let the magic begin

as a few of you know, we decided months ago to plan a trip to disney world and let it be a surprise for our kids. we finalized dates and a place to stay during the holidays and booked our character meal around the same time, but didn't do anything else until we bought the tickets about a week before we left. we just aren't planners when we go on vacation. (doesn't that completely negate the idea of vacation?)

we had no idea how we were going to tell them or how they would react, but we just didn't want them to know until we were there. so, we told them we were going to the beach. it wasn't entirely a lie, and while that won't work for them as a justification for telling one, as the mommy and daddy, it worked for us. i mean, there is a beach within driving distance, right? besides, they talked about the beach constantly for weeks, so i can't imagine if they had known where we were really going.

we decided to drive through on the way down to disney. (yes, we drove. we have 3 children and it would have cost a small fortune to fly and then rent a car large enough for 7 (my parents met us there) and carry three car seats and a stroller and yada yada yada.) we didn't arrive until 2:30 am disney time and, of course, our children were wide awake at about 7:30 a.m. nice. once awake, my children began to notice all the disney decor in our townhouse. they honestly didn't think anything about it, but we used it as our intro into telling them we weren't going to the beach that day. miller didn't have any idea what it meant that we were going to disney. he just smiled. carter understood a little bit more, but having never been to disney before, she had no idea the extent of what we were telling here. she just sat and giggled.

for our disney day one, we decided on hollywood studios because we knew they would be going on less than normal sleep and we wanted everyone to be better rested before going to the magic kingdom.

so, here is a little rundown of our day . . .

we began at toy story mania!

then headed to voyage of the little mermaid. i seriously remember seeing this when it first came out and i was like 16. let me just say, while my ariel-loving princess was in awe, i was amazed at how far technology has advanced, but the voyage had not.

muppet vision 3d

waiting . . .

at luigi's garage

after a yummy lunch at pizza planet, we headed to honey, i shrunk the kids movie set adventure.

oh, you know we had to . . . 

then, we hurried to watch the block party bash. we had a perfect spot in a totally random location. i would definitely say this was the most fun parade for the kids because it was so interactive. just look at her face . . .

 beauty and the beast-live on stage

everyone wanted to sit in papaw's lap because his knee was taller than any seat and allowed the kids to see over tall people, crazy hats and headbands or video cameras-you know, all the normal stuff.

then, waiting for . . .

buzz and woody at pixar place. oh, such a happy boy!

while we waited for josh and the gang at pixar place, i took spencer to pick out a princess. she loves carter's belle doll, but the new ones at the disney store are much larger. i was hoping they would have a smaller one at disney world. instead, they had a baby belle. they actually have every character you can imagine, but this is the one she chose-just like her big sister! too sweet! and, a little possessive.

we left exhausted, but silly happy. i think that is just how disney makes you feel. silly happy.

favorites of the day:
carter: block party bash
miller: meeting buzz & woody in pixar place
spencer: her new doll, belle

ride of the day:
toy story mania!