Westergard Family Adventures!: Disney World!

This past week Kate and Abby's wish came true. We went to Disney World!

Back in February when we were told that our orders had changed from New Mexico to Florida, Kate was bummed. We had talked New Mexico up so much that Kate was really looking forward to moving there. To convince Kate that Florida was a good thing, we told her that Florida is where the princesses live and that once we moved we could go and visit them at Disney World. Needless to say, she was convinced.

Our trip was wonderful. We drove out July 4th and spent our first night with the Strongs. We hadn't seen them since they moved last August and man was it great to see them! We grilled and did fireworks with them and then were off to bed.

Tuesday through Friday we spent at Disney World. We did two and a half days at Magic Kingdom, half a day at Epcot, and one whole day at the Animal Kingdom.

Here are a ton of pictures documenting the fun we had:

Even though we were at Disney World, pools seem to hold a special place in the hearts of all children, including ours. Every day we were at the hotel the girls begged to go back so they could swim. I'm glad they had fun at the park and at the hotel.

We had fastpasses to the new Frozen ride in the Magic Kingdom, however it was "temporarily closed" when we went to go wait in line. We were told that a few doors down Anna and Elsa were doing a meet and greet. Even though we knew there would be a huge long line, we figured we would give it a go and I am so glad we did. It was maybe a 15 minute wait and the girls were thrilled to see their favorite Disney Princesses. Overall, Anna was my favorite princess that we met. She was super sweet, as were all the princesses. Maybe it had something to do with the chocolate party she invited the girls to.

Anna must have been Abby's favorite princess too because she ran over to her after meeting Elsa to give Anna another hug. It was super sweet!

Mickey was Abby's favorite Disney character. It was not easy keeping her happy in line as we waited our turn to see Mickey. Mickey was supposed to be taking a "cheese" break right before our turn to switch out Mickeys which, of course, Abby had no idea. When she ran up to Mickey, his handlers were trying to tell her that Mickey would be right back but when Mickey saw how happy Abby was to see him, he waived to his handlers that it was okay. He was wonderful and Abby was in Mickey heaven. It was super sweet to see her look up at him and give him a great big hug. It was definitely one of the big "trip highlights" for Abby.

We rode on the Merry Go Round a few times while in the Magic Kingdom. The first time both girls were in tears. Kate wanted to ride the horse that was sparkly/had glitter (none of them did) and Abby did not want to get off her horse once the ride was over. This happened on the first day within the first hour when we were still brand new to the whole waiting our turn in line and then letting someone else take a turn once the ride was over. The following turns went much better. :)

Our second day in the Magic Kingdom we had lunch at Be Our Guest/the Beast's castle. It was great food and a beautiful castle. We told the girls that if they misbehave while eating their food, the Beast gets angry and might eat them. ...the threat didn't really work, but we still had an enjoyable time.

Wednesday night in the Magic Kingdom we stayed to watch the Electrical Parade. The girls loved all the lights and dancing. It was a long night but we were glad we stayed.

Most of the Animal Kingdom the girls enjoyed. "It's Tough to be a Bug" was one of the shows not enjoyed at all. It was a little scary for Kate who hid in my arms for the majority of the show. She sure looked cute in the bug glasses though.

In the Animal Kingdom there is a dinoland part of the park where kids can dig for fossils. We spent a good amount of time there as the kids loved digging and playing in the gravel.