D-I-S-N-E-Y!

*****Warning: LOTS and LOTS of Disney Pictures below!*****

Disney or Bust! That's the attitude we all had last weekend on our way to Orlando. We had been planning a quick Disney getaway for the kids and the countdown had finally arrived. I was just as excited as the kids--Disney makes me feel like I'm one of them! Here they were in the back of the car watching Disney movies the whole way down the road:

After checking in the hotel, a quick dip in the pool, meeting up with Grammy, Grandaddy and Aunt Cissie, we all headed to Downtown Disney by boat!

This little girl has wanted Jessie for over a year, apparently. She didn't understand why Santa didn't bring it to her last Christmas when she asked him for it. Yikes! I think Santa didn't think she was serious!! When she spotted her in the store, she quickly snatched it for her souvenir:

So, off to bed we went because the next day....WE WERE GOING TO THE MAGIC KINGDOM!!! Now, this is when it all changed. I had it all in my head that our sweet children were going to enter the park with mouths wide open, immediately run up to me and Rog, hug us and thank us for bringing them to the happiest place on earth. And I just KNEW we'd get our Christmas card picture taken while we were there. We stepped off the bus and I asked for one quick picture. Big mistake. This is what happened:

Yes, those sweet children (in matching Mickey and Minnie shirts, thanks to my sweet friend, Jessica) wanted none of it--especially our 6.5 year old. Welcome to Disney World, folks!

You know how on the commercials for Disney, it always shows a nice family walking hand in hand through the park. The Dad is holding the little girl's hand and the mom is holding the little boy's hand. The kids are wearing the Mickey ears and they're smiling and so happy. Here is our attempt at Take Two:

At least we had one child who was happy to be there:

Hmmm, maybe this will work. Everyone smile at Mommy so we can get one good Christmas card picture! (I think we promised ice cream if they would smile, but due to the sun in their face, it wasn't happening).

As I looked around the park that day, I had a good laugh. There were so many families like ours where the kids were crying, fighting, having meltdowns. Parents were getting irritated at the kids and with each other...kind of funny! The parade went by, though, and our children absolutely LOVED it. There is nothing like a Disney parade!!

Anastasia walked by with her other sister and mother and asked if we had any food!

Three cheers for these two! They joined us on our vacation to watch Charlotte for us! What a great help that was to us and what a great job they did. Daddy told me he felt like they were playing house:)

Maybe Disney put some wishful thinking in my brain but I was still hoping for that picture. Nope. Get over it, Donna. On to the rides. Caroline did it....she rode Space Mountain and loved it

Roy Austin was terrified of the Buzz Lightyear ride. I don't know why. After his 3rd time, he finally liked it and rode through it without covering his eyes.

We did Small World:

The Flight of Peter Pan:

Dumbo:

And Pirates of the Caribbean, which freaked Roy Austin out!!!

So, after our long day, we headed back to the hotel and changed into our costumes to return for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. After our long day there and after returning to see the crazy crowds, I have to admit I was wondering why on earth we were doing this to ourselves. But it ended up being a very fun night! Here is our Peter Pan and Wendy. Tinkerbell will make her appearance on Halloween night:

The coolest part of the night was the parade. We had perfect seats for it. Here is the Grand Marshall of the parade---the headless horseman:

During the parade, Wendy walked by with the Peter Pan group and she came over to tell our little Wendy hello. It made her night!And the fireworks at the park that night were truly amazing! We actually did have a "Disney Moment". We were all on the Dumbo ride soaring through the black sky when, out of nowhere, huge fireworks started going off over our heads! So, we had a short view of the fireworks on Dumbo. It was very nice and very cool:) We also went to Woody and Jessie's dance party:

It was in an old saloon style building and Roy Austin fell asleep while we were there. We joked that he passed out at the bar:

Day Two!:

Aunt Cissie joined us this day

We saw TONS of characters that day:

Someone was SO shy when she met the Princesses:

This is for you, Michael! (he LOVES Pinnochio!)

One of my faves--Tiana. Love her!

And the icing on the cake....Woody and Jessie!!!!

We conquered Disney that day, even though the park was SO crowded. We had such a great time, and our kids were much better the second day. Too bad Charlotte wasn't with us for that family picture:)