Disney World!

Claire had her first trip to Disney World!

I had to wait until the ripe old age of 21 for my first trip.  Jeff was 10.  Claire went at 3.  Lucky girl!

It was sort of an impromptu trip.  Some of Jeff's med school friends were going to be there in July for a conference and asked Jeff if he wanted to come down.  He invited me along but as I thought about it I knew we couldn't go to Disney and not take Claire.  She is at a great age for experiencing the magic.  So we decided to go and take my sister along to babysit as needed.  Before this situation even came about, Jeff's mom had offered to watch Ellie for a weekend if we wanted to take Claire to Disney.  So we took her up on her offer and left Ellie home with Grandma and Grandpa.  And on her birthday no less!

Thanks to conference rate we got a great deal on the hotel rooms at the Beach Club resort and a slight break on park tickets as well.  We left Atlanta on July 22nd and came back late on the 26th (Ellie's first birthday) so we could be home for Ellie's birthday party on the 27th.

We had hoped to hit the pool or some other fun thing the afternoon that we arrived but a snafu getting our luggage to our room prevented that. So we arrived in the afternoon on a Tuesday and hung around the room for awhile.  Then we met up with my Dad's cousin Danie for dinner that evening since she lives in the Orlando area.

Claire with our Mickey shaped towels

Chomping on a giant broccoli at dinner

Day 1: Magic Kingdom
For our first Disney day, we visited Magic Kingdom of course!  We started the day with Minnie Mouse, lucked into passes to see Anna and Elsa later in the day, and just enjoyed the wonder of the world through a 3 year old's eyes.

Requisite family castle photo

Meeting Minnie Mouse!

Riding the tea cups

Claire always loves a carousel ride

Got Daddy all locked up

In awe meeting Cinderella

Hugs from Rapunzel

Playing in the water while Daddy and Auntie ride
the roller coasters

Ears on, in line to meet Anna and Elsa

Chilling with Aunt Jamie 

We all needed a picture with Elsa

Watching her first Disney parade!

Perfect image to end our first day

Day 2: Character Breakfast and Hollywood Studios
We started our second day with breakfast at our hotel, the Beach Club.  The restaurant, Cape May, does a character breakfast with Minnie, Goofy and Donald in beach gear.  I wasn't sure how Claire would do with the characters since she has a history of being afraid of them.  So I wanted to do a character meal but also wanted something low key.  So I opted not to do anything in the parks that would be too crazy.  This breakfast was perfect.  It wasn't crowded, lots of yummy breakfast food on the buffet, and Claire was thrilled to meet the characters.

At Hollywood Studios, we experienced a little something for everyone.  Claire and I took in a Disney Jr show and caught the Frozen parade while Jeff and Jamie hit some of the thrill rides.  We also saw a Muppet show and a car stunt show and more Frozen themed fun.  Jeff's friends met up with us in the afternoon.  That evening, Claire, Jamie, and I headed back to the hotel for dinner and pool time (and rest for this pregnany mama!) while Jeff hung out with his friends.

Enthralled by the Disney Jr show

The Mickey Mouse clubhouse and characters represented on stage  

The water tower seen from the backlot tour

Watching the car stunt show

A Lightning McQueen appearance came at just the right time
to recapture Claire's attention

Playing with "snow" at a Frozen themed experience

A Frozen retelling and sing along was a great end to the day

Day 3: Magic Kingdom, revisited

We headed back to Magic Kingdom to line up with the agenda Jeff's friends had planned.  Which was fine with us because there were still plenty of things we didn't get to the first day.  It was a long 12-13 hour day.  Dinner wasn't until 7 in the park but Claire was still going after dinner and dessert so I decided to try sticking around for an evening parade.  Which ran late, of course.  And though Claire started to fade, she did well and loved the parade.  She even stayed awake on the late bus ride back to the hotel while every other kid on board snoozed away!  I'm glad we decided to stick around because it really was a great parade and a thrill to watch Claire take it all on.

Castle from the side

Dumbo!

A little rain can't dampen her spirit!

"The purple sprayer" -
how Claire entertained herself in the stroller

Mickey Mouse ice cream all around

Meeting Tinkerbell

Happy girl!

Resting our weary feet on the train

A big hug from Ariel

Waiting for the Beauty and the Beast show:
Claire gets to be the feather duster

Posing with Belle

Awesome group shot!

Watching parade number....3?

View from dinner at Tony's Town Square in Magic Kingdom

Dessert from the candy shop: Frozen themed cake pop

And watching parade number 4....

....the night time Electrical Parade

with lots of cool, lit up floats

Day 4: Adult day at Epcot
Jeff and I ditched the kid and met up with his friends at Epcot.  Jamie took Claire to the pool and then to downtown Disney to the arcade.  She also gave in to Claire's request to eat at the Rainforest Cafe, not realizing how Claire's dislike of thunder would make that an interesting experience!  After dinner that evening we hit the road for home.

Jeff and a 20 week pregnant me at Epcot

A little throwback: Us at Epcot in 2003 and 2014:
11 years and 2.5 kids later!

Enjoying a beautiful, if warm, day at Epcot

Squint closely to see the silly face Jeff made for this
"interactive" part of Spaceship Earth, the ride inside the ball

Dori and Nemo at the aquarium tanks

Mickey Mouse outline inside one of the big tanks

Claire entertaining herself on the ride home
(she's under the blanket doing who knows what!)

Claire did pretty well on the ride home.  It was a crap shoot leaving at 6 o'clock in the evening and hoping she would sleep.  She stayed awake until after 9:30.  First she got that hyper, overtired chattiness going on and then she progressed to whiny and cranky.  But we were finally able to convince her that she needed to try to sleep.  When we got home after midnight, she went right up to bed and back to sleep with no issues.

She did amazing in Disney!  All the whining and tantrums present at home disappeared.  She was happy and easy going.  She did really well waiting in lines given her age.  She took the late nights and nonstop days in stride.  Of course, we were in Disney so there was plenty for her to be happy about!

And I really enjoyed seeing Disney World through her eyes and at a slower pace.  When I went in college it was all about the rides and cramming in as much as possible.  There were no character meetings because you feel silly waiting in line as a college student.  This visit had a much different focus.  I thought being pregnant and unable to do many of the rides would be disappointing at times but it didn't bother me at all.  It was nice to have a reason to sit and soak up the experience every now and then.  Or stop in a shop to cool off or to rest my feet while enjoying a cold treat.  And when we rounded the corner to meet Cinderella (our first character after Minnie) even I felt a little in awe. Seeing your child's awe and joy in those moments is pretty powerful stuff.

So we hope to go back in a few years when Ellie is still young enough to believe in the magic, but Daniel is old enough to enjoy the trip as well.  So I'm thinking maybe Fall 2017 when Ellie will be 4 and Daniel will be 2.5 (and still free!).  We will see how that pans out.