Road Trip To Disney World!!!

For Thanksgiving this year, we were incredibly blessed and lucky to get to go to the Happiest Place on Earth with all the LaFastos to celebrate as a family! We just cannot thank them enough for the amazing time we had, and the memories we made that will last forever. I hadn't been since I was 5-years old, so it was a lot of fun to get to experience it as a grown-up, and through my kiddos eyes, Dresden's particularly.

We decided to road-trip it, since that's kind of how we roll, and we set out the week before Thanksgiving, on a Wednesday. Alex had never been to Louisiana, or seen swamp country, on top of his never having been to Florida, so I chose the scenic route down through deep, rural Louisiana,  Mississippi and Alabama.

Alex declared Louisiana the most beautiful drive he's ever taken, and I would have to agree. The swamps and Cypress and Spanish moss as we made our way south were beautiful, and to me, comforting. I lived in Louisiana until I was 7, and a piece of my heart will always be there!

This little restaurant was the gem of Lafayette (the rest of Lafayette was kind of sketch!) But seriously, go eat here if you are ever passing through. I had the most amazing breakfast croissant, Alex had the most delicious omelet he says he's ever had, and they had French toast with a berry-champagne compote - need. I. say. more.

This was sort of the extent of our interaction with Mississippi on the way down, ha!

Auden's already a little continental traveler!

They had a moon lander on display at the welcome center, as well as a whole Space Program museum right next door, but this was the only free part of the "exhibit", so we settled :-)

And then finally, after three days of driving, we made it to Orlando. It was late afternoon at that point, so we got settled and hung out with the rest of the family once their flights had arrived for the rest of the day, and prepared for our first full day at Disney the next morning.

The kiddos were ready bright and early, decked out in their Mickey and Minnie regalia!

And then, before we knew it, here we were! Alex was like a kid on Christmas as we entered the park. It was awesome!

Let them begin, indeed!

 

Best view EVER. I love this castle so much I cannot even tell you!

Walt, Mickey and the castle

We made it just in time to see the parade of characters ride by, which was just an awesome greeting! I loved watching Dresden's reaction to seeing the characters, and it was just such an awesome, colorful spectacle! It was hard not to get emotional about being there, and you could truly feel why it's called the Happiest Place on Earth! 

After watching the parade, we made our way to Adventureland so we could ride Pirates of the Caribbean and Peter Pan, as well as Small World - all the classics! Peter Pan was my favorite ride 26 years ago, so it was a must. It melted my heart when Dresden specifically asked to sit with me to ride it, as I wasn't sure who he was going to pick to sit with. It was really special getting to share that with him. He was a bit unsure about the "flying", but once he realized we were staying level, he was fine, and loved getting to see Captain Hook and the crocodile.

 Next, we rode Small World, and this little Small Wonder loved it. She was seriously such a trooper on all the rides, just sort of hanging out and taking everything in. I would love to know what was going on in that little head of hers the whole time we were there, and on all the rides.

I couldn't get great pictures because of low-lighting and constant movement, but it was beautiful. It was totally revamped from my trip when I was little, and so bright and cheerful and colorful. I loved it. Of course the Scandinavian countries and France were my favorites. These were from the end when we entered the all-white section of the countries. I thought they were especially pretty!

 After Small World, it was time for:

Dresden did not appreciate the "dip" as he called it AT ALL on Pirates, and he had post-traumatic stress disorder about it so that before we went on any other ride, his first and only question was "Does this involve any dips?" As long as the answer was no, he would get on the ride. I loved it! Despite it being changed to be like the films with good ol' Johnny, it was still familiar from back in the day, which was cool. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures because it was just too dark. So dark, in fact, that Auden fell asleep in my arms during the ride. 

Resting our feet would become a more common, strongly-needed occurrence. We walked SO much! By the end of the second day our bodies and feet were crying out in pain. But man it was worth it!

This was the Haunted Mansion, which I have to say was probably my very favorite ride at Magic Kingdom. I loved all the ghostly effects; so cool! It ended up being one of Dresden's favorites, too!

Barbara and me posing in front of my future home!

Poor tuckered-out little Minnie. Auntie Mary Lynn was so great with her. In fact, our kids are lucky to have such fantastic grandparents, aunts and uncles and great-aunts and uncles, who watched them and played with them, held them, carried them on their shoulders, rode rides with them and just all-out spoiled them while we were together. I can't thank them enough, either! Love you guys!

Dresden's other favorite ride was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. It was a pretty cool ride, I have to admit! 

Alex and I may have been pretty into fighting Emperor Zurg! Such focus!

My absolute favorite part of the day was that night, when the castle was lit up with thousands (millions?) of twinkle lights, and kept changing into the most amazingly beautiful colors and mixes of color. I was in heaven. I am not quite sure I will ever give up my delusion that one day I will, in fact, become a princess and live in a castle, so this was the BEST part for me.

Dresden and cousin Cody (who he LOVED!), and me looking either mysterious...or lost and confused. Let's go with mysterious.

We stood and watched the Electrical Light Parade, which was super-cool. The best part was when Auden, who was up on Alex's shoulders, started going crazy when Cinderella rode by! She had just been calmly watching up until that point, but when she saw Cinderella, she started smiling and squealing and bouncing. Made me proud, since Cinderella is my favorite classic princess! 

After the parade, we stayed for the incredible light show on the castle. Tinkerbell flew down over our heads and magically lit the castle with dozens of different projections set to amazing music and sound. They went through almost all the princesses, as well as newer movies like Wreck-It-Ralph, and it was just the most fantastic thing I've ever seen. I started bawling because I was holding Auden watching it, singing along to the Disney classics I've heard and loved my whole life, and I just got overwhelmed with happiness that we were there with our kids. It was amazing; if you go, you have GOT to stay late to see it. When the show was over, the sky lit up with fireworks so beautiful and bright, I would feel okay not seeing them for like the next three Fourths of July!

After this, we stopped on Mainstreet and ate ice cream at like 11 o' clock at night (it was so good, and so worth it - thank you Frank!) and then we headed back to the monorail with two completely knackered little babies!

It was truly the most magical, wonderful, amazing first day at Magic Kingdom! Days two, three and four to follow!!!

Love,

Cassie