Disney World

While in Jacksonville, we decided to take the kids to Disney for a day. It is about 2.5 hours from Jacksonville, so we got up super early one morning and made a very long day of it. The kids were so excited when we told them the big surprise and although it was an exhausting day, it was definitely worth it! Here we are at the start of the day!

The first thing we did was go meet Ariel. When we went to Disney last year, she was terrified of all the characters, but since she loves all things Ariel, we thought she might be ok meeting her. Madgie talked to her about it before we went and her first response (rather immediately too) was that she did not want to meet Ariel or get her picture taken with her. Madgie slowly talked her into it and she finally agreed she would go as long as an adult was with her. It also helped to see a picture of her cousin Caroline with Ariel just a few days before we went. So here we are talking to Ariel and Prince Eric.

Prince Eric was super sweet to her and Ariel told her that since she was in yellow, she reminded her of her good friend Flounder (which made Abbey smile). She recluctantly nodded to Prince Eric's questions and even allowed Ariel to give her a hug. Here is our picture - look how close Abbey is to them! Even though she was still pretty timid, she did great! We didn't stand in line for any other characters that day, so not sure how she would have done this year if it had not been Ariel we were meeting!

Juliette enjoyed "It's a Small World" which is still one of my favorites!

Mickey's 3D Philharmagic Show is pretty good if you know your Disney movies (which we of course do)!

The merry-go-round was also fun. Abbey made huge strides in this as well and she actually went on a horse all by herself! The first time on it she made sure Patch held her tightly, but the second time she got braver and went it alone. Good job Abbey!

Juju enjoyed going with Madgie.

The Buzz Lightyear ride - a favorite of Ben's.

Abbey was big enough to drive the car this year too!

Mommy and Ben in the car. Ben kept telling me to go faster, but the car just wasn't very fast as I had the pedal to the metal already!

Afternoon ice cream break!

End of the day shot in front of the castle.

It was a lot of fun - long day but the kids really enjoyed it. And they seemed to get a lot more out of it this year even over last year, so it was great!