On our final day at Disney, we hit up Epcot. When I originally planned the trip, I wasn’t planning to take Samantha to Epcot as I didn’t think there were very many rides she could really enjoy. Instead, GJ was going to take her back to Magic Kingdom for the day while Robert and I took the boys to Epcot. Well, from the time I planned our FastPasses to the day of our actual trip, Samantha’s Frozen obsession grew exponentially! Considering that both the Frozen ride and the Elsa and Anna meet and greet are in Epcot, we decided to change our plans! But, that meant we had no Fast Pass for the Frozen ride and the line for it can get really, really long. So, what did we do? We got up bright and early and made a run for it, of course!  🙂

At Epcot and ready to go!

We were there before park opening and lined up with the masses to make our way to Norway at rope drop. There was a huge crowd headed that way but we had no problems and only had to wait about 5 minutes in line.

After the ride we waited about 15 minutes to meet Elsa and Anna – it was totally worth it! Look at Samantha’s face!  🙂

Samantha even picked something special for Elsa! 😉

We then got to meet Anna who was pretty funny telling some sort of story all about Sven and Kristoff!

We then waved goodbye to the two best VIPs of the trip in Samantha’s opinion…

and then, of course, we hit up the gift shop! Samantha walked out with an Anna doll to match the Elsa doll she already had.

She was one happy little girl! I’m so glad we changed the plans to get her over there!

We spent the rest of the morning riding Figment, The Seas with Nemo, and Test Track (which was so awesome!).

We then made our way to Italy for lunch and toured some of the countries in the World Showcase…

including a stop in France for dessert!

The boys then wanted to get their faces painted…

and Samantha was worn out!

While she was asleep, Robert and the boys and I went inside to ride Living with the Land and Soaring (hands down my favorite ride at Disney now!). When we came back outside, it was POURING rain! Oh no! Luckily, it was the end of our day and we all had ponchos so no biggie.

We made it back to the car and back to the hotel where everyone was tired from the big adventures. The next morning, we had one last club level breakfast (these kids are living the life right here!)…

and then said goodbye to Disney!

It was truly a GREAT trip. Despite threats of rain every day, we got SO lucky with the weather. All of the kids got to see and do things they were super excited about…and Robert and I got to watch them be super excited! 🙂 Also, despite late nights, early mornings, and hot weather, we had virtually no meltdowns and very little whining from the kids. They were Disney troopers for sure! As always, a HUGE thanks to GJ and Daddo for making it all happen. Now, when are we going back???!!!!

Even though we had a late night on Saturday night watching the Star Wars fireworks, we were still up bright and early on Sunday to hit up the Magic Kingdom! As another special treat, we bought the Early Morning Magic special where you get to get into the park at 7:45 (before official opening at 9:00) and had unlimited access to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Peter Pan, and Winnie the Pooh with breakfast included! We obviously did it for the Seven Dwarfs ride and it was totally worth it!

The boys LOVED it and got to ride it a total of 4 times in a row. We honestly could have ridden it way more but they did the other rides too.

We all had to split up a bit because Samantha couldn’t ride Seven Dwarfs and didn’t really like being left out.

Thankfully they started running the carousel at about 8:15 and she was happy as could be riding that over and over and over!

Right before rope drop, Robert and I got ready to hustle over to Space Mountain while the kids went with GJ and lined up to meet some princesses. Maxwell had planned to ride Space Mountain for the first time with us, but after the Tower of Terror incident, he changed his mind. 🙂  Robert and I beat the main crowd over to Space Mountain and the kids met some VIPs. There were hugs for Cinderella…

and plenty of love for Elena of Avalor!

We spent the morning riding Buzz Lightyear, The Little Mermaid, Small World, Dumbo, and Barnstormer – it was Samantha’s first time and she LOVED it!

After lunch, GJ took Samantha back to the hotel to nap while Robert and I took the boys on some of the bigger rides. Everyone was a bit tired by this point…

but with the help of some ice cream, they remained all smiles!

