Florida 2015: Day 4

 Well, Day 4 was predicted to be cold and rainy.  We opted to skip any parks that day and instead head to the shopping area formerly known as Downtown Disney.  They were going through a big renovation while we were visiting.  Next time we go, it will be called Disney Springs!

Henry had to sit on the Harley Davidson bike in the window.  Not sure what's going on with Amelia's pose....

Most of the rest of our time was spent at the Lego store.  

 The kids all seemed to enjoy the various Lego creations.

 Especially Charlie.  That face SCREAMS joy, doesn't it?

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!