Disney World Day 1 - Epcot

For those who don't know, we recently took the older kids on a trip to Disney World.  It was kind of a last minute trip (we only booked it two months ago), and we kept the whole thing a surprise from the kids.  My parents came to town to stay with Sam and Lucy while the rest of us loaded up and headed to sunny Florida!  We didn't tell Jack and Anna where we were going until we got in the car and I don't think they really believed us at first.  We video taped us telling them and it was kind of a let down - no screaming or anything!  Once they realized we were really going and started looking through books, they got super excited about the whole thing.  We made it to our resort eight hours later and the kids were pumped once they saw the pool shaped like a bowling pin!  We swam and hung out at the resort for the evening and then got up bright and early for our first day at the parks.

On the way to Disney World!

Two tiny kids at the base of Tramp are ready to go swimming.

Day 1 - Got our maps and ready to head into Epcot.

First stop was the Character Spot.

Love Jack's expression in this one.

Anna was giddy when she saw Minnie.  She definitely got the prize for getting the most excited first!

Complaining that the sun is in their eyes!

Oh no, she's been swallowed by a shark!

The Flower and Garden Festival was going on while we were here and the flowers were beautiful!

Peter Pan and Captain Hook and a boy with the sun in his eyes again.

Look how excited Anna is to see Daisy.  She would not stop bouncing with glee!

We took a break and headed back to the hotel for swimming and resting, and then came back to Epcot for more rides and a special dinner.

There were topiaries of the characters all over the place made with the flowers, which was a really neat thing to see.

Anna donned some of her finest attire in order to have a special dinner with some very special people.

We ate in a castle in the Norway Pavillion in the World Showcase part of Epcot.   The food was wonderful and Anna got to meet five lovely ladies, otherwise known as princesses!

This is how Jack felt about dining with a bunch of princesses, but in the end he was a good sport and even videoed when they came to our table to talk to Anna!

First up was a special picture with Belle.

Once we were seated Cinderella came by for a visit.

Anna changes her mind daily about who her favorite princess is, but on this day she claimed it was Aurora and was thrilled when she came over to see us.  See how she's looking up at her in awe!

My girl is glowing right about now!

Snow White came by and showed her how to hold her dress like a real princess.

Next up was the princess promenade, where the girls paraded around behind a princess waving to the diners.

 This is one happy girl!

Last up was Ariel who was so friendly and fun!

We ended our night with Illuminations (fireworks show), but no pictures of that.  Our first day was full of fun.  Jack's favorite thing of the day was riding Soarin' (a ride that makes you feel like you're flying) twice.  Anna absolutely LOVED dining with the princesses and still gets excited when talking about it today.  She did not like the dark rides, even if they were not scary.  I learned that everything at Disney World is really loud, but so much fun, especially through the eyes of your children!