Last Disney days

Our Disney passes ran out in February (sniff sniff), so we took the kids out of school a couple times to do some last minute trips, one to each of the parks.  We had just done Animal Kingdom in December (after our girls' trip), so we hit up Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom on a random Tues and Weds in January:

Olivia was not thrilled to meet Pluto:

Waiting in line for the Toy Story ride:

Meeting a toy soldier in the "Pixar" area of the park:

I really didn't get many pics of Hollywood Studios, but we hit up all the favorites (Rock'n Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, the Beauty and the Beast show, a stunt show, Star Tours, Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, the Muppet Show (or, as Olivia calls it, the Muffin Show)).   We also stayed late and saw the "Fantasmic" light show, which was awesome.

We stayed in a hotel that night so that we could go to Magic Kingdom the next day,  During breakfast at the hotel, Olivia kept saying "This is so fancy!!"

Magic Kingdom was a DREAM the next day!  We usually plan our days at Disney around the crowd calendar, and this day it was a "2" out of "10".  Amazing.  We did EVERYTHING, some things twice.  My favorite kind of day at Disney.

The girls had the playground to themselves:

On the Winnie-the-Pooh ride:

Teacups:

Dumbo!

Meeting the Incredibles:

And Buzz:

Dinnertime:

All 5 of us on Dumbo!

The next Wednesday (a week later), we went back down for a day at Epcot.

I tried out a ride that I hadn't done before - "Mission: Space".  Basically, you side in these chairs in a big circle and you have your own individual screen in front of you (and 3D glasses? I can't remember), and it's like you are taking a trip to Mars.  However, the circle you are sitting in... it spins.  Really, really fast, so it feels like you are going into space.  It was awful, I hated it so much!  I guess I should have taken them more seriously in line when there were multiple signs that advised NOT to ride if you do not like lots of movement or if you are AT ALL prone to motion sickness (I'm usually not).  I also should have gotten a clue when there were barf bags next to each chair.  Ugh!  Abbie wanted to go on it again right away but I told her "never again - sorry!".

Epcot has a Coke tasting spot (similar to Coke World in Atlanta but on a much smaller scale).  The girls loved all the sweet sodas from South America.

However, Abbie was not a fan of the drink called "Beverly", which was from Italy.  I don't blame her... I tried that a few years ago at Coke World and it was traumatizing!  It tastes like ground-up aspirin in carbonated water.  So gross.

Ellie insisted that I take a picture of her in front of these flowers:

The girls in "Norway":

In front of a fun "little town" display.  It was full of cute little buildings with toy trains and trolleys running through it.  I think this was in Germany?

We had dinner in Mexico and headed home early-ish, since it was a school night.

I'm so grateful for all the wonderful memories we made this last year at Disney.  I wish so much that more family members and friends had been able to come down and go with us, but thankfully we had our girls' trip in December.  (Disney is SO expensive for non-Florida residents, so it's understandable.)  I will admit, I did entertain the idea of renewing our season passes so that we can continue to go until we move (it was $50 off each ticket to renew!), but we decided that there are enough other things in Florida that we want to do before we move, we should focus on those (and, let's be honest, Garrett never entertained that idea to renew, haha.  He loved Disney, but not on the same level as we did.).

Girls' Trip

The week after Thanksgiving, we took a "girls' trip" to Disney!  The girls and I met up with my sister Emma, her daughter Marian, and my mom for 3 days of fun!

We rented a nice condo just a few minutes from Disney.  It had 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a full kitchen, 2 living room areas, 5 TV's, a dining area that seated 6, and a laundry room.  It was SO nice to have so much space at the end of the long days!  We also rented a minivan so that we could all drive together.

The first day, we went to Magic Kingdom.  I made plans for all our days ahead of time, so we had fast passes and a schedule ready to go!  It made the days go really well, and we were able to do EVERYTHING that we wanted to do.

                                          

After the Buzz Lightyear ride:

 Waiting in line for the Dumbo ride:

Riding on the train:

"I'M LEARNING HOW TO DRIVE!!!" she said:

The teacups:

The castle was all lit up at night, which was SO gorgeous!! It was completely covered with white lights.  So magical!

We did so many other things that day that I don't have pictures of yet.  Space Mountain, the Monster's Inc show, Barnstormer (a little roller coaster), Winnie the Pooh ride, Mickey's Philharmagic Show.

The second day, we went to Hollywood Studios.

Emma in the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground:

I don't have any pictures of this, but we also went to the Frozen Sing-a-long, which was one of the main reasons we decided to go to Hollywood Studios.  It was SO much fun.  I did it with the girls at the end of the summer and we loved it, and I knew that Marian would love it too.  It's so cool!

For some reason, Ellie decided to ride on the Tower of Terror again.  She HATED it just as much as the first time.  She started crying as soon as we buckled our seatbelts.  Man I love that ride, though.  It's so thrilling.

Olivia was so worn out by the end of each day.  This is the only nap she took all week:

 The Toy Story ride:

We also got to see the amazing Christmas lights at Hollywood Studios.  Every couple of minutes, the lights would "dance" to a song, it was really cool.  There was also (fake) snow falling!  Magical!

Other things I didn't get pictures of: The Little Mermaid show, the Beauty and the Beast show, Rock'n Roller Coaster (the only one that goes upside down!), Star Tours, the Disney Junior show.

On the last day, we went back to Magic Kingdom (it really takes two days to see everything in that park).  Here we are on the "It's a Small World" boat ride.

Emma doing tricks on the Carousel:

Tomorrowland Speedway (again):

Teacups (again):

We watched the parade on this day, too.  Olivia waved to all the princesses as they went by:

After the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride:

Street party!

Dancing with Chip (or Dale?):

Marian waving to Minnie:

Emma & Olivia on the Peoplemover:

Other things we did that I don't have pictures of: Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Jungle Cruise, the Bear Jamboree, and a bunch of repeats that the girls wanted to do again from Wednesday.

Emma, Marian, and my mom left early on Saturday morning.  Garrett had driven down on Friday night to meet up with us, so on Saturday we went to Animal Kingdom as a family.  We have only gone there once before, and I felt like we needed to go at least one more time before our passes run out.  It's basically a giant zoo, which really doesn't appeal to us (me) much, but they do have some fun rides and activities for the kids.

Ellie climbing up the ropes:

Safari:

Ellie waving to the people on Mount Everest.  Abbie loves this ride, too.

We finished up the day by driving over to Hollywood Studios again so that Garrett could see the awesome Christmas lights.  I also wanted Abbie to go on Rock'n Rollercoaster with Garrett (she didn't do it earlier in the week with us, so this was her first time).  Whew!  Two parks in one day... after 3 full days of parks.  It was a long, tiring, awesome week!  I will probably be posting more pictures soon because we also have access to all the pictures from inside the park (the professional ones).  I'm excited to see how they turned out!