Can I just start off this blog by saying, if you are overwhelmed by too many photos on a blog, you might want to close this page!!! My memory is horrible, so I wanted to be sure and document every picture/detail/memory that I could think of!
We were given the most wonderful opportunity to go to Orlando, Florida to take our little girl to Disney World. At first I was overwhelmed because this is a trip we have been saving up our credit card points since 2006 to take Savannah on and I wanted it to be the most wonderful trip of our whole lives! The trip was far better than any of us could have ever dreamed about! We couldn't have asked for a better time together! So blessed...
The palm trees are so tall! Savannah looks like an ant up next to the tree!
The excitement of a 3 year old is indescribable!
This was all of our first times at Disney World. Riding the ferry across the lake to Disney World and seeing the castle in the distance, was a very surreal feeling!
The cool thing about Disney World is, they have a professional photographer EVERYWHERE to take your family's picture! All you have to do is give your photo card to each photographer you come across and at the end of the trip, you turn your photo card in and they will put EVERY picture on a CD for you! How cool is that?
Day #1 Parade - Dressed in our Belle dress.
Disney World REALLY is the happiest place on Earth!
We were having just as much fun as she was!
Every day at 3:00, a parade runs through Magic Kingdom!! We were front and center for the parade! The Genie from Aladdin just happened to LOVE Savannah! He actually kissed her her in this picture. At this point, I had so many emotions running through me, I ACTUALLY started crying! haha! To see my baby wave and scream out loud every time her favorite character walked by, it was more than this Momma could handle!
The coolest part about Disney World is, EVERY employee at the park treats your child like they are the only child there! They actually make your child feel so important! If your little girl is wearing a princess dress of any kind, every character that walks by will bow before your child because your child is a princess (or dressed like royalty). How cool, huh!?! Captain Hook was bowing before royalty!
Day #2 Parade - Dressed in our Cinderella dress!
The Chipmunks giving her five!
Woody and Jessie off of Toy Story giving her a high five! She couldn't BELIEVE that she was giving the Toy Story Characters a high five!
Day #2 Parade and the Genie is back, bowing to Cinderella (Savannah) and kissing her hand again! I LOVE THE GENIE!
The BEST part of the parade was when the ugly step sisters and the stepmother walked by. Savannah was freaking out because she was dressed like Cinderella that day! Well, when one of the ugly step sisters spotted Savannah, she brought Savannah out into the parade, spun her around and then brought her back to the side with us and she hunched up her shoulder and said, "Hmpphh". Kinda blowing Savannah off because she was in character! To this day, Savannah still tells people the story of the ugly step sister going "hmph" to her! hahaha! I LOVE how they all stay in character!
Not too long after, Cinderella's float drove by and Cinderella spotted Savannah staring up at her and waving and Cinderella looked down at her and said, "You are beautiful" and blew her a kiss! All the money in the world couldn't have paid for the memories that were being made! I, of course, was bawling! Once again, too many emotions! hahaha!
During the parade, Savannah looked at us and said, "Do the dancers know that I'm a dancer too?!?" So, I was so excited when one of them came over to her and gave her a high five! She was over the top excited!
Woody blowing her a kiss!
The other cool thing about Disney World is, you can buy an autograph book and every princess/character will sign their autograph and there is a place on the autograph page to put a picture of you with that princess/character. A Wonderful keepsake for the children!
Back to the first day. After the parades, we made our way over to the theater for the princess meet and greet. Words can't even describe the excitement level she was at while waiting to meet the princesses. Our first girl was Sleeping Beauty or as Savannah calls her...Sleeping Blooty. One of those words that is just too cute to correct, so we just keep letting her say it. She has actually said it so much that a majority of her family members have started calling her, "Blooty". haha!
The next Princess was Belle! So thankful for this sweet princess. She did a wonderful job of making Savannah feel special!
This was the moment that she had been waiting for. Princess Cinderella and Princess Arial are her favorites right now. So, we were meeting the Holy Grail of Princesses!
Such a sweet moment!
Then, this is the moment when all good things must come to an end! We were being "those parents" and I was taking pictures with my camera and my phone and Jeremy was crouched down on the ground with the video camera. Well, 15 minutes after this picture was taken and we were at the Bippity Boppity Boutique, Jeremy went to pull the credit card out of his wallet and everything was gone! The credit card and his license. LONG, LONG story short, he ran back to Pooh and Tigger and an hour later ended up at the Town Hall where someone had turned everything in. Pooh and Tigger stole some of our cash, but returned all of the important stuff. Ughhh....Not the worst thing that could happen, I know! Atleast Jeremy got to fly home with us and not become a Floridian! hahaa!
