Cael enjoyed his quality time surveying the tarmac and admiring the hustle and bustle of the airport before we finally boarded our flight. He passed the time with some penguins,
Zac passed the time with the Cowboys,
and I finished some last minute educational cramming for our big trip (brilliant sub-title).
In no time we were in Orlando and aboard the Magical Express to our hotel. Cael wisely decided to catch a quick nap ...
... and upon our arrival he was fully ready to explore our hotel and check out the view from our room.
We started our Disney adventure with an evening of pirate fun.
We enjoyed a few pirate snacks (Disney knows how to build a buffet) before boarding our "pirate ship." Once aboard we sang pirate songs ("A Pirate's Life for Me" is now a mainstay in our house) and enjoyed our hilarious host for the evening, Patch. Can't you see the excitement all over Cael's face?
The best part of the evening was the amazing view that we had for the Disney fireworks. We "anchored" right in front of the castle and enjoyed the incredible show.
We also had a chance to meet a few pirate celebrities that evening. Perhaps Captain Hook was not the best way to warm up Cael towards the Disney characters.
After some time in the arcade ...
... and watching the electric light show on the lake from our room ...
... we caught a little sleep before our big first day at Disney. We started off the morning enjoying breakfast with Mickey and some of his pals.
the flying rides,
the coaster rides ... he LOVED them all!
We consciously chose to skip naps on this trip and knew that there would be consequences for that decision. Cael's low point on Disney day #1 happened during his scheduled time to be transformed into a pirate. He passed on the face painting, was not feeling the tatoo selection and reluctantly accepted his "Jake hair" and sword ... this picture says it all:
After a quick visit to the Pirates of the Caribbean, the little man was back in the game complete with a variety of funny faces.
We fit in a few more Disney World adventures before the rain set it in and we headed back to the hotel for dinner. The rain cleared up in time for us to catch another amazing evening of fireworks from our room.
After a little extra sleep we headed to Hollywood Studios ... the sun was shining and it was a perfect day.
Cael enjoyed lunch with some of his favorite Disney Junior characters ... they were so much fun! Handy Manny was the big highlight for Cael, even though he didn't have all of his tools with him.
He even gave Princess Sofia a kiss,
got a check-up from Doc McStuffins,
and played Rescue Bots with Jake. What more could a kid ask for?!
Disney Junior fun at lunch led into Disney Junior fun at a show featuring all of those characters. Cael recovered nicely from a post-Disney Junior meltdown just in time to sing along to all of his favorite Frozen songs with Anna and Elsa.
We had just enough time before the evening fireworks and light show to visit with Mater and Lightning McQueen for a little bit.
The next day we were determined to get in every ounce of Disney fun that we possibly could. Zac relived a little of his youth with a ride on Space Mountain ...
... while Cael fit in a little monster truck time. We couldn't make it through a day without at least a little monster truck fun.
We enjoyed lunch with a few more friends.
Cael loved the parade and everyone he got to see walking down the street.
He was torn on who his favorite was in the parade but it was a close tie between Maleficent in dragon form ...
... and the crew from the Little Mermaid. I'm not sure he had even heard of the Little Mermaid before this trip but Ariel and Flounder quickly became favorites during our time at Disney World.
Everybody enjoyed as many rides as we could handle ...
... and some final time with character friends ...
... before we said good-bye to Disney World.
We rounded out the day with dinner in bed and took in the fireworks for the last time.
We started off our final day at breakfast with all of our favorite chefs.
We then headed off to our last adventure at Animal Kingdom. Cael loved all of the amazing animals that we saw during the day.
Can you find the hippo in this one?
He was also able to get his hands on a few of the animals that day ... sheep ...
... elephants ...
... and a couple of chipmunks.
They loved Cael's sweatshirt ...
... and Cael loved them.
We were sad to go but were content having enjoyed every waking (and sleeping) moment of the trip to Disney.
Listening to Cael share his favorite moments from the trip has been a lot of fun during the past week. His recollections are so vivid and bring big smiles to his face. Even as his memories fade, I'll always remember the excitement and joy that filled that little kid during this special trip.