And they obviously loved Splash Mountain…

and also got to ride Big Thunder for the first time. A huge hit!

We were then able to pick up another Fast Pass for Tomorrowland Speedway where the boys both proved they are excellent drivers! By that point it was late afternoon and the rain was coming so we headed back to the hotel for some room service that night! Perfect! After two FULL days we were all feeling about like this…

But we still had one day left! See you tomorrow!

We just got back from a two week stay in Florida where the first three days of that were spent in Disney! It was super fun as always but this trip included some pretty special treats and experiences! We loaded up and headed out Friday morning…

and got all checked into the Grand Floridian. I attempted to get Samantha to take a nap while the boys enjoyed the pool. We then all headed over to the Polynesian Resort to go to the Spirit of Aloha luau!

It was fun to see the hula dancers and we all loved the guy twirling fire! whoa!

As another special treat, we got to see some of our cousins! My cousin, Amy, and her family and parents (my dad’s brother) were all there too! The little girl cousins all had matching Moana dresses…

and everyone loved getting to meet baby Bennett for the first time!

What a fun crew!

We chatted for a while after the show was over and our kids had no problem taking over the stage! ha!

We then stopped in the lobby and got a caricature done of the kids. I have one of Maxwell and Spencer from a few years ago and wanted one with all three. They of course wanted Star Wars…

cute! Though I can’t say that looks much like Spence and where are Samantha’s Princess Leia buns??

The next morning came early because we were over at Hollywood Studios before “rope drop” to start a day of fun! When they let people in, Robert and I made our way to the front and headed directly to Rock N Roller Coaster. We were one of the very first ones to get on! Success!

GJ stayed back with the kids and met Donald! Maxwell was pretty excited to have an autograph book this time and got the signatures of all the VIPs!

We then all met up and got to see Daisy!

Autograph! check check!

We then stopped for a group photo on Hollywood Boulevard, of course!

We then all had Fast Passes for Toy Story and the Frozen Ever After Sing Along! After Toy Story we all took a quick break for water and bathrooms and, next thing I knew, Spencer was gone. GONE. We had all been standing together by the strollers but then crossed the pathway about 12 feet over to get into some shade. I thought he followed us but he did not. By the time I realized he wasn’t with us, he was nowhere to be seen. We all took of running in different directions screaming his name. I found a cast member to let them know and they immediately got me to show a picture of him to alert all cast members in the park. While I knew we would definitely find him – he had his Magic Band on with all of his info on it – I was still terrified and panicked. Robert took off looking for him and kept going down to the front of the park – much farther than I thought Spencer could have gone – but, there he was. Spencer had made his way all the way up to the shops on the Hollywood Blvd!! Robert saw him walking out of a store with a cast member who had seen him alone. I think it really scared Spencer – maybe not as much as it scared me – but he sure was good to hold our hands the rest of the trip! Phew…between the baseball game and now this, we need to be more careful!

We then headed into some air conditioning to sing along to Frozen!!

Samantha thought it was awesome but really just wanted Elsa to be on stage the whole time! 🙂 We then had lunch at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater where the kids basically had milkshakes for lunch! Ah, vacation!

After lunch, we met the two main VIPs! Minnie and Mickey!

Autograph! Check check!

GJ then took Samantha back to the hotel to attempt a nap while Robert and I took the boys on another ride before our special adventure! Unfortunately, the ride was NOT Maxwell’s favorite to say the least! We convinced the boys to go on Tower of Terror which, in hindsight, was perhaps a mistake! ha! Spencer really did fine – he was scared but also thought it was pretty awesome. Maxwell did not do fine. That poor boy screamed as if he was in fear for his life…because he was! Terrified doesn’t even cut it. Robert might disagree but I have to share this pic…

Oh, poor sweet Maxwell! He might never let us forget this…and might never do another scary ride again!

We then took it easy on the Great Movie Ride before running over (in the pouring rain!) to our special adventure! See you tomorrow to tell you all about it. It was out of this galaxy! 🙂