We'd heard that the parks are decked out for Christmas and that the first half of December has low crowds. Since this was our last chance to go at this time without taking Jackson out of real school, we went for it. And we had a blast.
The night of our arrival we went to Hollywood Studios to see Fantasmic and The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. (Not those Osbornes.)
This is the old timey gas station is where you get the strollers.
Fantasmic was so scary! I had no idea. It was literally every freaky scene from every Disney movie rolled into one show. Luckily I have a really brave little boy and Annabeth just hid her face in Curtis' jacket.
This was the happy little scene at the end.
The lights were amazing. It was extremely packed with people, but the loud music and fake snow coming from the rooftops was fun.
Sunday morning we went straight to Magic Kingdom. We got there in time for the opening ceremony (which I had loved last time) only to find the park had opened an hour early.
Can I just say that I like these pictures 100 times better than the ones when I was three months post-partum?
We missed Dumbo last time, so it was the first thing we did. Cozy got pictures of it that I may be able to add later. Then we rode Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, It's a Small World, Snow White and the carousel. After that we did Thunder Mountain Railroad and the boys braved Splash Mountain. I was not about to get wet and be cold for the rest of the day. They got lucky and didn't really get wet. Then we visited Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion (Jackson was not a fan and I really regretted this). The weather was perfectly clear and beautiful. We had lunch and walked outside thirty minutes later to find it pouring down rain and freezing!
Annabeth fell asleep on me at lunch. This never happens! I loved it.
We went back to our hotel to escape the downpour and to chill out. That night we came back to Magic Kingdom for the Christmas parade, which I have no pictures of.
This was at a dance party with some of the characters. Annabeth had her first encounter with one of them and let's just say she hated it.
Jackson was tall enough to ride almost everything, including Space Mountain. We couldn't wait to take him on it. I will never forget how his little body was shaking with excitement and glee. It was his happiest day. The picture below is after he rode it for the second time. He was scowling because he wanted to ride Buzz Lightyear but the line was too long.
We used the rider swap tickets to get the most out of every ride. When it was my turn with Annabeth I kept her happy with popcorn. My kids shovel popcorn in their mouths like it's the best thing they've ever had. She was covered in little bits of it and oh so happy.
The kids wore their new Christmas jammies that night.
Sibling silliness ensued.
This was Aberly the next morning. She took her pants off in the night and for some reason she is obsessed with Jackson's new shoes. She was a mess.
The night of our arrival we went to Hollywood Studios to see Fantasmic and The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. (Not those Osbornes.)
This is the old timey gas station is where you get the strollers.
Fantasmic was so scary! I had no idea. It was literally every freaky scene from every Disney movie rolled into one show. Luckily I have a really brave little boy and Annabeth just hid her face in Curtis' jacket.
This was the happy little scene at the end.
The lights were amazing. It was extremely packed with people, but the loud music and fake snow coming from the rooftops was fun.
Sunday morning we went straight to Magic Kingdom. We got there in time for the opening ceremony (which I had loved last time) only to find the park had opened an hour early.
Can I just say that I like these pictures 100 times better than the ones when I was three months post-partum?
We missed Dumbo last time, so it was the first thing we did. Cozy got pictures of it that I may be able to add later. Then we rode Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, It's a Small World, Snow White and the carousel. After that we did Thunder Mountain Railroad and the boys braved Splash Mountain. I was not about to get wet and be cold for the rest of the day. They got lucky and didn't really get wet. Then we visited Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion (Jackson was not a fan and I really regretted this). The weather was perfectly clear and beautiful. We had lunch and walked outside thirty minutes later to find it pouring down rain and freezing!
Annabeth fell asleep on me at lunch. This never happens! I loved it.
We went back to our hotel to escape the downpour and to chill out. That night we came back to Magic Kingdom for the Christmas parade, which I have no pictures of.
This was at a dance party with some of the characters. Annabeth had her first encounter with one of them and let's just say she hated it.
