We left on Jan 14, 2015 to Disney World in Orlando. This was
definitely a trip we will never forget. The thing I was most anxious/nervous
for was the plane ride there and back. I was pretty confident that Emma and
Reese would do pretty good because they entertain themselves pretty well. Also, they have never played with apps or
games on the ipad/iphone so I knew that would be new and exciting. But litte
Nora boo. I was SOOOO worried about her. One thing about her I knew would make
all the difference—she is a happy, happy baby.
So we packed so many new little toys, snacks galore, games, and her very
first sucker J.
Overall, she did really well on the way there. Nora only slept for about 20
minutes, but it got us through the 4 ½ hour flight!
We got to Orlando and met up with Grandma and Grandpa Close
at the airport! I’ll be honest…that was THE BEST thing we did was have them
come with us. And we are SO grateful they said “yes”! It was a completely
different trip with them there. Having 4 adults for 3 children was totally
doable J.
Really, they were extremely helpful, fun, and such a joy to have with us. We
think we’ll have to bring them along for all family trips! And the girls just
loved having them there with us.
So after getting our rental car and finally finding our
condo, we got settled at our place, went shopping for groceries, and got ready
for our big first day.
Magic Kingdom
Our first day, Jan 15th, was at Magic Kingdom. It
was also Nora’s first birthday!!! She of course won’t remember it but what
better way to spend a birthday than at Disney World? Magic Kingdom is very
similar to Disneyland so I felt like we knew our way around there pretty well.
It’s filled with princesses, fun rides for the girls and magic J. We started out with Winnie the Pooh with the
kids while Dad and Grandpa stood in the long line for the Seven Dwarfs Mine
Train (it’s new so its really popular). Most of the day we spent in Fantasy
Land which is what the girls love best. Daddy got away with not having to go on
“It’s a Small World” for the last few times we’ve gone to Disneyland, but this
time he had to suffer through it J.
The girls got to meet Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Tiana. We
had a great long first day and were plenty tired by around 8:00 (which is
really 6:00 Utah/AZ time).
Harry Potter World date
The next day (Friday), Cade and I got a special treat.
Grandma and Grandpa watched all three girls all day so we could go to Universal
Studios Orlando—just the two of us! Cade has been wanting to go to Harry Potter
World ever since it was built and finally his dreams came true! It was SO neat.
I loved the reality of it as soon as you step into Diagon Alley. The butter
beer was amazing and the food. Each shop you walked into made it seem like you
were right there in Harry Potter’s world.
The only thing that wasn’t quite fun was that our very first
ride we went on first, we got stuck on—for at least half an hour! It was NOT
cool. I was trying really hard not to get claustrophobic sitting strapped to
the ride. I was VERY grateful, however, that we got stuck close to the ground
and sitting straight up. There were some people in the middle of the ride that
were not so lucky. Aside from that unfortunate event, the whole day was a
blast! There is a new portion of harry potter world and the Hogwartz train
takes you to the other park. That was really neat and very realistic.
Oh! Cade and I went into Olivader’s Shop where someone gets
chosen to come up to be a part of the little show and see what wand picks
them. Usually a little kid get chosen
and since Cade looked as giddy as a 12 year old school boy, they chose him! He
was SO excited and of course we took that wand home with us because it was all
part of the experience J.
We mainly just took advantage of Harry Potter portion of
Universal Studios. We went on the Jurassic Park ride and Cade went on the Hulk
roller coaster by himself, but we wanted to soak in all the wonderful Harry
Potter rides.
We are so grateful Tammy and Dale let us have that day to
ourselves and enjoy the magic at Harry Potter World. We don’t know if we’ll
ever be back so it was great to take advantage of all of it!
On Saturday, we spent most of the day in Animal Kingdom. The
best part was the safari and seeing the real animals. It was much cooler than a
regular zoo. Much more realistic and huge compared to a zoo.
