After we got all settled in our hotel room. We WALKED to Magic Kingdom... seriously, that was just a very cool thing! We pre-bought the PhotoPass+ (which a photographer told me they would be phasing out; you can now purchase Memory Maker, which is the same thing, but the photos are downloadable), which meant that we could get our photo taken by any park photographer (at meals and on some rides) and then Disney would send us a disc of the images. We did this last time, and I think it is just an amazing thing you can do. As I am usually the picture-taker and not in the photos, it was great to get lots of family photos whenever I wanted... and I wanted enough to make my family sorta groan at me (good-naturedly because I gave them fair warning). I did take photos with the family camera, but at a lot of times, I was able to be in the picture or just stand back and participate in or really observe the moment rather than from the screen on the back of the camera.
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| On the Mad Hatter's tea cups! |
After dinner and a few pictures, we hit the rides. Around 6:00, most people were getting dinner or leaving the park or lining up for the evening shows on Main Street. This gave us a great opportunity to walk right onto rides that normally have wait times... which they pretty much all do, though it was much better during the off-peak season. Seeing my kiddos faces on these rides made the entire trip entirely worth every penny and every effort and every bit of stress & fatigue. There was just an amazing amount of joy that we all got to experience together. I told Darren that this trip made my heart full, and that is just the best way to describe it.... my heart would just fill up to the top with happiness & love.
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| Riding Prince Charming's Carousel. |
These two photos were taken on It's a Small World, which I am sad that we only did once because Degen loved it so much. This was a wonderful age to take the kids to Disney World because all of the magic is still so real to them. It's a Small World gets a lot of flak for being kind of cheesy, but my kiddos just thought it was amazing and being with them at that moment made me feel amazed by the whole thing, too.
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| Taking off with Dumbo the Elephant! |
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| The kids in Pooh's house. |
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| I love them! |
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| On Buzz Lightyear. We did this ride about 3 times, definitely one of our favorites! Darren was our champion laser-shooter! |
Reflecting on this trip and other trips, I am so grateful for my husband. Traveling is not always easy, especially not with kids. And it is definitely not always easy for me because I am constantly on medicine for motion sickness (which means I am either feeling ill or tired from the meds). I can also get really stressed out when things don't seem to be following the order or picture that I have in my head. Darren often takes the brunt of my vacation-looniness, and he does a great job of putting everything into perspective. If I have any advice for a couple, it would be find someone with whom you can travel. If your relationship can handle the stress of traveling together, then it can probably withstand a lot of the other stressors life will hand you.
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