Goin' to Greenville for Christmas...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Disney World

DAY 1

We stayed at Disney's Allstar Music Resort
(Hooray for Florida Resident Discounts!)
After breakfast monday morning, we were ready to go.

After a short bus ride,
we rode the monorail to the Magic Kingdom

We made it just in time to see the musical show at the Train Station
where they opened the gates for the morning. The kids loved it when Mickey rode in on the train!

First thing we did once inside the park was get the kids their first pairs of ears!

Ethan spinning on the tea cup ride

Carrie in a tea cup

waiting in line for the speedway



We met Scrooge McDuck

Then we went on the Winnie the Pooh ride


They were both wide-eyed through the whole thing!

Look, there's Tigger!

Then we saw Donald


Carrie gets her first up-close glimpse of the princesses. We walked back into this big room and she could see Aurora, Cinderella, and Belle all waiting to meet the kids and sign autographs.


Princess Aurora

Aurora flirting with Ethan!

Cinderella asking Carrie if she had a nice journey
to come visit her royal castle.


Cinderella was wonderful with the kids, she really got Carrie talking about what she liked at Disney.



We hated to say goodbye to our favorite princess!

Our little Prince Charming!

Belle signing autographs

Beauty and the kids!

Ethan's favorite place to be


This was an exciting moment. Ethan's eyes were huge!

Mickey signing Ethan's book

Cheeeese!

Didn't get a picture, but the kids loved the small roller coaster in Mickey's Toon Town - not to fast, but just fast enough! We went twice in a row.

Right after lunch, we walked by the castle just in time

to see Mickey's Dreams Come True Show. It was SO good!

Best seat for the show!

Ready to ride on Dumbo

Then we all had ice cream

Ethan's face was a chocolate mess!

The kids played in Winnie the Pooh's playground
while the grownups rested our feet.

Carrie in a honey pot

Ethan in a honey pot

Pooh's tree house

We rode the ferryboat around Tom Sawyer's island before we headed to Main Street for the parade.

Ethan fell asleep while we were waiting for the parade to start!

The girls really enjoyed the parade


Carrie gets a glimpse of Cinderella's float

Then we headed over to Downtown Disney to meet my good friend, Lori, and her family for dinner. We found this great holiday photo op at Downtown Disney.
Ethan had just woken up when we got off the bus and wouldn't smile!

A dragon made of legos in the water at Downtown Disney.

That got a smile!

Me and Lori!

Thanks for everything you guys! We love you!!!

Back at the hotel the kids checked our folder full of info about all the parks.

After we got the kids and Mimi back to the hotel room, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for Magic Hours.

The park stayed open three extra hours past closing and we just had to show our room key to be able to ride the rides. It was so cool, hardly any lines at all!

DAY 2
We had reservations to eat breakfast at the Crystal Palace with all the Winnie the Pooh characters.

This was really fun!

Each of the characters made the rounds of the whole dining roomand eventually they all came by our table to meet the kids and sign autographs.

While we were waiting for Tigger to come around, they had a parade for all the kids to march around behind the characters.

Ethan was so excited to see Tigger!

After breadfast we were headed to ride more rides. But Carrie heard the music starting for Mickey's show again and off she went - she liked it so much she wanted to see the same show again!

(Can you tell how not crowded it was?!)
She loved all the singing and dancing!

Ethan just climbed around on the bench we were sitting on and got in her way!

After the show, we repeated the rides they wanted to do again. We did It's a Small World, Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, and Peter Pan.

Here's Bob and Ethan on It's a Small World again.

Then they rode the Golden Carousel

Then we found Ariel signing autographs

The stroller was worth every penny!

Waiting to ride Winnie the Pooh again


Posing with really cool mouse-shaped bushes!

Carrie by a rose garden (she noticed that they matched her pink jacket and wanted me to take her picture!)

Waiting for the bus to take us back to our room and a NAP! We were so tired!!!

Poor Ethan was exhausted!

...but still happy!

After we all had a nice long nap, we went to Hollywood Studios to see Playhouse Disney Live on Stage!

When we came around to the theater for the show, we saw Handy Manny signing autographs.

That was one of Ethan's favorite things. He loves Handy Manny and all his tools!

We took a picture with Rocket while waiting to get into the theater

Mimi let both kids pick out one thing they wanted to get from the gift shop and they picked out Mickey and Minnie dolls.

Waiting for the bus back to the Magic Kingdom, mouth full of a mickey mouse pretzel!

We got there in plenty of time for the SpectroMagic parade.

Half a million lights on all the people and the floats. It was amazing!



Then we bundled up and waited for the lighting of the castle and the fireworks.

It was COLD after dark!

But it was worth it!

Disney doesn't do anything half way!

If I used too many exclamation points in my descriptions above, you'll have to excuse me...

I guess Disney has that effect on me!!!

It really was a magical experience. We had such a great time and can't wait to go again!