Disney Photopass photos arrive in the mail

Well, the Florida trip is now history, and after an exciting packed day at the Magic Kingdom on Thursday and the Animal Kingdom on Friday, we headed back to Great Busia's to spend two more nights with her. Saturday was her birthday, so we took her to Dixie Crossroads in Titusville  for another fantastic seafood meal.  Sunday was return home day, with a 7 AM flight back which meant we had to leave around 4 AM to make sure we got the rental van back and checked through security.  The suitcases were squeezed shut and still were within weight limit.  Back in Minneapolis, it was time to drop off little Claire bear, which we knew officially ended our trip.

What a great treat it was for Ben to provide us the tickets and rooms at Disney.  The CD of our Disney Photopass pictures just arrived and it was great looking at all the shots again.  It was truly a vacation of memories to last a lifetime.

Cuteness Overload

Today was one of those days that makes you really feel that Disney Magic. We had an amazing day at Epcot that was, well, overloaded with cuteness. The day started out with reservations at the absolutely magical lunch at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Norway with the Princess Storybook lunch. Though we had to make a couple stops along the way as we saw and met Braer Fox and none other than MAX FROM A GOOFY MOVIE (one of Claire's and our family's favorite)!!! After getting over the excitement of meeting Max, we continued onto the lunch where Claire (and the rest of us) were very excited to meet Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel (Aunt Katie's favorite princess), Snow White, and most of all Cinderella! We may be biased, but we think all the princesses gave our little princess some extra special attention since she was so cute. While we were eating lunch, Cinderella came and whisked Claire away from our table for the Princess Procession where all the little princesses got to walk elegantly around the restaurant practicing their princess waves. Claire, having been specially picked by Cinderella an extra couple minutes before the processional, got to hold Cinderella's hand the entire processional! Of course, the rest of is were all a little teared up from the sweetness and magic of it all watching Claire walk around holding hands with Cinderella in a blissful daze.

After the princess lunch, we continued on throughout our day. Ben got Claire a "Passport" that was stamped & signed with a special message just for Claire in the each of the countries' native languages throughout the day. Greg, Becky, Sean & Katie road the awesome hang-gliding simulation ride Soarin' while Claire, Ben, & Mandi looked for another autograph book since the first one seemed to be filling up so fast! We also went on another couple country rides (including a Three Caballeros ride in Mexico)! Along the way we met Daisy Duck, Donald in his Three Caballeros attire in Mexico (Daddy was EXTRA excited about that meeting), Marie from Aristocats in France, Alice (who Aunt Katie was also THRILLED to see) in the UK, and saw Mary Poppins there as well, but didn't get a chance to meet her. A big highlight was meeting Mandi's favorite Aladdin & Jasmine in Morocco. Claire met them and got a picture with them, as did Mandi (since they are her favorite - well, mostly Aladdin), and Uncle Sean (who insisted he should get a picture with them since he was born in Saudi Arabia).

After touring the countries, we moved to the seas, where we all enjoyed helping Nemo's dad find him. We also had an amazing interactive experience with the sea turtle Crush who was a comical hit!

Finally it was time for the biggest moment yet... MICKEY MOUSE! We ended our night by heading to Epcot Character Spot. Claire was energetic, jumping, and dancing through the wait and meeting the characters. We met none other than Mickey (who we got about a thousand pictures with), Minnie (another one of Mandi's favorites), Pluto, Donald (Ben was SO excited to finally meet the "classic" Donald), and Goofy (Sean's favorite). Goofy was extra special since he had such a great time playing with Claire, and he even wrote her an extra special note with his autograph; so, of course, we got a family photo with him too.

The night ended perfectly with a clean, bathed Princess Claire tucking into bed with Mickey and her new Princess Minnie while some of the adults hit the pool. It was truly an adorable, magical, happy, and, of course, overly cute day.

P.S. It was extra hard to choose which picture to post today!

Yo-Ho, Here We Go!

Well we started our tour of the Disney Parks with Hollywood Studios. Walking around the park is like walking through classic film sets, including the people working there. Street performers acted out classic gags and resembles extras from films like "Casablanca". Our 1st top was "Disney Junior: Live!". It was amazing! Not just for Claire, but it was Mandi's first taste of Disney magic as well. Claire got to dance and play along with Mickey and the gang as they tried to help make a surprise party for Minnie.

Next we watched Ariel retell her story of "The Little Mermaid" in person. After the show, we split up briefly. Grandma, Katie, Sean, and Dad went to the Tower of Terror (a Disney MUST), and Grandpa, Mandi, and Claire went to watch "Beauty & the Beast - Live". Claire expressed to us that when she grows bigger, her dresses will get bigger and bigger, then Belle will go away and she'll be on stage... Oh, and she'll have Belle's voice. (Dad has no objections to this game plan.)

