Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Five Favorites in Honor of the Disney Countdown

My mom is a Disney fanatic, and every few years my parents invite us down to Disney!

Very generous indeed!

With the final countdown on for our upcoming vacation, I decided to link up with....


and share my top 5 favorite things to do in the Magical World of Disney!


1.  The Magic Kingdom

Okay, I know this is pretty broad since The Magic Kingdom is a pretty big place!  But, out of all four Disney parks, it's still my favorite.  To me, it definitely feels the most "magical" and all the classic Disney rides make me feel a little like a kid again.

My favorite is the Winnie the Pooh ride.   I love the colors and the characters.  Winnie the Pooh will always remind me of Mike when he was a very young toddler.  He loved Winnie the Pooh!  We watched the classic Pooh tales so much that he wore them out!  We would snuggle together on the blanket on the floor of our apartment and watch the Blustery Day until he fell asleep:)

...and who wouldn't want to snuggle with this cute little guy!



A few pics from past Disney trips......
Mike's first Disney visit...at a character breakfast with his favorite!

At a toy store in Disney....I was VERY pregnant with Andrew(obviously!)  and about 5 weeks away from his arrival.
The trip had been planned before I got pregnant...but I can't say I recommend traveling that close to delivery!
Especially since Mike wasn't quite 2 and was insecure and frequently only wanted me to carry him!

Jon and Andrew's first Disney trip!  All dressed in matching outfits:)
Mike was 5, Andrew was 3 and Jon was 2.
I don't think they would wear matching outfits now!


2.  Pool Time

There is nothing better than getting to swim in an outdoor pool when it's still too cold to swim back home.  (Which is actually anytime between September and May really...but it still feels nice!)

My absolute favorite time of year to go away is during February vacation.  Why?  Because it's always so cold here that we are stuck inside the whole week, so going somewhere warm is an extra special treat!  

One of my favorite memories from a trip several years ago was eating dinner in our bathing suits by the pool at around 6:30 on a February night.  It was still light out and very warm!  It doesn't get much better than that!

Even though it's April, Spring has been sooo slow arriving here this year that it will be very nice to be somewhere warm for a week.  Our high today is supposed to be 44 degrees....Orlando is 80!  I.can't.wait!

3.  Restaurants

As a mom who cooks almost every meal from scratch, eating out for an entire week is such a treat!  And the food in Disney is incredible.  Every restaurant has a different theme and different cuisine and you could go back a dozen times and never eat at the same place if you really wanted to!  

We always have the "must have" restaurants that are everyone's favorites.  Really, there are more restaurants that we would like to eat at then there are days of the trip!  This year I think the meals we are most looking forward to are at Le Cellier (Canada) in Epcot...they have the most incredible steaks!
Le Cellier Steakhouse 

Another is Via Napoli in Epcot...such great pizza!

The best thing about Disney for us is that they cater to people with food allergies!  It is SOOOO great to be able to go away for a week and know that Peter will have food wherever we go!

(It's also great that we do so much walking at Disney...it helps to balance out all the eating!)

4.  Fun for All

It's not easy to bring our crew of such varying ages to any one place and all have a good time.  We all have a good time at Disney, though!  There's something fun for everyone!

The best part is seeing how the older kids all enjoy the rides and the decorations that remind them of movies and toys from their "younger days"!  Favorites are definitely the Toy Story rides and the Finding Nemo ride!

It's also great to see how excited the older kids get to see the little ones' reactions to the rides and the characters and all the special Disney touches!  They are excited to see Luke's reaction to all the magic:)

5.  Seeing Something New

I have been to Disney quite a few times since my initial visit when I was 4 and a half.  Disney is always growing and changing!  This year, I am especially excited to see the new Beauty and the Beast castle!  Beauty and the Beast is my favorite princess movie!  I  think I've already shared in a previous post that it came out when I was in high school and I bought the cassette tape(yes, I know that dates me!) and knew all the songs by heart!

One of our vacation nights this year is going to be "girls' night".  We are going to eat at Be Our Guest Restaurant....


...and then shop down Main Street in the Magic Kingdom as all the lights come on.  Enchanting!





1 comment:

Colleen said...

Is there room for 7 more? I hope you guys have an awesome time, you deserve it!