Disney!

We spent last week in our favorite place - Disney!  Elle finally hit 40 inches, so her and I got to enjoy several new rides that we always had to sit out.  We tried a few new restaurants and got to meet lots of characters - a few that were firsts for us.  We got Magic Bands for the first time and they were so cool.  It was awesome not having to fumble for your tickets, fast passes and photo passes separately.

Monday was our first day in Magic Kingdom.  We got there early and rode most of our favorite rides before the crowds got bad.  We had dinner at Belle's castle, which was a first for us.  The food was great and the castle was beautiful!  Afterwards, we got to meet Beast (another first).  Elle wasn't sure about him at first, but ended up holding his hand for a picture when she was promised a Frozen balloon.

Tuesday we went to Hollywood Studios.  We had another early day and hit the Ariel show, Disney Jr. Show and Belle shows all before our lunch at Hollywood and Vine.  It was our first time meeting Sofia the first and Doc McStuffins.  The girls were thrilled!  On a slightly sad note though, it was Scarlett's "aha moment" when she figured out that the characters were just people in costumes.

Wednesday was our day at Epcot.  Elle and I got to ride Test Track for the first time, which was really cool.  We had a sit down lunch in Italy.  As we walked through the World Showcase, Scarlett was totally fascinated with all the bushes cut into characters for the Flower and Garden Festival.  We took our first ride on Figment and watched the Captain EO show (Scarlett liked, Elle hated)

We left the park early that day and headed to the hotel to change for our dinner at 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian.  This was a first for us, and was really cool!  It was Cinderella's Happily Ever After dinner, so we met Cinderella, Prince Charming (Elle was not impressed with him), both stepsisters and the stepmother.

Thursday we returned to the Magic Kingdom and rode more rides.  Scarlett and Cameron hit her favorite - Space Mountain, while Elle and I rode her favorite again - Dumbo.  We let the girls drive the cars on the Speedway (which they thought was totally cool and now Scarlett thinks she can drive at a regular go cart place!).  We took a trip on the Astro Orbiters (a first for us) and saw Merida (it's been a few trips since we caught her).  Then it was time for what the girls waited for ALL WEEK.  FROZEN!  We luckily managed to score some fast passes, so we bypassed the 4 hour line.  That afternoon we had lunch in Belle's castle (we got a surprise fast pass that they were testing, so we bypassed the hour + wait on that too).  Elle and I took our first ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (loved!) and Stitch's Great Escape (she totally freaked out).  We caught the new parade which the girls loved.  We left early so the girls could swim that day.

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Friday was our last day and we spent it in Epcot.  We rode Test Track again first thing (luckily too, since I heard it broke down right after that!) and it was Elle's first time on Soarin' which she loved.  I convinced Cameron to eat lunch at the Biergarten in Germany where I ate my weight in bratwurst, saurkraut, that purple cabbage stuff and german potato salad.  I think Cameron was most impressed with the 1L beer.  We caught up with Mulan, rode a few more rides (including the ride in Mexico which was new for us), and most importantly (to the girls anyway) was getting their last day prize.  They both chose Duffy (the Disney bear) in costume (Stitch for Scarlett, Sully for Elle).  To finish off our trip, we had dinner with the princesses in Akershus.