So, shockingly enough, we were able to keep it a secret and PACK all the bags without them knowing. When we picked Ezra up from school, he was asking a lot of questions. It was hard not to just say what we were doing. So, we thought it would be fun to ask where and what they thought we were doing. Emersyn thought we were surly picking Ezra up early to go to the zoo! Ezra quickly pointed out that we were NOT going to the zoo because we had luggage in the back of the car. He thought we were probably going to Colorado. We go every summer, so it made sense! When we got to the airport and were settled in, I pulled out some shirts I had gotten for them from the Disney store and they were super excited. They thought we were going to California to go back to Disney Land, though. We have been there a couple times while visiting family in California. So, they were even more excited to learn we were going to Disney World in Florida.
The plane ride to Florida was a direct flight and the kids did awesome! Once we arrived to Florida, we headed straight for our hotel. Brent's conference was at the Gaylord Palms this year, so we stayed at the Gaylord. It was BEAUTIFUL!! Probably the nicest hotel we have stayed at as a family. It had a huge atrium, with alligators and fish. It had several restaurants. One restaurant was even on a sailboat on a little lagoon. That is where we ate the first night and the kids LOVED it. We probably could have not done Disney and stayed at the hotel the whole time and still have a great time. After dinner, we got on our swim suits and headed to the pool.
Thursday morning was bright and early. The kids and I got up and were ready to hit Magic Kingdom right when it opened. Brent went to his conference and headed to Disney around 1130. This was the PERFECT time of year to go. It was not crowded at all, the wait lines for rides were 10, MAYBE 20 minutes. I think the longest we stood in line for a ride, and we had already done it once that day, was 35 minutes. It was great. On Thursday, it rained off and on that day. But the rain was in 5 min increments, so we would go inside and watch a show or go to a eatery. It definitely cooled the weather down. We did every ride we wanted to do and even saw tons of princesses. I really wasn't expecting to see a ton of princesses because of the stories I have heard about the wait lines for them. We saw, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Merida, Rapunzel, Minnie and Daisy. The girls were in Heaven. We also got to see all the parades. We stayed the WHOLE day and ended with the light show on the Castle and Fireworks. The kids were AWESOME through the whole thing.
Friday, we were so tired, so we decided to just stay at the hotel, sleep in and swim. It was an awesome day. I could have used one more lounge day like that. We stayed at the pool all day. The weather was gorgeous. It was breezy and in the 80's. When the kids were out of the water, they were freezing. The pool at the Gaylord was awesome. They had a pretty big water play area with two big slides. There was a restaurant right by the pool that brought your food and drinks to your pool chair. Oh, I was in HEAVEN this day. We took a little break from the pool to take naps and veg in the room. That afternoon, the Gaylord had a fish feeding so, we went to go check it out. It was so cool. They had a ton of HUGE fish that they fed live seafood too. The fish looked like sharks when they went to go get the food. They also had baby alligators that we got to watch them feed. After they fed them, we are able to hold one. That was such a fun experience. All of our kids held one. Emersyn went first, of course. She is probably our bravest. Then Ezra went and after Brent and I held one, Elynn felt more comfortable to hold one.
That evening we headed back out the the pool and ordered a pizza by the pool.
Saturday, we decided to head to Animal Kingdom. Since we were able to do all that we had wanted to do at Magic Kingdom, the kids really wanted to see a different park. I am so thankful we did. It was a lot of fun. We got to see a ton of animals, ride on a safari ride, see the Finding Nemo musical and ride a lot of fun rides. The weather was perfect. Animal Kingdom closes earlier than the other parks, so we were back at our hotel at a really good time. We ended up going to bed early which was good because we had to get up and pack up to leave the next day.
Sunday we packed up and headed out. Once again, the kids did so great. It was a really really great trip. One of the best ones we have had. I was so thankful the whole time. It's going to be a while before we venture out on another vacation with this little one coming soon.
