Disney vacation

 

Before I post about our trip, I have to share this.
We always tell Anika to be a leader and not a follower, especially when she wants to do something because So and So did it. Or, when she is copying older kids, etc.  Well tonight I told her she needs to follow directions and she turned to me and said: You always tell me to be a leader, not a follower so I cant follow your directions.

UGh.

 

We went to Florida last week.  My parents have timeshare in Kissimee (where Disney World is).
People kept talking about the difference between Disney Land and World. I guess Land is like 80 acres and World is like 30,000 acres! HA.

My parents gifted this trip to their granddaughters for Christmas (and me). It was my 2 nieces, my 2 girls, my mom and I on the trip.

Andrew wanted to go, but he took off 8 weeks after I had Leni, so he couldn't take more time.
Also, he would have freaked out if he saw how expensive everything is. Disney is NOT cheap! HOWEVER, Anika and Leni were free to get into all the parks since they are both under 3. Anika turns 3 the end of March.

We arrived super late Monday night (Midnight)  at the condo. My mom picked the girls and I up at our house at 11 am. So, ya- over 12 hours of travel door to door. LONG day for all, but the kids were all fantastic on both flights to get there. We flew from NH to Newark, NJ and then onto Orlando. 

  The day after we arrived,  we went to breakfast, got some food at the grocery store and then spent the day at the resort pool.
The day after that we went to Sea World (Wednesday).
Thursday we got up super early and we were at Epcot at 7:30. We parked in the front row behind handicap and didn't have to pay for parking. We had reservations in "Norway" for a character breakfast. We had our photo taken with Belle and then ate. The food was tasty. They had a lot of smoked salmon and Anika was pretty psyched about that. "THEY HAVE SALMON" was one of her first reactions to the place. I didn't know who all the characters/princesses were! ha. I was never into that stuff as a kid. Somehow Anika is really into Cinderella. She also likes Snow White- she has never seen the movie, but just likes the dress. haha.

 

 

 

Since the breakfast was in Norway, the Frozen girls were right next door. Anika has seen the movie once and didn't know who they were, but my nieces did.  We were already there, but later in the day, the lines JUST TO MEET them was SEVEN HOURS LONG! can you believe that shit!? Insane.

 
 

The girls got autographs. These photos are all from the Disney photographers.
I also took 700 photos throughout the week. ha
 

 

 

 

 

 

Anika was taking a nap.  She was dressed as Snow White and people asked if she had a red apple and I didn't know that reference! ha.

 

 

 

Anika and her cousin in "France" in Epcot. They got hand painted umbrellas there. We ate at a restaurant in France and I had some much needed wine!  Then I had a crepe!

 

 

 

The day after Epcot we had a day at the condo and pools.
Then, Saturday (our last day) we went to Magic Kingdom.

We got back to the resort at 10 pm that night and had to be up at 4 am the next morning to fly home.

 

 

Epcot wasn't that crowded on Thursday, but Saturday at Magic Kingdom was INSANE!! SOO many crowds, we could barely walk!

 

 

Andrew had told Anika to get a picture with Pluto for him, so we tracked him down. She told Pluto her dad told her to :)

 

 

Anika dressed as Cinderella the day we went to Magic Kingdom. We had breakfast in the castle that morning. I had crab and lobster crepes with hollandaise sauce on top. Pretty good.

 

 

 

 

We were getting our picture with Cinderella and then Anika kept talking to her and wouldn't let go of her hand. The next thing I knew they were walking away and up the spiral staircase!

 

She walked her ALL the way up to the royal dining room. And, this was a LONG way up. The stairs kept going and going. This was really nice of her to leave her post where she was to take pics with all the guests coming in.
Two days prior at Norway breakfast in Epcot, I learned that they have a very strict routine and manner in which they visit all he guests.  Ariel even got a little feisty with me when I didn't realize they came around to each table and we were meant to sit there and wait.  Oops.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was on our way out of the park that night. It had been a LONG day.
 

 

I have no idea why she was making these faces. The photographer was trying to get her to smile.
 

 

 

 

Leni slept a lot, but when she was awake, she did a lot of looking and smiling.

 

 

 

 

 

It was a busy week and Anika was pretty thrilled and excited.

Hopefully I get a chance to post more.