Downtown Disney

Although Downtown Disney was under construction, and a little bit hard to make our way around the sidewalks, it was a nice way to wind down after a busy week that included more shopping and eating of course!

Disney World: Magic Kingdom

We spent the morning enjoying rides, treats, and of course a little shopping before we headed back to the condo around lunchtime to grab our favorite Papa!

This truly was the highlight of my trip! I really never thought I’d see Dad at an amusement park with my child. It’s really not his thing, and well, his legs don’t work like they used to, so I was absolutely overwhelmed with joy when he agreed to join us for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party in the Magic Kingdom!

During the Christmas parade, we met some very special friends who happened to have passes for the princess meet and greet, and these passes were the kind that got you right up to the front of the line - NO WAITING! Yippee!

 You'd better take a closer look... that's Grammy & Papa in the teacup!

What an adventure! Madelyn and Duffy are fast asleep.

Disney World: EPCOT

Did you know that EPCOT is an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow? There you have it. Who knew? This is the place for learning! Each area was more interesting than the next, and we were fascinated by all the new found knowledge.

The only thing we didn't have as much time for as I would have liked was walking around all the different countries and tasting the food and learning about the culture. We wanted to experience as much of the holiday festivities as possible, so we did get to enjoy the Candlelight Processional, which was narrated by Jonathan Groff, the voice of Kristoff in the movie Frozen (Madelyn was super excited about this)! It was a great evening, listening to the story of the birth of Christ, accompanied by a beautiful orchestra and choir. 

Disney World: Hollywood Studios

This was one of the parks I was most excited for, mostly because of the rides – rides that are fast, and a little bit scary! WOO HOO! We all enjoyed the park, and all the rides and meet and greets, but I think everyone would agree that the best part of the day was walking through the Street of Lights put on by the Anderson family. What an amazing showcase of lights that dancing to some of our favorite Christmas music. And it even snowed! This moment made me a little teary-eyed as I watched Little Miss get wrapped up in the seasonal fun! She danced in the streets and jumped up and down when she saw the snow falling onto her face. It was truly priceless.

Disney World: Animal Kingdom

As most of you know, Disney World is actually made up of several parks, four of which were on our radar. We decided to start with the smallest of the parks, Animal Kingdom. I wasn't all that excited about this particular park, but I knew it would be good way to start the long week we had ahead of us.

Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the end of this day! The scenery was so beautiful, and the atmosphere was extremely relaxed and casual. What fun!

We met up with Papa for dinner at the end of the day.