Jackson was tall enough to ride almost everything, including Space Mountain. We couldn't wait to take him on it. I will never forget how his little body was shaking with excitement and glee. It was his happiest day. The picture below is after he rode it for the second time. He was scowling because he wanted to ride Buzz Lightyear but the line was too long.
We used the rider swap tickets to get the most out of every ride. When it was my turn with Annabeth I kept her happy with popcorn. My kids shovel popcorn in their mouths like it's the best thing they've ever had. She was covered in little bits of it and oh so happy.
The kids wore their new Christmas jammies that night.
Sibling silliness ensued.
This was Aberly the next morning. She took her pants off in the night and for some reason she is obsessed with Jackson's new shoes. She was a mess.
More to come later!
27 comments:
Our family loves both Disneyworld AND Disneyland! I wish I would've know you were going - I could have told you that Buzz Lightyear fast passes are gone by noon - so you could've grabbed one. Our family loved that ride and I have an 11 and 14 yr old!
Loved it loved it the pic at the end just loved it and the pictures of them playing together and acting silly that was cute.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
So glad you have your sister back in Texas.
Love Carol
Love the Christmas PJ's!!! What a wonderful time to go to Disney!
I'm with you, girl! I love it there--including working with Disney throughout college (I was a tour guide for Kilimanjaro Safari at Animal Kingdom--"Jambo everyone and welcome aboard!" hee hee-still remember the whole script). So glad you all had fun! It's my favorite place, and love hearing when others enjoy it as much as I do! Here's a little post I wrote when, after many back problems since she was born, I got to finally take my little girl. It was a day I'll remember forever. ;)
Thanks for writing, I always enjoy your posts.
http://kristenjoymaddux.blogspot.com/2010/04/this-post-is-going-to-be-nice-antidote.html
we just got back and i didn't know about fantasmatic?! hate we missed it! cute pics!
Twice we've been to Disney a couple of weeks before Christmas, and it's the best time to go. But honestly, when I was there for Christmas last time I was pregnant with my second. And very sick. And every time I think of Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party I want to throw up. So, how's that for the happiest place on earth!? ha.
Glad you had fun =)
in the last pic, Ab sorta has Bibby-hair! cute pics!!
she's adorable, and looks soo much like you :)
Love Disney World!! So fun! We went one year in early November and they were just putting up all the Christmas decorations! Ya'll have a great trip!
So much fun! We just booked today to go back in the fall with G's parents. Love your silly kids on the beds playing together! How did you like Pop Century?
it looks like ya'll had such a fun time! i love going to Disney in the fall or winter - the decorations are amazing! you definitely picked the right time to go :)
Love the last pic of Annabeth... I love Disney World... I never grow tired of it :)
I am making mental notes for the trip I'm planning with the kids sometime in the unknown future. I feel like a total blog stalker! You don't know me from Adam but I am loving having new "reading material!" You're kids are too cute and I agree with the comment about the hair...that's just funny.
Got so tickled at this post ... we just got home from Disney World, too. We left (drove) Texas on the 3rd and got back on the 15th. We were there during record lows (temps). It was so cold but didn't stop us from having a blast. We went to Wal-Mart and bought thermal undergarments! I love Disney! Our favorite ride is Space Mountain and the Yeti at Animal Kingdom! And the haunted mansion ride actually made me think of you all ... from your earlier post about not celebrating Halloween. We don't celebrate it ... we have always celebrated "Harvest Fest" but we take our girls on the Haunted Mansion ride and love it! What hypocrites we must be! Only Disney!!! Glad you had so much fun.
I am such a Disney Addict....and Christmas is my favorite time to be in the parks...Thanks for posting all the pictures and making me a tad jealous....
I peek in at your blog now and then. I am a long time bible studier with your mom and feel like I know you and your sister from all those times! And my little grands are the same age as your sweet children.....so fun to watch them grow.
We are going to Disney for the first time in years, and loved your post today. There will be 10 of us, and helpful hints are just what we need! I hope you will post more of your trip and let us know what worked and didn't.
