The Magic Kingdom

Audrey has been asking to go to Disney World for almost 2 years. She had a friend go, and tell her about all of the princesses, and she has been thinking about it ever since. Once, she asked me if I thought she would be able to lie down on the princesses' beds. I hope she wasn't too disappointed that we didn't see their beds, but we did meet a lot of princesses!

We spent our first 2 1/2 days of our Florida vacation in Orlando visiting Disney World. We stayed at one of the Disney hotels that was New Orleans themed. It was a very pretty place, with manicured flowery bushes, pretty swimming pools, and cute rooms. They also had a ferry boat that took us to Downtown Disney which was fun.

Our first night we surprised the girls with a trip to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. They have Fairy Godmothers in training that turn you into a princess. We brought our own princess gowns (They wanted $150 for them there) and the Fairies did the rest. Both girls loved it, and their hair was so rock solid that the new do lasted two days (and required two shampoos to remove)! Audrey lists the experience as one of the top highlights of Disney World.

The next day we took the bus over to The Magic Kingdom, and spent almost 12 hours. We met Belle, Rapunzel, Snow White, Merida, Cinderella's Step Sisters, and Chip and Dale. Lorelei was totally star struck! She had a giant smile and couldn't stop staring at them. Snow White gave the girls a big hug and it was all Lorelei talked about for an hour afterwards.

As for rides, we experienced Small World twice, Ariel's Grotto, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Thankfully, with very little standing in line. The girls were a little afraid to see the pirates, and Lorelei was trying to get me to hide her gold Mardi Gras beads before the pirates saw them.

We also caught one show, that we just happened across as it was starting with no line. It was a singing bird show called The Mystical Tiki Room. Tons of animatronic birds sing and tell jokes for about 15 minutes. The funniest part was that, several days later, Jacob was telling his parents about the experience, and Audrey looks up astonished, and says 'Wait, those weren't real birds?' I love how innocent kids are!

I would say my only complaint was the bad food. It is probably my fault for not booking any of the fancier restaurants early enough, so we mostly ate street food type things. By the end of the night we really just needed to sit down for a bit and happened to find a table across from the Castle. We didn't realize we had one of the best spots around for the electric light parade and fireworks! Unfortunately the restaurant only served tomato soup and funnel cake, but we made do. It isn't often I have no other choice but to eat funnel cake for dinner.

On our last morning GranMiri and Papa joined us for a trip to the pool. The weather was gorgeous, and it was big fun!