Walt Disney World and Legoland, FL 2012

We returned home from a fantastically fun trip to Walt Disney World, Florida!  We have taken a winter ski trip for the last few years, since my husband is an avid snow skier, but he graciously asked me to plan a trip to Walt Disney World for this year instead!  He injured his hamstring last summer while wake skiing on water and is still rehabilitating it.  He also thought that we all deserved a trip to WDW after the crazy up and down year that we had in 2011.

Small World Vacations has helped me plan both of our WDW vacations and they do a great job at helping me plan everything that I need to have planned in advance.  They only plan Disney trips and I highly recommend their services.  They also are good at helping you find discounts and they do not charge any extra fees!  This year we did a package with a WDW Resort, park tickets, and the WDW dining plan.  We also paid extra for a room with a Magic Kingdom view at The Grand Floridian.  It was incredible!  It was incredible!  We could see the castle, lagoon, and other resorts around the lagoon anytime we stepped out onto our porch!  We also watched the electric water parade in the evening if we were in our room when it came by.  I would do that again in a heartbeat.

I also purchased The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2012.  I used it for reading about rides, character meals, and possible touring plans.  This year we spent extra money for a room with a Magic Kingdom view at The Grand Floridian WDW Resort.  They have a website and a really cool App. that D and I both downloaded to our phones.  The App. is called "Lines" and it gave us up to the minute information about wait times at rides in all the WDW parks, touring plans that you can check off on your phone, and times for all of the shows and parades. I found a lot of the information that I needed on this App. and used it all the time while we were there.   

The kids knew that this was part of their Christmas and they kept thanking us for this gift and "the best vacation ever"!  J was super excited to also tour Legoland for a day.  We rented a car and drove there from Orlando.  It was not a bad drive at all and the park was fun for the kids.  There were lots of amazing Lego sculptures to see there.  It is geared for children up to age 12, so our kids were at great ages to visit.  We don't do a lot of "big" rides and the Legoland rides were more to their liking.

WDW is simply magical and we will carry many fun memories from this trip.  We took hundreds of photos, so here are some highlights!

First stop - Magic Kingdom!

B and her Fairy Godmother Susan

Look who is here! Mickey Mouse says, "Hi!"

I couldn't pass sharing this one with you!  The Queen of Hearts

Prince Charmin, Cinderella, and her Fairy Godmother

The Beast was quite friendly at the parade!

I LOVE this view!

Belle at Cinderella's Royal Table

The whole family with Buzz Lightyear

Our Princess

My hubby took this one, isn't it grand?!

Meeting Cinderella at the castle

Snow White is so perky!

Ariel - my favorite princess - was a lot of fun!

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique Makeover Reveal - Ta da!

Phineas and Ferb met us at Hollywood Studios

Lightning McQueen and 'Mater were at HS, too!

Rapunzel from Tangled was very popular and we waited awhile to meet her, but it was worth it!

The big man on campus, Mickey Mouse!

I love how Pluto has to sign the autograph books on his nose!

Minnie gave us "thumbs up" for our Minnie ears!

Donald Duck is one of J's favorite characters

Goofy got a group hug!

This photo does not even do justice to the spectacular Fantasmic show!

Driving school at Legoland

What an amazing Lego sculpture!

A full-sized, Lego R2D2

Hamming it up at the Big Lego Store!

Cinderellas poses for a photo

Prince Charming and the kids

That is Spaceship Earth, not a funny hat on D!

We toured the world of Epcot!

Stitch is fun!

Lilo was sweet.

...And we got to meet Mickey one more time on the morning of our departure!!