Conklin Creatures: We Went to Disney World!!

Last week, we went to Disney World! A few months ago Brian and I were talking about investing in making family memories. We have gone on a few trips with our extended families on both sides, but we had never as our own little family planned and gone on our own extended vacation (more than two nights). It always seems like a "waste" of money to go on vacation, but we had read an article by C.J. Mahaney (I think that's who it was) on investing in creating positive family memories and bonding time and the indefinite value that brings and it got us excited about the idea of doing it ourselves. So, after a stressful Thanksgiving, it was definitely time to have a fun trip on the horizon. We decided to surprise our kids with a Christmas present trip to Disney World! I think we were just as excited as they were. We also invited along the grandparents and we were even more excited when both sets could come with us for part of the trip. After we had planned the vacation, my tumor and the surprise surgery came about and it seemed for a while that the trip would have to be cancelled, BUT GOD opened up a quick appointment and surgery date so ended up having enough recovery time to still be able to go. Praise God! With all of the flu going around and unpredictable weather, I was nervous that our careful planning would be spoiled, but that wasn't the case at all. We were all healthy, grandparents included, and the weather was absolutely amazing. All this to say, we had an amazing time and definitely felt it was a worthwhile investment in our family. The kids were on cloud nine the entire time and still talk about it like it was a dream and Brian and I now deem it as our favorite family trip. It was such a special time for our family and something we all will always remember. I see more "investments" happening in the future...

The pictures are a bit out of order, but it is a pain to reorganize, so I'll just comment on them as they are. This is our first view of the castle on our first night. It really is it's own "world".

The first ride we went on was the safari in Animal Kingdom. Those are hippos in the background.

Abby insisted on going on Expedition Everest with me, which was crazy, because it is a bit of a scary ride. Her face in this picture says it all, although she claims that she liked it, but doesn't want to do it again. :)

We did A LOT of meeting characters, as the kids were very in to it. We met every princess except for Tiana and the kids autograph books are full! Here's Levi with Ariel. He even got a kiss!

Abby's turn with her favorite princess.

This was actually the second Sleeping Beauty (Princess Aurora) that Abby met.

The castle all lit up.

We had lunch in Epcot with five of the princesses, Belle being one.

Snow White, of course.

The princesses had all the kids do a princess parade where they walked and waived. Abby brought along Pascal.

The first Cinderella we met.

The first Sleeping Beauty we met. I don't think Abby noticed the difference. :)

Rapunzel! Abby really had hoped to be able to meet her and it was worth the wait.

This is from dinner the first night. Levi loved meeting all of the characters. It was so cute.

Kenai and Baloo from Jungle Book.

Chip and Dale

The first princess Abby met, Pocahontas. Jonah was confused why her skin wasn't darker. :) Maybe they should give Pocahontas a spray tan.

One of the Donalds they met.

Levi in line to meet Goofy and Pluto, the first characters he met.

Nice pants Goofy!

Can you see DiVine in this picture?

Mulan

They kids really did so well, even though the days were tiring. We rented a double stroller and I was glad we did! Abby needed breaks sometimes too.

A big moment for Levi, meeting Lightening McQueen and his very favorite, Mater.

At the Lego store. Abby's pose cracked me up.

Levi had one roller coaster that he was tall enough for, Barnstormer, and he LOVED it. We went on it three times and he giggled and squealed every time. It is one of my favorite memories from the trip.

I love this pic of my loves on the Teacups with me.

Meeting Merida! This was our longest line of the trip, but it had to be done in Abby's opinion.

Our second Cinderella.

We also met some Disney Jr. characters. Here's Handy Manny.

June from Little Einsteins.

Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

All of the kids got tattoos. Levi of course chose Mater.

My personal favorites, Phineas and Ferb. That show cracks me up. I think they were Jonah's favorites too.

The Green Army Guy was fun to meet, except he wouldn't smile! :)

Abby, Levi, and Grandpa got to play parts in Storytime with Belle. Grandpa was the Knight.

Here they are with Belle #2.

We went to the car stunt show at Hollywood Studios and to our surprise Lightening McQueen was in part of it! It was fun because he actually drove around. I wish they had a Mater!

The last day there for us the Grandparents were gone and we ate at Chef Mickeys. We met Goofy again.

And Pluto, who Abby said is soooo soft.

Donald again.

This was our view from our table at the restaurant. We were the only ones in the restaurant with this view and it really was magical!

Minnie!

And Levi's very very favorite of all and the last character we met, Mickey. Jonah liked meeting him a lot too. It really was perfect to eat there on the last day.

Riding the Magic Carpets (formerly known by Jonah as the magic blankie ride) while Abby waited in line to meet...

Jasmine and Aladdin. This guy really was a perfect Aladdin. They were pretty funny too.

We ended up trip by watching the Wishes fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom. It was really beautiful and the perfect ending to our trip. The kids were in awe.

They showed a 10 minute movie on the castle and it was incredible! I think it was the coolest thing we saw on the trip in my opinion. I have a clip of it below. This picture is when they projected to make the castle look like a castle in Brave.