I thought the day would NEVER come.... The one that I could say I'm sitting in Florida instead of at my desk at work.... on my couch.... in the cold...... We left on the 18th in a caravan with mom and dad to seek out warmer weather. I was pretty nervous about how the girls would do on the trip but they did amazing. Our saving grace was the little TV/DVD player in the back for Kenna. Sh watched movies, played with toys, colored, etc on the way down. At one point we switched cars and she rode with mom and dad for a while.
In Georgia, we stopped at a gas station to use the potty and there was in hugs cow in front of it. I was feeding Delaney so I didn't see it until we pulled away, but mom took Kenna's picture with it. She is standing underneath it.
Look how big the hoof of the cow is compared to Kenna!
Thursday night we stayed the night in Georgia, then Friday we made it to the hotel in Orlando. We really wanted to eat at Rainforest Cafe but the wait was 2 hours long so we settled for Wolfgang Puck (which was wonderful) and shopped our way around Downtown Disney. Delaney looked just adorable in some minnie ears in one of the stores!
Saturday morning we got up and got ready to head to The Magic Kingdon (aka the castle to Kenna)
McKenna was SOOO excited. Nana had got her a princess backpack, autograph book, etc. She carried that backpack around ALL day! It was adorable!
Disney is doing their "Give a Day, Get a Day" promotion and for being a volunteer you can get free Disney tickets. I still am a volunteer for Sidelines (nonprofit organization for women on bedrest) and out director sent out the link on how to earn free tickets. Tony and I got our tickets for free so we just had to get Kenna's. We thought buying them in advance and getting it at the will call window would be good. WRONG. It took FOREVER to get through the line! Luckily, I had my sling so I could wear Delaney on and off throughout the day. She loved it!
After we FINALLY got our tickets, we hit the monorail and headed to the park. I took a picture of Kenna's face when we could first see the castle over the trees. She was amazed! Look at her face, its priceless!
Once we made it to the front gate, I felt for a moment like I was at the airport. We had to have our bags checked. It is pretty sad that our world has come to that! But this security guard made the most of it. Here was his conversation with Kenna:
Him : I see you have a backpack. Is there fairy dust in it?
Kenna: No
Him: I think I need to look at it.
Kenna was a little nervous but let him
Him: HMMMM. I think I see some fairy dust in here (as he got out a baggie of "dust" and sprinkled it in her bag). There IS fairy dust in here! Did you know that?
Kenna's face was in awe. Then he sprinkled some in her hand. It was awesome!
The view of the castle from main street!
Kenna was totally in awe of the castle, but the question of the day...... who is more excited??
Of course the 2 reasons for Kenna's visit to the Magic Kingdom is to see the castle and to see the princesses. At one point, she had asked us if there were any "mean ones" there (aka villans). After all the joys of seeing the castle, the FIRST character we see is a villan- Cinderella's stepmother. Lucky for us, she is a fairly calm villan. Had we seen Jafar from Aladdin or someone like that, I think Kenna would have been even more terrified. As we were waiting our turn to talk to her, she was asking a little boy what he could do for her- did he have a horse? a donkey? Could he milk a cow? etc She was really in to her part!
Each character has an escort with them. Kenna asked him if the stepmother was mean or nice. His response "She just misunderstood". HAHAHAHA
It was finally our turn to talk to her and Kenna was pretty hesitant. Before we walked away, Tony said "I think Cinderella made the right choice to live with the prince". The stepmother was a little annoyed and told us to "Have a mediocre day"
Our first stop was back to ToonTown. We had read that the Disney Fairies would be there. We waited in line before Toon Town opened and we headed straight for the fairies. Once we arrived, we had to pick between seeing the fairies and the princesses. Of course we chose the princesses since she LOVES princesses. Yet again, who's face shows more excitement???
The first princess we saw Cinderella. Kenna was in awe and was a bit shy with both princesses. She got their autographs, then got pictures taken with each of them.
Our next princess was Belle from Beauty and the Beast.
Kenna's dress had fairies on it. Belle commented on how Kenna had her "friends the fairies" on her dress. It was very cute how the characters all really get personal with the kids.
If you haven't been to Disney, you will notice Mickey heads everywhere. Even in the tomatoes and pumpkins at Mickey's House!
In Minnie's house we could get a little closer to the things in the house. Kenna was drawn to Minnie's tea set!
Delaney was absolutely perfect the entire day (so was Kenna) but all the excitement was a little overwhelming for a sleepy baby!
Daddy and Kenna riding the Dumbo ride
Kenna really likes Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Sadly the Snow White ride was very scary. Kenna was terrified and wouldn't let me let go to her hands. Poor thing! But this picture was taken before the ride started.......
The "Its a Small World Ride" was perfect. By the end of the first time riding, Kenna was singing the song (but who wouldn't be, right?) Delaney loved it too. The ride went slow enough that she was able to focus on what was going on around us and enjoy it too!
See, she was mesmerized........
So was Kenna.......
Woody and Jessie from Toy Story.....
Aladdin
Kenna and I were able to ride the magic carpets together. We could see Aladdin as we waited in line for the ride, but he was done greeting people by the time we were off the ride. Kenna was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see him. = (
Just before the parade, there was a show on the castle steps. We were able to watch it for a bit before we went to our seats for the parade.
Kenna on Daddy's shoulders watching the princesses dance at the castle
Pictures from the parade
After the parade, we headed back to the hotel for some food and rest. Of course there was no rest for Kenna. She was wired! But it was a nice break for the grown-ups.
Back at Disney we were impressed with the color changing castle. Kenna especially loved the pink color!
We made our way back to Toon Town again, this time to see the fairies. The line took FOREVER! I think we waited about an hour total. The girls were really good in the line.
Our first fairy was Silver mist.
All the fairies also made a fuss over Delaney and had to get theier picture taken with her too, although that meant getting thier picture taken with whomever was holding her at that time- which happened to be Daddy. He was irritated because they got glitter on him. Hahaha
Next was Tinkerbell. She was the perfect person to be Tinkerbell. Her first question for Kenna was whether or not she was a light fairy.
Kenna had an autograph book with Tinkerbell on it. She asked Kenna if she had painted it herself. It was cute!
Iradessa also had to have her look at Delaney~
I think the hour wait was worth it. We could tell by the look on Kenna's face. She loved it. Ironically, earlier int he day when we saw the princesses, Kenna's dress had fairies on it. When we went back to the park Kenna had on a princess dress (which she had taken off by the time we made it to the fairies)
After riding the "Its a small world" ride again, Kenna was ready to go. We stumbled onto the light parade and had a great time watching!
Sunday morning we headed to Downtown Disney to eat at the Rainforest Cafe.
We put in our reservations and then had time to wonde around downtown disney.
I just love the rainforest cafe! I'm not totally crazy about their food but the atmosphere is awesome!
Kenna was not a big fan of the "thunderstorm" that happens eevry 30 minutes......
So, now that today is the LAST day before we go home, I FINALLY have our FIRST day posted on my blog. It has been a great week which has flown by. Delaney has been awefully clingy so I haven't been able to update this. More to come later!
