Cinderella's Castle

It was decided before we took our trip to Disney that we would definitely take Meredith to visit Cinderella's castle and meet the princesses.  On Friday morning, we left our resort early and headed to Magic Kingdom for breakfast in Cinderella's castle. 

Meredith wore her special Tinkerbell dress and shoes.

Since we arrived so early and we had breakfast reservations, they allowed us to enter the park before all of the other visitors.  We were so excited to be able to get some great pictures in front of the castle.

When we arrived inside the castle, we were first taken into a room to wait for Cinderella.  Everyone visiting Cinderella's castle is given their own special time with her for autographs and pictures. 

After meeting Cinderella, we were called to enter the dining room.  We had to go up several flights of red carpeted stairs.  We were seated at our own special table, and given our menus.

This was the front of our menu.

This was the back.  They had wonderful pastries for everyone, and then we were able to order our meal.  I had the stuffed french toast, and it was great!  Meredith had scrambled eggs, bacon and toast and Creig had the traditional breakfast.

While eating our breakfast, we met four other princesses.  Meredith was so excited to get more autographs, and we were able to get pictures with each princess.

Snow White

Princess Aurora

Ariel

Belle

Each princess and prince in the dining room was given a "wishing star".  Towards the end of our meal they were given the opportunity to make a wish.  It was so cute, and Meredith still won't tell us what she wished for. 

I love this picture!



Epcot- Thursday

On Thursday, we visited Epcot.  Of course, our first stop was Spaceship Earth.  It probably should have been our last, since we were tired.  Meredith's favorite ride was the Nemo &  Friends ride.  She is still talking about it. 

They had you ride in these cute little clam shell carts.  Meredith loved it!

The week we were visiting, they started their festival of flowers.  We were there on the first day of the event, and it was beautiful. 

As were walking around to each different country, we found Belle in France.  Meredith was able to get her autograph, and take several pictures with her. 



As we were leaving we decided to wait in line to meet some of our favorite characters. 

We had dinner at the Kona Cafe in the Polynesian Resort, which is so beautiful.  I wish I had taken pictures as we were leaving.  The dinner was great too!  We decided instead of riding the monorail back we would ride on the boat. 

Hollywood Studios- Wednesday

Wednesday morning we all got on the Disney transport and went to Hollywood Studios.  Meredith was very excited about our ride, because there were few people on the bus. 

We loved this plant statue of Mickey from Fantasia, one of my favorite Disney movies!

We had a meal plan to use while we were vacationing.  It was nice to just hand them a card and be able to order and know it was paid for.  When we ordered at a counter service restaurant we all got a meal, drink and dessert.  At Hollywood Studios we ate at this great cafe that had wonderful sandwiches and the desserts were wonderful.  I couldn't believe how big the desserts were.  This was Meredith's M&M brownie.  Crazy good!

Meredith's favorite part about Hollywood Studios was the dancers from the Disney Channel float.  They would come out about every 30 minutes and it didn't matter where in the park we were, Meredith would ask to go back and watch them. 

We also watched the mini parade in the afternoon.  It was a short 6 float parade, but it was fun.

Meredith danced and had a great time.  I so wish I had gotten her on video dancing and singing. 

When we left Hollywood Studios we rode on a boat over to the Beach Club for dinner.  We ate at the Cape May restaurant, and it was a buffet full of seafood and other great food.  I think it was the favorite meal for most of us. 

Hollywood Studios was great, but I don't think anyone liked it more than Magic Kingdom. 

Animal Kingdom- Tuesday

Tuesday we headed over to Animal Kingdom.  After our visit to the Magic Kingdom on Monday, we quickly decided it would be best to take the Disney transportation from our resort instead of parking our own cars at the park. 

I loved this tree in the center of the park.  You can't tell as well in the picture, but there are tons of animals carved into the tree.  It was so beautiful. 

This picture was taken right before we went into the "It's not easy being a bug", 3D show.  We will probably never do a 3D show again!  It was cute, and I know Mom enjoyed it, but Meredith had a major panic attack.  I told her to take off the 3D glasses and she did, but she still freaked out.  She was so terrified we finally had to ask the attendant if we could get out of the show.  She led us by flashlight out of the theater and I think Meredith had never been more relieved.

Animal Kingdom was not one of our favorite parks, and some of the rides Meredith couldn't even go on because she wasn't tall enough.  We did find some great characters and got some autographs and pictures.

Tigger was Meredith's favorite.  She kept hugging him over and over again. 

We found the Kali River Rapids, and we all decided we were going to ride it together.  We had to persuade Mom into going with us, but she did decide to join us.  We waited for quite a while to ride it, but it was so worth it.  As we were waiting in line, we were able to see others come by that had been on the ride.  Many of them were drenched, and we started to wonder what we had gotten ourselves into.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get any pictures, because we had to store our items in a covered area on the raft.  I knew after that there was no turning back and we were definitely going to get wet.  It was so much fun, and I loved watching Meredith's eyes get wide and hear her scream.  Of course, I was screaming too!  I think if the line hadn't been so long we would have definitely done that one again. 

After having some lunch at the Flame Tree BBQ, we headed back to the resort for some rest and swimming. 

That night we decided to go to Downtown Disney.  One should always be prepared when taking a 4 year old to Downtown Disney...home of World of Disney, the largest Disney store I have ever seen in my life.  Meredith wanted to buy everything she saw.  We had several gift cards and she spent every bit, plus some on the many things she just had to have.  She had so much fun! 

Meredith wanted to ride the carousel while we were there and talked her Grandaddy into riding with her. 

Not sure who had more fun on the carousel, Meredith or Grandaddy.When we were leaving, Meredith found a statue of Mickey and Donald Duck and just had to have her picture made.