Epcot - Princess Breakfast at Akershus Royal Dining Hall

On Wednesday, we went to Epcot, and I made reservations back in July to go to the Akershus Breakfast with the Princesses. (It is a popular dining experience, so I needed to book it that far in advance in order to get the reservation.) Our reservation was at 8:30am, so we naturally arrived at the Epcot parking gate at 7:50am. We discovered, that Disney doesn't operate in the off season before 8am, and barely before 8:30am! We were the 1st car into the park because we had to sit at the gate and finally they let us in at 8:00am. They let us in the park because we had reservations with the princesses, so that was really cool! We got to take pictures with the "big ball" as my brother Chris used to call it, all by ourselves!

Next, it was off to Norway, where the Akershus Dining Hall was located. We were the 3rd family to get seated, which was really neat! We got our picture taken with Belle as a family to start off our breakfast. They had all kinds of food to choose from. There were sweets and fruit at a breakfast bar, and then we had a hot breakfast served family style, which included hashbrowns, eggs, sausage, and bacon. As we ate, we had 4 princesses come around to our table for pictures. We got to see: Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Ariel (Little Mermaid), Snow White (which was definitely Alden's favorite), and Mulan. When we were done eating, we looked around Norway and took some pictures. Then, it was time to explore Epcot!

Magic Kingdom - The End of the Evening

For the rest of the day after the Parade, Sam wanted to go on the Teacups (she calls them the TeaPOTS) and Doug & Alden watched from afar. At first, I didn't let the Teacup spin, but then we kind of got board, so I started to turn it so we spun faster, and Sam loved it! After the teacups, we went back to Toon Town, so that Sam could play in a play area and then Sam & I went on Goofy's Barstormer Rollercoaster again while Alden took another nap. After that we went seperate directions. Doug & Sam went to the Monster's Inc Laughfloor (Doug said that Sam laughed so hard and it was really cute.) and then drove the cars at Speedway USA. Alden and I went back to Adventure Land to see to find a Pirate Bandana for Doug to wear the next day. We met back up with them after the cars and we decided it was time to head for the exit. We took the Ferry across the 7 Seas Lagoon and back to the parking lot. The last pictures (Sam & Doug and Alden & I) are the last pictures we were able to take with our camera. I dropped the camera and it shattered into lots pieces and it bent the lens. I paniced and told Doug that I couldn't go through the rest of the week without a camera! So, we called Greg and he got on the internet and found us a Best Buy in the area, and we drove straight there and bought (or you could say "borrowed") a new camera that we eventually took back to an Omaha Best Buy. (We just got approved for a new camera because we had the Accident Warranty Policy on it and dropping it is obviously covered! I am excited because I convinced Doug to let me have a pink camera! :) )

Magic Kingdom - Adventureland & Parade

After ToonTown, we went to Adventure Land and got a FastPass for the Jungle Cruise. Doug really wanted to ride Pirates of the Carribbean, and he thought Samantha would like it and do fine, so Alden napped with me in the shade while we waited for them to ride Pirates. Samantha loved it and Doug taught her to say "Arrrrrr" through the whole ride. :) We decided to eat lunch, but we ended up walking all the way back to Fantasy Land because we wanted to eat at Pinnocio's. We got a window seat and watch the boat leave for It's a Small World and Samantha had fun waving at all the people on the ride. After lunch, we walked back to Adventure Land and rode the Jungle Cruise. The animals look so fake, that I don't even think that Samantha thought they were real! :) But it was a nice break from walking. Next we rode the Magic Carpets of Alladin, which is alot like Dumbo. Then we walked back over to Tomorrow land and Sam & Doug did Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and Alden napped some more. But on our way there, we walked by the castle and we found The Fairy Godmother, so we stopped to take a picture with her. (I don't think Sam had a clue who she was, but there was literally no line, so we did it anyway!) Then it was time for Sam to nap too. We sat in an airconditioned restaurant and made our plan for the rest of the day. We decided to get a spot on Main Street for the parade and waited there while Sam woke up. As soon as she heard a few trumpets playing, she was wide awake and ready for the parade. After the parade, we headed for the Tea Cups...