We went to a diner for lunch that is set up like a 1950's home. With the cheesy couch patterns, classic table tops, and a waitress that refers to herself as "Aunt Deb". She even gives your kid grief if they don't eat their veggies.

After lunch we watched the Pixar Parade, which was an awesome celebration of our favorite Pixar Pals. We went to Muppets in 3-D after that, which is ALWAYS a favorite for Ben. After that we separated again. Katie and Sean went to check out the Indiana Jones experience and the Star Wars 3-D ride. The rest checked out some of the behind-the-scenes stuff from Narnia and then we saw...

WOODY AND BUZZ! The whole family got very amped up for Claire to get her first meet and greet and autographs. She was so excited until she got right there. Then she became smitten. Woody and Buzz were super friendly (of course) and the whole family got in on the action. Buzz was kinda flirty with the ladies, kissing their hands, but that's the kind of personality you expect from an A-lister.

After Claire got her autographs, we got on everybody's favorite ride for the day. Toy Story Mania was an awesome ride that incorporated a ride and 3D video gaming experience. We then stopped at Rock'n Roller Coaster, which was pretty intense. Grandpa got us 3rd row seats to Fantasmic while went, and we were able to get ready a magical light and water spectacular! It was... cancelled because while we waited for it to start it began to down pour. We scurried with the others back to our awesome rental van, and back to our hotel. Claire conked out almost immediately afterward. It was incredible first day, seriously, The Incredibles were there. I hope our next stop can keep up the momentum. Yo-Ho, here we go, EPCOT!

Pop Century Resort

So we checked into our hotel at Disney's Pop Century Resort, and it is AMAZING! the resort itself is huge. It is divided up into to decades, 50's, 60's, 70's, etc. We're staying in the 50's, where our staircase resembles giant bowling pins, and our hotel exterior is decked with phrases such as, "way out" or "poodle skirt".

After we settled our stuff in our room Claire immediately wanted to check out the pool. We have 3 pools here, one is shaped like a bowling pin, one is flowered theme, and one in the shape of a computer. We chose the Hippy Dippy Pool, in the 60's area. Claire loved playing in the nearby kiddie pool, jumping in a flower-shower, and splashing Daddy or Mandi with the fountain jets that spurt out of the kiddie pool.

We took break from the waterworks, and checked out more of the resort's neat decor. Including a gigantic Mickey phone and a courtyard made up of giant fooseball characters. We made our way back to the pool where we met up Auntie Katie and Uncle Sean for some poolside fun!

Claire past out almost as soon as we got back to the room. Which is good, because next up- Disney Hollywood Studios!!

Lunch at House of Blues

Welcome to Disney World

We arrived in the rain, but still so excited! We were early, so checked out Downtown Disney. 

Great Busia's & Cocoa Beach

On Saturday night, Claire met her Great Busia for the first time! She was really excited. Although she was a little shy at first, it didn't take Claire long to warm up to Great Busia. It was a really amazing experience.

We got home late, so we rested and slept in a bit on Sunday. After enjoying Woody's BBQ take-out, we ventured to take Claire to see the Atlantic Ocean. We had an awesome time walking on the shoreline and picking up shells that Claire wants to make into a necklace. We had many photo opportunities since we there right when the sun was setting. As the tide started to come in we watched the sand crabs rush to higher ground.

We scuttled ourselves back to our most amazing rental van, and to the single greatest surf shop in the world: RON JON'S! Our family has watched this store grow from a tiny surf shack to a mega-mall of things necessary for surfing and novelties that make you feel like you know how to (even if you live in a land-locked state like Iowa). Claire decided against getting a shirt or hoodie... Instead she got the Ron Jon's Ukulele! So far, she's written 2 songs with it. We went back to Great Busia's to sleep for the night. Before leaving for Orlando we gave Busia her birthday gift (an iPad!). We are now on our way to Orlando to see if we can get Claire a gig at House of Blues at Downtown Disney. If not, at least we got our hotel and Disney passes start tomorrow!

Orlando Airport Ballet

While waiting for Grandpa to get the car, Claire gave us a beautiful ballet. Good thing we got some video, too! While we can't post those on here, trust us, they're awesome.

We made it!

We arrived in Orlando early, and our luggage made it, too. We're all very impressed with the rental van (we love the stow'n'go). We can't wait for Claire to meet her Great Busia for the first time!