We were lucky to go to Disney for Spring Break again this year. This time we went with Kyle's parents, and they were very generous to let us stay in their suite with them at their Disney Vacation Club hotel.
I love these first two pictures, because they show how incredibly excited Tess was. Riding in the limo and seeing the airplanes thrilled her!
On the airplane, she had some trouble getting comfortable, so she spent a lot of the flight on the floor where she could stretch out. And she had to have my phone or the iPad in her hands at all times.
Kyri was an angel the whole flight. We barely even heard from her while she read her V-Reader.
Tess went through some unhappy moments on the flight because she was so tired and couldn't get comfortable, but she finally fell asleep as the plane touched down!
Once we arrived at the hotel, the girls went right to the T.V. to watch cartoons in the lobby.
That night, we walked around the hotel grounds a little bit and got some dinner. It was the warmest night we had, and the girls loved being able to walk outside without coats on. Kyri pranced around calling us "Nature Trackers" pointing out all of the "unique" birds that she saw in the pond. Tess loved that a giant turtle swam right up to the bridge we were standing on.
The next morning, we slept in a little bit and then got ready to go to Animal Kingdom. The girls were so excited for their first day at Disney!
We went on a couple of rides and did a couple of shows at Animal Kingdom during the day, but I didn't get any pictures on those. We ate lunch at the Tusker House, and it was delicious! There were some characters who visited our table. Kyri was excited to see them, and Tessa was, too...from afar!
When Goofy came over, Tess cried and reached for me. When Daisy came by, she waved to her, but still didn't want her too close.
She got very excited when she saw Mickey! In this picture she was blowing him kisses and saying, "Hi Mickey, I wuv you."
She was even okay with being next to Mickey for a picture.
...until Mickey made the mistake of touching her. Then she clung to me again.
Then she didn't want to be a part of the Mickey pictures anymore.
When we went out to visit Minnie, she was thrilled to see her like she was with Mickey, but she preferred that I stood next to Minnie so she could keep a safe distance.
In Animal Kingdom, there was a Dinoland, which of course Kyri loved!
She even got to play with dinosaur bones!
The triceratops ride was one of Kyri's favorites from last time, so we had to do it again.
At the end of the night, we found this boneyard park where the girls could run off some steam.
K.J. found a new best friend.
Kyle fed the girls to a T-Rex.
And Tess could have stayed on this slide the whole week.
The next day (Tuesday), we took it easy in the morning and then took a boat over to Downtown Disney. The temperature was FREEZING and it was really windy, which made it worse. We did some shopping and bought some warm sweatshirts for the girls since Florida was having record lows this week.
This was an attempt at a nice pic of the grandparents with the girls,
but Tess isn't a big fan of posing these days.
To Kyri's surprise there was a giant dinosaur restaurant at Downtown Disney. While we waited for our table, she got a chance to tryout her dream job and dig for fossils. She tells everyone she wants to be a paleontologist when she grows up, so this was heaven for her. Tess just liked to be able to throw sand around.
We were seated in an ice cave. Kyri thought it was the coolest! : )
And she loved all of the lifelike dinosaurs that were all around the restaurant. (Tess was freaked when they moved, and I don't think she liked all the noise in the place.)
After lunch, we tried to take a boat back to the hotel, but the boats were shut down due to the wind. So, we walked back to our hotel while Tessa napped in the stroller and Kyri looked for nature.
We had some downtime before dinner, and I thought this was a cute picture of this big girl on the iPad enjoying some sun on the balcony of the hotel.
After her nap, we revealed to Tessa that we were going to have dinner with Cinderella. She was soooo excited!! In this picture it looks like she's crying, but she was really yelling,
"We're toming Dinderella!" (We're coming Cinderella.)
And I LOVE that I caught a picture of her face the first time she saw Cinderella walk into the room. She started waving and saying, "Oh wow! Dinderella!"
Prince Charming actually made his way over to our table first, and Kyri and Laurel got their pictures taken with him.
I got Tessa down to get her picture, but she freaked out and tried to hide behind me instead. During all of this, her SHOE FELL OFF!! Prince Charming actually bent down and put Tessa's wipper (slipper) back on for her!! She watched in awe!
And then he kissed her hand.
She thanked him with a big hug!
Then Cinderella came over for a visit. At first Tess was even a little unsure of her favorite princess, but Cinderella played a quick game of peek a boo. This worked, and Tess ran over to sit on her lap. She had to show her the picture of Cinderella on her dress, too.
