DisneyWorld - We Survived!

8 Days. 7 Nights. 4 Parks.

Conquered and Completely Exhausted.

With over 700 pictures to go through, this is and will be my absolute favorite. Note to self...never give 'snap-happy people' the camera duty with a crappy camera.

Animal Kingdom

Final Day at Disneyworld.

First stop was Expedition Everest, then off to the Safari.

The Safari was awesome! We spent a few hours walking around seeing all the animals.

Tree of Life. Somehow we never made it inside.

River Rapids SOAKED ONLY me and Sammie! Not fun to be completley wet. All day.

She begged and begged and begged. Grandma and Papa forked over the $15 for this Rainbow Girl. Worth every penny.

While waiting for the last show of Lion King, we were able to meet Goofy!

Did you know flamingos just hang out in trees! I had no idea.

Magic Kingdom - Day 2

Cinderella's Castle for lunch. Doing 2 princess lunches was overkill because it is the same setup and format. I preferred this one, while Blake liked Askerhaus (it has everything to do with the food).

We got fastpasses to meet Mickey and Minnie...just for Alayna.

Parades are so, so fun! Sammie collected the Mickey Mouse rainbow confetti they throw out...and yes, we will have it.

This second day we were able to focus on the kiddie rides in Fantasyland. Alayna loved the teacups.

Classic Dumbo ride. Unfortunately, not worth the 20 minute wait, but how do you not do this one?!

We heart Ariel, and more so, Eric. This is one of the posters advertising the all new Fantasyland.

We hung out for about 45 minutes eating ice cream, taking pictures and pretending.

Dance whenever the mood strikes you...but Papa beware...you have to do it just how Sammie imagines it in her mind!

Even Alayna got into the music.

Waiting for the electric parade is work! Grandma and Sammie went off charm shopping.

While these 2 caught up with social networking.

"WOW!" Alayna has this word down pat! We literally had to hold her back from joining the parade.

Epcot - Day 2

Illuminations Show. Sammie is doing her Italian street-show pose.

We made a point to stop in Paris for a second visit to the bakery. So, yummy!

We spent well over an hour in the Butterfly garden.

Sammie caught 3 butterflies and shared one with Alayna.

Fast Passes and Fanny Packs. That's what these 2 recommend.

Smitten again!

Day Off

We purposely planned a mid-week day off! Genius!

After 'sleeping in' and watching TV in our pirate room...

We headed down to our hotel's food court for Mickey Mouse Waffles.

Then, over to our pirate themed pools and slides.

Lots of exploring to do.

We headed over to Downtown Disney for lunch and serious suveniour shopping.

The potato-head store was fun and the Lego store could have been fun if we were into legos.

Alayna picked out Mickey Mouse squeezy toys. Samantha got a rainbow Mickey Mouse necklace, charms for her bracelet and a book to hold her stamped pennies. Papa has got her started on her collection and they scout out the penny stampers at each park.

Now, it's off to Epcot again.

Hollywood Studios

Deesh and Melissa only got a half a day here. We got in all the major rides, shows and lunch at Mama Melrose before they flew out.

Beauty and the Beast LIVE! Samantha and I loved this! Although, Little Mermaid LIVE might be the winner for Sammie.

Alayna loved catching the morning rays before she would take her first nap.

Poor Sammie was too small for the Aerosmith Roller Coaster...she wasn't too happy about being left behind, especially after braving Tower of Terror.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse LIVE!

Alayna loved seeing Mickey Mouse and all his pals on stage.

Another Samantha favorite was Star Tours. She took everyone on it at different times.

Toy Story was fun! I almost beat Blake on points...I think I should have been given the win since I was holding Alayna.

Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground.

Again, we skipped out early and missed the fireworks shows! We are such bums! But after a full day, we all just wanted a good night sleep.

Epcot - Day 1

Epcot was easily our favorite park and it deserves 2 days.

This Spring they featured a Flower & Garden Festival throughout the park. It featured the most intricate topiaries, characters and gardens. It was beautiful!

Pixie Hollow Garden

Alayna loves to pick the petals off of flowers...not the best idea, we had to watch her.

The street shows were so fun and we seemed to hit the timing perfectly for most of them. Samantha got to be the constant volunteer for the Italian sisters comedy show. At one point her and Papa were both posing. Sam remembered this pose and you'll see it in many more pictures to come. She felt so special.

Soarin'

Dinner at Akerhaus Castle for Papa's Birthday.

Alayna walked right up to Belle, sat down and then scooched in closer. It was adorable.

Ariel was hilarious! She called us all guppies and said Alayna must be part-whale because of her whale spout.

Samantha is a HUGE fan of Ariel right now.

Sam asked Cinderella if she still gets to see her step sisters again and if they are still mean. "Oh, no...they are much kinder now!"

We asked Snow White who her favorite dwarf is..."how can I decide, they are like children! I couldn't possibly pick a favorite...could you." Ummm, yes...we could depending on the day.

We got to keep the pictures with Belle. They were instant treasures of Sam's. She is just adoring them in this picture. We even saw her kissing and hugging them. She is so dramatic.

We went to the Nemo building towards the end of the day and ending up spending about 45 minutes just sitting while the kids played. We left about 8pm and missed the Illuminattions show...another day, right?