Kate's other exclamation prior to the trip was "I'm going to fly in an airplane in the sky." She said this every time she saw an airplane, and we see plenty living so close to the airport. She was still excited about flying until the second we stepped on the plane, which is when she grabbed me in a choke hold and said "I WANNA DRIVE IN THE CAR!!!" Luckily some cookies from the flight attendant convinced her to give the plane a chance, and she (and the others) did great on the flight.
We arrived at the Polynesian and it was the nicest hotel I have seen. My dad planned every detail of this trip and it was evident. Everything about the trip was perfect! We were all ready to head to Magic Kingdom, so we loaded on the monorail (that was in our hotel--score!) and got to Magic Kingdom just as the afternoon parade began which was a great greeting for us but also a little overwhelming for the little ones. Then we headed to the Buzz Lightyear ride in Tomorrowland as our first ride. As we were standing in the line, it started to rain. Now this is an understatement; we actually were standing outside in the middle of a massive storm. In fact, a tree blew over right beside us. Mom and I huddled over the kids, who were scared out of their minds, and we all got soaked. This was the first of many, many rain storms on our trip. Orlando was going through an unseasonably wet summer, but we just got wet and kept Disney-ing. After our Buzz experience we went to our character dinner at Crystal Palace and enjoyed a dry meal with Winnie the Pooh and friends. After dinner we discovered Kate's two favorite rides--Dumbo and the tea cups--which we ended up riding several times over the course of the trip. They are two of my favorites too, so I had no problem riding those while David and Benton rode "mountains." We couldn't go back to the hotel without riding Lindsey's favorite, It's a Small World.
Sunday we had a character breakfast at the hotel with Lilo and Stitch. Mickey was there, and this is where Benton began his obsession with meeting Mickey everywhere we went. From there we headed to Hollywood Studios, and our main plan there was for Benton to attend Jedi training. This was the highlight of the trip for him, as he took a lesson to become a Jedi then used his skills to defeat Darth Vadar.
The highlight of the trip for Lindsey was going to storytime with Belle at her castle in the new Fantasyland. This was very authentic. Dad was with us and was selected to play the part of the knight in shining armor at the castle. After story time we ate lunch at Be Our Guest, which was the coolest restaurant there in my opinion. We truly felt like we were eating in the Beast's castle.
Our other character meals were Chef Mickey at the Contemporary (my favorite), family-style dinner at Ohana in the Polynesian, Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood Studios, and Princess Breakfast at Epcot. We were well-fed the entire trip.
Most nights we were able to watch the fireworks over Cinderella's castle from our hotel, and it was nice to already be back at the hotel instead of fighting the crowds at Magic Kingdom. The last night we watched Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios, and it was a perfect way to end the week.
At this point, the days started running together, but I know we spent ample time at each park and loved Magic Kingdom the most (so we kept going back). Lindsey loved getting autographs and trading pins; Benton loved seeing Mickey and riding splash and thunder mountains; Kate loved Dumbo and teacups. David and I loved seeing the kids have so much fun all week.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime trip with my entire family, and we are so grateful for my parents planning this trip for us!
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