"Have a MAGICAL day!"

We spent 9 days in Florida recently and 7 of them were spent at a Disney World park!  My in-laws were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary this year and invited their three boys, three daughter in-laws and five grandchildren on a trip of a lifetime! All 13 of us went to Disney World for a week.

The Family at Animal Kingdom

We all stayed in 2 condos about 20 minutes away from the Disney property.  We had a pool to swim and relax in, a kitchen to cook our own food, beds to sleep in and lots of space for the cousins to play together.

Sunday was Animal Kingdom.  We have been talking about this trip for the last year, so E was VERY excited to meet the man himself, Mickey Mouse!

E loved meeting the animal characters!  They were playing the "quiet game" and he thought that was pretty cool.  He wasn't too sure about the characters that could talk to him or look human.

Monday we all went to Magic Kingdom together.  Rita, my mother in law, had a great idea that she wanted everyone to wear shirts like they did on the original Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and we would all get our picture taken together for their Christmas card.  So before we left, we made the shirts and this was the final product.

Magic Kingdom is truly a magical place.  From the time you pull into the parking lot, to the time you leave in the evening, everyone tells you to have a magical day and goes above and beyond to make that happen for everyone.  On multiple occasions, I asked myself, "What if everyone everywhere wished everyone a magical day and tried their best to make that happen?"  The world may actually be a happier place!

The Happy Couple

Joe and I went to Disney World for our honeymoon 6 years ago.  He was a great sport and stood in MANY lines with me, while we waited to get our pictures taken with the characters.  Belle was a very elusive princess.  We stood in lines expecting to see her and right before we would get to the front, she would leave.  We were Belle's stalkers for the week and we weren't very good at it.  This trip we were successful and we all got our picture taken with Belle.

Tuesday was a day at Sea World and then Joe, E and I went back to Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.  E got to go on a lot of rides that he missed and also ones that he loved that night and also visit with a few more characters.

Wednesday was a day of rest.  The kids got to swim in the pool and enjoy a relaxing morning and well needed nap before we headed to Epcot.

It was a little wet there, but it actually cleared out a lot of the people, which made it nice for us.

Thursday was spent at Hollywood Studios.  This park was a lot of fun.  Not many rides for E to go on, but a cool car show, Indiana Jones stunt show, and an AWESOME Pixar parade.

Everyone had a GREAT time at this park that we actually all went back there another day.

Friday we went back to Epcot for part of the day, but that was the same plan that a whole bunch of school groups had, so there was a LOT of middle schoolers there.  We didn't stay long, as we were getting a little burnt out and needed an evening of rest.

Saturday the other two families went home and Joe and I went back to Hollywood Studios, so E could see everything that he missed while he was sleeping the first time we were there.

This really was a once in a lifetime trip.  The cousins got to spend extended amounts of time just running around together, brothers enjoyed quality time together, sister in laws developed friendships and two very special people had their whole family together in one place for a whole week!

A special thank you to my wonderful mother and father in law for inviting us on this MAGICAL Vacation!