The Fairy Tale- Mickey and Minnie’s House

In the past month we have had a lot of firsts around the Hall house! We celebrated Josiah’s first Christmas and New Years, we had the first snow of the year and some sledding fun, we took Addy and Josiah’s first flight on an airplane all the way to Mickey and Minnie’s house for our first family trip to Walt Disney World, as soon as we got back from vacation we toured and selected Addy’s first pre-school, followed by Josiah’s FIRST birthday preparation and celebrations. Whew, that makes for one tired Momma (and Daddy)!

If I could sum up our trip in two words, it would be coining Addy’s phrase, a real life piece of a fairy tale! Addy so adorably confused the word “hotel” with the words “fairy tale”, and when the Disney days were stretching long she would ask to go back to the “fairy tale” for a nap or to go to sleep. We also had to take a ride in the “alligator” (elevator) to our room each day so that made for some cute memories to add to my list of funny things Addy says. However, Addy was spot on with her description, our trip was amazing, and for her, every single day WAS a fairy tale!

We made the icy drive to the airport crossing our fingers that our flight would be one of the first to actually depart Norfolk since the snow storm came two days earlier. A few hours later we touched down in Orlando with sunny skies. We started our trip with dinner at Cinderella’s the night we arrived, followed by a full day at Magic Kingdom the next day.  The kids were amazing, Josiah napping in the stroller periodically and Addy way too excited to worry about sleeping.  That day we had breakfast in Belle’s castle, crossed off our list the iconic carousel, Small World, Peter Pan, Ariel and Dumbo rides (repeatedly), combined with a trip to meet Princesses Rapunzel & Tiana, caught the Main Street Parade, read books and performed in a play with Princess Belle herself, and topped the night off with hanging out with Mickey Mouse doing the hot dog dance.  I’m not sure who had more fun, and I know the sugar at the Main Street Confectionary (one of my favorite places at MK) helped to keep the kiddos going. We returned to our hotel for dinner and dessert and we all slept really well that night! A successful first day!

Justin and I were both shocked when day 2 arrived and the kiddos were up early, both happy, and ready to go! We headed off early for our day at Epcot, as we had Princesses Elsa and Anna waiting on us.  We did Frozen Forever, we met Elsa and Anna dressed in our Anna dress, we lunched and shopped and let Daddy and Papa enjoy some adult rides at Epcot, we met Goofy, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and Donald at various places throughout the park. We toured all of the “countries” and found out what they had to offer, we had dinner at Le Cellier and tried some new Canadian dishes, we blew bubbles, laughed and played, and closed down the evening by Addy getting a real kiss from Snow White. To tell you this girl was experiencing a truly magical experience was an understatement. How many 2-year-olds have actually been kissed by one of their favorite princesses, with the lip stick kiss to prove it? Addy was in Heaven, and little bro was astonished at all the sites!

Day 3 came and we packed up for Animal Kingdom, where we immediately met Mickey and Minnie, went on a jungle safari, saw wood workers and African dancers, saw the Lion King Cirque Du Solei show (which was amazing), grabbed lunch at Tusker House with Donald, Goofy, and Mickey Mouse (one of our favorite meals), and headed back to the hotel for an early afternoon when we were done checking out the shops at the park.  We rested and checked out the stores, and restaurant at the hotel, Addy got her first arcade experience and hung out there most of the night with Daddy, and we called it an early night to catch up on some much needed rest. I couldn’t believe how happy and content the kids were. They were both having an amazing time! At this point, I’m not sure who was having more fun: the kids and their engulfment in magic and delight, the parents and their excitement of seeing their kids totally enamored and happy, or the grandparents who got to share in all the happy, fun, and chaos!

My favorite thing of the trip is the massive amount of photos I have from it. So many that I have to be super selective about which ones I post. The photopass/memory maker that Disney offers is amazing, and we didn’t have to worry about capturing our own photos. I still don’t think I’ve seen all the photos or videos from this trip. It was so much magic, so much fun, so whimsical, and such an extravagant experience for our little ones and the big ones. I <3 Disney!