little too well and makes me laugh hysterically each time I see it!

Want more info on our Disney travel agent? Shoot me an email and I’ll get you her info. She was amazing! Also, I decided that taking my DSLR on our trip would be cumbersome, so I opted to not bring it with. I wanted to just enjoy my time with the family. Most of these images, with the exception of the odd Disney parks photo, were taken on my iPhone.