A Journey With The Jones': Impromtu Disney trip (Day 1 & 2)

Soooo....we were originally going to visit Disney in November for a week. We booked it using their "free dining" promotion. When we decided we wanted to sell our house, I thought it wise to pull the plug on that trip and utilize our money more responsibly.

Then we heard about the closing of Maelstrom (the boat ride in Norway at World Showcase in Epcot.) This is one of Hardy's favorite rides. It's been around since 1988! Hard to see something so classic go...but they're making room for FROZEN. The rides official last day is October 5th.

So last Monday I was searching for cheap hotels and decided to jump. We headed to FL on Sunday the 28th. Once we arrived we enjoyed dinner at Fulton's Crab House at Downtown Disney. We have seen it a million times but never eaten there.

The food was FANTASTIC! I was trying to be frugal and ordered a Caesar salad and a side of hash browns, but Hardy ordered crab legs...so much for that savings! The food was pricey, but well worth the cost in our opinion. We will definitely hit them up again...and I think they participate in the DDP (Disney dining plan.)

We stayed at the Wyndham Lake Buena Vista, which is an official Disney partner hotel. We could literally walk to Downtown Disney in about 5min...it was in a great location. They also had shuttles that offered round trip every 30min to all the parks. The room was nice and the resort itself was pretty. Nice pool (even though we didn't utilize it.) My only complaint is that they didn't offer a complimentary breakfast....

We woke up bright and early Monday and headed to Magic Kingdom. The shuttle actually dropped us off at the Ticket/Transportation Center. We were excited to be able to ride the monorail, but the dumb thing was closed so we had to crowd onto the ferry with everyone and their mothers, brothers and cousins.

Our first stop was Town Square Theater to meet Mickey!

MICKEY TALKS NOW!!!

It was so cool to hear him talk to the kids...super cute :)

Someone was excited....

I can never get Hardy to look at the camera, he always looks at me

Every single time we were in line to meet a character

she was so excited and repeatedly said "Persephone's turn" or "Mickey hold you."

But once she walked up to them she went silent and had no personality at all.

She was great at giving hugs, but I guess she was starstruck

when it actually was her turn.

How about these booty shorts?

They always ended up in a wad after we held her

Next up we went to The Jungle Cruise and then

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin

Then a little walk to It's a Small World

This was her dancing

We ate lunch at the Columbia Harbour House, they serve fish and chicken.

It's always a good quick service pick. Right after lunch we rode The Haunted Mansion (my absolute favorite.) Persephone got a little scared during the opening sequence right after you enter and the walls move, then again some other time during the ride. But overall, I was waving and talking to everything to try and keep her neutral. I believe fear of any kind is taught, maybe not intentionally...but if your child sees your fear it usually rubs off.

My mom recently taught her to wave and say "hey" to thunder/lightning so I've continued that and I would definitely say it helps. So during The Haunted Mansion we waved at the doors, ravens, roses, wallpaper, ghosts...the list goes on.

This was our "YOU DID IT" picture

After looking at these photos, I have seriously SERIOUSLY got to lose weight.