Bring On the New: Disney World: Days 1-2

After many years of planning, my in-laws took the whole family to Disney World. It was an INCREDIBLE trip. Normally, when I travel, I document my trips by spending time in the early mornings before anyone wakes creating a write-up of the former days' activities (as I have done with Montreal and Singapore). It was my intent to do the same with this trip, but after day two, I realized there was no way I was going to be able to keep up because we did SO MUCH and we were all up early. So these were written after our return.

We stayed at Disney's Art of Animation Resort. This resort is designed for families and large groups (and also has the biggest pool of any other resort! The kids were really impressed with that.) and houses four complexes, each based on a different Disney film: The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Cars, and Finding Nemo. We stayed in the Finding Nemo complex. It was a great location because we were right next to both the food court and the ginormous pool. Each family unit had a suite complete with dining and living areas (each of which housed extra beds) and a bathroom in the common area. In the back was a bedroom and en suite bathroom, so there was plenty of space.

One day we took a walk down to the Little Mermaid complex

We flew out early and arrived midday, spending the afternoon getting unpacked and swimming in the huge pool. (Mercifully, Sister also took a nap.) That evening, we traveled by bus to Magic Kingdom where we ate dinner at Club Mickey. As we were dining, characters came to each table for autographs and pictures.

We had a little hiccup on the way home (as in we wandered around for 45 minutes before we finally found the bus pickup), but everyone hit the hay pretty much the second we arrived back at the suite. The next morning, we were up and at 'em, ready for our day at Magic Kingdom.

Here we are in line for the bus on Day 1. The selfie stick was confiscated upon entrance into the park though :(

Magic Kingdom Highlights:

Breakfast @ Belle's Castle - this was AWESOME and it got us early entrance into the park (which, if we ever come back, I think we will try to do every day, if possible. Waiting in line for the park to open is kind of terrible).
Rides - namely It's a Small World, the Carousel, and the Mad Hatter (I'm not much for Roller Coasters) were my faves
The Parade - every day at 2 PM, they have a huge parade. Sister and I had separated from the group, and I'm so glad we did because we got GREAT seats! We were right on the curb and everything passed right in front of us.
Dinner - We took a boat out to another resort for dinner and this place was COOL! It was family-style BBQ and, in addition to the delicious food, the atmosphere was really fun. The waiter was sarcastic and anytime anyone asked for ketchup, they made the table yell "We want ketchup!" and ALL the ketchup bottles in the entire place were delivered to that table. I think a lot of folks just went without ketchup...