Our first vacation with the kids to Disney World was awesome!  We found a great five night package deal for the first weekend of December and jumped on it!  Bijou went to school Friday and then we hopped on a direct Delta Flight to Tampa with my mom.  We rented a Highlander and set off for our hotel, the inexpensive Best Western in Lake Buena Vista.  It was a great hotel for the price, and walking distance to downtown Disney!  They also offer their complimentary bus to Disney theme parks!  My sister and her family stayed across the street at the Holiday Inn. We asked my mom to come along and stay with us at our hotel because I so enjoyed going to Disney World with my grandma when I was Bijou's age… I know it will be great memories for grandma and the kids too!

We met up with Jodi, Stefan, Leni and Graham Saturday morning... we started off our first day in Disney World at Magic Kingdom!  We took the bus from our hotel to the transportation center, then the monorail to Magic Kingdom at about 10:30am.  I love Bijou covering her mouth in astonishment when she saw the big castle for the first time!  It was a very busy day at this Disney Theme Park!  They happened to be filming their big Winter Parade that day, December 7, 2013.  Beau and I do not have too much patience for lines and crowds… so we just took the day slowly and had no expectations for our day.  We started the day at the new Fantasyland. Bijou really loved meeting charters, she met Ariel "The Little Mermaid" right after going on Ariel's new ride. Then visited Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" and the kids were so happy to be a part of Belle's Play too. 

Beau went into Gaston's Tavern to buy a beer, but apparently there is no beer sold in Magic Kingdom! "It's a Small World After All" one of my favorite rides was closed for the day.  We had lunch at Pinocchio's, at least they had some healthy options for lunch. Bijou was dresses in her Rapunzel dress all day… So we walked by Rapunzel's Tower for a picture.  Then Leni went on her Magic Carpet Ride while Bijou and Bode had an ice cream break.  All of us really enjoyed going all together on the the classic Disney ride "Jungle Cruise." The "Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse" was also in Adventure Land  so we enjoyed exploring the Treehouse together.  The kids want to make a cool treehouse like that someday!  Our last stop in Adventure Land was the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride.  Bode and Leni were a little worried on that ride, but Bijou loved it!  Disney has incorporated Captain Jack Sparrow throughout the ride.

We strolled along through the crowds and down Main St USA… we stopped at a toy shop and my mom gave the kids a nice toy of their choice.  My kids both chose a toy from the Disney movie "Frozen."  The parade was about to begin in a fews minutes as the sun was setting.  Since there was no line, we popped in to meet Mickey Mouse near the entry of the park.  Bode was so happy to meet Mickey Mouse!  Then we went up by the train depot platform for the perfect view of the parade on Main St.  The kids had their fill of waving to tons of their favorite characters.  Bode wanted to ride the choo-choo train around the park. The kids went on the "Dumbo" ride and they had fun playing in the big top while waiting in line.  We also went on the "Winnie the Pooh" ride and the "Alice in Wonderland" Tea Cup ride.  The line for meeting Rapunzel and Snow White was a 1 hour wait, so we went to meet Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty for no wait!  "Sleeping Tootie" is Leni's favorite princess, so that was great!

Beau really wanted to go on "Space Mountain", so we stopped in Tomorrowland last.  Beau brought Bijou on Space Mountain while I took Bode on the Buzz Lightyear ride.  Bode loved shooting lasers at Zurg, he had a blast!  Bijou had never been on a big roller coaster before!  She was speechless, but the more we talk about how cool it was that she went on that big ride, the better she feels about it!  We danced at Club 626 with Stitch and Goofy and Chip and Dale too!  It was already time for the fireworks to start, so she quickly made our way through the crowds to Main St. USA for our final view of the Castle and the Fireworks show.  They kids did so great after 12 hours of theme park madness! We all love the Fireworks and it was a great way to say goodbye to Magic Kingdom!   ~Bethany