Larry also needed his picture with Cinderella. And the evil stepmother was hysterical!
After that we had to wait in a really long line for a boat since the Monorail was broken down. This was the coldest night of the trip in the low 40s. Not what we expected in Florida!
On Wednesday, we headed into The Magic Kingdom. When Tessa first saw the castle, she whispered, "Wowwww. Then she kept announcing to everyone, "That's Dinderella's castle!!"
Kyri informed us that it was actually her castle, and that everyone was waiting for her to arrive.
The first thing we did was wait in a really long line to meet Merida. Kyri even got to shoot her bow and arrow! After standing here for so long, we decided we didn't need to stand in line for characters anymore since we saw so many last year and we had seen a bunch in the past few days already.
We checked out the new Fantasy Land, and it was really cool! Here is Gaston's Tavern where Larry gave the girls coins to throw in the wishing fountain.
The new Ariel ride was awesome, too, and Kyri said it was her favorite of the trip. Here she is posing like Ariel on the rock.
We went and rode Small World next. Kyri is still fascinated with all of the colors and magic on this ride, and Tess just stared in awe, too. Kyle forgot to switch to his regular glasses, so he saw a darker version of the ride.
Kyri got to ride on Dumbo twice!
Kyle had the Disney app on his phone, which was really helpful, because it told us how long the wait times were for all of the rides and also the times for all of the fast passes. We had a good system going where Kyle would run and get us all fast passes, we would go on a ride with a short line, and then we would go use our fast passes for another ride after that. For most rides we didn't have to wait more than 5-10 minutes.
For lunch, we were able to get into the Beast's castle. I was so impressed by how detailed they made it. I think I was almost as excited as Kyri was to see all of the different rooms decorated just like the movie. In the ballroom, they even made it look like it was snowing outside the windows.
This isn't the best picture, but Kyri was showing the ROSE in the West Wing. She couldn't believe it! I thought she'd be scared in this dark room, but she thought it was so cool. Tess was very freaked in this room, on the other hand.
Speaking of Tess, she didn't seem to enjoy this meal at all. But, she never seems to like being tied down in restaurants. I hope she grows out of this at some point so I could enjoy some meals again!!
We stayed late in the Magic Kingdom to watch the light parade, but I was disappointed with the insane crowds. We got stuck in a bad location for the parade and weren't able to see much. I remember the light parade and firework show as being so magical, and Kyri loved it last year, too. So, she and I really wanted to stay for it. After standing smooshed against a huge group of people for the parade, Kyri decided that we should leave before the fireworks started. I agreed that it wasn't worth it since we were so uncomfortable.
The next day, we didn't have any plans, so it was pretty relaxing. We took a long walk in the morning and visited this cute park.
And then the weather finally crawled into the 70s!!! So, we ran back to the hotel to get our swim suits on. There was a small pool right by our room that was perfect for the girls.
After lunch, we headed back for naps. Kyri decided to keep swimming...in the jacuzzi!
That evening Larry and Laurel treated us to Mickey's Backyard Barbecue.
Kyri absolutely LOVED it and was out on the dance floor the whole night.
Tessa was not a big fan of all of the noise and commotion, however. She was pretty crabby during this meal and just wanted to sit and play on my phone.
She perked up a bit when she got a Mickey bar, though!
This was our last night in Florida, and the girls were wiped out by the time we got back to the hotel.
The last day (Friday), we packed up early and then spent the rest of the day outdoors since it was finally warming up. We visited Downtown Disney, again, for some last minute shopping. Then, we hit the pool for a little while before we had to board the shuttle for the airport. We tried to get in as much sun time as we could!
Unfortunately, our trip ended on a bad note. Larry and Laurel got bumped from our return flight and had to stay an extra night at the airport hotel. So that was annoying.
Overall, though, we had a wonderful trip. We were able to see and do a ton of things, and it's always so fun to watch through the girls' eyes. I'm glad that Larry and Laurel were able to share in the memories, too. On this trip, Kyri seemed like an old pro when it came to the characters and rides. It's hard to believe she's growing up so fast! I was so proud of her throughout the whole trip. She was on her best behavior and truly seemed grateful for all that she got to do. It was really fun to watch Tessa this trip, too. While she was with us last year, she wasn't able to communicate with us like she could this year. I loved seeing her face light up whenever she saw something new or exciting, and she used the sweetest little voice to show how amazed she was.
I had to throw this picture in at the end. The day after we got back home, the girls didn't want to take off their princess gear. They wore them all day!
