Walt Disney World- A Magical Vacation

I am going to start by saying Sorry but I'm not sorry this blog will be a giant photo dump from our amazing Disney vacation last week. We had the most incredible time. Although we missed Benny terribly he was having a ball being spoiled by my parents and we were able to do so much more since we only had Easton. Also, the times where both Brian and I get a large amount of time to spend with only Easton are few and far between so we savored each second we got. 

This was Eastons first airplane ride. Truth be told Brian and I were the ones that didn't sleep a wink before the big day arrived. We were so excited to wake him up and take him on this fun filled trip! We forced him out of bed at a ridiculously early hour and after a couple minutes to gather his bearings he was ready to put on his "pack pack" and head for the airport. 

here we go! 

watching our plane come in

Got our ring pop in hand. My cousin said that the act of sucking on something would help his ears. We lucked out and Easton didn't have any discomfort at all during take off or landing. I think my ears pop'd more than his

Trying to see Cinderella's Castle from the sky. lol

Getting some work done

And a little snooze

 The first day we just scoped out our hotel and then walked over to Downtown Disney. Our hotel was literally across the street so we were able to easily go back and forth during our stay in Orlando. Also,  we didn't want to lug around his car seat since the only time we would need it was from the airport to the hotel and then from the hotel back to the airport. Brian found a private shuttle service that had all stages of car seats so we used them. It was wonderful. He came and got us in a van that already had the car seat hooked up, took us straight to our hotel (since he was private we didn't have to deal with dropping off other people at their hotels or picking up other people along the way). We will definitely do that again if we ever take another trip where we don't need our own vehicle.

water fountain fun in Downtown Disney....all fun and games until he got soaked....lol

Found us some Minnie and Mickey statues

And his favorite purchase of the entire trip (we got it within the first 5 hours of being in Orlando) his light saber

We just played in Downtown Disney and then ate at this amazing Cuban restaurant called Bongos. Easton couldn't keep himself in his seat. He LOVES to dance lol. Check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36UvMAYyDRE

MAGIC KINGDOM

I was the only one who had been to Disney before so I was already excited to start our day at the Magic Kingdom....but Easton and Brian's excitement was much greater! Easton couldn't wait to ride the bus to the Magic Kingdom and then ride the tram over to the entrance. 

The entire day was a dream. With our pre-planning work, Disney app, and FastPass usage we didn't have to wait in line longer than 10 minutes for anything we didn't have early entrance passes for. The weather was great. Hot but every line and ride is air conditioned and you can get water from any food  stand or restaurant free of charge. Easton did great and since we didn't have Ben we didn't have to worry about lugging around a stroller. Brian got a workout carrying Easton on his shoulders during moments when "my legs are tired" but since we took rest breaks as much as needed and the rides were fun moments of rest as well. We rode over 10 rides (some of them multiple times). We left the part around 2pm to go back to the hotel and put our feet up and have some down time. After a few hours we headed back out to the park to ride some more rides and watch the night time shows. The electrical parade, Wishes Castle show, and fireworks display were all amazing. This place is magnificent and the way its run it above and beyond anything. Both Brian and I have already talked about how excited we are to go back! 

waiting for our transportation

here we go

At Disney you can have a cookie for breakfast if you want!

THE CASTLE! 

one of our many rides on the Carousel

pure joy in this little face

Dumbo ride selfie

Watching the singing bird show in the Tiki Room

On the Jungle Cruise

Buzz Lightyear ride...one of his favorites

Its a Small World Ride....classic

The Haunted mansion

 This was and still is my favorite ride so I was SOOOO excited to share it with my boys. Easton has been obsessed with the Disney Movie "Haunted Mansion" for over a year now so he couldn't wait to see the Mansion in real life. Luckily both Brian and Easton loved this ride as well and we rode it twice that day. Its the BEST!

being scary outside of the Mansion

Ride #2 or #3 on the Carousel

Meeting Donald Duck

Meeting Goofy....his favorite character EVER! He was one happy boy after this meet and greet

Meeting the big guy Mickey Mouse. He was a little hesitant with this meeting. 

The Wishes show on the castle was amazing. Below are a couple small videos I took during it. Incredible

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alFXqCqE0So

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM7475w7TzE

Electrical Parade

it was a late night. This is on the bus on the way back to the hotel

ANIMAL KINGDOM

Next day we headed out to Animal Kingdom. We utilized our Disney app and fast passes for this park as well. This is one of the newer parks so I hadn't been to it yet and was really looking forward to it. We decided to forgo MGM and Universal Studios as most of those rides would be too scary or big for Easton and he hasn't heard of 99% of the tv and movies those parks are geared towards. Epcot would be great for Brian and I but pretty boring for Easton so we decided on Animal Kingdom. 

Since its so new it is still growing and I can't wait to see what it all entails in another 2-5 years. There were tons of hiking trails to view animals, a rapids water ride (Easton was too short for it...and he would've been terrified I'm sure), and a safari ride. This Kilimanjaro Safari ride was AMAZING. Yo ride in these big jeeps and they take you up close and personal with the animals. Its not staged so you never know which animals you will see or how close you will get. On our particular ride there was a Rhino that was blocking the jeep in front of us. One of the workers had to come out and bring food so he would walk away and he walked right up to our jeep. Easton could've easily touched him. 

They also have an area called DinoLand USA. This is geared more towards Eastons age group. They had a Dino Dig where you could dig for Dinosaur bones, a couple dinosaur themed rides, and a carnival. He had a blast! Due to the animals etc this park closes around 6pm each night so we went back to the hotel and hung by the pool before walked back over to Downtown Disney for dinner to celebrate our 6 year wedding anniversary. :) 

hard to see from this pic but the Tree of Life behind him has animals and things carved throughout it. Its beautiful!

ready to go on a hike

Hippos underwater

Alligators...as Easton says "they go Snap Snap" 

Giraffes

Elephants

Our up close friend Mr Rhino

Lazy Lions

Tricera-Topper ride

3D Its a Bugs Life....Easton did NOT like this one lol...but we did!

He won at the game I swear I was going to dominate....I lost every time

Big winner at the Dino Carnival

 Our last full day we stayed at the hotel. We started with a character Breakfast Buffet. Here we met Br'er Bear and Br'er Fox, Minnie Mouse, and Pluto. Then we spent literally the rest of the day at the hotel pool. We got to the pool around 10am and we had dinner by the pool at 7pm and then finally went up to our room for the night. We were exhausted but so full of happiness! How blessed are we that we were able to take this time to enjoy each other and discover the magic that is Disney!

Br'er Bear (He thought it was Yogi Bear...we didn't correct him lol)

Br'er Fox

He was a bit smitten with Minnie Mouse...she even gave him a smooch

So excited to see Pluto finally!

Pool time

Pool side naps

 Easton and I flew home the following day. Brian had to stick around for one more day for a work function. We were so sad the night before while we were packing up. The trip could not have gone any better. The weather was on our side and Easton was such a good boy. We ran him hard, but we had minimal meltdowns and he had just as much fun as we did! It was hard to say goodbye but we were both ready to go home and see our little Benny boo..... Ben was so happy to see us (and probably sad that the spoiling would be ending lol). He went to the College World Series, farmers market, and out to numerous restaurants with my parents. He had a blast and so did they. I took the rest of this week off so come Monday its back to business for us all! God Bless!

He gives this trip a huge thumbs up!