A Day of Fun At Magic Kingdom

I love Magic Kingdom. It is honestly my favorite place in the whole world so on Day 2 of our vacation we headed out to Magic Kingdom. Now, we are late risers so by the time we saw this amazing sign, it was already noon!!

It was HOT HOT HOT in Magic Kingdom!!!

You have to do the castle in the background pic. Here is JC with the kids. I always get so teary-eyed when I see the castle. 

Since our kids are older (11,9,8 and 7) we have moved on the bigger kid rides at the park so our first stop was Splash Mountain. We had Fastpass for this ride so we skipped the 90 minute wait. 

I was the only person from our group who had ever been on Splash Mountain before so there was lots of excitement. Ivanna and Adrian sat in the front row, JC and Gian in the next one and then Amberly and I in the third.

Someone was terrified but ended up loving it! We all did!!

Onto the Big Thunder Mountain where the kids were tickled by the sign that read "Baths weekly!" 

We didn't have Fastpass for this ride but the wait wasn't too bad, about 25 minutes. There are lots of signs to read, memorabilia to look at and blasters to play with while you wait!

Then it was time for lunch and the Festival of Fantasy Parade which is at 3pm every day!!

I took this picture so JC could see what I was looking at all day. I kept asking him if he was having a good time and he kept saying "yes...why do you keep asking me?" Hmmm.....with a face like this, I wonder why. It's perfect for a meme like "A vikings excited face at Disney!" We made sure to get him an It's My Birthday pin so there was lots of birthday wishes headed his way!!

My girl Belle was up first in the parade!! This parade has ornate floats and incredible costumes. So colorful and fun!!

All the fun ends with probably the world's most famous couple: Mickey and Minnie!!!

Minnie's bows always rock!!!

After the parade, we made a beeline to Fantasyland, rode the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and then onto It's a Small World. There is no way you can go to Magic Kingdom and not ride It's a Small World. 

Belle's castle. I was so giddy with excitement!!

Every afternoon in Tomorrowland, there's a dance party with the cast from the Incredibles. Here are my kids doing the Macarena which was quickly followed by Watch Me Whip!! It was really col ot have Mr. and Mrs. Incredible and FroZone walking around dancing with the kids. 

Time for another mountain and the epic 2 hour wait that you can always expect at Space Mountain!!! It's so worth every minute of waiting!

Followed by everyone's favorite:Buzz Lightyear Space Rangers. Of course, JC ended up with the highest score!!

Can you tell they were over waiting in lines? It was just so HOT!!!

Silly faces always helps time go by faster!

So does pulling out a loose tooth apparently. Amberly is a barbarian I tell you!

I have always taken a picture with Zurg after the Buzz Lightyear ride and the kids were really into it!

By 8pm we were exhausted and so, so hot that we decided to skip the fireworks show and go back to the hotel. Thankfully, I packed our ponchos because it started raining as we were waiting for the ferry boat!!

Magic Kingdom was truly magical. I love all the new improvements they've made and we can't wait to go back!!

Orlando Vacation Recap: Day 1

JC turned 30 on July 16th and I wanted to make his birthday extra special. I've mentioned before that he has never been to Disney World and I thought a surprise trip up to Orlando would be a great gift. Keeping a surprise trip from him wasn't easy but the kids were amazing. They tried their hardest not to spill the beans and they didn't. I took the week off work, spent time with the kids and then on Thursday (JC's birthday) after I dropped him off at work, I raced home to start packing. Our plans were to show up at his office around 2pm with a birthday cake and then his bosses (who were in on the surprise) would send him home early. Then we would pile in the already packed van and take off to Orlando. Well at 2pm, the kids and I were at McDonald's getting lunch because it took me all day to pick up the house and pack!

We picked up a cake and headed to JC's office. He was so happy to see us and have all his co-workers sing Happy Birthday. Then Gian and Adrian told him "We are going to Disney!" I expected a big smile and happiness, we got shock, confusion and brooding! He was upset because he had alot of work to do. One of his bosses realized this and told him to just leave and enjoy his vacation. It took some negotiating but about 1/2 an hour later we were in the car and on our way (with major traffic!)

The kids had packed a bag each with their tablets, toys and a pillow. They did so well on the drive up. It took about 4.5 hours to get there and they rocked the entire way. JC was still upset! By the way, I have to share this picture of Adrian. This child can make himself comfortable anywhere. He loves road trips, stays awake the entire time and in a good mood!

We stayed at the new Cabana Bay Beach Resort at Universal. I wanted to stay on Disney property but this hotel got so many good reviews, we had to check it out. We were not disappointed. It was so great!! Well, when we got to our room, we finally got a smile from JC!!

The kids were in awe! This hotel is massive! We arrived late at night and by the time we got to our room it was almost 10pm!

