Florida Vacation

Ben and I are coming up on our 10-year anniversary in July and came up with an idea probably about a year ago to take the whole family to where we spent our honeymoon - Disney World! 10 years is a big milestone, and Charlotte and Natalie are right in the thick of the magical Disney years. So we pinched pennies, worked odd jobs, and used gift money to go on an amazing family vacation. 

I got a great deal on flights direct from Bloomington to Orlando, so the girls got to fly for the first time, and we got to save about 48 hours of our vacation NOT stuck in a car. We got in a little later than expected - probably around 9pm, but the girls really enjoyed flying. My friend Jamie met us at the airport with carseats for the girls and a stroller to use at Disney. We got our rental car and drove about a half hour to our hotel - The Art of Animation resort. We stayed in a Little Mermaid room and the girls loved it!  

We spent our first full day at Magic Kingdom. We rode rides, ate yummy ice cream treats, walked A LOT, met Cinderella (but I lost my pictures :( ) and made a little list of what we wanted to come back to when we returned to Magic Kingdom. By about 3:00 the kids were hot and worn out, so we took the shuttle back to the hotel to swim and have dinner. 

 We spent the second day at Epcot (or Nat calls it "Eggcot"). We rode Spaceship Earth and the Frozen ride, met Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy, and visited some of the different 'countries' they have around Epcot. Our Fast Passes were kind of spaced out funky, so we didn't get to spend nearly as much time in each country as we wanted, since so much of our time was spent walking to and from the next Fast Pass. Something I now know how to navigate better for next time! They really loved the Turtle Talk with Crush, too. Natalie's favorite thing was the Enchanted Tiki Room - she loved the singing birds! But she absolutely hated Mickey's PhilharMagic concert, though - - the 3D video, blowing wind, and sprinkles of water really freaked her out. Charlotte loved it! :)

trying various sodas from around the world

Charlotte carried around a twig and a leaf most of the day...

In Epcot Mexico - Charlotte told us she wished for the best
vacation ever, and it had already come true! <3

We left Epcot around 4:30 to meet up with our friends Lilly and Josie and their parents Jon and Morgan! The girls had so much fun catching up and playing together!! 

Somehow... they still had energy for a night swim back at the hotel even after a full day of walking at Epcot and having dinner with Lilly and Josie. 

 We set off to go back to Magic Kingdom on the third day, but the line for the shuttle was enormous, but the line was practically nonexistent for Epcot, so I came up with a scheme to take the shuttle to Epcot, then take the Monorail from Epcot to Magic Kingdom. I thought I was soooooo smart. But we didn't know you had to stop at a huge transportation hub in the middle. And so when we got off the Monorail, we saw the connection to Magic Kingdom had another enormous line. So Ben suggested we take the Ferry across the lake into Magic Kingdom. There was a mass of people waiting for the Ferry, but a guy working the crowd assured me it would be only a minute wait or so and that everyone waiting would get on. So we rode the Ferry into Magic Kingdom. From the time we left the hotel to the time we got through the security at Magic Kingdom, was about 75 minutes. My phone died for a long chunk of the day, too :(

Natalie was not impressed with the Monorail 

 In the evening, we decided to go back for fireworks, but traffic and parking and late decision-making put us making a mad dash back into Epcot just about 10 minutes before their 9:00 fireworks. Charlotte loved them, Natalie hated them :(

 The next morning, we drove to Treasure Island on the Gulf cost and our *real* vacation began :) We stayed at an old-timey beach motel right on the water and just had the best time ever. The girls enjoyed the slower pace, zero travel time to what they wanted to do, and freedom to play without holding a hand through the Disney crowds. They loved playing in the sand, playing in the water, and playing at the playground just down the block from the hotel. We also had super delicious local food, ice cream, and breakfast with an amazing view!

breakfast on the porch

 We had to pack up and leave the beach early Sunday morning, it was a 2+ hour drive back to Orlando, and we stopped to see Jamie and her family and return the beach equipment we borrowed from her. Then it was just a quick flight back to Bloomington!

It was such a wonderful vacation! The girls were AMAZING - - they were flexible, understanding, safe, happy, polite, got along with each other, and held themselves together SO WELL. Seriously, we were so proud of them - - especially Charlotte, who was on her feet 100% of the time. The only two times they really got upset were on descent into Orlando - their ears bothered them, and one afternoon at the beach Charlotte got saltwater and then sand in her eyes and was very uncomfortable. But after a cool shower and a 2 hour nap, she was back to her wonderful self! Very, very proud of them and also so grateful we got to make these wonderful family memories.