Magic Kingdom, Disney World - Day 5

We spent our last Disney day in Magic Kingdom. We loved having 3 days for that specific park. It was perfect with little kids and we feel like we fit in everything we wanted to plus a whole lot more, and we didn't have to rush around anywhere. It was great! Because we'd already checked a lot off our "to-do/see list" we got to meet lots of princesses this day and just enjoy being in Disney World.
We got there bright and early that morning, before the park gates even opened. It was a beautiful ferry ride across the lake as the sun rose.

 

The girls were happy and ready to go!

We were able to get some good pictures in the entrance to the park as we waited for the gates to open.

We watched the welcome show which was fun to see. Jayne was thrilled that Mickey and Minnie were "opening da gates" for us. 

We took our time taking photos and wandering through Main Street, enjoying the smaller crowds in the early morning.

And remember the carousel from day 1? Well Jayne really wanted to ride it again and it had no line so of course we indulged. Plus, Elle was awake this time and loved joining in on the fun!

Next up was meeting Princess Tiana. I loved the meet-and-greet with Tiana! It was in a quiet garden area and she was so sweet and genuine with Jayne. It was perfect.

Near Tiana's garden we stumbled upon "Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe" which was perfect because I had been wanting a Christmas ornament. A sweet cast member in the store asked Jayne if she wanted to be the tree decorator for the day. They choose a different child each day that gets to decorate their special tree in the shop. Jayne got her name on the tree, got an official certificate and even got to choose a special ornament as a momento of the experience.

 It was cute and Jayne of course loved it!

After seeing the "siwee dancing ghosts" (as Jayne calls them) in the Haunted Mansion and a couple other rides, we made our way to meet Aladdin and Jasmine. Jayne was a little bit shy with Aladdin (she tends to be that way with men) but she loved Jasmine and warmed up to Aladdin in the end.

We found Snow White later that day too. We had Jayne watch Snow White a week or so before we left instantly added Snow White to Jayne's list of princesses that she loves...she loves each one she knows so it isn't hard to make the cut! :)

This one melts my heart. I love making this girl happy!

While we had some down time for lunch, the "Move it, Shake it, Dance and Play It" street party started around the corner from our lunch spot. Jayne and daddy went over for a brief visit and Jayne danced with Woody.

The view from our lunch spot, and one of my favorite pictures from the trip. Love these girls!

Later in the day we wandered by the Christmas shop again so Jayne could check on her Christmas tree.

She was proud of it!

What little girl doesn't love Rapunzel/Tangled!? Jayne was super excited to see Rapunzel. (I think I've said that for like every character meet-and-greet, but it's true!) Disney is just so magical, especially for little kids. Look at this happy girl!

Girls and their princesses :)

Like I said before, Jayne was on a bit of a Cinderella kick before our trip. And with Cinderella's castle being in Disney World, Cinderella was on the top of Jayne's list of most anticipated princesses to meet. She had to wait until the last day to see her but it was great! She even acted a little star struck at first.

Our final character meet-and greet was Merida. Jayne's excitement for Merida was a surprise to me as she only has one Merida doll and hadn't ever seen the movie. It didn't matter though, a princess is a princess in Jayne's book!

We were so impressed by all the characters we met and were especially impressed by how they interacted with not only Jayne but Elle as well. They made a point of talking to Elle and making her smile, even without us asking.

Merida's area was great because it had coloring and the kids got to learn how to shoot a bow and arrow. Jayne's arrow hit the target which she was pretty proud about!

Oh we just loved every minute of our Disney vacation. From the rides to the characters to the simple magic of being in a Disney park with our two little girls, it was perfect! That's a wrap!

Chantel's High School Graduation

Chantel graduated from high school in the end of May and we were there to support her! The girls were pretty well behaved throughout the program, but Elle got really tired. Phil finally got her to sleep near the end of it all.

I can't believe Chantel is a high school graduate! I feel like just yesterday I was walking the halls as a student of dear old AF high myself!

Jayne had been talking about "Chantel's Graduuuation" for a while because we had the invitation up on our fridge. She was looking forward to seeing Chantel in a "funny red hat" and asked Chantel if she could wear it. Jayne was so happy!

Peruccas and Bennallacks

I'm glad we were around to see another member of the Perucca family become an American Fork High School Alum! We love you and good luck at BYU in the fall Chantel!

Magic Kingdom, Disney World - Day 4

Day four of Disney found us back at the Magic Kingdom. It definitely was the best park for our girls and we just loved it. Jayne was very excited to see the castle again. She'd been talking about it all up until our trip, and then we spent one day in the Magic Kingdom. After two other Disney parks and a week long cruise in between she was happy that her castle experience wasn't over yet.

