We stayed one night in Floral City and the next morning we got up really early and headed to the Land of the Mouse. The girls had no idea where we were going and Hadley was none to happy about that. She kept saying, "please, PLEASE, please....." over and over. Not a big fan of the surprise that one! The primary reason for the surprise is Ellison would have driven us insane. She is the kid that squeals with delight over everything constantly. If we tell her we are going to Church to far in advance, she will ask 500 times when you are leaving. Her level of excitement and questions, would have been too much to bear in the months leading up to Disney ;) About 20 minutes from the Park, the signs announcing the park were becoming rather loud and frequent, so we busted out the video camera and filmed telling them where we were going. Ellison immediately busted into her best version of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song, precious!
This is Ellison when she was on the boat going over to the Park, she was so excited, she was in Hadley's face, just smiling and kissing on her.
This is the girls with John, he is a friend of my Mom and Uncle. He let us in and showed us around, so thankful to him for the experience.
My Mom made the girls their shirts and one of her friends made them matching hair bows. They were so cute!!!
This was our first line at Disney, thankfully the longest we had to wait in any line was about 20 minutes, which was crazy considering it was the weekend before the 4th. I had heard all the stories and I was pretty nervous! This was also the line to the Merry go Round which Hadley declared her favorite part of the trip about half way through the day. Which was a little upsetting considering we have a Merry go Round at a local mall and it is only 30 minutes away and 2 bucks!!! Thankfully she found another favorite thing and it was unique to Disney, so I guess the trip was worth it!
It's a Small World. This was on my must list and we did it super early. The girls loved all the scenes and oooh'ed and ahhh'ed. One of the reasons it was on my must list, is it is one of the few memories I have of my trip to Disney when I was Hadley's age. However, the thing that stuck in my mind about the whole ride was the smell. That damp musty wet smell. I don't remember the music so much or the scenery, just the smell. Funny, when we rode it this time, the smell wasn't that remarkable. I wonder why it stuck in my mind so distinctly 30 years ago. Wonder what will the girls remember?
The teacups!!! I seriously thought Ellison was going to lose her breathe completely when Wayne started spinning it super fast!
As we walked past, we caught a show at the Castle. We ended up with a pretty good spot for the dance number and it was totally accidental!
On the way out of the Park Saturday, Daisy and Pluto were signing autographs. We were hot, tired and ready to go. We agreed to let the girls get one autograph and Ellison picked Daisy. I am so glad we waited. What happened next was the most shocking event of the trip. We had Hadley go first, because other than a short say 6 month period, the kid has never been scared of the people in costumes. She marches right up and embraces them. We thought if there is any chance Ellison will interact, she will have to see Hadley do it first.
I'm pretty sure she already had her mind made up on what she was going to do. She marched up with a quiet confidence. She hung back while Daisy signed her book. I prayed for a graceful exit, the approach was really enough for me. I mean this is the kid that is terrified of things in costumes. When we are at Chick fil A and the cow comes up, her little thighs become legs of steel and you quite possibly could lose circulation to your mid section.
Then Daisy reached out for a hug and she stepped in and leaned. She didn't hug her, but she allowed her to touch her. I thought I was going to have to pick my self up off the scorching asphalt. This kid is going to be throwing us curve balls for the rest of her life, pretty sure of it!!!!
We then went back to the resort, took long late naps and got up and got ready to go back. We wanted to see the electric parade and fireworks, so we camped out and found our place along Main Street. Can I just say there are some crazy people in this world?
This quickly became the highlight of Hadley's trip. It was pretty awesome! Ellison liked it too, however Wayne had made the mistake of telling her she would see Tinkerbell, which didn't happen until the fireworks, so all through the parade she kept asking for Tinkerbell. It was kind of exhausting.
Watching the parade, looking for Tinkerbell.