One of my all time favorite moments of the trip was the moment Reese met Minnie Mouse. She had her rough moments on the trip (break downs, over tired) and didn't always come out from the bottom of the stroller to participate (why a lot of pictures you can't see her--she's in the bottom of the stroller :)). But when it was her turn to meet Minnie, she ran up to her and hugged her for as long as she could. Minnie just kept hugging her back and Reese did not want to let go. Finally Reese turned around for a picture and had the most genuine, real smile on her face. It was absolutely priceless! Other highlights of that day were seeing tiny baby gorillas and eating at the yummy Rainforest Cafe. OH! We also go to meet Sal and his family at Animal Kingdom. Sal is the one who made it possible for us to do that trip- his company had the competition going at Fishbowl that cade won.
By late afternoon the kids were tired, so I went back to the condo with the girls and Cade and his parents got to spend the evening at EPCOT. I don't think Cade was able to see as much as he would have liked, but at least got to see a little bit.
Sunday was a great “rest day” for Cade and I as we had been
going strong to parks three days in a row. We let Grandma and Grandpa have a
day to themselves at the parks and we just laid low. We found an LDS church
about 15 min away from our condo and attended sacrament meeting there. Then we
all had family nap time which was glorious and very needed J. After nap time we
went to the pool and stayed there until we were too cold. This was the only picture I took that day:) :
Monday was our last FULL day in Florida. The first half was spent at
Hollywood Kingdom and the last half back at Magic Kingdom. We started the day
seeing Elsa and Anna in a Frozen Show…what better was to start! Emma sang along
to EVERYTHING and Reese was mesmerized too. Then they had a blast playing at
the Honey I Shrunk the Kids park and spent a good amount of time there while Dad
and Grandpa went on some big-kid rides together :). After meeting a few
characters and going to a Disney Junior Show, we did just about everything
there is for the kids so we headed back to Magic Kingdom. However, we forgot
about it being a holiday and therefore it was WAY too crowded for my taste.
Luckily the other days weren't crowded at all. We met Ariel, went on the Little
Mermaid ride (again) went on the carousel and later that night stood in line
forever to meet Elsa and Anna. Only 75 minutes :) which isn't that bad because
Grandpa and Grandma walked Nora around while she slept.
Tuesday morning we said goodbye to Grandpa and
Grandma. We meant to get flights out at the same time Tuesday, but messed it up
somehow. We are SO incredibly grateful they came with us. The girls had tons of
fun with them and lets be honest…the trip was so much more laid back and
easy-going with more adults :). The trip was incredible and because they were
with us we were able to enjoy more and stress less. They are so easy-going and
fun to be with and ALWAYS so willing to serve and help where they can.
After we said "bye" to them, we went back to magic kingdom. By
this last day though, everyone was about done. We rode dumbo one more time,
walked around some shops and met Tinkerbell, but then everyone was pooped! We
had spent the last week going all the time!
So off to the airport we went! The flight back
wasn't too bad. I was expecting the girls to be more tired and ornery than on
the way there. Overall, it was great. However, Nora had a blow-out at the
airport so we changed her in to her spare clothes. Of course she had to have
another blowout ON the airplane! The flight attendant skipped ahead of Cade in
line for the bathroom and used the ONLY ONE with a changing station. So we
could have saved her clothes if it weren't for that. But after holding a poopy
Nora at the back of the plane for 15 minutes (who takes that long to go to the
bathroom?), everything seeped through her clothes again and we didn't have
spare clothes for the spare clothes. Cade was about done at that point and we
were all exhausted but it made for a great story!
Even at the airport we couldn't stop taking pictures with princesses :)
:
It was a wonderful trip full of memory making! We LOVED it and tried to
make the most of every day. We were very blessed to have had the
opportunity to go. Emma and Reese still talk about it ALL the time (it is three
months later as I'm writing this). Definitely a great blessing and came at a great
time.
