Walt Disney World

(At what point does a post need a disclaimer in the beginning? I'm assuming one post that covers a busy, fun filled, photo-op crazy, week does! Not only is there a novel here, 70 pictures made my "short list" for this post, down from 452 favorite pictures!  You have been warned!)

We took a wonderful vacation to Walt Disney World last week and had an absolute blast.  We drove down in our car, along with my parents, so it was quite packed!  Leaving about 7 pm, Tim drove the whole way and with only two stops that were well timed for Tyler and refueling, we arrived in just 12 hours!  We were able to check right into our hotel, which Elena and Al hooked us up with through their timeshare, and everyone went to sleep for the morning.  When we got moving we had a little pool time and continued talking about our plan for the week, which suddenly evolved into getting season passes, and heading to the Magic Kingdom immediately!

Timmy has always been wary of mascots/Chuck E. Cheese/etc. and had made a deal with us the week before the trip that he was "excited for all the rides, but didn't want to meet the characters." We told him that was fine, but as we walked into the park he said, "I just want to meet Mickey Mouse." So that was the first thing we did!  While we were still waiting our turn, when he caught his first glimpse of them, he told me, "Well, they're real, but they aren't, reeeaaalll..." I'm not sure what exactly he was expecting but you can see his first visit with Mickey he was still a bit wary, practically hiding behind me!

At Disney, every time you come out of a show or off a ride, you are sent through a store.  Coming out of meeting Mickey, Timmy saw this Pluto hat and asked for it.  Tim and I were a little nervous, we had been in the park for 10 minutes and already bought the autograph book, it was shaping up to be an expensive week!  But Timmy put the hat on and wore it all day every day of the week, so it was a great purchase!  He actually did wonderfully, never asking for any of the snacks, candy, or ice cream we saw, and he didn't ask for any other souvenirs until probably day five, when we convinced him to add them to his birthday wish list, since it's coming up.  We did buy him plenty of fun things, but we definitely appreciated that he didn't ask for everything he saw!

Our next stop was riding the people mover while waiting for our fast pass ticket onto the Buzz Light Year ride.  Timmy was hooked from there.  There were very few things that he didn't ride.  Timmy was happy and patient and enthusiastic all week, it was wonderful.

Tyler was a trooper too, he spent the week mostly in the stroller or stuffed into a baby carrier (which I was immensely grateful that I brought, even though my back was not so happy half way through the week!)  He did fuss from time to time when he was put into the stroller but for the most part he just looked around happily or would doze off.  Both boys were able to nap in the stroller, so we never had to go back to the room for a rest.

Tyler took a couple steps at home right before we left for our trip, but he took his real first steps at the hotel and at the parks with several rounds of 3 steps.  Timmy saw the first steps as well and exclaimed, "Tyler! I'm so proud of you!"  I was also excited to see how interested Tyler was in everything going on around him at the parks, the rides and the shows held his attention and he would point interesting things out to us.  

Going with my parents was wonderful, just like the beach last year, it was great to share the trip with them, and to have the help with the boys.  Mom and Dad would take the boys and wander through stores or to benches while Tim and I raced off to do things like the Tower of Terror and any roller coasters.

Check out the bottom left picture, that's me hiding from the dinosaurs!

We also split up for lunch most days so we could have our economical picnics while they had fancy lunches!  But we enjoyed going through the parks, meeting the characters, and dinners together.  On the 24th we splurged with dinner at the Brown Derby in celebration of Mom and Dad's 41st Anniversary!

Tyler is there too, asleep in the stroller!

It was the perfect time of year to go Disney World, the crowds were low and the weather was beautiful.  We had great timing for everything along the way too, ride lines were short, we walked into most shows right before the started, and regularly came up on good parade watching spots right on time.  We rode everything at least once and saw all but one or two shows!  We went to all four parks at least once, plus spending one afternoon at Typhoon Lagoon.  Here are a few favorite pictures from each park:

Magic Kingdom

Epcot

MGM Hollywood Studios

Animal Kingdom

Typhoon Lagoon

Timmy even got excited about the camera this trip.  He asked to take some pictures, and he requested his picture being taken a few times too!

A bonus on this trip was meeting up for dinner with Alex and Shana one evening!  It had been three years since we had seen them so it was extra nice to catch up!  Shana took over Tyler duty at the restaurant too, which was very much appreciated!  I'm so thankful that they took their evening to drive down and see us!

Our last day was spent at Epcot, and my Uncle Larry, cousins Marcie and Emilie, and their friends Bobby and Val met us there.  Alex was actually there for a work event as well so he joined up with us that afternoon too.  We had done most of the rides our first day there, so we spent a leisurely afternoon mostly walking through the "countries" and chatting.  It was great!

That last day, Tim, the boys, and I ran back to the Magic Kingdom to get Tyler his first hair cut!  He was easy, as always! I can't believe how much older it made him look!

I still can not get over how wonderful both boys were all week.  Timmy resisted the early wake ups a few mornings, but a dip in the jacuzzi tub was enough to get him going.  I have always known I have been blessed with easy children, but witnessing other kids meltdowns around us, and really just having a blast with our own children, left Tim and I discussing multiple evenings how wonderful our kids really are!