Our Disney trip was so full of memories and I did my best to capture all of it. Believe it or not, I did not bring any of my cameras. I just had my phone and we purchased the photo package from the cruise and one of the days at Magic Kingdom. Trust me - it's worth it! I had close to 500 photos from the trip so there is no way that I could put all the photos into 1 blog post so I made a slideshow! Click HERE to watch it and you can read below all of the highlights. Enjoy!
We left Chicago bright & early in the midst of a huge rain storm. I highly recommend doing curbside checkin when you've got kiddos. It was super fast and allowed us to get rid of our bags so much faster. We basically ran thru security as it was not that busy. Once we were back at the gates, we passed the time with the moving walkway. It was a hit! Preston was fascinated by the takeoff & loved looking out the window. After Preston settled down a bit, he slept for 1.5 hours of the 2+ hour flight. Eloise did great as well and loved watching her movies.
The first part of our vacation included 2 days at Magic Kingdom and staying at the Art of Animation. Thanks to Brad and his charm, we got upgraded to family suite in the CARS area. We had 2 bathrooms. 3 sleeping areas with 1 being a master suite. Eloise slept in the Murphy bed or "secret bed" and loved it.
After getting settled in our room, we had lunch and then headed to the Magic Kingdom. We did the meal plan for food and it was great. I would highly recommend it. As we were entering the Magic Kingdom, I was so excited for Eloise to see Cinderella's castle. She was in awe when she finally saw it. We opted to do the Fast Passes for some rides. The 1st ride we did was the Tea Cups. Because of some earlier rain storms, some of the outdoor performances were cancelled but Disney still delivered with the Rainy Day parade. Eloise was so excited when she saw Mickey & Minnie. The rest of the evening was pretty great too because we go to meet Daisy Duck, Minnie Mouse & Ariel. We wrapped our long day by watching the Electric Parade.
We returned to Magic Kingdom for round 2. It was a hot day but we were armed with lots of water. Eloise & Brad did the Dumbo ride to kick off the day. Next up was the Barnstormer roller coaster where Eloise told me, "Mommy! Put your arms up!" We did the obligatory train ride around the park and ended up over by Splash Mountain. Eloise has turned into a little dare devil and insisted on riding it with Brad. After a long day at Magic Kingdom, we opted for pizza back in our room for dinner followed by some nighttime swimming.
Eloise got a birthday button to wear everyday. To top it off, our stateroom was decorated with birthday decor. Eloise was most excited to sleep in her bunk bed that came out of the ceiling. Preston was disappointed that he did not get to sleep up there but was happy just to climb up and down the ladder.
We opted to skip the excursions this Port and just walked around seaside. Everyone enjoyed some fresh coconut water right out of coconuts. Back on the boat, we hit the pool areas. Eloise went down the water slide. She's fearless! Preston loved Nemo's Reef. While Preston was napping, Eloise went to the Bippidi Boppidi Boutique. On our way, we ran into Minnie in the elevator. She escorted Eloise to the boutique. Jess was her fairy godmother. She picked out the Anna coronation dress. After dinner, Eloise participated in the princess procession where she was introduced to all the passengers with Princess Belle. That night, she met Minnie, Mickey & Rapunzel.
We woke her up singing Happy Birthday and she asked, "where's the cake?" We spent the day at Castaway Cay. What beats swimming in the ocean & making sandcastles on your birthday? Preston loved the sand & sea. He loved kicking up the sand as he was walking into the water.
At dinner, our waiter had a special birthday cake for Eloise. One of the best parts of the Disney cruises is the Pirate night. We all dressed up. Preston looked so cute! Eloise got to meet pirate Daisy. Eloise enjoyed the pirate dance party until past 11pm.
We did the Princess Gathering where we got to meet Cinderella, Belle, Rapunzel & Snow White. We also did the Frozen Gathering and got to meet Elsa & Anna. We had an afternoon full of water sliding & swimming. Our final dinner was at Animator's Palate and it is my favorite restaurant. Crush, the turtle from Nemo, sang Happy Birthday by only using the word "Dude." Eloise was so amazed by it she said, "Hey! It's me Eloise!"
It was great trip! Can't wait to do it again!
Here are some more videos from the trip. Click HERE to watch.