DISNEY WORLD!!!

Adam and I had been planning a surprise trip to Walt Disney World for Sarah Grace for over 6 months, and we really thought that when we told her head would spin around in excitement. We waited to tell her until the week before we went so that we wouldn't have to hear her ask "are we going after this nap?" for the next 6 months. So, for 6 months, we had been imagining this HUGE reaction and when we told her we didn't get quite what we had expected. We sat her down one night and gave her this big gift bag. In it was an outfit, 2 Disney DVD's and some trinkets that WDW had sent in our planning packet. We asked her what she thought it all meant, and in a very matter-of-fact way she said, "Disney World." When we tried to explain we were going in a few days she, again, said in very confident way, "Well, I knew we would go some day." We left on Wednesday afternoon after school and headed down. We stopped halfway in Gainesville for the night and drove in early the next morning. We checked into our hotel, Pop Century, and then headed to our first park, Animal Kingdom. We started with the Safari and it was great...she was so excited to see all the animals! After a couple of more rides and lunch we went to ride "Dinosaur". For those that know how terrifying it is, let me say that it was all of our first times at the park and we had NOOO idea. We even asked the person working the ride if it would be okay for SG and she said it was fine. HOLY COW!!!! We very quickly became the meanest parents on the planet! It was awful, but she was a trooper. She never cried but she was NOT A FAN (and neither were we)!! To say the least, we lost ALL credibility for the rest of the week. She was scared to get on almost every ride for the next 4 days. She asked "is it loud, is there fire, is it dark????" before every ride... every ride, even Small world! She also really hated the Bugs Life 4-D show which cancelled every other show of it's kind for the trip. That night we ate at Kona at the Polynesian and then we went to Wilderness Lodge and Downtown Disney. The next day, Friday, was much better!...we went to Epcot. After some convincing (b/c of Dinosaur), we started riding rides and she loved them. We went to the Living Seas and rode the Nemo ride, saw Crush and all of the fish, rode the Greenhouse ride and Soarin' at the Land, and went to a special meet and greet with Mickey, Goofy, and Minnie. After the meet and greet, her favorite thing to do for the rest of the trip was to get autographs. The night before she bought an "otograph" book, at Downtown Disney, for all the characters to sign. She was very brave and got everyone to sign her book the rest of the trip! But the highlight of our day at Epcot was dinner! We went to Norway, to Akershaus, a princess storybook dinner. When we walked in, who was standing there in a ballgown but Ariel (her FAVORITE)! SG was star-struck! While we ate, we were visited by Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine, and Sleeping Beauty. They all

stopped and chatted, signed her book and took pictures. It was so fun to see SG see them. She was so shy, but it was sweet. After dinner, we went and rode a few more rides. She found her favorite, the ride inside of Mexico. She loved it, and we rode it again. Not long after that, a huge storm came in and the bottom fell out!!! So, we made a mad, very wet dash for the exit! After drying everything we owned over night, we went to MGM on Saturday. We started the day with Beauty and the Beast. She loved the costumes and the music but was not a fan of Beast's roar. She'd cover her ears and bury her head. After a few more rides we went to Playhouse Disney where she got to meet all her TV friends. SG got tons more "otographs" for her book. We took a break from the characters and watched the parade. She sat on daddy's shoulders and never stopped waving. I think she genuinely thought they were all waving right to her. After the parade, we went to lunch at the Sci-Fi Dine in. It's a restaurant designed after a drive-in movie that shows old 50's Sci-fi movies while you eat in your car. She must have said 5 times that "this is really fun!" The food was good too. After lunch we played on the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, did the Back lot Tour, went to Narnia, and waited in several more lines for autographs. We stayed 'til the park closed and did it all. She especially liked the Ariel show and Playhouse Disney. Sunday was the BIG day! We saved the best for last, Magic Kingdom! We got there at 8 AM for Little Ones Magic Hour. That is where they open Fantasy Land an hour early for property guests and the characters come out to play. She got to play "Mickey Says" with Mickey and Pluto, the "Hokey Pokey" with Minnie and Daisy, & Red Light-Green Light with Peter Pan, Hook, and Wendy! It was so FUN! She loved it! She started out kind of timidly but really got into it. That's also when we rode Smallworld for the first time. She was in aw... She pointed at everything and tried to sing the song. As soon as we got off, she wanted to get right back on. After a huge breakfast, we headed back to Fantasy Land and rode every ride. Then we worked our way around the park, rode several more rides and met more characters. We then left for a quick nap and came back for dinner at the Crystal Palace. While we ate, were visited by Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet. And towards the end of our meal all the kids paraded around the restaurant with the characters waving little flags to music. It was really cute. We left dinner early to go meet Ariel before she left for the day. We got there in plenty of time but they had already closed the line because there were too many people... SG and I are were crushed. She had been waiting the whole week to meet Ariel in her "sea cave". After some tears, on my part, Adam went and begged the lady to let us in. She asked someone else and in minutes we were in line. We were the last people of the night and we had Ariel all to ourselves. She talked to Sarah Grace for a couple of minutes and then signed her book. Sarah Grace was so in aw that when Ariel asked her to spell her name she couldn't even think! Ariel Gave her a huge kiss on her "forenoggin" and we said goodbye. She was in heaven!!! After that we rode more rides and found her favorite of the trip!!! Months before the trip we Tivo'd Haunted Mansion with Eddie Murphy, and she watched it several times. Well, when we got in line for the ride, she was thrilled...not scared, thrilled. She pointed out everything on the outside of the house from the movie. When got on the ride she talked the whole time. "That's from the movie, that's from the movie......", she was so excited! She wanted to ride again but we were running out of time and had a few more rides to do. The last ride of the night was Pirates. The ride broke down for 30 minutes while we were in the room where they sing "yo ho, yo ho..."...it was catchy the first 5 minutes and torture the last 25. We didn't get to do the last couple of rides we had hoped to because of the huge delay, but it was a fabulous day and she never knew what she missed! The last day, Monday, we slept in and went to breakfast at Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was delicious and we had to stop Sarah Grace from eating because we thought she was going to make herself sick! After stuffing ourselves one final time, she played on the playground, and then we went to see the animals at the lodge. Afterwards, we did a little more souvenir shopping and then it was back in the car for the trip home. :)