Two weeks ago, girl & I took over Disney World! It was
partially just a fun trip for us, partially a Graduation present for her –
because I’m a good aunt-, and partially for me to get my A) Disney fix & B)
take a trip because y’all know I cannot sit still for very long at home.
We had the best time – honestly, I get a LOT of time with
the girl because she comes over a lot of weekends to spend the night or we’re
out shopping, etc – but it was a blast for us to actually get away for a week!
Also, she’d never flown before so it was pretty much the cutest to watch her
staring out at the window.
So I’m not a Disney World newbie, but I haven’t gone to
Disney in a few years, so there was a lot of new great stuff, including the
Seven Dwarf Mine Train Coaster. Seriously, this is the best. We road it so many
times, and on our last night there, we timed it just perfect to ride it as the
fireworks set off – it’s breathtaking to be riding the roller coaster and
having the sky light up around you! (And we were able to haul it off the ride
and go watch the rest of the fireworks show sitting still!) We scheduled all
our fast passes in advance, and I cannot recommend it enough – especially if
you want to get on the Dwarf Mine Train without the 2 hour or so wait.
(Although the last time we rode it, we DID wait in line & timed it nicely
enough to only have to wait an hour!) There isn't too much at Disney I won't ride -- but there's certainly a few things. But because I love her, I wanted her to experience
every ride I knew she’d love (okay, minus Space Mountain, because…I’m not into
Space Mountain. At all.), so I sucked it up and even did Tower of Terror with
her. (I survived. I still don’t like it.)
We did park hopper, but we only hit Magic Kingdom, Animal
Kingdom & Hollywood Studios. Epcot was great when I was a kid going on a
field trip – but it’s kinda boring when I’m on vacation with the kid. We hit
Magic Kingdom multiple days & spent Wednesday at Hollywood Studios and
Animal Kingdom. We also squeezed in Downtown Disney for some shopping & to
hit the Art Gallery!
I know the “happiest place on earth” is so cliché, but man
it really…IS. It’s the best vacation. I head back the weekend of the niece’s
graduation – literally the morning after her graduation, my group & I shove out to
Orlando for another con & we’ve extended our trip a few extra days to give
us Disney time. I’m not sure there’s anything better than hitting Disney twice
in a year. (Family vaca is in July, and we’re skipping Disney so the boy can
see Lego Land. What a sacrifice to go to Orlando and skip Disney World!)
Some picspam & commentary. And by some I mean a “lot” - not even kidding, you've been warned :) Seriously. I haven’t even gone through pics on my camera, so this is phone run
down & a few shots from Disney's photographer.
Off we go! Paige’s first flight. It only took us 17 years to
put her on a plane, hahaha.
At the hotel! It’s like “you know you’re at DISNEY when…..”
Downtown Disney’s Art Gallery is my life. I could live
here. When you’re an art nerd, stuff
like this just…absolutely blows your mind. Paige & I wandered the place for
at least an hour analyzing all the gorgeous pieces, I don’t think we ever
wanted to leave. These pieces were just
incredible.
How did you know which room was ours? By our window of
course, we were NATURALLY the Little Mermaid & Snow White room.
Hellooooo Magic Kingdom! With our adorable Evil Queen and
Ariel ears. We went big or went home – and had ears of our favorite characters
made before we left, so Paige was Little Mermaid/Ursula themed for the week
(with a touch of Maleficent!) and I was the Evil Queen/Snow White themed all
week! This was Paige’s first time seeing the Castle!
We got there so early the first day, we rode so much stuff
so quickly. Here we are on Dumbo!
And the Tea Cups – the kid hasn’t laughed this hard in a
long time!
Since Ariel is her thing, I did a fast pass for the photo
ops with Ariel. Paige was pretty adorable in her little Ariel ears and her
shirt – and it was a huge hit all around. Everyone and their brother stopped us
all week to ask where I got all our different ears!
With the girl. Duck face is a requirement at least once when
you’re with a teenager.
One of the days, we hit Hollywood Studios first --- and we
hit so many characters in a quick time span, which wasn’t even our initial
goal! We went with a super early fast pass to Toy Story Mania. Pixar was one of
our biggest excitements for Hollywood Studios, and it didn’t let us down – we
got our pics with Buzz & Woody before we had even been there an hour!
And then we just kept running into characters…
Chip & Dale. How adorable is this?
Donald Duck – we actually had been in line for another
character & they swapped out for Donald right before we got up there. But
we weren’t complaining.