Magic Kingdom - Toon Town

After Fantasy Land, we headed to Toon Town at about 10am. That's when it opened, so we wanted to be at the front of the line for all the characters in order to get to see them! We walked through Mickey's House on the way to the "Judge's Tent" to see Mickey & Minnie first. Sam thought it was pretty cool to see how Mickey lived. :) She loved Pluto's house outside, too! There wasn't a very long like for Mickey & Minnie, and the kids were very good in line. When we got up to the front of the line, I told Sam to go ahead and give Mickey a hug, and she was very timid, so I told her that we would all go up with her this time because it was it was her 1st Character meet & greet. She gave them both hugs and Alden gave Mickey a high-five, which we can thank Uncle Chris for teaching him the week before we left on vacation! We all smiled for a picture, then it was off to Goofy's barnstormer rollercoaster for Doug & Sam, while Alden & I looked on. Samantha loved the rollercoaster (she was barely tall enough to go on it, too!) and Doug did okay too. :) Next, it was time to see the princesses. We saw Belle & Cinderella & Arora. Samantha seemed to warm up to these characters easier because they looked like actual people. After the princesses, we headed over to Adventure Land ...

Disney World - Magic Kingdom - Opening

We were at Magic Kingdom on Tuesday morning at roughly 8:00am. The gates didn't open until 9:00am. We took the monorail across the 7 Seas Lagoon and then we waited with the rest of the early birds for Disney to do a little "pre-show" and let us run down main street. While we waited, we enjoyed the "fall" themed grassy area where they had pumpkins for the kids to look at. We ran down main street when they allowed us to and then it was off to Fantasy Land will all the other toddlers and their parents to ride Dumbo and other kid friendly rides. We got on the 2nd Dumbo ride of the day. Sam went with me and Alden went with Doug. Samantha loved, and Alden held onto Doug really, really tight! After Dumbo, we rode Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Sam really liked it and we discovered that Alden would not like any ride that had pure darkness in it. Next, we went on Peter Pan's Flight, which none of us really liked. Alden screamed through most of it because it was REALLY dark. Sam didn't really understand the ride, because all she knows about Peter Pan is that Tinkerbell is in the story. After that came one of Alden's favorite rides - "It's a Small World". He clapped along to the music and Samantha sang along - LOUDLY! They were really cute! After that, Samantha & I went on Cinderella's Carousel ride. Doug claims he gets sick on that ride, so Alden & he took a break. By this time it was only 10am, but the people were starting to pour into the area, so we decided to head to Mickey's TOONTOWN.....

M & M World - Orlando

After getting settled into our room at the resort, we quickly grabbed some lunch and then we headed to M & M World at the Florida Mall. I have always loved M & M's since I was little, mainly because my initials have always been "MM" (Merritt first and now McKnight). Doug & I had been to the M & M World in Las Vegas several times, so we wanted to check out the one in Orlando.

Samantha was mezmorized by all the M & M merchandise! She was completely overwhelmed by it all. We really didn't find any specific toy that she had to have (besides everything in the store), so we decided to let her pick out her favorite colors for a 1 pound bag of M & M's. She originally just wanted PINK, but after some coersion, she decided on some other girly colors - purple, dark purple, and maroon. We got the kids T-Shirts (after baths, they have always worn M & M T-shirts, so we will keep that tradition of alive for now) and I got a T-shirt too. Samantha got some stickers with her name on them eventhough we vowed never to get Sam anything with her name "pre-printed" on them because we doubt that we ever find an "Alden" pre-printed name on anything! :)

After M & M World, we went back to the resort and got ready for an early morning at Magic Kingdom the next day!