CMT's First Disney: Day One

We decided to squeeze a quick Disney World trip into a weekend in May when we had an opportunity. We threw it together on very short notice, making hotel and meal reservations and deciding to just wing the rest. We had plans to fly out early on a Friday morning, so that Wednesday after school, we (GD and Spiffer to the rescue since I didn't get home in time) put the Magic Bands box in the mailbox with a label addressed to HG and Cressey. I asked HG to go check the mail for me, and she brought it in and asked me to help her open the box. She had absolutely no clue. Her reaction was wonderfully priceless and all that I had dreamed of. I had been hounding her about practicing her spelling words early in the week, and it was nice to finally explain why I was doing that! She had to take her test a day earlier than normal since she'd miss school on Friday. Cress was a little slow to excite as she tried to grasp what was happening, but when HG showed her the bracelets excitedly, she appropriately jumped up and down too. Pretty cute. (She was a little grumpy with me when she woke up on Thursday morning and wasn't going to Disney World that day. Time is hard to explain to a three year old!)

Friday morning, we were up way before the sun, and it was my first time to fly alone with both girls. Other than the occasional sister irritation, they were angels. They entertained themselves, we survived bathroom trips on the plane, we found some good snacks on our layover, and we took the Magical Express to the hotel when we arrived in Orlando. John was waiting on us when we got there, and we headed to the Magic Kingdom!

Unfortunately, we quickly discovered that the twice-a-year love bugs had also arrived in Orlando and were swarming all over Disney, almost derailing our day. The girls were NOT happy and kept swatting the bugs, running into people trying to get away, etc. Ugh. We did the best we could to avoid the bugs, calm down the girls, and stay inside. As we walked in, they were having the afternoon parade. The girls weren't terrible impressed since they were annoyed with the bugs, but Cress enjoyed waving at everyone. Then, we met Ariel in her grotto, and Cressey clung to HG at first. Ariel was amazing and took out a dinglehopper to help get Cressey's hair photo ready and that seemed to win her over. We found some ice cream and rode It's a Small World. We had dinner plans at the Crystal Palace with Pooh and his friends. Again, Cress was shy at first, but after seeing her sister hop up and hug everyone, she was soon jumping at them too.

After dinner, we saw Cinderella and Elena and then headed back to the pool at the hotel for a twilight swim. John and the girls went down before me, and I walked up to the pool to see John catching Cressey at the bottom of the HUGE slide! HG spent the rest of the night doing the slide over and over, and Cressey enjoyed the hot tub. We made it back to the room just in time for the 9 p.m. fireworks. Cressey finally was convinced to come out to the balcony to watch them after we thought to put on her earphones to quieten the booms. Needless to say, we all fell into bed and slept well that night!

Opening her special delivery

Trying on the princess dresses I got her

HG insisted on packing immediately

Friday morning, reallllllly early but happy to finally GO

OFF WE GO!

On the Magical Express

Ready to go see Mickey!

Watching the parade on Main Street

Meeting Ariel

The stroller was a hit with all (We rented from Kingdom Strollers)

It's a Small World

Elena was showing Cressey around her room after she asked what it looked like.

View from our room, almost time for fireworks but first a quick swim!

The top of the slide is up there in the red circle!