Disney Highlights

 Believe it or not, these are just our Disney Highlights....about 40 pictures.

We had a BLAST enjoying the Magical World of Disney for 3 days!

I'm so thankful for the opportunity to do it with our Big 3.  Enjoy!

Gray is our vacation planner, researcher, and logistics guru.  I can do it (that was my former job), but he's way better, and we just work well that way.  I pull together little details and packing and organizing.  I waited until the last week before really doing anything (we had so much going on in the US everyday since we arrived).  All that said, it's not that hard to pull off.  I didn't exhaust the internet for the coolest ideas in the world, but Gray and my cousin, Mary Pacolette, both recommended this site, and that's all I looked at.

I purchased her signature books off of Etsy, 

and actually went ahead and get all 5 of the kids names so we can use them again one day.

I bought beach buckets from Wal-mart because we'll want them for the beach too.  I filled it with candy from the birthday party section--Mickey Mouse pinata bag.  Clipboards, notepads, pens and pencils--just everyday (as in not Disney/anything special) from Walmart.  The stuffed animals were just a few bucks from a consignment sale I went to that week.  Any decorations I added, I did with the black sharpies we used for the signatures.

 I got the idea of writing these notes from my friend, Sarah.

This road trip bingo was a random find at a shop my friend Mary took me too.  

In the game, as you find the items, you can fold them down to get bingo.  

Best part--they are reusable (you just fold them back up) since our family likes to do road trips!  ;)

If Walt Disney only knew the people he has delighted!

Day 1 

We spent our first day at Hollywood Studios!

Look at my big baby, I'm holding.  

Sam was a little nervous when we met characters for the first time! 

I loved the green army man.  Can you see his feet?

I had no idea my big kids would love the characters so much.  

They were overjoyed every. single. time.

It was magical, and I, myself, got a little teary a few times. 

Sarala meeting her first princess.

We only took our 3 oldest kids.  

We were at 3 parks the entire "open hours" of the park.

It was fun to run all around with them and focus on them 

without the diaper changes and tantrums and other things a 2 year old and 1 year old bring to the mix.

We were like a different family.  I can't imagine if we had stopped at 3.  ;)

I'm thankful for Gray's parents to love on our littles...

that was also a special time to get their full attention and get to know their grands more. 

Hopefully we can take them when they get older one day.

 

It was all 4 of our first visits to Disney.

I wasn't the biggest Disney fan prior to coming, but it was an amazing experience for sure.

I just had never been and obviously didn't know the big deal of Disney!  

They really do everything well, and I'm a big fan now!!!

Day 2 

Our second day there was Sarala's birthday.  We had planned to go to Magic Kingdom for her special day, but due to a rainy day (the only rainy day for us in Disney), we just slept in, went to Downtown Disney, Chick-fil-a (per her request), and to bed really early!  It was nice to recover from travel and Park Day #1 and get ready for the longest day.

Day 3

We arrived early and watched the Grand Opening Ceremony.

I think it was 7:45am this day. 

Fantasyland, a recent addition, was beautiful.

Rapunzel's tower was pretty, and everything was like her village.

Sarala and I got caught up in the restroom even!  Beautiful! 

She LOVED meeting Rapunzel.

Those princesses are so good with the kids, and even the boys....

calling them Prince Charmings and asking them about being warriors and slaying dragons and such. 

It was still magical for an 8 year old!  She loved it! 

My FAVORITE part was the firework show on the castle.  

We stayed until 11:15pm!

I told you we were there all day long!!!  

Day 4

We spent Day 4 at Animal Kingdom. 

We did arrive here just a little later because we were wiped out from the day before,

but since this park was smaller, it was just fine.

This day was pretty low key.

We still got to do everything we wanted to there.

We left about 30 minutes before the park closing (which was earlier than others), 

and got back on the road home.

Sarala borrowed a Pocahontas outfit from her cousins, and it was perfect for this day! 

Mickey wears many hats....and many outfits.  ;)  he, he

This ride--Everest was the kids highlight of our entire time, 

and they tell stories about the roller coaster and Yeti to anyone that asks them about Disney!

We rode a couple of times 

But, they loved squirting the riders from the bridge too.

I wonder how long they could've done this!!!

One other sweet part was being in "Asia" with all the Indian/Asian touches that are much like home to us.

They weren't quite the real deal, but Disney did a pretty good job.

Even when we got to this part of the park, the kids said they felt like they were in India!

Sarala said they just needed to turn some cows loose in there!  ;)

This is more like Nepal than India

 Good try, but that looks too organized and nice!  ;)

Not enough wires either.  

This was such a fun way to make a South Asian display for the monkeys! 

See the hindi-looking writing behind Mickey? 

We LOVED our time in Disney!!!  

It was such a blessing and a sweet time for our family to do while in the US.  

We are so thankful we got to go!