'Faith, Hope, and Caroline'-- My 3 precious Muses: February 2011

Disney, oh how they have our hearts.

It was the coolest thing in the world to surprise our 3 little ladies with the gift of their little lives. We put a princess card through the mail slot addressed to all 5 of us, and from that moment they were already desperate to open it because they love getting mail AND the element of surprise that they didn't know what it was. We waited for Dan to wake up in the afternoon, and had originally wanted to leave at 7pm to coordinate the beginning of a long car ride with their bedtime, but were too anxious to let them in on the secret. So, we gave the card to them a little bit before 4pm (and then left by 4:30pm). I had to fight back tears the entire time I was videotaping them opening the card. It quickly turned into laughter when they didn't realize the gist of what the message was saying (the Disney princesses invite you to Disney World.. get your stuff and leave now) and were excited just to get a card signed by all the princesses! We had to tell them to read it again, and Dan had to emphasize (and point out) the part that read "Now!!" Maddie read the whole card to her sisters, and although Abrie did lose interest when Maddie had to keep re-reading it, it was so neat to see their little faces when they said "leave now? Really? Really? Really?!"

The magic didn't subside whatsoever going this second time for us. In fact, I think in some ways it was even more magical. Our Abrie was with us this time (last time she was in my belly!), and it was beyond awesome to see my 3 girls at Disney World together. These girls always impress me with how much they enjoy and appreciate everything in life. It's the coolest feeling in the world to see their little faces as they see things for the first time and watch their reactions.

I am a Disney aficionado. I've always been. And, my girlies have that same love and passion that I do. Not to mention, Dan basically planned this entire vacation because he was dying to go back since we visited the last time 2 years ago. So, essentially we are a Disney family.

The girls did wonderfully on the drive down last Saturday. We went directly to Disney downtown that first day because we had time to spare before checking in to the hotel, and to see those "Welcome to Walt Disney World where Dreams come true" sign was just awesome. I've seen so much in books warning parents about how a Disney vacation can be too much for younger kids, or that they won't appreciate it as much as the older kids. These people don't know my girlfriends. And, I personally think this young age is the most magical. Their faces lit up every time they saw a character; every time they went on a ride; every time they were greeted with the words "Hi, Princess!" They were in absolute heaven.

I packed all of our breakfast and lunch foods again so as to spare us the cost of eating out for those two meals. It worked wonderfully again. I packed lunches every morning before setting out for the parks, and it was nice to not have to wait in line then for food. We were then able to have a little more leeway in terms of dinner, and although we definitely didn't go over budget, we were able to pick 3 character meals which was so nice: Chef Mickey's (which we love!), and this time we also tried the Princess breakfast at Akershus in Norway, and the 1900 Park Fare dinner at the Grand Floridian. The princess breakfast was absolutely perfect: the food was delicious (Dan and I keep trying to google the recipes for their eggs,
and potato casserole) and girlies got to spend quality time with Ariel, Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora. Not to mention, they had 2 princess "processions" and on the 2nd one, Aurora chose Faith to hold her bouquet of flowers! The 1900 Park Fare dinner I think was our favorite. The characters from Cinderella were there: Anastasia, Drizella, Lady Tremaine, Cinderella herself, and Prince Charming. Everybody spent so much time at our table. Drizella and Anastasia were absolutely hilarious, as was the Stepmother. Maddie and Faith took about 15 solid minutes grilling Drizella as to why she is always so mean to Cinderella, it was so funny. And, Anastasia became Maddie's favorite (Maddie spent the next day drawing a picture of she and Anastasia together to give to Anastasia if we saw her at Magic Kingdom) because she told Maddie that she loved her freckles. And, Maddie and Faith were picked by Anastasia to lead the dance with her. Not to mention, the Stepmother loved Abrie because of her "mean" face!

