Disney World.

We went to Disney World!

We went in September during Tom’s fall break — and we were thrilled to have BOTH sets of grandparents with us, too!

The kids had a truly wonderful time!

(And I learned a lot about what I want to do differently next time. Ha!)

I’m so thankful for the memories made. I love that the kids wanted to go back almost immediately. I will always be thrilled that the kids got to experience this place with us and their grandparents — it was truly awesome.

Mickey left gifts in their rooms at night — it was a big hit! (The Donald and Rapunzel were new for them this year. How does Mickey always know exactly what they want?!)

We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort this time. There were lots of things we liked about this hotel — one thing that was neat was that a small bed folded down out of the wall — Tom slept in it every night! (When it comes to Disney resorts, I’m not loyal. Ha! I’ll probably switch every time.)

The first night we arrived, we made Tom’s dreams come true with dinner at this place. We’ve watched YouTube videos of this restaurant for 2 years — and we were finally, really there! He was STOKED. He told me that this, “was the best day of his entire life!” And it was the most awesome place. Adored it.

Alice and Grandma!

The next morning, we all headed to the Magic Kingdom!

Dumbo!

The teacups were her favorite! Of course! We rode this one twice, she loved it so much!

The carousel with Mimi!

We didn’t know this beforehand, but the Pirates of the Caribbean ride was closed down while we were there! This devastated Tom — like, he cried when we got there and saw it. (Lesson 1 learned: ALWAYS CHECK the status of your favorite rides beforehand so you’re prepared!) But then he perked right up when he realized the gift shop was still open! Ha! He seriously played in here for like…30 minutes? It was hilarious. He told me his favorite ride was Peter Pan, but his favorite thing was probably this gift shop!

We sat down to eat ice cream in the afternoon, and a show was going on at the castle! With princesses and an evil witch. Alice LOVED THIS. She said that this show (that she watched from afar) was her favorite thing! She was amazed!

(Lesson 2 learned: Do NOT focus on the rides so much next time, Kate! The kids loved the shows and parades going on around us more.)

Like this dancing parade? LOVED! They danced and danced!

Tom ended the night on the beach at our resort. Sooooo nice! My favorite thing about our resort was that because it is so spread out — it felt totally NOT crowded. Every night, we had our beach to ourselves mostly. It was crazy awesome.

Day 2: Epcot!

On this day we headed to Epcot for breakfast with the princesses! Then we rode a couple things and headed back to our resort for lunch. We ended the day back at the Magic Kingdom.

Epcot!

Alice met ALL the princesses and could not have been more thrilled! Best day ever for her! And she participated in the princess parade — she’s even waving to her kingdom! LOVE her!

Tom and I are famous! Famous scuba divers! Ha!

And then we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for a couple hours in the evening. And y’all? This was the best.

Our first day at MK had been stressful for me — their app (which you basically have to use) was down much of the day. (Lesson 3: have hard copies with your reservation info!).

So on this day, I’d decided not to stick with all these crazy FastPass reservations so much. It’s just…stressful to me. So when we got to MK that evening, I asked the kids if they wanted to meet Mickey (which we had a FP for) and they said, “No!” Ha ha! So we didn’t. We ate dinner instead. Everything was much better for us this way for us! Just…whatever, man!

So out of our three FPs we had for that evening — Alice and I used one. Tom and Kevin used zero. 🙂

Here’s our one:

We met Tink! Alice loved meeting characters this time!