Christmas Parade

Once we returned to the park ~ while Peyton continued to recharge (sleep in his stroller) ~ we wandered around the park and took a ton of pictures. We worked our way to the center of the "Kingdom" to find a good spot to wait for the parade to come by. During our wait I managed to get a few shots of the statues.

Donald

Walt and Mickey

Minnie
Brer Rabbit

We then went over and found our spots and waited for the Parade to start. I won't be writing much more - I'll just let you enjoy the parade through my lens. Enjoy!

After the parade we made our way to Tony's where Candy had made reservations for dinner. Loved the reminder that this is the restrant where Lady and the Tramp ate. The food was sooooo good! Once again Sydney and I celebrated our birthdays with ice cream treats provided by our amazing waitress at the end of our meal!

Then it was time to head home. We had another EARLY morning the next day and everyone needed to get some rest. We also needed to run by the store and pick up some other supplies, so we decided to head toward the car.

This is the tree in the first "meet and greet" area where a lot of the characters come out to sign autographs and have their pictures taken.

This is the view as we headed out of the park ~ I wasn't too sad as I knew I would be back again in just a day or two!

Next we head over to EPCOT...

The beginning of my dream - realized!

All I could think when I got up Sunday morning was that I made it, I really, really made it and I WAS going to see Disney... TODAY! I couldn't stop smiling! We drove out to Disney an hour before rope drop because Candy knew we needed to be there early to catch the rides we really wanted. When we got to the park they we walked up to the gate and as I saw this...

tears filled my eyes. I had dreamed this for so long. I simply couldn't believe that I was actually seeing the Magic Kingdom!

Sydney noticed the flowers in front of the "train station" and of course I had to get a picture of this together.


A beautiful Mickey Mouse ornament. There were so many other beautiful things waiting for us inside :) .... We went on through the gates. There was no rope drop. We found out later that they had decided to just let the early guests in because the temperature was 32 and they didn't want us to have to stand there and wait for an hour. We headed into the park and onto Main Street. This is where I totally lost it. I saw the castle rising up before me and I just started crying - so emotional - it was so much more beautiful that I could ever have imagined from the pictures I'd seen - the Disney shows I had watched - I couldn't help it when those emotions began pouring out. I really choked up when the cast members on Main Street started telling me Happy Birthday and calling me by name! Amazing!

Here is Madison posing with Dumbo...our very first ride. I got to ride this one with Peyton. He had been telling me all about the ride for at LEAST a month...that Dumbo goes up and up and around and around...we were both so excited. We laughed and laughed. What a great start to our trip!

I did discover that you do a lot of walking between rides, and stopping to greet the characters at times as well - I suppose this is a given if you've ever been, but it was eye-opening for me...and just a little more to add to the long list of memories my family was making with and for me!

Our next stop was at the Winnie the Pooh ride. Another ride where everyone can go together. So much fun to see my "friends" brought to life Disney style.

A page from the book

A Tigger LOVES to bounce!

After Winnie the Pooh came one of the rides I had been watching a waiting to see for years and years....A Small World. Believe it or not I couldn't WAIT to hear the music! A few pictures...

The sign above the door...I was grinning BIG!

Two of my favorite shots from the ride.

Then we walked on over the the Pirates of the Carribean ride. Sydney had told me all about this one ~ and of course I knew all about the older version and this was another song I couldn't wait to hear. I also wanted to see how they had changed it up!

When we got off this one we moved on down to the Hall of Presidents. This was a show and I was sooo impressed with how Disney brought all of our presidents to life. When Abraham Lincoln read the Gettysburg Address to us it was so moving.

We found a hidden Mickey in one of the portraits in the waiting area for the Hall of Presidents!

We took a little break here and decided to ride the monorail to a few of the resorts to see some of the Christmas decorations they had up. We knew that at the Grand Floridian there was supposed to be a HUGE Gingerbread house and the decorations were supposed to be amazing. Before we got to the Grand Floridian though our first stop would be the Polynesian.

One of the competitors in the Gingerbread House competition displayed at the Polynesian...my personal favorite

After a quick stop and admiring all the decorations...picking up some snacks for the kids (yeah right, just them), and doing some window shopping we headed back to the monorail and the Grand Floridian.

The sign describing the HUGE Gingerbread house.