Like I said, our next stop was the Bippity Boppity Boutique where "Princess Savannah" had an appointment to get her hair, nails and makeup done by the Fairy Godmother.
Savannah LOVED her hair, but I must say, I was a little shocked at how she looked!
Royalty!
This was SO worth the money!
I never realized that a 3 years old's self esteem could shoot through the roof after getting her hair, nails, and makeup done while wearing a princess dress!
She was unstoppable at this point! hahaha!
Too much!
We had to have the professional photographer take our picture with our little princess Belle!
Jeremy and Savannah riding the carousel right in front of the castle at Magic Kingdom!
Our next stop was dinner reservations at Chef Mickey's place. I must say that this was the next highlight of our trip. The character meals are a MUST if you are going to go to Disney World. You go eat at a restaurant and while you are eating, every character/princess (depending on where you are at) will come to the table and visit with you. Chef Mickey took a moment away from his fabulous cooking to come say hi to Savannah.
Pluto
Minnie Mouse.
Of course I needed my picture with Minnie as well!
Chef Donald Duck
Chef Goofy
I made Jeremy take a picture with Goofy!
Day #2, we were headed to the beach! Now, when I said that Savannah's hair was crazy, the next day after sleeping on it was far worse than the first day! hahaha. This is a picture of us in a rental car on our way to Daytona Beach.
80 degrees. Perfect weather for a nice day at the beach!
Savannah has only been to the beach one time in Chicago and that was a small beach and it was chilly. So, we really considered this her first time at the beach!
Dad LOVES Savannah.
She kept making sand angels. To say that she loved the beach is a complete understatement!
We buried Jeremy's legs while he was catching some rays!
Then, she wanted her legs buried!
This girl is happy!
We got back to the hotel around 4:00 and we told her that we were going back to Disney World and this is the look that we got after we broke the news!
Our first stop...to spend some time with Mickey and Minnie Mouse at the theater. Mickey bowed to her when he saw her.
Minnie danced with her.
Picture with the stars of the show!
Daisy Duck. She is so sweet. She walks so prissy.
I needed my picture too with this sassy little duck!
For some reason, Pluto holds a special place in her heart, so every time we spotted Pluto, we had to stop and see him!
Love the pictures of us with the castle in the background!
Our next stop was our dinner reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table in the actual castle. We finally got to meet Snow White at this particular character dining. The dinner was AWESOME! Beef tenderloin, twice baked mashed potatoes, salad, the bread was out of this world, and cheesecake.
Sleeping Beauty.
FINALLY!!!! Arial!!!!! Savannah was in shock at first, so she just sat and stared at her. Arial (being in complete character) looked at Savannah and said, "When I go back to the sea tonight, I will have to talk to Ursella about taking your voice"? Savannah laughed and got over the fact that Arial was actually in front of her and Savannah told her that her hair was beautiful!
I think that Arial could tell that she was her favorite because she just loved on her!
Belle was dressed how she is at the beginning of the movie. Savannah was QUICK to tell her "Belle, the Beast is nice. You don't have to be scared of him"! How sweet is that??!??
Belle told her thank you for letting her know and hugged her!
We thanked Cinderella for such a wonderful meal and Savannah told her, "Cinderella, you are beautiful"!
After many FAILED attempts, we finally got to meet Rapunzel!!! Apparently, she is the newest and greatest princess and EVERYONE wants to meet her! Savannah had actually drawn her a picture and Rapunzel loved it.
Rapunzel and Savannah. While waiting in line, we actually became friends with this couple from New Jersey. They told me that Savannah looked like a little Southern Belle!
You can never have too many pictures in front of the beautiful castle!
Our final hours at the park! She wanted to meet Chip N Dale.
One final family meet and greet! When we went to the photo lab to turn in our photo card, they said that we had 121 pictures waiting for us on a cd. My camera had close to 200 pictures. hahaha!
The next day, after we got booted out of our hotel, we still had 4 hours before the shuttle was to pick us up at the hotel to head to the airport. So, we spent the 4 hours at the pool! This little girl was wiped out!
80 degrees and a light breeze. Couldn't ask for anything more!
All in all, words can NOT even come close to the memories that were made February 26 - March 1st, 2012. My advice to anyone that is wanting to take their children to Disney World....DON'T wait until they get older because you are worried that they might not remember the trip! There is NO way that any of us (including our 3 year old) will EVER forget any detail of this trip! She was young enough to still appreciate every little detail of this trip including screaming when she saw a princess or her favorite character, playing her heart out at the beach, and wearing nothing but princess / dress up clothes the entire time we were gone. To say that we were blessed that week is a complete understatement!
