Disney World

From September 12 to 18, 2009, we took the kids to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. It was Sophie's first trip to the Magic Kingdom and on an airplane. She LOVED Disney World. The boys have been several other times, but still loved it. I worried that Drake might be too old to enjoy it, but I was wrong. He still loved being there. I knew Cooper would have fun, he has fun everywhere he goes :) We stayed at the Polynesian Resort, and were very pleased with the resort. I liked it better than the Grand Floridian, which we stayed at the last time.

My kids loved getting the characters autographs. The first thing we did when we got to Disney was get autograph books. This character, the bad guy from Pocahontas, was really funny. The boys loved him because he signed their books then threw Drake's book into the bushes. Sophie, on the other hand, did NOT like him at all. He looked too much like Captain Hook for her. She did not want to get her picture made with him.


At the Animal Kingdom, Sophie joined in on the drum banging as a band played in the streets.


Drake liked watching this big gorilla at the Animal Kingdom. As you can see by Drake's poncho, we had a couple of days where we got rained on. But, we still had fun and just put on ponchos like everyone else and kept going.



Rafiki and the kids

Sophie loved riding the classic Dumbo ride.


Even the boys rode the carousel with us girls...and enjoyed it!

Chef Mickey came out to meet and sign autographs at breakfast one day. The character breakfasts were a big hit with my kids. It is definitely the best way to see the characters and get autographs without having to wait in the LONG lines to see them.



Drake really liked Donald...Donald was a funny duck.


Sophie's favorite character's seemed to be Minnie Mouse and Ariel. She liked Cinderella (who, before we got there was the character she was most excited about meeting), but once there, Minnie Mouse and Ariel were her favorite.

Drake and Cooper loved going to Downtown Disney and going to the Lego Store. This is a Lego sea dragon in the water outside the store.


Cooper and Sophie show off the dinosaurs they made at the Build a Dino store at Downtown Disney. They had something to entertain them on the bus ride back to the resort.


Cooper's favorite character, once we got there, was Stitch. He really thought Stitch was funny.



Sophie got to do this a lot, be measured. Luckily, she just barely made the 40" mark and could ride most of the rides. She had to stand tall!!!

At Epcot, we got lucky and ran into Snow White....with no line!!! Amazing!!!! She was the first princess that Sophie got to meet. Snow White was very pretty and talked so softly. Sophie loved her.


On Tuesday of our stay, we went to the Disney "Boo to You Halloween Party". You are supposed to dress up and go trick-or-treating (at night at the Magic Kingdom) so we got Cooper and Drake these hats. They loved wearing them...even Drake loved wearing them and he is now very concerned about his image!


We had fun at the "Boo to You" party...even though it rained right as we got there. We put on the ponchos, again, and kept going.


Drake didn't want his picture with Pinocchio, but Sophie and Cooper did!


One afternoon, we had lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table in Cinderella's Castle. We all enjoyed it...even the food (which was surprising). The boys we given swords and the girls were given magic wands.


The kids with Sleeping Beauty.


Ariel and Sophie. Ariel was very pretty.

The highlight to Sophie's trip was a day at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Cinderella's Castle. She was so excited about doing this and it was all she talked about. At the Boutique, she dressed up as Cinderella. They called her name and took her to a chair infront of a big, fancy golden mirror. They turned the chair so that she couldn't see herself in the mirror. Then, two maidens went to work on Sophie. Sophie chose to have her hair fixed up ontop of her head like Cinderella, so one girl fixed Sophie's hair while another girl painted her nails and did her makeup. Then, once all beautiful, they sprinkled fairy dust over Sophie and made her close her eyes. Then they said "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo" and turned the chair around. Sophie squealed with delight! She was so excited to see herself looking like a princess. It was fun for me to watch her. She is such a girly girl and really gets into stuff like this.

Princess Sophie!



We liked watching the parades. Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs made a rare appearance.




Cooper got into the hula-hoop action.

Sophie was greeted by the Cinderella's mice during a parade.
My crazy boys enjoyed a moment of silliness infront of the Castle.




Those silly boys again!
At our resort they had this great water slide that looked like a volcano. My kids loved this! They must have come down this slide 100 times!!

Drake on the slide.
Cooper on the slide.
And, Sophie on the slide.