The Beautiful Gingerbread House.

Look at Tingerbell's shadow!!!

Such detail !

Next time Afternoon and the Christmas Parade!

Christmas Dinner

While we were busy walking around Downtown Disney Candy had us stop by guest services. Sydney and I both picked up Birthday pins with our names on them. If your birthday is the month before, the month of, or the month after your visit you can celebrate it at Disney...so I did! Then we made our way over to the restrant where we had reservations. T-REX. Way, way cool!

The sign at the restrant...just a preview of the fun to come!

It didn't take very long at all for us to be seated ~ even though we had 7 in our party. Our reservation got us right in. We were seated next to this lovely dining companion ...

He would bend over and roar...which scared Peyton a little at first, until Memaw told him he better stop and he did! Of course he started up again later, but by now it was just a funny joke! As we looked around the restraunt there were plenty of the animated, and non-animated prehistoric creatures around to entertain throughout the meal.

Right across from us between the room we were in and the ice age room was this beautiful Pterodactyl flying over the heads of some diners.

On the wall behind the Pterodactyl was this ginormous bug!

In the ice age room at the edge of the walkway was this baby mammoth. Isn't he cute?

Just around the corner from us was the ocean room. I thought these jellyfish were amazing with the colors and lights.

Of course you can't go to a special place like this and NOT order an extraordinary dessert, right? So we ordered chocolate extinction.

Since Sydney and I had our Birthday Buttons on they put candles in our ice cream and sang happy birthday to us. We had a wonderful time!

The day came to an end and we were all pretty well exhausted so with VERY full tummies we made our way back to our home away from home and headed for bed. We knew it was going to be an early morning and we wanted to get some rest so we could really enjoy it.

Tomorrow I finally make it to the Magic Kingdom!

Getting Started

We got up VERY early Christmas morning and drove out to the airport to begin our trip. The flight was quite uneventful and we arrived in Orlando, picked up our rental car, and headed to the condo. We unloaded the car, jumped back in and headed towards Downtown Disney to have lunch and do a little shopping. What a blast! One of the first stores we actually went in was a Build Your Own Ride store - it is basically a Build a Bear for boys! We weren't going to stop at first ~ that is until we saw the Carbon Fiber Lightning McQueen...leave no doubt that Peyton is a HUGE fan! We all went in and helped him pick out all kinds of special things to add to his new remote controlled Lightning car. He was so proud of it!

Peyton practicing with his controller.

We then started REALLY window shopping. I wasn't really ready to do much REAL shopping ~ saving up my money for Disney World...all four sections!

I loved this figurine of Mickey and Minnie.

A little sad to see they had already re-set the calendar for Christmas 2011.

There is so much to see, both inside and outside the shops at Downtown Disney...here is a small sampling of some of the things we saw.

Lego Nessie ~ actually in the water!

Lego family outside the store.

The brooms from the Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Carolers

Cinderella's Castle Model.

Santa Genie as a Photographer.

The Disney Train rolling along overhead tracks.

Part of one of the wreaths that decorated nearly all the stores.

The Christmas Tree in the courtyard.

And finally a close-up of the tree decorations.

We found several hidden Mickey's on our very first day! This was a quest we set for ourselves because in my Disney Christmas package along with my Passport, Pressed Penny packages, and Disney sling backpack I also recieved the Hidden Mickey scavenger hunt guide. We didn't do the hunt, but we did try to find some of the Hidden Mickeys.

This was at the Build Your Ride store where Peyton built his Lightning McQueen car.

Mickey in the package next to the Carolers.

Mickey in the Dalmation in the Lego Family.

Mickey in an over the door sign inside one of the stores.

and along the border on the side of the door.

Mickey on top of the clothing poles in one of the stores,

and along the sides of the pole in another.

And finally Mickey on the back of the benches next to the interactive Mickey fountains.

Next time ~ dinner at T-Rex...what an experience!

The Dreams That You Wish DO Come True!!!

For as long as I can remember I have dreamed of going to Disney. (Land or World didn't matter to me) My dream finally came true on Christmas Day 2010. I finally got to Disney World with my amazing husband, daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren. It was a fantastic time and I want to share it here with you in sections. This is just to let you know what is coming. My next few posts will be about this dream come true and the memories it built. I hope you enjoy the updates!