It's also so wonderful that your sister moved back to TX. My husband and I actually moved to TX to be near our 2 daughters. Nothing like family.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
We're Disney dorks too! We just bought into the DVC and are going in January for the first time with our first born! He'll be 5 1/2 months! We always go in January/September, but really, really want to schedule in a November or December trip sometime soon!
It's perfectly ok to be a Disney Dork! I'd move there if I could! I worked there for several months in college almost 10 years ago. We went back to visit this year and I felt like I was coming home! It's such a special place!
Hey Amanda, looks like you guys had great fun! We've never been to Disney with our kids, maybe someday! (I do NOT relish the idea of taking four kids under 5 right now...maybe in a few years!!)
I wanted to pass something on that made me think of you. Have you heard the name Heather Hendricks? I think she was a Texas A&M grad, and lived in Texas for awhile. She and her husband and four young kids just moved to Haiti this year as missionaries, moved by all the trauma there. I found her blog through a friend, and I find her posts on parenting and faith are SO good. And right now she writes a lot about the situation in Haiti, and motherhood there vs. America, and there was also an excellent post on Christmas recently. Anyway, I know I don't know you except from your blog but I often think about you and your little family and just wanted to pass her blog along: http://allthingshendrick.blogspot.com/ (If nothing else it has helped put a face on Haiti for me, and helped me to know how to pray more specifically for them.)
Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!
So glad you had a good time! What a fun way to celebrate! :) Great pics!
You know the picture where AB is all snuggly? I am so jealous of your hair beauty.
My hubby and I were talking about taking a bit of a vacation during Spring Break. We haven't done this for five years! We're just too broke! Josh said we could go to the Ocean again or somewhere else! One of the kids suggested Hawaii and Josh and I laughed! We let him know 1500 dollars wouldn't get us anywhere near Hawaii! I was thrilled, personally, with the Oregon Coast again. I mentioned in your mom's post about happy places that the Ocean is mine, but I figured I can't ask my family to go there again and again, when there are so many other places to experience. I suggested Wyoming. I've never seen the Tetons or been to Yellowstone and neither have the kids. Josh pointed out that it would probably still be too snowy for the park to be open. Good point! The mountains would still be fun, but since we've always lived in mountainous regions, it wouldn't really be a new experience for anyone anyway. (Besides, I just wanted to see our siesta mama's happy place to see if it is actually better than my precious Wallowa Mountains where I grew up. So far nothing has impressed me when it comes to mountains because of that. It's a magnificent place, Joseph, Oregon. You should visit. We will be going to see my parents in just a few days. Read my December 18th post http://www.spaparazzo.blogspot.com/ please) Anyway, Josh and the kids have never been to Disneyland (Disneyworld is too far away for us all the way over in Idaho.) and I said, "Too bad 1500 dollars wouldn't get us to Disneyland. The kids are at the perfect age for it." (12, 10, and 8. Don't you think that's just about perfect?) Then, Josh said, "I wonder if we know anyone down there we could stay with?" So pray! I would love to take them to Disneyland!
Yay for Disney World! It's my favorite place ever. It looks like your family had SUCH a great trip! I still can't believe how big your kids are. The last time I saw Jackson (and AB wasn't even in the picture), he was a baby!
What a blessing!!!!
Disney is so much fun!!! We always make such sweet memories when we go. It has been fun to watch our boys go from being little and loving the characters to now being 11 and 7 and loving all the roller coasters :) So glad you had the chance to enjoy that time with your family!
Much love
great fun pics! my 2 faves of all the disney pics is the one where AB and her Daddy are nose to nose and then the one where AB was asleep on you. nothing more precious than a little babe using you as a bed...i cherish that when it happens in the nursery at church. :0) glad you had a good time.
How adorable! I am dying to take my girly! She and AB are one day apart, do you think it's too soon to take her? (Say no please!)
If loving Disney makes me a dork, I don't want to be cool. :)
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