Disney Christmas 2011

We had such a magical trip to Disney. The four of us flew there and we met Tommy's parents and Libby's children there, along with our friends The Whitlocks. We left early Tuesday morning and got to our resort mid-day that day. BTW, our resort was wonderful - "Shades of Green." Thanks to Tommy's dad- he was able to get us rooms there. It is a military resort so you have to have military affiliation to stay there. It was a beautiful resort and so much cheaper than many of the others. It was right next to The Polynesian resort, so we had access to the monorail system. That was very convenient.
When we got there the first day, we had planned to go to Hollywood Studios. It was so crowded that first day that we didn't get to do some of the things that we wanted to there so we quickly realized that we would have to go back one of our other days. We still got to do several things that night though, including eating at Toy Story's pizza planet.
The next day was our first full day and we started the day at Magic Kingdom. We got to the parks about 7:30 am (they opened at 7 am the week we were there) and rode a few rides that we knew would get busy later, like "It's a Small World" and the Toy Story ride. The fast passes came in handy this week too, so we took advantage of those. Then, the girls had appointments at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. This was one of Allie's favorite parts of Disney. They made her up to look just like a princess, Cinderella infact, including hair, make-up and nails. The boys got dressed up like knights, even though they were not interested in getting their hair styled.Next, we were off to Epcot for breakfast with the Princesses. We heard that the Princess Breakfast at Epcot's Akershus Hall in Norway was wonderful. It was great but later we would find out that the Mickey/ Donald breakfast was our favorite by far. We did get to meet Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, Snow White and Ariel there and get their autographs. The food was family style with a few other items on the buffet. Next, we had planned on going back to Magic Kingdom that day but it turned out it was at capacity. So, we decided to rearrange our schedule and just stay at Epcot for the day and maybe go into Magic Kingdom late afternoon when we could get in. In Epcot, we enjoyed several activities including all of the Nemo stuff. This park was our children's least favorite as it was not geared as much for their age. Later that afternoon, we were able to get into Magic Kingdom so we went there and did a few rides and ate dinner there. The next day, we went back to Magic Kingdom first thing and stayed there all day. We stood in line to get Rapunzel's autograph, which was definitely the most popular princess there. We also rode many rides there and attended some shows. Allie actually enjoyed riding "Splash Mountain" with Tommy. Magic Kingdom is definitely my favorite park. On Friday, we went to Animal Kingdom, which I had never been to before. It was great. It was like a big zoo but with rides and shows! We went to the Donald/ Mickey safari breakfast at Tuskar House, which was amazing! The food was unbelievable and the characters were so much fun. We really thought this breakfast was the best! We spent the rest of the day at Animal Kingdom going on a safari ride, riding other rides, seeing a Lion King show, a petting zoo and much more! Later that evening, we rode to the bus center and then took the ferry across the water to Magic Kingdom just in time for the fireworks. It was beautiful!
The next day, which was our last full day, we went back to Hollywood Studios and got to finish up everything that we missed that first day, including meeting Chip and Dale and also Buzz and Woody. We also rode the Toy Story ride and many others. We enjoyed the Beauty and the Beast show and Tommy and I enjoyed taking turns riding some roller coasters. We ended the day at Downtown Disney where we visited the Lego store and shopped in the "World of Disney" store.
We had such a wonderful time at Disney. We are already planning our next trip.It was so nice to see it all decorated for Christmas! The best part was seeing the children's faces light up with excitement. It truly is a magical place.