Team Darley: June 2016

Friday, June 24, 2016

Our Disney Vacation 2016 Part 1

Since we have SOOOO many pictures to share, I decided that I would be breaking our Disney Vacation blog post into 2 posts.

First of all, I had SO.MUCH.FUN. planning this vacation! Thanks to the help of Melissa from Melissa Lane Affiliate of Ears of Experience, LLC, we were able to plan the perfect trip that my kids will remember forever! (or at least I won't let them forget it!!! haha)

We decided that since our kids are still little, and this was going to be GJ's first trip to Disney, we would do 2 days at Magic Kingdom like we did last time. Maybe next time we will add a different park when the kids can handle a little more.

Last time we went to Disney we stayed off Disney property, but we decided we wanted to stay on property this time and get some of the other perks like the magic bands, advanced fast pass reservations, and just the whole experience that Disney hotels have to offer. I'm so glad that we did!

We stayed at Disney's Art of Animation Resort in the Ariel room. If you don't already know, GJ is Ariel obsessed (She get it from her mama), so this was a great choice for us. Plus it was a value resort, which saved us some money. Note: it was a little further than we would have liked from Magic Kingdom, so we will probably be staying closer next time, but it was still AWESOME!

On the way there the kids were busy coloring in their Disney coloring books:

The first night we got to Orlando, we had reservations for the T-Rex Restaurant at Disney Springs (downtown Disney). So we checked into our hotel and went straight to the restaurant. The kids LOVED it! It was such a cool setting for dinner.

After dinner we went back to the hotel, swam, and let the kids play arcade games for a little while. Then it was off to bed.

We had magic hours the next morning starting at 8:00 at Magic Kingdom, so we were up and out the door so we could see the opening show at the front gate. This part always gets me so pumped up!!!

When we got in the gate, Caycen and I went straight to The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (this is the ride that usually has the longest wait). I think this was one of our favorite rides in the park and I wish we could've ridden it several more times!!! While we were at the Mine Train, Chance and GJ went to the carousel and the tea cups.

Next we went to Enchanted Tales with Bell (another FAVORITE!!!)

We had to stop and get coffee for Daddy next {reminds me of our last trip Chance Darley! ;)}

Then the Barnstormer (fun roller coaster for the kids!)

Next we went on Journey Under the Sea ride and then met Ariel in her Grotto.

Then we had fast passes to meet Cinderella and Rapunzel.

More rides…

And one of the best things we did was get Memory Maker! I loved having this because I didn't have to worry about the family shots. We just went up to any disney photographer, got them to scan our bands, took a picture, and they were automatically uploaded to our account. LOVED IT!!!

Another tip… get a good stroller!!! We took two the first morning because our double stroller is HUGE. If we had it to do over again we would have probably brought a sit and stand or a light weight double stroller.