Josh and I planned our 5th Family Disney World trip for November 27th-December 3rd, 2018... and when I say "Josh and I," I really mean Josh... It was Lucas' 1st trip; it was Aleah's 2nd; it was Jacob's 4th; it's was Hannah's and my 5th... and Josh has been too many times to count! We decided to spice it up and make it a SURPRISE! We didn't tell the kids until the morning that we were leaving. We woke them up super early on a school day and sent them on a little scavenger hunt to discover that we were leaving RIGHT THEN for Disney. Everything was in the car and ready to go! They were a little bit confused.... and tired...
We made it to our resort so early that day that our room wasn't even ready yet! We stayed at the newly remodeled Caribbean Beach Resort. We hadn't stayed there since 2009. It was the best option for a family of 5 (Lucas didn't count yet because he was still 2).
It had this nifty flip down bed as the "5th" bed.
We couldn't wait to hit the parks! We spent our first evening at Epcot. We always hit Magic Kingdom first, so I was a little bit sad, but the park was closing super early so it just didn't make sense to go there first.
We had dinner at Biergarten, which we thought was so much fun! It's a German buffet-style meal with a dinner show. We had never done it before, and it was a GREAT start to our trip. We loved it!
We had to make sure that Lucas got to meet Mickey right away!
The next morning, we went back to Epcot and hit the NEW Soarin' - best ride at Epcot!
While daddy took the big kids on rides, I wanted to take the littles back for more time with Mickey:
Just killing time waiting for daddy and Jacob... oh, and this is where I thought my stroller had been stolen (which happens all the time apparently).... luckily I had just moved it and had forgotten - oops!
It was a little bit chilly the first few days, and we were glad to have our hats and gloves!
We made it to the Magic Kingdom by the afternoon. We ran into the Dapper Dans right as we entered, and they held our attention for a long time. Josh actually said it was one of his favorite parts of the trip! Lucas enjoyed it too!
Leah did a little pin trading:
We had dinner at another new-to-us place, Skipper Canteen. It was another hit!
The waiter told me that the seafood stew would make me want to lick my plate. He was right. It was amazing:
Josh had the lambchops, and he thought they were amazing as well:
That night, Aleah got to do the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. She really enjoyed it being her turn this trip! Hannah has done it twice before and is too old for it now. Aleah looked beautiful!
Of course we had to go ride It's a Small World, one of my all time favorites! I have been on it over 20 times and never get sick of it.
There is nothing like the castle covered in Christmas lights:
We got some Starbucks hot chocolate late at night:
and were frowned upon for having sleeping littles out so late, haha... it made me laugh... they were fine!
The next day we were back at the Magic Kingdom:
Of course there were Dole Whips...
The big boys rode some "big" rides....
One of my favorite pics ever of my Mickey loving Lucas:
We watched the parade:
Our third dinner was at Coral Reef. Josh and I both had a whole lobster. It was really good....but after I tried Jacob's shrimp and grits, I was a little jealous!!
Another thing we sort of happened upon was The Candlelight Processional at Epcot. We lucked into seats with sleeping babies in our strollers. It felt a lot like being at church but at Disney World. This was Josh's favorite part of the whole trip! It was all Christmas hymns and scripture!
The next day was Animal Kingdom:
Neil Yelenick surprised us and was waiting at a ride for us!
We had lunch at Satuli Canteen. It was by far the best quick service meal we'd ever had! So good!
Josh was truly excited to meet Scrooge McDuck!
That night we ate at Sanaa, which was yummy, but I wasn't very hungry after an amazing lunch and snacks...
We went to the night show at Animal Kingdom and were a little underwhelmed by it...
Next day was Hollywood Studios!
The new Slinky Dog roller coaster was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We couldn't get a fast pass, so the line was super long, but I'm so glad we did it! It was so much fun. Lucas was JUST tall enough to ride. He has to be one of the smallest people ever on it. It was a little more intense than I expected so I was pep talking him the whole time, holding onto him, trying to reassure and convince him that it was fine. I said, "it's like a slide -wheeee!" So he said that the rest of the trip, haha!
We got to see Santa Claus; that was a Disney World first:
Jacob's souvenir of choice was a custom light sabor (they all get to pick ONE thing):
Our next dinner was at the Sci Fi. It's not my favorite (maybe because I've always been stuck entertaining the toddler, haha), but Josh loves it!
The new Toy Story Land was SO COOL at night. Unfortunately we had a little mishap this night when I had Josh hold my cellphone while I went on a ride... and then he walked off to do something else and texted me to let me know... but he had both of our phones... let's just say that made for a stressful evening!
Hannah was very hesitant about all of the rides, but if Lucas was going, we made her go. I think she liked everything she did:
Aleah was a daredevil, not scared at all, riding everything she was tall enough for:
We had lunch at Be Our Guest, which was super fun (aside from them forgetting our meal):
It was a good thing we had a good stroller. The kids napped on the go A LOT:
Jacob held Hannah's hand on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad while I road with Aleah. So cute.
Aleah LOVED splash mountain! She was excited about the big drop!
Our last night we had dinner at Ohana - our favorite - and the only restaurant we have done on every trip!
Lucas chose a spyglass as his souvenir:
Aleah chose a bubblewand:
Daddy rocked his "Jingle Cruise" shirt for a Christmas style Jungle Cruise:
Hannah got a chippy teacup, so adorable!
Oh man, it's always so hard to go home.... but we'll be back.... 2021!
We had so many snack credits; it was fun to bring things home for friends and for us!
I finally got myself a souvenir this time. I was in love with this mug:
This is after the dud of a white water rapids ride where only daddy and Lucas got wet....and I mean SOAKED...
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