On our last visit we were only able to make it to Magic Kingdom once, and SeaWorld. We got a 6-day pass this time and made it to all 4 parks (and a half day at SeaWorld). Girlies saw so many characters at each park-- it was incredible how many characters they met. One of my favorite memories was Abrielle meeting Marie in Epcot and Thumper (her absolute favorite-- she sleeps with her "Thumpy" stuffed animal every night) and his sister in Animal Kingdom. She was so funny with characters; she would get so excited to see them from afar, but then she would get so shy and nervous when they got up close, and immediately after they walked away she always wanted them to come right back to her. But, with Thumper and Marie she was totally different. She went right up to them and hugged them and kissed them!

We spent 2 days at Epcot. The girls just loved the big Nemo tank (and Turtle Talk with Crush was a favorite) and visiting the "Worlds." On our first day there, my Faith met her BELOVED Snow White. Oh my word, I started to cry. Faith has been in love with Snow White since she was 2 years old, and she has never waivered in the fact that that is her favorite princess. She even skipped up to Snow White when it was their turn to meet her from the excitement. She must have told her how much she loved her enough times that Snow White kissed her, and left her lipstick mark on her cheek for the rest of the day! In fact, everyone kept telling her (Alice, Aladdin and Jasmine, etc) "did Snow White kiss you??!" Faith was so proud of this kiss! One of my dreams came true- to see my little Faith with her Snow White, and it went beyond just that. I love how the people there just seem to know how much they mean to kids and do as much as they can to make sure their dreams become a reality.

Epcot was so neat too in that we were picked as 'Family of the Day' each day that we were there. I think it was pure luck, but Dan is still so proud of this. He is funny. Each time we got to go in to the park a little bit early and they announced to the crowd that "The Constein family from Pennsylvania is joining us today" and then the girlies got to count down from 5 and throw Mickey confetti in the air to open the gates to the park! It was unbelievable. Maddie and Faith also personally signed the Epcot book, and of course Dan and I did as well and I wrote Abrie's name in there too. It was quite a memory!

We visited our favorite Magic Kingdom twice as well. I think that is, without a doubt, my favorite of the 4 parks. My girlies vote that one as their favorite as well. We were BEYOND excited to meet Rapunzel and Flynn (from 'Tangled') this time! In fact, that is one of the first things that Maddie started screaming when they found out we were leaving! It was really neat because they did a 30 minute session with them where they got to color a picture, and then do a little dance with Rapunzel and Flynn. And, wouldn't you know the music was the Celtic music from the movie that they absolutely LOVE! Dan and I started laughing when we heard the music because it made it even that much more awesome! And, then we got to meet the two of them. I think Maddie pretty much was floating on air the entire time she was with them. Flynn kissed her and hugged her, and for the rest of the day she would just say "my heart is full of love!" It was too cute. Maddie says that was the highlight of her trip;)

We enjoyed so many new things this time at Magic Kingdom that we didn't get to try last time. We all loved the Jungle Cruise (the people are hilarious on this ride)! Dan is in love with the Monsters, Inc Laugh Floor show. That was just hilarious, and we all enjoyed that. The Buzz Lightyear ride was a hit with all 3 girls, and the Pirates of the Caribbean.

I think our favorite part of Hollywood Studios was the 'Fantasmic' show. It was plain awesome. All 3 girls just LOVED it. And.... John Smith made an appearance which was the icing on the cake for these John Smith lovers. Oh, how they adore John Smith of 'Pocahontas' fame. The show had clips of so many Disney movies, so we just loved it. We got there at 6pm for the 7:30 show (30 minutes earlier than when I had expected we should be there) and it was already jam packed with people. And, this was on the Disney "off-season." But, the show was so well worth it. Girlies didn't mind the wait because we had entertainment in the form of a foreign group of students (my guess is they were from somewhere in Spain) who were chanting almost the entire time we were waiting. I told them that this is what a soccer match is like in any other country besides the US! It was cool; it reminded us of all our family in Mexico who always make everything so fun. The whole stadium started doing "the wave" too, and the girlies thought this was so fun.