Excited face on the shuttle to the park!

Pure Disney joy right there!

We went to the castle and through it first thing because of course, that's what Jayne wanted to do.

The cutest baby ever!!!

We noticed that there was a meet-and-greet with Cinderella's mice friends, Suzy and Perla, right as you exit the castle. I honestly mentioned it to Jayne, thinking she wouldn't care much and would rather find a ride or a princess but boy was I wrong! She excitedly and very patiently waited in line and was the happiest little mouse greeter you've ever seen. 

And goodness, those characters are so sweet with kids!  After photos with Jayne and without any asking from us, they made their way to our stroller and played with Elle for a bit. Elle giggled and touched the mouse's face. It was cute!

A while later we did the same thing with Cinderella's step-sisters - we casually mentioned it to Jayne and her excitement and smile told us that's what we were going to do! She even surprised us with knowing their names and everything. She had been on a Cinderella kick right before the trip, but still, "Anastasia" and "Drisella", what kind of 2 yr old remember those names!? :)

These girls were great at staying in character. Awkward to talk to, vain, but very funny. 

This little girl loved meeting the ugly step-sisters. Who would've thought? :)

And shout-out to miss Elle who was pure bliss the entire trip, especially in the parks. Napping when she needed to/could without a fuss, being woken up to go on rides and just smiling at anyone and everyone. Jeez, I was nervous to have two little munchkins in a theme park but we had it easy this time!

For meeting Belle they have a whole experience where you go from Maurice's workshop to the castle and then all the kids participate in a play that reenacts the Beauty and the Beast story. Jayne was a little plate and got to march around while they sang "Be Our Guest". It was cute to watch!

Here's a little clip of the action:

It ended with a photo with Belle herself. And if you know Jayne and princesses, well, that was the best part of the whole thing!

We wrapped up our day and headed back to the hotel via Epcot, where Jayne like seeing the "big ball momma!" and asked to be in the picture with it. Another Disney day in the books!

Weekend at Snowbird

My parents own a timeshare up at Snowbird Resort and invited us to stay up in their condo for a couple nights. It was a great mini-vacation. We loved being up in the mountains. It was gorgeous! The first day (Sunday) it was pretty cold. It lightly snowed throughout the day.

Things cleared up on Monday and Grandma came to stay! We walked around and enjoyed the clear mountain air.

We made our way to a fun playground...fun for all ages ;)

LOVE these two!!!

The resort hosted fun activities throughout the day. One day we played bingo and Jayne made friends with another little girl. 

They had SO much fun and it was so cute to watch them run, dance and play together. Plus it kept Jayne happy during our bingo fun!

It was a great few days away, getting away from it all and enjoying time as a family!

Hollywood Studios, Disney World - Day 3

We got off the ship from our cruise, had a birthday lunch for Braden with the family at Chili's and then headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios park to spend the rest of the day there. There weren't as many things to see/do in Hollywood Studios so it was a nice way to ease us back into theme park mode. 

We didn't take many photos of our day- I think we were still trying to figure out post-cruise life :) Some of the things we did/saw were the Frozen musical, Little Mermaid show and Phil & I even rode the Tower of Terror.

We saw the Imperial March a go by a couple times and caught a bit of the show but didn't ever really watch the entire thing

We were wandering around the Toy Story Mania ride area and went to take a peek at the map of the new Toy Story land that is under construction. They had these funny army men that kept us entertained. 

We even made friends with a very sweet Disney cast member that gave us instant fast passes for the Toy Story ride (which we didn't have fast passes for and weren't going to be able to go on with a 90min wait). Jayne LOVED that ride and got to go twice because Elle fell asleep so they gave us another special privilege of a baby-swap, which doesn't even exist for that ride. The same cast member found me a little later and gave us 4 free Disney snack vouchers to redeem during our vacation. I was honestly near tears, she made our day!! It was Disney magic at its best.

Jayne had just recently discovered a love for Princess Sofia about a month or so before we left so when we saw that she had a meet-and-greet in Hollywood Studios we knew it was a must. Jayne LOVED it!!

We ended the night at the amazing Fantasmic show. I'd seen it before in Disneyland and knew Jayne and Phil would enjoy it. Elle was very entertained by it all too. We danced to the music while we waited for the show to start and the were mesmerized by it all. Jayne still tells me about Mickey fighting the dragon. Needless to say, we had a very fun day in Hollywood Studios!