Disney Part 5 - Magic Kindom

The Magic Kingdom truly is a magical place. Unlike the day before this day every thing just seemed to fall into place and we had a perfect day....um, almost, but I will cover that in another post.

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We got to the park nice and early and got to watch the opening show.

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Then we ran like hell to get to Thunder Mountain!

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Can you believe my kids LOVED Thunder Mountain? And what did we do next? We grabbed fast passes for Splash mountain and then headed over to Fantasy Land.
We all loved Fantasy Land. The highlight was probably Mickey's Philharmonic 3-D show, if you go to Disney be sure to see it. We hit all the big rides too. It's Small World,

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Alayna kept saying "Mommy, look at all the dancing dolls!"
Cinderella's Carousel,

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And of course Dumbo!

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We did all the other rides in Fantasy Land as well, and can you believe we had all of that done before 10:30am! We never stood in line for more than 20 minutes the entire trip! Dumbo was the longest line we stood in.

After Fantasy Land it was back to ride Splash Mountain. Can you believe my kids LOVED Splash Mountain??!!! They loved it so much, as we got off the ride Calvin asked when he could ride it again. Ask and you shall receive! We got another fast pass and then went for lunch. We were a little early for our reservation, but as I said things just went perfectly that day. One of the block parties was going on so we got to join in the fun! They got to meet the Toy Story Characters and even dance with Jessie, check it out:

Wait till you see how our day ended!

Disney Part 4 - Play'n'Dine at Hollywood'n'Vine

Lunch that day was at Play'n'Dine at Hollywood'n'Vine inside Hollywood Studios. This was a very fun place for the kids. They got to meet June from the Little Einsteins.

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Did you see Alayna's smiling face? She was so happy to meet June! And so was Calvin; he even wanted a hug!

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Then we met Leo.

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JoJo was there too! And the coolest part of this meal was that the kids got to get up and Dance with the characters and sing the songs they knew from the shows.

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My kids were not shy at all! They were right there with the characters dancing their little hearts out the whole time.

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After lunch we headed back to the hotel for a nap. When the kids woke up they both said they wanted to go to the pool and not back to the park. Since we had kind of a rough morning and this vacation is all about fun, we decided to roll with it and head to the pool! It was a nice afternoon and everyone had fun. For diner we just ate at our hotels little quick service restaurant. As we were eating we were visited by a family of ducks!

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In this picture they are already walking off, they actually walked right up to our table! It was really cool and the kids thought it was the neatest thing.

In the end the day didn't turn out too badly, it was just a bit of a rough start.

Next up: Magic Kingdom!!

Disney Part 3 - Disney Hollywood Studios

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Day 2 was Hollywood Studios and our roughest day of the trip, but it would have been even worse without this:

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We rented it from Orlando Stroller Rentals and it was an amazing experience. Please check them out if you are headed to Disney.

First on the list for the day was the Toy Story Mania ride. It was the best ride all week I think. It is in 3-D so that's what the glasses are all about.

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So ride one down and it was amazing, we are hopeful at this point. The problems begin because the next 2 things we are going to do are shows and we somehow got to both of the shows as they were opening doors, but a long time before the show started. Bored Hot Kids = Whining and Mommy losing patience!
The first show was the Playhouse Disney Show. The kids enjoyed it. There was singing,

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clapping,

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and bubbles falling from the ceiling!

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Next up was the Little Mermaid show. The waiting was long and the show was ok. The kids liked it, but it wasn't my favorite.

Next on the list was the Jedi Training Academy, which is a live show where they pick some children to come up on to the stage and learn how to be a Jedi. Obviously Calvin was very much looking forward to this.

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This guy comes out on the stage and does his thing and then starts looking over the crowd and picking the children. Calvin did NOT get picked. This resulted in a melt down of epic proportions! He was so upset he didn't even want to stay and watch the show! Since he was upset and Alayna was hot and not happy either we decided it was a great time to buy them something. Little did we know what a great decision this was going to be! We let them pick out anything under $20. Calvin picked a little key chain type light saber and Alayna picked out a set of little princess figures.

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This calmed everyone down and saved us for the rest of the trip. Lunch was up next, but I will save that for another post.

Disney Part 2 - Chef Mickey's

On the day we arrived we swam in the pool and then went to Chef Mickey's for dinner. We got to ride the monorail for the first time and the kids really loved it!

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(and I have no idea why my children insist on putting their hands in their mouths!)

We got to the resturant and this cute little hug (see bottom right).....

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quickly turned into wrestle mania!

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Thankfully once you are seated at your table things move pretty smoothly. Every thing is a buffet so no waiting for food to come. And the characters come and visit your table. We met Minnie,

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And Goofy,

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Pluto,

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Donald,

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And of course the big man himself, Mickey Mouse!

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And a Disney meal is not complete without ice cream for dessert!

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That is it for Day 1 at Disney World. On deck for day two: Disney Hollywood Studios.

Disney Part 1

The last week of July we took our first family vacation to Disney World in Florida. It was a wonderful week and surprisingly all four of us had a great time. I am going to try and keep these posts as short as possible, but I took over 200 pics while we were there so no promises! The fact that this trip was so enjoyable was due in no small part to our amazing Disney Planner Debi (check her out here) and this book.

Disney really knows how to move people! They have it down to a science. We checked in at the airport in Milwaukee and did not see or touch our luggage again until we had been in our room for about an hour. When we arrived at the Orlando airport we got on the Disney Magical Express bus that took us right to our hotel.

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We stayed at the Polynesian.

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It was beautiful and perfectly located on the monorail for easy access to the parks.

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In keeping with the theme we even got lays when we arrived!

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Our Disney planner got us the most amazing room location. Check this out!!

It was just as amazing every night. Please stay tuned for more Disney posts coming soon! Alayna finally starts school on Tuesday so I should start to have more time for blogging.

Calvin's Brewer Game

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Last year the guys started a tradition that Calvin goes to a Brewer's game with Daddy and the Grandpas. Calvin had a great time again this year. Papa got them great tickets very close to the field so they could see the action up close. And they went into the park early so they could watch batting practice.

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And Calvin was given a signed ball by one of the players!

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I don't know who was more excited....Calvin or Grandpa!

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Or maybe Daddy??

Calvin does really enjoy baseball and does watch the game, but I think there are a few other reasons he loves going to the game with "just the boys".

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Like the great big hot dogs!

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And playing in the indoor play area.

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Getting his baseball painted on his arm...

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And of course eating ice cream!

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What kid wouldn't have fun doing all of that?? All four of them had a great day at the game and made some great memories.