'Toy Story Mania' was also well worth the stampeding mess to FastPass at Hollywood (our first and, thankfully, only encounter with stampeding hordes for a Fastpass!). Abrielle and Dan rode together, and then Faith, Maddie and myself and every time I saw Abrie and Dan turn towards us I would crack up laughing. Picture it: a tiny little head barely visible over the crossbar, but yet still going to town with her gun to try and rack up points in the arcade style game. Oh my gosh, it was quite a memory to see her with Dan! Their two other favorite ride/shows at Hollywood were 'The Voyage of the Little Mermaid' (the show was fantastic) and 'the Great Movie Ride.' They also just loved the Honey, I shrunk the Kids playground area. We spent a good while there just letting them run around and relax.

Animal Kingdom has been a place that I've been wanting to visit since I first heard they were creating it. Maddie wasn't feeling well the day that we visited Animal Kingdom, but we still had a lot of fun and look forward to going back and getting to enjoy it some more. Maddie and I had been wanting to try the Kilimanjaro Safari ride for so long too, and one of Maddie's first questions when she found out we were Disney bound (after the "can we meet Rapunzel and Flynn?" of course) was "can we go on the Jafari?" (as in safari)). So, she was so excited. It turned out to be one of their all time favorite rides for all three. We loved it. And, then we rode the train over to the little petting farm and Faith now tells us she wants to "be a farmer at Animal Kingdom when I grow up" because of that experience. She is such an animal lover. It was great that they had brushes set out so you could groom the sheep and goat. Abrielle enjoyed this, and petting them as well.

Abrie and Faith really loved the Fossil Dig Site as well. Maddie wasn't feeling well by that point, but Abrie and Faith would have played there all day. And, the only experience we had that really scared them show/ride-wise was here at Animal Kingdom: the show "It's Tough to be a Bug." We had to leave after about 5 minutes because they were terrified!

Speaking of Abrie and Faith, these two were peas in a pod the entire time we were there. All 3 of them were, as usual, inseparable. But, I noticed an intense bonding with Abrie and Faith while we were on vacation. I don't know what it was, but they have gotten even closer than what they already were. Faith was making Abrie laugh constantly during the car rides to and from Disney, it was so cute. Abrie was always looking to see what Faith would do next that would be funny, and even Abrie would then try and do something fun to make Faith laugh. And, of course the two that are attached at the hip (Maddie and Faith) would go everywhere holding hands together when they would meet the characters. Even Alice noticed this when they met her in Epcot, and I have a picture where she was asking Maddie if they really get along that well or if they are more like Tweedledee and Tweedledum who argue.

Our hotel was perfect too. You can't beat $30/night. We were literally 3 minutes driving from the Disney gates, and the indoor pool was absolutely priceless. Faith even learned to swim underwater while we were there which was AWESOME!!! She even took off her water wings for a little bit, and was doing wonderfully. The girls just loved swimming, and Faith's line every single time we would come back to the hotel was "I wish I could eat this pool" because she loved the smell of the chlorine;)

We were supposed to visit SeaWorld twice, but only got to visit for a half day because of Maddie getting sick. This is one of Faith's favorite places. She is absolutely in love with all aquatic animals, especially beluga whales. Thankfully, we did do the Arctic encounter with the belugas, walruses, and polar bears so she got to see her favorite beluga whales. She told us that she wants to jump in the tank with them and ride them;)

I can't say enough about how much fun we had on this vacation, and how much we all wish we were still there. Disney World may just be a place on a map, but it means so much to me to see the look on my girls' faces-- everything that they did, that they saw, that they touched-- it will all be forever ingrained into their memories, and I know they smile every time they think about it. Faith was kissed by her hero; Maddie shared a dance and a hug with her prince, and Abrielle made her bunny nose to her favorite bunny of all time. Dan and I smiled every day at the generosity of the people that work there-- it didn't go unnoticed by Maddie and Faith, and they kept commenting to us "these people are so nice to us." My girls shared conversations with everyone from the characters to the people guiding your car to a parking spot; everyone had kind words and wishes for our 3 "princesses" and that made it even more magical.

It was truly enchanting to be there and see my girls' faces. Thank you, Disney.