Ivanna joined us on our trip. These two are like brother and sister!

These two were doing some sort of "bro" handshake they came up with so the picture is blurry at their hands but I love the way Adrian is looking at Gian!

A pool with two pools, a waterslide and a lazy river can only mean one thing: nighttime swimming!

Lucky for us, the hotel is themed as a 1960's roadside hotel so there was lots of amazing architectural features to keep JC entertained!!

The kids swam for about an hour and after showers for everyone, we were finally in bed by midnight. The rooms at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort are family suites so we had 2 beds and a sofa bed. The 6 of us were perfectly comfortable in our room!

It was a little hard to get everyone to actually fall asleep because the next day we were heading out to Magic Kingdom!!!

Stay tuned!!

Disney Dream Cruise: Day 2

I'm back with a recap of Day 2 on the Disney Dream. I am not the type of vacationer that likes to pack in a lot of activities into one day. I am on vacation to relax and that is exactly what we did on Day 2. We started off with everyone's favorite: Mickey Waffles!!!

This boy and I understand each other. Just grab and bite, no need to cut!!

I love this pic of Amberly and Gian. They might argue alot but they adore each other. 

Mommy and me selfie with Nassau in the background. We docked at Nassau early but we were in no hurry to get off the ship. This was probably around 9:30am!

After breakfast at Cabanas, we went to the Oceaneer's Club (the kid's club) to drop off Amberly and Gian Carlo. We had something special planned for Adrian. When we got there it was during Open House, when the parents can come into the club, and there was a dance party going on. You know my kids jumped right in. 

While they danced, JC and I toured the club. I love Disney for their attention to detail. Everything is exactly as you see in the movies. I mean, look at Andy's room from Toy Story!

and the Monsters, Inc., factory. It was so amazing. They also had Pixie Hollow for arts and crafts and Nemo's Reef as a computer station. I'm glad we got to see the club like this, it will be gong into renovation soon and out will emerge The Millenium Falcon!!! I need to go back just to see that!

Back on the dance floor was none other than Mickey Mouse himself leading the Hokey Pokey. 

This picture right here means so much to me. As a child, JC was never able to go on vacation with his family and now he was on a Disney cruise with his children. I came out of the kids club and saw him sitting in a porthole just staring out at Nassau. I didn't disturb him or ask him what he was thinking. I just quietly snapped this pic. 

We took Adrian with us and headed over to the theater. Yes, the Dream has a theater where they play Disney movies all day and guess what was being premiered while we were on the ship: AVENGERS: Age of Ultron!!!  We didn't tell Adrian anything, we just sat down and put on our 3D glasses. When the lights dimmed and he realized it was AVENGERS 2, he freaked out. He was so excited. 

He was in full Avengers gear on Saturday, hat, shirt, all of it.

It was a super cloudy day so after the movie and of course, some ice cream, we dropped Adrian off at the Oceaneer's club too. 

and JC and I got off the ship at Nassau. We wanted a day date and this was the perfect opportunity. 

We walked around the straw market and ended up at the Bacardi factory. And then, when in Rome...

That's one happy man right there. We sat outside for about 2 hours just people watching. There really isn't much else to do in Nassau and since they were getting ready for Carnaval, there was lots of people scrambling about. 

When we got back to the ship, we picked up the kids at the club (they didn't want to leave!) and headed up to the pool deck. They boys immediately got in line for the Aquaduck, JC napped on a pool chair, Amberly had more ice cream and I just hung out watching everyone.

Saturday night was the funnest night of our cruise because it was Pirate Night!! I had been planning out Pirate Night ever since I booked out cruise. I found the kids costumes at the Disney Store on super-clearance (about $9.99 each) and they went as Jake and Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. For JC and I, I purchased some black pants at Goodwill, shredded the bottom and we wroe t-shirts. The bandannas are given to you by your room host/hostess.  It cannot be a proper pirate night without a visit to Captain Jack Sparrow!

After Captain Jack, we were on our way to dinner when Amberly and JC ran into Captain Hook and Smee......

and the boys and I found Pirate Donald!!

We didn't make it to see Peter Pan but we will catch him next time!! We also made it to see the Villains Tonight show! It was so fantastic and hilarious! Dinner on Pirate Night was at The Royal Palace with yummy French food.

Doesn't he make a sexy pirate??

Pirate Night includes a super fun Pirate Deck Party at 10:30pm where there is a pirate show featuring Captain Jack Sparrow, a fireworks show and then an epic dance party. It becomes a club up on the pool deck and my kids took full advantage. I didn't know they had such amazing moves!!  We had so much fun at the party and didn't make it back to our cabin until well after midnight!!

Disney Dream Day 1 Recap