2/8/14

December 30

Magic Kingdom, here we come! 


After sleeping in a bit after our long day yesterday, we finally arrived around 10:00 this morning and were able to get right in


Grayson saw a line to meet Pooh and Tigger and was determined to stand in it for more autographs! He is so into the characters!


Then we headed to the tea cups. Neylan requested that all the dads ride with him. They obliged and all squeezed in!



Neylan gave the ride two thumbs up. He wanted to go faster and faster!


Next to the tea cups were the cars. The line was an hour long, but we stood in it for the boys!




After lunch, Grayson headed over to dance with the Incredibles. He loved it and this became the highlight of his day!!




This afternoon, we headed towards the castle to get a good spot for the Christmas parade and happened to show up during a fun Christmas show. 




All ready for the parade. Right in the front row!










The evening parade was the electrical parade, which was also fun to watch. 




After this parade we headed back to the castle to get a good spot to watch the lighting ceremony and again, got to see the entire Christmas show. The castle is just beautiful at night when it's all lit up. 





There was a fun lighting show where the castle was lit with scenes from different Disney movies. It was so cool to watch each one. 


 Then the fireworks began!






Another fun day! It was very, very crowded today, which we later learned that the park had reached capacity, well over 100,000, and had to start turning people away. We were lucky to get in and got to see some fun Christmas shows and parades that were still happening. 


Before we came, we bought the boys little souvenir gifts to give to them each night, if they had a good day. This was much cheaper than buying them at the gift shops in the park! So, tonight, the boys got their first prize. They sat on the couch patiently, with their eyes closed. 


They got a Christmas Mickey Mouse with peppermint candy



New Years' Eve at Hollywood studios tomorrow!




2/7/14

December 29

We chose to go to Epcot on our first day because there were several Christmas festivities going on that weren't going to last the entire week we were there. We planned today well in advance, but after seeing that there was an 80% chance of rain, we were glad we chose Epcot since most things could be done indoors. 



Grayson has been terrified of characters for years, but we decided to give Disney World a try anyway, knowing that we might have to avoid every character like the plague. As soon as we walked into Epcot, a short line for Pluto was forming, so I asked the boys if they wanted to get in it to meet him. I had bought them a photo mat with lots of sharpies to get autographs. To our surprise, Grayson agreed and got in line. He had plenty of time to gather his courage and get ready for the encounter. When it was his turn, he gave Pluto his frame, marker, and waited patiently for him to sign it and then posed for pictures. It was GREAT!!!!! 


There were lots of fun Nemo rides and activities!


And then it became our day's goal to find every character possible! So much fun!





Neylan refused to meet Chip & Dale because he was eating a snack at the moment and was  not about to put it down to get a picture!



Another highlight to the day was the Candlelight Processional, which was one of the Christmas things we did not want to miss. Amy Grant was the guest reader of the Christmas story and the choir and orchestra were superb.



Playing drums in Mexico



And we stayed until the very end of the day to see the Illuminations fireworks show. Neylan fell asleep as soon as it started,  


but Grayson was wide awake in amazement! 


We had such a fun day and the rain didn't slow us down much. We met so many characters and the boys behavior was really good. Onto Magic Kingdom tomorrow!