Florida 2015: Day 3

Day 3 took us to the Magic Kingdom!  Despite this being Amelia's 4th and Henry's 3rd Disney visit, it was still quite magical.  Henry was feeling it the second we stepped up to watch the Welcome show right before they opened the park.

Clearly, GG loved every single minute on the carousel. 

We had our first experience with Enchanted Tales with Belle.  Nearly half of our group received roles in the tale.  Jason was a brave knight.

 Amelia was the wardrobe.

 Henry was the proudest little pepper shaker you ever saw!

 While waiting in line to see Mickey, Amelia took the opportunity to work on loosening her tooth.  She ended up loosing it later that night once we were back at our Florida home!

Meeting Mickey was a little different for us this time.  He talks now, which is......weird!  And there was no Minnie Mouse in sight which was a little disappointing.

 Matching shirts courtesy of GG!

 As you can see, Charlie was THRILLED about his first Mickey ice cream bar.  And who's the fellow in the back??

He quickly learned about the Mickey bars though!

 

Until next time, Magic Kingdom!

Florida 2015: Day 2

 Warning: Many, many pictures ahead!

I know they say that Disney World is the "Magical" place to be in Orlando, but after our trip to Universal Studios, I would have to differ.  Amelia has been a Harry Potter fan since age 5.  We knew that during one of our Orlando trips it would be necessary to make a stop at Harry Potter world and we finally got the chance to check it out this trip!

Henry sort of likes Harry Potter, but since we had more than enough HP costumes to outfit both of our big kids, we talked Henry into dressing the part, even if he isn't quite as taken with Harry as his sister.

 After a bit of a snafu paying for our park tickets we went straight to the newest HP attraction--The Escape from Gringotts.  The ride was having a bit of technical difficulties as well, but there was a lot to keep us entertained while we waited!

 All of the Harry Potter stuff at Universal was incredible.  They really didn't miss a single detail.  We could have spent DAYS wandering around and taking it all in.

 The Hogwarts Express was a particular highlight--even for the non Harry Potter fans!

A pretty amazing (and expensive) feature is to go to Olivander's wand shop.  During the demonstration, they chose a person to handle the wand and show its power.  Amelia was chosen and ultimately a wand "chose" her.  We ended up purchasing the chosen wand which we were then able to use all over both parks to complete spells.  It was really fun!

 Sharing a butter beer!

Amelia chose to adopt a Pygmy Puff as her souvenir.  The store makes an announcement each time one is adopted.  Amelia chose to name hers Ginny.

 Henry was pretty impressed with all of the "old time" cars.

 Charlie was mostly unimpressed and confused as reflected in the picture below.

 Thank God for these two!

Such a fantastic day!

Florida 2015: Day 1

Well, I don't think it is any secret that our family has quickly grown to love vacationing to Florida, particularly Disney World. This trip marks our 5th time taking Amelia to Florida and her 4th time visiting Disney World.  It is also Henry's 3rd visit and Charlie's first to see the Mouse.  We really love going during the non-peak times although it means taking the kids out of school for a week.  We aren't sure how much longer we can get away with doing that, but it certainly didn't stop us this time!

We left early on a Sunday morning and flew straight to Orlando.  We opted to stay at the same resort where we first vacationed when Amelia was 2.  The resort--Floridays--has a 3 bedroom option that is a great size for our family and both grandmas who were able to join us!  There is also a full kitchen, washer/dryer, and other amenities that make the stay a little more comfortable and affordable.

Honestly, these kids love this little airport monorail/tram things just as much as most of the Disney World rides!

We made a quickish stop at the grocery store to get groceries for the week.  Amelia was so excited that we went to Winn Dixie.  She loves the book, "Because of Winn Dixie" and even met the author last year!

The kids didn't waste any time getting to the pool once the groceries were unloaded and it was cold!  Blue lips and gigantic goose bumps got nothing on these two.

...and of course Charlie slowly made his way into the water (fully clothed of course).  Not one to be left out for sure!