Disney

Oh, Disney World.  I can't even come up with the words to describe our experience.  First of all we loved it.  We're already making plans for our next trip back.  But it was hot, I was (am) 6 months pregnant and I've never seen so many people in one place before in my life.  My ankles were so swollen within 5 minutes of being there that I didn't think they would ever go back to normal.  It took us at least a full 24 hours to recover, but we did, and like I said, we're already looking forward to going back for more.

Once you get over the shock of the fact that I look like a giant pink manatee, can you just take a look at the amount of people in the background of this picture?!  All day, I kept wondering if they ever reach a maximum capacity and just tell people that they can't let anybody else in the park.  I don't think they do.

The first thing we did was hopped on the steam engine that took us to the back of the park and then we quickly made our way toward the princesses.  We had to wait in line for about 45 minutes, but it was in a nice air conditioned area, so the time seemed to fly.  This next series of pics is when we were in line, Poppy took her crown off and put it on Marc's hat and told him he was a princess...

We didn't know what to expect when we finally got to the end of the line.  We were lead into a room where Poppy got one-on-one time with each princess.  She was in complete shock that they were real live princesses and they were actually talking to her.  Check out the look on her face...

I couldn't get over how sweet the princesses were.  They were so patient and gentle with Poppy.

Then to meet the beloved Ariel, we had to go to a different area and wait another 45 minutes out in the blazing sun.  When it was finally our turn, Poppy starting saying "I don't even want to meet Ariel!"  I was like- "too bad, we waited all this time, I'm about to die of heat exhaustion, you're going to meet her".  So I pulled Ratty out of my bag and let her take him with her.  That got her to change her tune.  She walked right up to Ariel and proudly held up Ratty for her to see.  Ariel started giggling and asking questions about Ratty and Poppy just about hopped up on her lap.

Our friends, The Oryl's, were in Florida at the time, so we decided to meet up with them while we were there.

Of course, Poppy and Colin barely paid any attention to each other for most of the day, but Poppy has been asking about him ever since.  And it was super nice for the adults to be able to hang out and catch up.  By 4:00 in the afternoon, this was what you could see in most passing strollers...

After dinner it was onto the big Princess castle...

I love this picture- it was right as we were about to walk through and Poppy held my hand and asked if this is where all the princesses live.

After peeking around in the castle, Marc took Poppy into a gift shop and was buying her a Snow White book (of course out of all the toys they had, the only thing Poppy wanted was a book) and when they were checking out, the woman who worked there asked Poppy if she wanted to be turned into a princess.  Marc said Poppy was in awe as she shook her head yes and then the woman took a wand that was filled with fairy dust and shook it over Poppy's head and declared that she was a princess.  Poppy came out of that store covered from head to toe in green glitter.  Green glitter that is still in our stroller and car seat and that took 3 serious scrubs in the tub to get out of her hair, but according to Marc was all worth it because Poppy loved it so much.

Then it was time to say goodbye to our friends...

(I'm pretty sure those 2 are destined to get married.)

At that point, we were sitting in a bakery, deciding if we should stay to watch the parade, or if we should get going because it was so late and we were all soooo exhausted.  But I had my heart set on getting Poppy's sillouette done (my parents still have our Disney sillouettes from when we were little) and the lady who did them was on break until 9:05.  The parade started at 9:00, so we ended up staying for it and then getting her sillouette done on our way out of the park.  I am so glad we stayed for the parade because it was by far the highlight of the entire day for Poppy.  You could not tear her eyes away from that parade for a second.  She's been watching the little video clips we have of the parade ever since.

Just before the parade started, my mom and I stopped by a gift shop because I wanted to get a souvenir for Poppy.  I didn't like any of the t-shirts or anything else, so at the last minute I grabbed a plain old stuffed Mickey doll.  As soon as we got to the car, Poppy was the most exhausted I've ever seen her and she immediately asked for Ratty.  I gave her my bag and she pulled out Ratty and out came the Mickey doll with him.  I wish I had her reaction caught on tape because it was the cutest thing we have ever seen.  Her eyes got real big and her jaw dropped open.  She exclaimed, "Mickey's in here!  Is this my Mickey?!  Someone got me Mickey!  Someone must really love me to get me a Mickey!"  She then introduced him to Ratty and everyone else in the car, before falling asleep within a few minutes.

So that's our whirlwind day in Disney.  Exhausting, magical, filled with memories.