The crazyness

Yall-Life is simply crazy right now! You all know how I am a huge planner-as in usually by now I am making list and packing and doing all the fun stuff!

Well-a few weeks ago-we decided to move-out of out state-(crazy? Read about it here)

So I am packing...just not for Disney! I am packing to move! Crazy I know!

I had a sweet blogger ask me how this was going to impact the vacation-well without giving away detail-let me share :)

Todd moves to our new house and new state in a week-the girls and I will stay in Mississippi til December so they can finish out school. They get out of school on the 20th-and we will remain here til Christmas Day-When we leave for Disney-

So not only am I packing I am having to secretly pack our Disney stuff as well-Good thing they go to school for 7 hours a day :)

Starting in December, I will start to reveal a little more about our surprise plans!

Anyone else traveling to Disney over the holidays??

We are getting Close!

Y'all-I am the worst secret keeper EVER. I mean EVER. I have kept the secret of our surprise Disney Trip for almost a year now and I am almost to the point of BUST.

Every day-Literally-for the past 420+days my girls have asked "When are we going back to Disney." We began planning our upcoming trip on Christmas Day last year. We have booked Dining Reservations-We are flying this time (something new for us!) and now I have moved into planning the actual surprise.

I have watched countless youtube videos on parents surprising their kids with a Disney trip-and while some have made me so happy I cried (like for real) others have been a bit of a let down.

I know-without a shadow of a doubt-If I pull this off-we will have the ultimate Disney surprise.

This year Todd's Stepdad is joining us for our trip! He has never been to Disney and I am so excited he is coming along!! This will be our shortest trip to Disney-but since we are "seasoned visitors" and grandaddy is a newbie and its the busiest week of the year....We are really going for the experience this year. The girls have done everything (except for new fantasyland) so I feel like it's going to be a nice trip!

This will also be our *Disney Baby's* First trip to Disney World! I am so excited to take her and have her photo made with Minnie! She LOVES Minnie!

Are you planning a trip soon??

STROLLERS

If you are planning a trip to Disney with a child under the age of 8 (maybe even 9) get a stroller.

"Oh my child is too big for a stroller.", you say? No. Listen to me. You will need a stroller. You-an adult-will want a stroller.

Make your trip more enjoyable by having a stroller.

You can read our first post on Strollers at Disney HERE

Disney Don'ts

Here are a few of my tips for thing NOT to do at Disney.

1) Do not go into a trip you have spent thousands of dollars on-with out a plan. I mean a serious plan. Where you are going to start each day, dining reservations, highlights in the park you want to hit that day.

2) Do not try to do Magic Kingdom in one day. You will die. You will die in the happiest place on earth but that's an expensive death.

3) Do not forget to nap-Take time for naps. Yes its fun and you are on vacation but plan to stay up past bedtime and nap during the day time!

Do not kick your child out of their stroller for you to nap-while you wait in line to meet the princesses.

4) Remember Animal Kingdom is not a water park-Don't let your toddler wear theirs without clothes :)

5) Don't litter. Its "TRASHY" and there are a gazillion trash cans around Disney.

6) If you go in the summer months-do not wear black pants and carry your heavy bags of snacks and your toddler. This poor lady did and was in front of us in line. She and I chatted about how she wish she had of known how hot she would be and how much walking she would be doing. Learn from her mistake.

7) do not forgo a stroller in carry your infant carrier through the park. You will walk a long way-be prepared. (see stroller post tomorrow)

Snacks in the Park!

Lets face it, snack time is everyone's favorite time! It doesn't matter if you just at the delicious all-you-care to eat Breakfast buffet at Chef Mickeys, by 10 o'clock, its snack time! We always bring "snacks" into the parks with us. I love to save my Snack Credit from the Dining Plan for something spectacular like the Dole Whip, Rice Cream,Churros or Veggie Egg Roll (I know, total dork. But they are delicious!)

Some of the Snacks we bring each year are:
Cheetos
Cheez-its
Granola
Chex-Mix
Peanut butter crackers
Gummies
Goldfish
Suckers
Smarties
.....anything the kids really enjoy that I know will carry-them over!

I keep little containers ) filled with an assortment of snacks and when we go to wait in line for rides/character meets...I pull these out!

One of my tips is make "wait in line snacks" special. We don't eat a lot of Junk Food at our house so snacks are the stuff the kids always ask for but only get on "special occasions". Cheetos are literally a saving grace during the long wait at the Epcot Character Spot! Just don't forget the baby wipes to clean up those orange fingers and lips :)

I am not a cutesy mom. But thanks to Pinterest we can see mom's who are and love their ideas! This is one of my favorite Disney Bloggers cutesy snack ideas :)

 What's some of your favorite Snacks to bring?

2012 RECAP: THE LAST DAY

We had 1 more park day ticket so we decided on the last day we would tackle the Animal Kingdom just to do the parts we hadn't seen on the previous day before heading out of sunny Flordia~

We had to document our friends "THE BYRDS" first time in front of the Tree of LIfe-Day 1 was TOO WET!

 We Pressed some pennies....

 Visited Rafiki's island

 posed awkwardly. (I am sure a year ago I had a reason to do this...but now I can't remember :/)

 Played spot the hidden mickey :)

 and used our last quick service meal for some PIZZA!!

Afterwards we packed up and headed home! It was a great trip!!!

2012 Recap: Day 6 Magic Kingdom part 2

Remember how I told you Chef Mickey's is no long my favorite place for breakfast?? Let me introduce you to my new favorite...

 I booked this reservation for 1 reason. 1 on 1 time with Mary Poppins. If you didn't know-I ADORE her! 

 Well-this place was the BEST breakfast I have had at Walt Disney World. From the "special juice"

 To the Strawberry soup! IT WAS AMAZING! We ate, and ate, and ate, and ate, and ate.....

 the buffet was full of everything from design your own omelet  to the famous Micky Waffles.

 There was tons of Jams and Toast as well (A broadus family favorite...I know. We are weird!)

Next it was on to Magic Kingdom! We split up again (I recommend doing this with groups after a few days...we enjoyed our friends and they enjoyed us but it was also nice to have a family vacation on the side.)

 We rode all the rides. Literally. EVERY. LAST. ONE.

We ate more food (this my friends-quick service at the Harbour House)

 Then we surprised the kiddos with a trip to the Pirate's League. It was the most fun surprise of the trip!!

 Picking out their Pirate Names....

 Getting their makeup done.

 A little new do for the new Jake....

 and yes...our diva fell asleep in the makeup chair ;)

 see....passed out. hahahah she loved it!

The big girl was 100% into the whole pirate garb.

 After a short nap-she was back with us!

 We took in the afternoon parade and had some turkey legs....

 and frozen lemonade....

 Then we took this picture of our pirates at the train station!

 It was our last night at Disney and we had a ton of snack credits left. So what did we do....We snacked....

 and snacked......

 and snacked.....

 Then rode some more!!!

It was a great day!