She did NOT want to give up her little birdies. She loved them and carried them around all week.
Oops, one birdie lost an eye!
After we dropped off our luggage, we headed over to Magic Kingdom. Leah got a sticker on the way in. We let her put it on herself and she chose to put it here:
Our first stop was to see some characters in the Town Hall. On the other days we were here, this area was packed with people - there are even FastPasses available and on the way out the wait time was an hour or more. So we were glad to walk right in to see the princesses. Even more exciting: upon entering the room our sweet little Leah, who had spent the entire time being petrified of characters, screamed out "Bell" (her name for princesses) and went running into Sleeping Beauty's open arms.
Cameron was also very excited to meet the princesses. When we got out of the room, he said "Mama, they were pretty."
Cameron, Leah and Mama with Sleeping Beauty
And then Leah moved on to see Belle, who she was also excited to see.
And Cameron liked her too
All of us with Belle
Cameron was most excited to meet Cinderella
Cinderella meeting Princess Leah
We have a bunch of cute pictures with Cam and Cinderella, he just loved her.
Mama and kiddos with Cinderella
Our next stop after the princesses was over to see Mickey and Minnie. Cam was very excited to meet them. Leah kept asking "Mickey? Minnie?" but then when she got in to see them she freaked out and didn't want to get anywhere near them. Cam was more than happy to take a picture with them.
Hooray, a picture of everyone!
One last picture in front of the castle
We headed over to Pixie Hollow to meet some fairies. First we met Terrance, who said he was a Sparrow Man, not a fairy. He showed Cameron how a Sparrow Man should stand.
Leah did not like Terrance, she didn't want to get anywhere near him.
Now Tinkerbell on the other hand... Leah was SO EXCITED to meet her!
Cameron liked meeting her too
Family picture with Tink
When it was time to go, Leah went back to give Tink a few more hugs
Leah with her favorite fairy
After meeting the fairies, we headed over to the train and took a ride around the park. The kids really enjoyed it, they love trains so of course it was fun. We got off the train and stopped to see Woody and Jessie.
Next up was one of the proud moments of the trip for me. Cameron decided that he wanted to ride on Splash Mountain. The other two times we were at Magic Kingdom, he said he was too afraid. We tried not to push him too much, but we knew how much he would like it. Today we didn't even really ask, he just said he wanted to ride. I was very proud of him for working through what he was afraid of and for deciding to give it a try.
Not surprising to Mama and Daddy, he LOVED it! He was a bit nervous about the big drop at the end (or, as we called it, the fun slide) but enjoyed looking at all of the characters as we went through the ride. He got used to the drops with the first few small ones and after that really started liking it. He loved the big drop at the end and thought it was funny that we got a little wet.
Here is Cameron in front of the sign for Splash Mountain. He is holding his "Brave Coin" that we gave him for being brave and going on the ride. We also sent this picture to Uncle Paul, whose favorite ride is Splash Mountain.
We had pretty much gone on every ride in the park that we wanted to go on, so we went back to repeat a few favorites. One of those was It's A Small World, which was a favorite of both Cam and Leah. I couldn't even get Leah to look at me for the picture because she was so entranced by the ride.
I tried to take pictures in the ride but most of them didn't come out. Here is one that did.
Good Bye in tons of languages - Cam asked us to read them all to him
On our way over to Tomorrowland we stopped at Sword in the Stone so the kids could try to pull the sword out. Cameron tried really hard and was sorely disappointed that he couldn't get the sword out.
Leah tried really hard too, but no luck.
Then Cam had the bright idea for the two of them to try together. That didn't work out either.
Cam recruited Daddy to give it a try, but Daddy couldn't get it either. Cam was sad.
We spotted Buzz Lightyear so of course Cam had to meet him
Cameron trying out the Buzz Lightyear stance
After meeting Buzz, we had to go on his ride. Here are the pictures from the ride. Daddy and Nana were in the first car
Leah was asleep so Poppa had to go with the one handed shot. Amazingly, he got the highest score between all of us.
Mama and Cameron - yes, that is Cam behind the shooter on the right. You can see his arm.
Alas, Cameron and Leah still got captured by Emperor Zurg.
We went to lunch at Crystal Palace, it was a character meal with Winnie the Pooh and Friends. The food was a buffet that was very tasty.
Cam and Eeyore
Leah didn't really want to be close to him
Mama, Leah and Cameron with Pooh
Pooh went in for the hug - Leah didn't want any part of it.
Cam and Piglet
The three of us with Piglet
Mama and Leah with Tigger. Leah did not take her eyes off Tigger, I guess she thought he was a little bit shifty.
Tigger with Cameron and Nana
Leah liked the pasta for lunch, but she really loved the German Sweet Chocolate cake for dessert.
Can you tell she likes it?
At the front of Crystal Palace were some very cool flower sculptures
Disney, you have amazing flower people
Tim took this picture with his phone - I thought it was pretty darn good! Good Bye Magic Kingdom, we had fun!
Cam loved the Disney buses, in fact one of the things that he chose to buy was three little Disney buses. He wanted a picture with the bus.
In the Front Lobby of French Quarter
Cam wanted a picture all by himself
We had about an hour to kill before our bus to the airport arrived, so the kids played on the playground while Mama and Nana shopped.
What a good big brother, helping his little sister onto the slide
I wandered around taking pictures of the hotel. This was where our room was - the far building, #2.
The hotel had a very cool pool
The courtyard area near the front lobby
Our bus to the airport arrived and it was an easy ride. The flight home was uneventful - the kids were good and it was another non-stop flight so that made it so much better.
We had an amazing trip, the kids had a blast and we loved seeing them enjoy it so much. We loved having Nana and Poppa there with us, to share in the experience and also to be an amazingly big help. It was a wonderful family vacation and we can't wait to go back!
