disney...take one

12:42 PM

i don't even know where to begin with this trip...

i guess we will just start at the beginning.

about a year ago we decided this was going to be the year we did disney. that was the easy part! from there we narrowed down the time of year and approached our guests. once my mom officially retired, last may, it was off to the races!

the one thing i knew for sure is that i wanted it to be a surprise. i am a huge, huuuuge fan of surprises and i have definitely rubbed off on my girls. they love a good surprise just as much as i do.

after months and months of planning, october 1st finally arrived...

i could hardly sleep the night before.

i had my parents and elaine meet at our house at 6:30am. the girls awoke to a scavenger hunt around our house for their big surprise. man did i have fun with this one! (i have videos and i will upload once put them on youtube...you can see them on my instagram) to say the girls were excited was a huuuuuuge understatement! they could hardly believe their eyes when my dad held up the sign reading "you're going to disney world!"

it took may a little bit to wrap her head around what was actually going on...however once we arrived at the airport she got it!

a little pre-planning on our flight.

we decided to do things a little different and stay "off site" at the four seasons. no particular reason except for when my mil and i were exploring options we came across pictures of their pool and we were hooked!

i mean just look at that view...from our room!
we could see the magic kingdom fireworks out our window every night!!

we arrived saturday around noon and decided not to hit the parks until sunday...so we made ourselves right at home at the pool.

we woke up sunday ready to go!
another thing we decided to try was a vip tour on our first day. ooooh my goodness, if you are able to pull this off, highly recommend!! our tour guide was amazing. not only was she an iu grad (and was there the same years as dan...no they didn't know each other) but she was so knowledgeable on everything disney and made our first day truly magical.

first stop...the castle of course!! got there just in time to watch cinderella introduce elena of avalor. this is one of may's favorite shows, so she was thrilled!

our crew!

we couldn't go to the castle without seeing disney's main gal!

i wish i had video of my mom, elaine and i. we were an absolute mess! i don't know what came over us, but tears were flowing from all three of us. that moment seeing all four of my little princesses run right up to her made the whole trip worth it. i could have left right then and there and been 100% satisfied with our trip.

simply magical

this...this right here is what sent us over the edge!

i was most impressed with annie. i had mentally prepared for her to be scared of any and all characters...but man did she prove me wrong!! i think she was the most excited of them all.