Our Disney World Vacation 2013 - Part One

After a year of making plans and dreaming about what it would be like to walk the streets of Disney's Magic Kingdom with our children, our family finally set off for our Walt Disney World vacation. We spent over 100 days counting down, getting more and more excited as our departure date grew closer. Gracie and Sean were especially good about knowing the exact amount of days remaining. The morning of Sunday, September 8^th, we boarded our first flight to Charlotte, NC. It was a short flight and a good introduction to what flying was like for Gracie and Ethan (and for Sean and I as we herded them through the airport). We were blessed with a smooth airport experience and beautiful skies for both flights leading us to Orlando, Florida. Both Gracie and Ethan did better than expected. I can say with certainty that I was the only one in our family feeling flight anxiety. Ethan seemed unaffected by the fact that we were literally in the clouds, and Gracie just wanted an excuse to chew an entire pack of gum.

Once we landed in Orlando, it was time to locate Memaw (Sean’s mom), who joined us for this adventure. She’s somewhat of a Disney World pro, having been several times with her children. She was full of useful insider information and was a huge help with Ethan and Gracie as we navigated the parks each day!

Our family stayed at the Art of Animation Resort, which includes rooms and suites based on a few Disney classics, such as: The Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo, The Lion King, and Cars. Themed pools were also part of the fun! We shared a Little Mermaid room and Gracie was completely delighted with the way the room and bathroom were decorated. It all had a very "under the sea" feel!

We've arrived in the Orlando airport!

The lobby of the Art of Animation Resort was incredible!

Guess who Ethan spotted? These wall sketches were amazingly beautiful. If I could, I would have the Cars-themed sketches on Ethan's bedroom walls. I loved them! (They did sell 8x10 matted prints, but they were pretty pricey.)

Lightening McQueen and Mater were two of many Cars characters at the resort. This was definitely a highlight for Ethan. In fact, he spent most evenings before bed making his rounds, telling each car goodnight.

The Little Mermaid section of the resort was pretty awesome, too!

In order to get to the main building of the resort, which included the lobby, resort store, and dining area, we had to walk through The Lion King courtyard. Ethan was very wary of the statue of Rafiki, the monkey from the movie. He wanted to be held as we passed by this section, which also featured Scar, Mufasa, Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa. Eventually, Memaw discovered Ethan was fine if she put him in the stroller and walked quickly past this extra large monkey. Still, he became very hesitant as we got closer to this part of the resort each day!

I borrowed this photo from wdwmagic.com, since I did not take my own. You get why he was kind of scary, right?

For our first evening, we enjoyed a late lunch in the dining area of the resort, explored the elaborately decorated courtyards, and took a swim in the Cozy Cone pool. I can’t even explain how exciting this was for my Cars-loving little boy! Afterwards, we took a bus over to Downtown Disney where we had our first Disney dinner at the T-Rex Restaurant.

The Lego store in Downtown Disney was very neat. We didn't actually go inside, but the Lego statues of various Disney characters that were outside were amazing! 

During our pre-historic dining adventure, we experienced an overhead meteor shower every half-hour or so. Our family was seated in the "ice age", so the ice around us changed colors while the life-like dinosaurs moved and roared. The whole experience definitely kept the kids entertained, and the food was great, too! While waiting for our table, the kids were able to play "paleontologist" and dig for dinosaur bones.

We arrived back at the resort well after the kids' bedtimes, but they slept well knowing we had big plans for them the following morning! Since I have so many thoughts and pictures to share, I’m breaking our Disney trip up into multiple posts. Next up... Animal Kingdom!