The Happiest Place on Earth

Picking up where we left off...


There we sat in our fabulous hotel room.  The view was equally fun both day...

And night...

We were also able to kick the first night off with some beautiful fireworks that we watched from our balcony...

It was a great start to the vacation!


We woke up the next morning...

And were excited to head to the Magic Kingdom for our first day of rides and fun.  As we arrived I got emotional and just a little teary (which doesn't mean a whole lot when you consider that I'm the girl who cries at Hallmark movies).  What overwhelmed me was the memory of coming to Disney World as a child.  Being an adult I realized what an effort on all fronts my parents went to when we were little to make things special. Walking through the gates with my own little girl was a sweet moment...

She was taking it all in...

When she looked up ahead and saw it...

It was one of those magical moments...

Made possible by Daddi-O...

If you've never see in in person I have to say that it is one of the coolest things.  Nothing takes you back to being a kid like a giant life sized Cinderella Castle...

We headed for our first ride Splash Mountain.  This brought back memories for me as well because it's the same ride my family bee-lined it for when I was a kid.  The story is a popular one in our family because at some point as we made our way through the park my sister fell behind.  My dad yelled to my mom (who was the leader of our pack), "Roxanne, we've lost Kimberly (who was 8 at the time)!!"  To which she famously replied, "Don't worry!!  She'll catch up!!"  We've never let her live that one down.  Lucky for us Carter kept pace just fine and loved her first couple of rides.  She also had the chance to meet Mickey and Minnie right off the bat.  She couldn't wait to get their autographs...

With pen and paper in hand...

She patiently waited her turn...

Lucky for me the line was a little long which meant she had time to squeeze in a picture with her Momma...

Then it was time for the main attraction...

Minnie was smitten with Carter's hat...

They were a couple of the cutest mice I've ever seen...

After checking meeting Mickey and Minnie off her list we could move on to other important things...like more rides.  Carter surprised us both at her eagerness to ride Space Mountain.  I'm not a roller coaster girl myself and I worried that she would be bawling when the ride came to an end.  Well, let's just say she doesn't take after her Mom.  When the ride came to a stop she jumped off and yelled, "That was AWESOME!"  Needless to say we had a lot of roller coaster riding in our future!  I practically had to bribe her to ride the teacups (she was afraid they might be boring)...

But I was so glad she had fun and that meant I could talk her into a few other classics...think It's a small world...

Later that afternoon we grabbed front row seats for the parade...

We were getting pretty good at waiting patiently for things...

And it was totally worth it once they kicked things off...

From that point on there was a lot of this...

And this...

She was completely enthralled as some of her favorite characters came to life (I on the other hand was completely enthralled with her and ooohhs and ahhhhhs that came with each passing float, note to self: Disney World with a 5 year old is about as good as it gets)...

It was the perfect way to kick off our first day...

Just me, my munchkin', and my very own Prince Charming...

More to come!