The Hansons do Disney World

We headed to Animal Kingdom the first day we were there.  It was the only hot day.  It was also the day NDSU played SDSU.  

First ride of the day for Chris, Eva and Travis:  Everest Expedition roller coaster. 

This was the first time Travis had gone on big roller coasters/rides.  

The three roller coaster riders.  The photo people take your picture, you touch your magic band to a scanner thing they are holding, and your picture magically shows up online for you to purchase.  

Beware of buffalo....

....and beware of people obsessed with buffalo.  

Luckily the last few minutes of the game occurred after we were done eating at the Yak and Yeti.  (See video of Chris freakin' out.)  

The next day was spent at Magic Kingdom.  We met Elsa first thing.  About a 30 minute wait.  Travis was not impressed.  

But who cares about his feelings

 compared to this face of enchantment.  

The real Elsa has clearly not played in her cape quite as much as Marie; only one of these capes is covered in holes.  

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Sisters talking to sisters.  

Enchanted Tales with Belle is a great experience where you put on a skit with Belle.  Chris was a suit of armor.  

Luke was Maurice locked in the dungeon.   

Travis was a picture frame.  

Since the boys waited so nicely to meet Elsa and Anna, we told Marie she had to go on Splash Mountain with all of us.  She is hiding in my lap.  

Chris wanted to do some picture re-creation.  Not sure we'll be bringing the stroller next time though.  It was clearly much hotter the first time we went, as Marie had heat exhaustion.  Look at that red face!

Eva says "if we took our Christmas card pictures at Disney every year, you wouldn't have to convince anyone to smile or look happy. We already are!"  I like her thinking.  

Elsa covered Cinderella's castle with ice and snow!

The 3rd day was Hollywood studios.  Rained and misted all day.  I'm not sure how I never had needed a stroller cover before this day?  We seemed to be the only people who didn't have one and spent the day with a soggy stroller.  Whoops.  

Star Wars heaven for Travis.  I really like Star Wars also and made Marie go on this ride as well.  My stomach does not do well with these simulation rides, but it was very cool.  Boys rode it 3 times.  

And then they made droids in Tattoine.  

And light sabers.  

The first thing we rushed to do when we got to Hollywood Studios was to sign up for Jedi Training Academy; only to have the show cancelled due to the mist/rain.  But, the boys still got to take pictures with Darth Vader and the storm troopers.  

The gentleman helping Luke said 

"Luke, I have some information about your father...."  Ha!

Obi-wan-kenob-trav

(Travis would be so unimpressed by that name.)

Rockin' Rollercoaster was the fave fast ride in all of 

Disney for Eva; Chris too.  

Not sure what Luke decided about this trip with regards to rides.  He has been riding rollercoasters and fast rides since he was tall enough (you know, 22 mos old). He rode space mountain 3 years ago.  But this time, he wouldn't.  I had made fast pass reservations for these 4 for Tower of Terror while Marie and I went to the Frozen Sing-a-long.  So, Luke had no choice.  He loved it! 

They had an entire store called "Frozen Oaken's trading post."  You see, you trade your money for the Frozen merchandise you can't resist.  I didn't know Elsa and Anna would appear

 until I looked on-line at this picture!  The sing-a-long was one of my favorites.  Disney is playing "catch up" with this whole Frozen thing.  The sing-a-long took place in what appeared to be a leftover metal building from a previous Hollywood Studios attraction.  

Travis decided he could do Rockin' Rollercoaster.  Hee, hee.  This must be his scared face?  

I told Eva she could pick one picture to purchase from Disney's website.  (They are $15 to download, of course.)  She picked this one.  Oh my.  

So the kids have been saving money for a long time for this trip.  Marie ran out by day #2.  Someone couldn't resist a loan for the Frozen stuff. Here we are, ready to watch Fantasmic.  Which really is fantastic, even if it is a show centered around spraying water and mist after a day in the rain. 

Dancing Christmas lights on the Streets of America.

The 4th day we returned to Magic Kingdom.  Luckily the rain had stopped.  

Crowds were very small the 2nd morning at Magic Kingdom.  

Marie rode the carousel at least 5x.  

And Luke was able to drive the race cars again.  

Mickey's Philharmagic.  

Meeting Marie Kitty from the Aristocats.  The cat that Marie is holding in every picture is a snow leopard named "Snowy" that she bought at Animal Kingdom.  

I was surprised, but Eva's favorite thing of the day was meeting Cinderella.  She was so sweet to Eva.  

Rapunzle was crabby.  Not sure if she had the flu or what because she was taking "deep breaths" in between kiddos.  Look at her smile compared to Cinderella's?  She was not fun.   

Mickey Mouse was fun though!  

With the small crowds, we went to Enchanted Tales with Belle for a second time.  Marie got to be the Beast because she gave such a great roar as they were casting.  (She says they play mountain lions at Sheila's all the time and that's how she knows how to roar so well.)  (There's a video of her dancing with Belle as well.)  

"The Beast" jumping out to scare Belle. 

The little kids loved exploring Tom Sawyer Island with Snowy while the big kids went on a few more roller coasters.  

Our last day was spent at Epcot.  

The boys' favorite ride was Test Track.  But, Mission Space was also very cool.  The boys and Chris participated in this space race at the end.  Mission Space did not agree with Eva.  Soarin' did not agree with me, even though it was beautiful and wonderful.  I certainly wasn't going on this after nearly losing it on Soarin'.  

Eating some snacks.  

Eating some Doritos away from everyone else.  

The $294 Akershus Royal Table.  The castle was beautiful and it was very neat to meet all the princesses.  I think the problem was that we had already met most of the princesses and seeing "other Cinderellas and Belles" messed with our heads as who we pictured as the actual Belle/Cinderella.  It was a great place; just not worth $300 was our thought.  Probably would have been if we hadn't already met nearly every princess.

Sleeping Beauty

Snow White

Ariel; she taught us jelly-fish fist bumps.

Definitely exceeding the weight limit of this stroller.  

We only lost one to sleep for the fireworks this time.  

On the last day, Grandma Lois and Grandpa Clint came to go out to dinner with us.  A balloon man said he could make anything.  He wasn't kidding!  

I spent the day in jeans, long socks, a sweatshirt and a coat watching them swim.  I guess 70-ish degrees feels very different to the kids versus myself.