Ryan and Amanda's Big Adventures: February 2014

Growing up my parents took us to Disneyland about once a year. It was always super fun. I loved spending that time with my family - I loved the rides, the parade, getting frozen bananas, all of it. I loved going to the beach after as well. I have a lot of good memories from our Disneyland trips.
Ryan and I went to Disneyland on our honeymoon. It was his first time ever, but after being there he understood why it is a special place, he understood the magic.
Last year we took Abby to the beach and decided to spend one day at Disneyland. Even though she was not yet one, and she was sick, she still loved it, and so did we. She loved watching everything, she loved the rides, she loved it all. We had a ton of fun.
Being in Texas we are about equidistant from Disneyland and Disney World. None of us had been to Disney World, but we decided that we should try it out. With a month left of free flights for Abby and free entrance to Disney World for her we decided now was the time. Conveniently, my parents and youngest sister (and her family) also planned a trip to Disney World, so we ended up all going together, which made it even better.
My sister has been before and had found a great resort hotel that is actually withing Walt Disney World but not owned by Disney so it tends to be cheaper - Wyndham Bonnet Creek. We stayed in a two bedroom condo with my parents and my sister and her family stayed in a one bedroom one. They were so nice and the pool was amazing.
But we got there the day before they did so we had a little extra time. That night we stayed in a not as nice place, but what we are more used to, which is fine - Radisson.
We flew in Saturday mid-evening. We only had time to get our luggage, our car, pick up our Disney tickets (we bought from a third party), get some food, a little grocery shopping, and get Abby to bed.

Sunday we went to church. We went to the Orlando temple, and walked the grounds, which were nice. I love visiting temples. Two of my good friends from BYU (they are married) Mike and Sommer Sietz live in Orlando now so we stopped by to visit with them for a bit. Ryan and I had actually visited them a few years ago when they lived in Portland. So nice of them to keep moving to places we visit so we can see them! From their house we picked up my parents at the airport, then headed to our hotel. Abby got to play with her cousins Jack and Liam for a little while before bed, which was fantastic - she loves them so much. Then there was a little Super Bowl party. I don't really love the Super Bowl, or any TV football, but I try to please my husband by at least watching this one game with him a year.

Monday we all went to Hollywood Studios. We packed it all in - saw the shows, rode the rides. There aren't a ton of kid-centered rides there. But they do have a couple, they also have a fun playground, and they have shows, which is what Abby likes best. She LOVED the Beauty and the Beast show, even though she has never seen the movie. She was a huge fan of the Beast and was very concerned when he died. I LOVED watching her watch it, completely enthralled! One super cute thing she did was when she saw something she go really excited about she would put her hand on one of our cheeks and kind of turn our head to make sure we were seeing what she did. It was the best! We did take a break in the middle of the day for a nap - but went back in the evening so we could see Fantastmic! It was fun, Abby loved it too, not as much as Beast, but still.

Bath time is much more fun when jets make tons of bubbles!

On the tram from the parking lot to our first taste of the magic!

Our first ride was Toy Story. We all went on it together - so fun!

I am the WORST selfie taker!

Jack and my mom - I enjoyed watching them

On The Great Movie Ride

Outside of Beauty and the Beast

After her favorite show - her favorite part of the day!

Maggi's family's plans diverged from ours for the rest of the trip. We all wanted to get all the parks in, but we wanted to do them in a different order than they did. So we split up. This made it hard on my parents because then they had to choose who to go with. We had a lot of fun and I'm glad we got to do all the things we wanted to, but looking back I wish we had chosen to just stick together - building memories as a family and letting Abby have cousin time would have been better than getting to go on every ride and see every show like we wanted. Woulda, shoulda, coulda. You learn as you go. Dang it. But still, we did have a great time.

Tuesday my parents went with Maggi's family to Animal Kingdom while we went to Magic Kingdom. We had picked a time of year to go when the crowds were especially low, which was awesome. We ended up riding every ride we wanted to and seeing everything by around 1 or so. We went back to the hotel, had lunch, swam, had a nap, then just played with cousins. After Abby went to bed we left her with my parents then Ryan and I went back to Magic Kingdom and rode some bigger rides. Such a fun day!

More bubble fun

Pointing out the ducks to her cousins

Magic Kingdom is the hardest park to get to because it is on an island or something. You have to either take a boat or a tram. We took the tram because the boats weren't going yet when we got there. My mom had given Abby this wand so she and Ryan had fun playing with it on the way over.

Waiting for the park to open

It's A Small World was one of Abby's top 3 favorite rides at Disneyland, and it was a hit at Magic Kingdom as well!

Wiped out, she completely missed our ride on Aladdin's magic carpets as well as our wait in line for the Jungle Cruise. We were happy to have her sleep through the line, but sad she missed the carpet ride because she would have enjoyed it.

Boat ride back to the parking lot

Getting better acquainted with Mickey

Wednesday Maggi's family went to Magic Kingdom while we went to Epcot. It was awesome! We spend the first part of the day in the from which is like a super amazing science museum with rides, then we did the world tour hitting pretty much every country. I think my favorite parts were watching the movies that surround you 360 degrees! I also enjoyed the street performers - including Abby.

Thursday was Maggi's family's day for Epcot and ours for Animal Kingdom. It was a lot of fun, except that Abby started running a fever and my mom wore out :(. But we loved the safari ride, the Tree of Life, and the Nemo show. We loved it all really, but those were our favorites. The Dinosaur ride was also great.

Since my mom and Abby were both under the weather we let them get some rest and relaxation at the hotel while my dad, Ryan, and I went to Magic Kingdom to finish off our Disney time with Maggi and her family. We rode the rides the boys were wanting to do again and watched the parade and fireworks. The weather was kind of stinky, but it was still really fun. I really liked being there with Maggi and my dad, kind of made me feel like a kid again and brought back some of those great memories.

Friday morning our family all left pretty early. Our flight wasn't until 7, and the weather was stinky. We let Abby sleep until we had to be out of our room. We spent some time on the resort property, playing on the playgrounds. Then we went to Downtown Disney. It was our first time there. Our pediatrician had told us not to let Abby watch TV until she was 2, so we hadn't. She hadn't seen any movies. But with her having a fever and it being cold and rainy we decided Frozen it was. She was so cute watching it. I don't know if she would have loved it as much if she watched movies all the time, but being a first time thing she was glued pretty much the whole time. She got a little squirmy at the end, but mostly she loved it, and I loved it because of that. She was just adorable. After the movie we looked around some of the shops, ate, and then headed to the air port. It was really a great trip!