Disney World, Part I -- Magic Kingdom

We made our yearly trip to Disney World on June 2nd. We think we may have found the perfect time to visit. The first week in June means that Scott's out of school, but all the masses haven't arrived yet and there are still good deals to be had. We booked the vacation back in December, and Eli and I had been excitedly counting down the days on the computer through a Disney software program. The drive to Florida was blissfully uneventful as both kids were old enough to entertain themselves for long stints, and while Keira slept I could focus on Eli for a bit. We made our usual stop at Cracker Barrel for brunch. Two big hits that entertained Elijah for most of the drive were Travel BINGO (a thift store find -- thanks Grammie!) and a maze book we bought at Cracker Barrel.

We followed our usual routine of relaxing and unpacking on the first day when we arrived, then the next day we went to the Magic Kingdom. This year marked the first time for a few things as Elijah has gotten older. The first new experience this trip was successfully meeting characters. In the past, Elijah and Keira were terrified of the characters, but this year was different. The first day that we arrived at All Star Sports my sunglasses broke. While we were in the gift shop looking for a replacement pair, Eli found an autograph book and asked about it. I explained what it was, and he asked if we could buy it for his souvenir. Since I knew about his track record with characters, I told him we needed to try and meet a character first before we thought about buying an autograph book. Turns out this year was our lucky year. We all met Daisy Duck right when we arrived at the Magic Kingdom. As you can see from the smiles all around it was a success. :) P.S. Thanks to Dendi we were able to purchase some great professional photographer shots of our trip, including this one -- Thanks Dendi!


After the success of meeting Daisy we bought Eli an autograph book and went to meet the two stars -- Minnie and Mickey. Both of the kids were extremely excited. Eli even got their autograph and Keira insisted on hugging and kissing both Minnie and Mickey numerous times. Here's Keira's smile captured as she met Minnie for the first time and our family shot.



After meeting the characters, we spent some time together and we headed to Tomorrow Land. We rode The People Mover together, which ended up being one of Keira's favorite.


After The People Movers and getting our fastpass for Buzz Lightyear we headed over to drive the cars.





Later on, we all enjoyed another family ride, this time the carousel. Along with The People Movers, It's a Small World and the big train, the carousel was one of Keira's favorites.