Disney Trip!

We just returned from our favorite home away from home!  We had a blast as usual!   The girls have proclaimed that they would like to live at Disney World and never do anything else ever again.  On the way home, Elle asked when we were going back.  

On Sunday we checked in to Port Orleans French Quarter.  We love the Mardi Gras atmosphere!  

We had dinner at Boatwright's Dining Hall.  This started the 6 day ice cream binge!

On Monday, we headed to Magic Kingdom and fought the crowds to see Elsa and Anna first thing. 

We rode lots of our favorite rides and even saw Belle at Enchanted Tales. 

Next we headed to lunch at the Crystal Palace.  The girls just love the characters!  We saw Eeyore, Pooh, Tigger and Piglet.

Next up were more rides (and great weather)

We stopped for our 3rd treat of the day (no, that's no exaggeration) and I finally got my Dole whip float!  Elle was a big fan too.  

After treats it was time for fast passes.  Elle hit 44 inches this year, so she was in a whole new world with getting to ride the big roller coasters!  She's been talking about Space mountain for about 6 months now, so she was beyond thrilled to go on it this year.  We were a little afraid for her reaction, but she loved it!  This was time 1 of 3.  We also got to ride the new Snow White roller coaster (very cool!).  

Before dinner we rode the carousel, then popped in to see a few more princesses.

Then we went to dinner at the Plaza restaurant.  This is ice cream number 4 for Scarlett.  Where else in the world do you get to eat ice cream 4 times in a day?!?  (We did the deluxe dining plan this time which meant 3 meals a day - appetizer, entree & dessert, plus 2 snacks per day.  It was SO. MUCH. FOOD.  We loved it though because we got to hit up more of the sit down restaurants that have better menus!)  

For the first time, we left the parks in the dark.  We didn't make it to fireworks, but we did get to see the castle & main street all lit up!

We started day 2 early, getting to Epcot at about 7:30 am.  We got some pictures and hit Test Track and Mission Mars before our breakfast with the princesses.

It was a big year, as Scarlett is finally "too old" to dress up for princess breakfast.  Aww...  at least she wore her Frozen comfy dress for the occasion!

After breakfast we went to Ellen's energy adventure for the first time.  Scarlett was interested, Elle was interested in knowing when it would be over (it's a 45 minute ride / show all educational!)  We headed back to the countries where we had to pose for our picture with Duffy, then made our way around to lunch (yep, time to eat AGAIN!)

We had lunch in Italy.  The girls were thrilled of course with spaghetti and gelato.  

After our Italian feast, we headed next door to Germany where the girls picked out new pets in Germany.  Scarlett first got Rosie here several years ago, so it's a favorite spot to revisit.  Now Scarlett has Heidi the bunny and Elle got Lambie.  

We headed back to the other side of the park for more rides (Figment here) and fast passes.  

Scarlett INSISTED on seeing the Captain EO show because she likes Michael Jackson (but it unsure of whether he's a boy or girl).  

We had planned to dine in Canada at the steakhouse, but they were running so far behind on reservations, that we opted to cancel and ate in Mexico instead.  We ate at the San Angel Inn and it was really good!  Elle was a big fan of these churros!  

Our third day was at Animal Kingdom.  It's definitely our least favorite of the parks, but we enjoyed it more this time than we expected!  I think Elle being old enough and patient enough for the shows now played a big part in that!  

We started our day off with the Safari, followed by breakfast with Mickey and the gang.  

After breakfast we took these crazy kids to Everest for another roller coaster adventure.  This one is a bit more intense than Space Mountain, in my opinion, but we survived and the girls loved it!  We rode it a second time that afternoon. 

We had lunch at Rainforest Cafe and both girls swore this was a real elephant sitting at our table.  Elle was worried he would stomp us, but I assured her that he couldn't get out of the jungle.  He was really life like though with blinking eyes and everything!

We stopped in to see Mickey and Minnie in their Safari wear in between the shows and rides.

Then we got up close and personal with a Tiger before heading to eat more!  We tried Yak and Yeti for dinner and it was delicious.  The girls loved the lo mein!

We started Thursday off early again, heading to Hollywood studios for breakfast with the Disney Junior gang.  Of course everyone needs a big plate of eggs, potatoes, pastries, fruit, waffles and more every morning!  

We rode Toy Story first and watched the Ariel show.  We signed the girls up for Jedi Training, but unfortunately the rain cancelled the training session.  Instead we got an option to take a picture battling the dark side.

After battling the dark side, we definitely needed a mid morning cupcake break!

We saw the Belle show, had lunch at the Sci Fi drive in theater (pretty cool set up!), sang along with the Frozen show and rode a few more rides before leaving the park and heading to Cinderella's happily ever after dinner at the Grand Floridian.

These stepsisters were hilarious!  They had lots of pointers on sisterly fighting and Anastasia took a liking to a teenage boy sitting at the table next to us.  She was planning their wedding until the boy left and told her it was over!

Every princess needs extra sugar!

Elle had a fit over this Ariel gown and had to have it!  She's SO fancy!

Friday was our last day and we headed to Magic Kingdom to finish up the rides we didn't get to on Monday and of course ride Space Mountain a few more times!

The morning was chilly, so we warmed up with some Starbucks.  

We had lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern (it's always been one of my favorites) and then, MORE ICE CREAM!

Can we say "sugar high"?

It was time to say goodbye to the castle after one super fun week!

We enjoyed our last meal of the week at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary.  This was a first for us and very cool since you get to meet 5 characters (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Donald) and the buffet was awesome!

Our last night...they fell asleep within seconds even though all the lights were on so I could pack :o)

'Til next time, Mickey!