My girl at Hollywood Studios…..we had priorities – as soon
as we got off Toy Story Mania, we hunted down the Starbucks before looking for
more characters
So I totally don’t remember this from my last Disney
trip…they have a VILLAINS shop? I’m pretty sure both our jaws dropped and we
rushed over there. This place was badass & we both LOVED it.
This was actually kind of hilarious – we went online weeks
leading up to plan our fast passes and our game plan, and when we saw there was
a tribute to some actors at Hollywood Studios, I joked “wonder if they’ll have
any of the Golden Girls!”. Once we started to walk past it, Paige and I at the
same time said “OMG IT’S BETTY AND BEA!” and made a beeline. (And pretty sure
Paige was the youngest person to be OMG BEA ARTHUR! At Disney World. That’s my
girl!)
Every Toy Story nerd knows….Pizza Planet is the place to be!
Paige talked about this for WEEKS leading up, she was DYING to check it out.
So, obviously, we went the day we saw Buzz & Woody. My only disappointment
was there was seriously no Claw Machine in the arcade part? Is it like gone?
Because shouldn’t Pizza Planet of all places have the Claw?? We used Pizza
Planet time to chill and charge phones, and I’d like to think we weren’t the
only ones scouring the place looking for the Claw Machine while reciting “YOU
HAVE BEEN CHOSEN!” (Isn’t the best part about Disney that you can quote every
Disney movie and everyone else totally gets it!?)
We also found Mikey and Sulley! Or, as Paige used to refer
to him when she was little: Silly.
And then we found Mater & Lightning McQueen!
In what was probably our most exciting moment of the trip,
we noticed on a sheet that the Incredibles were going to be at one part of the
park, so we wandered back. It turned out to be this building with tons of
characters and games for kids to play. And as we walked in, we saw Baymax! We
didn’t think they had Baymax out, so we went over & they told us he was
leaving and to come back for the next round --- and be there an hour early,
because since Big Hero 6 was new and so popular, his line was pretty crazy.
That gave us a little time to kill, so we did go and find
the Incredibles! And Frozone was obsessed with Paige & after we got our duo
op with them both – he insisted on getting another pic with just Paige.
And then we randomly found a small line that went to a room
in the back. Paige curiously asked whose line it was, and was told “Minnie
Mouse” in reply, and I cannot even tell you how big her eyes got. Seriously
people – Disney’s not for just the little kids. “OMG Aunt Nicole we have to
meet Minnie! I want a pic with Minnie!!” I think this is one of my fave pics of
the entire trip – and now I can frame this pic with me & the twin cousin
with Minnie from Disneyland in ’11.
We got Baymax afterwards! Seriously, how adorable is he!? And, because the kid is awesome, she fist bumped him so she could do the “bata-lata-lata-la!” with him. (Which we saw tons of people doing throughout the day!)
Some of the scenery at Hollywood Studios is amazing & I absolutely love some of the vintage feel to the entire park!
snapped this one for pretty obvious reasons :)
Animal Kingdom was next on the agenda, where we were trying
to hunt down Rafiki and Baloo. Rafiki was doing a parade when we went so we
didn’t get a pic BUT we did find Baloo
& King Louie. We hit a few rides at Animal Kingdom – and the Primeval Whirl
has to be the worst ride I’ve ever ridden. Seriously, whose idea was that?! It
was physically PAINFUL when you go around the corners.
Baloo & King Louie
Another day at Magic Kindgom, another ride on the Tea Cups!
My Snow & Evil Queen ears enjoyed the Castle.
Thursday while we were there marked the anniversary of
Granny’s death. We always do something for her on this day, and we’re always
together, but….it just happened to fall on Paige’s spring break this year which
was the best time for our Disney trip. Because of this, it was our goal to find
Goofy – her favorite – to get our picture with him. We successfully found him
after another ride on Dumbo!
And he couldn’t have been cuter. And my mom couldn’t have
cried harder when we sent her the pic and told her what we did to celebrate
Granny.
We totally wanted to be by the castle for fireworks, but we
also wanted to ride the Mine Train Coaster again, so like I said; we hit the coaster at the most PERFECT time.
And obviously because we were going so fast,
I couldn’t take any pics. Once we got off, we immediately rushed to the castle
to watch the rest of the fireworks show.
Overall…..an amazing vacation & an incredible week with
my girl. I’m so glad we went – and I’m
so glad I’m this close to her and do these sorts of things with her. She’s
already ready for our next trip – which I think Mom wants in on – so I think
it’s pretty safe to say she had a good time!
