I posted this picture on Facebook and said this is what it felt like leaving our Disney resort! Bitter and sweet! Ha! (No, Kerigan wasn't really sad about that, but it made for a funny quote!) She was actually mad at me for making her stand for a picture for the billionth time on this trip! And Andrew only smiles this good when he's laughing at his sister crying, Ha!
Not 2 minutes later she did this. I probably bribed her, I can't remember.
Anyway, this is the morning we checked out of Art of Animation. We weren't saying goodbye to Disney quite yet... just our resort. My best childhood friend happens to live an easy 20 minutes from Disney World (nice, right??) so when we visit we always try to stay with her family for a few days! It's fun to see her and have our kids play together.
People say that staying on the property is the key to visiting Disney World. Many say it's what makes the trip. I do have to admit, I agree with this. I think not staying on property there is a disconnect, and it doesn't "feel" as much like Disney. Plus by staying on site you can use Early Magic Hours, and the free transportation, and many other benefits. I believe the magic begins when you check into your resort. That's just my opinion. This is why we always stay on the property for a portion of the time.
But we love seeing our friends too! So we try to balance it out. We were a little sad to leave our resort. It was so amazing and we had a wonderful time staying there! I would definitely stay there again, but I kind of like to change things up so next time we might try somewhere else!
We got up early (again!) and took some pictures around the resort before taking a shuttle to our rental car place. Isn't our resort so cool? I especially loved it at Christmas.
Andrew loved this arcade! We tried to spend some time there- I think he and daddy got to go a couple of times!
This is another pool area themed from Finding Nemo.
These large characters surround the pool.
This was in front of the resort. Kerigan would only stand by Ariel for a picture! Ha!
After we got our rental car for the remainder of our trip, we drove to Chef Mickey's for our breakfast reservations! We absolutely love Chef Mickey's, we took Andrew last time we were here and loved it so much I knew we wanted to go back. It is inside the Contemporary resort, which I almost have Craig talked into staying there next time! The monorail goes right through the middle of the resort! It's so cool.
It's the best breakfast buffet I've had, and you get to meet all the classic characters.
By the way, Kerigan wore this outfit when she was 11 months old as a dress the last time we went to Disney, and for her first birthday party. Now it fits her as a tunic! I love outfits like that! Just for fun, here she was back then!
I could just eat her up with a spoon! She's so delicious... those baby cheeks!!!
Anyway, here's Goofy!
Pluto signing the princess book- Ha!
By this time, as you can see, Andrew was getting really into the character autographs! He was wishing he had brought his old autograph book from his last trips. But we decided they could share Kerigan's, and he was fine with that!
I love this picture!
Andrew dancing with Donald! I also love character meals because they always do fun things to interact with the kids. At Chef Mickey's everyone swings their napkins around and the characters parade around!
Craig getting crazy in the gift shop and sporting his purple Sofia backpack. Ha!
This was so cool, on our way out we saw this Frozen display made entirely of gingerbread! Even Craig was fascinated.
I caught him taking this picture with his phone! And he never takes pictures! Ha!
After leaving the contemporary, we drove to Downtown Disney to spend the rest of the afternoon before heading to Carrie's house. It was another rainy day! We were glad we weren't at the parks!
My girl and I shopped the whole time while the boys hung out at Disney Quest. So most of the pictures are of Kerigan!
I decided to buy the kids' Mickey ears and get them embroidered at Downtown Disney (I get them ears every time we go as a memory of each trip. It's fun to see how their interests change and what they pick out!) because Magic Kingdom was so busy. I planned to bring them along to take pictures in front of the castle the next day, it was just not worth waiting in long lines when we were there a few days ago! DD had no lines!
Just a cute display of Frozen on a wall!
All the decorations are so amazing at Christmas!
I just love the big Christmas trees everywhere you go!
She was really loving all these statues wherever we went- the poses were all her idea, I swear.
Then she saw these displays of the princess in the form of a dress and she just went nuts! She was pretty much in heaven at this point.
We hooked up with Daddy and Andrew after a while. This is the only picture we could get of Stitch, as he was a hard character to find for a meet and greet!
Captain Jack to match his jersey!
Here are a couple pictures daddy took at Disney Quest- looks like they had a great time!
Of course we had to stop in Ghirardelli for some delicious ice cream treats before heading out! Kerigan and daddy like strawberry and fruity ice cream!
But my little man and I know what's best! Chocolate! Yum!
And I loved this!! When we arrived at Carrie's, you can see how well she knows me! Look what was on our bedside table in the guest room? Ha! That's true friendship right there.
More Disney coming soon!
