Disney Day 5: Sarah Ellen's Birthday!!

Day 5: The big day!!!  Sarah Ellen’s birthday.  It wouldn’t be a good birthday without a phone call first thing from your BFF.  She and Olivia chatted it up while we waited on the bus to take us to the Magic Kingdom.  Disney is a fun place to be on your birthday.  They gave Sarah Ellen a special birthday button and EVERYONE wished her a happy birthday.  She was made to feel very special.  

Our first stop was to meet Elsa and Anna!  Sarah Ellen couldn’t wait.  As you can see from the picture, Lily was a little nervous going in.  She was slow to enter any new building, but once in, she was okay.  I loved the look on their faces as they talked to Anna and Elsa – compete awe!

We also were able to meet Princess Aurora.

Our next stop was The Enchanted Tales with Belle.  Poor Lily had a rough time with this one.  We were ushered into small rooms for each part of the story.  She hung in there though and enjoyed the story.  I was a bit bummed with this attraction.  They pick children to participate in the story.  My newly six year sat there with her hand in the air to volunteer and didn’t get picked for ANY part.  HELLO???  Did they not see her birthday shirt OR her birthday button.  Come on people – help a birthday girl out.  They did pick Lily to be silverware and she sweetly gave hers to Sarah Ellen.  She has been such a loving big sister this trip.

Next Sarah Ellen wanted to ride the Adventures of Pooh.  While she and daddy did that, Lily and I took a turn on the carousel. 

Next on to meet Tinkerbell!

Then it was time for our birthday lunch.  Sarah Ellen chose to eat with the characters from Winnie the Pooh at the Crystal Palace.  We stuffed our bellies with the all you can eat buffet and enjoyed meeting the characters.

After lunch, we stopped at the gift store for the girls to spend some of their money then back to the room to open presents.  The girls played with all of Sarah Ellen’s new things for a solid two hours while James and I somehow managed to nap in the same room with them.

For the evening we headed over to Epcot to visit the countries and hopefully to see Illuminations since we were rained out earlier in the week.  As soon as we got there, the bottom fell out, so we took shelter in Mexico for a bit.  The girls enjoyed the Kidcot stops and colored Duffy Bear for a while.  We then ran from country to country until finally the rain stopped.  

Daddy had a bit of a poncho malfunction.  

The rain held off long enough for us to enjoy the nighttime show.  Well really for mommy to enjoy it.   This was one of the things I really wanted to see while here.  Lily wanted nothing to do with it.  Sarah Ellen enjoyed it once I held her ears.

We had a full day and crashed as soon as our heads hit the pillow. 

Happy Birthday Sarah Ellen

Disney Day 4 - Tuesday

Today we explored The Animal Kingdom.  We started with breakfast at the Tusker House, our best meal yet.  This was a buffet full of every breakfast item you can imagine - even Krispy Kreme donut holes!  We were able to meet Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Mickey!  

Lovey wanted his picture taken too!
Who needs a double stroller?

Next we were off on a Safari.  All four of us loved this.  So many awesome animals.
Daddy was very impressed with our safari transportation.
The stroller queen just thought it was so uncool that strollers could not come in lines.  Our next adventure was the Festival of the Lion King show.  Once again, Lily put the breaks on and did not want to go in.  Sarah Ellen and I went on in.  James convinced Lily to try it and promised to take her out if she wanted to leave.  Once the staff realized she was nervous, they were so caring and helpful.  They warned James of the intense parts, ushered them out and brought them back in for the other parts.  That is Disney magic right there.  The show was fantastic: acrobats, dancing, singing, beautiful costumes, and amazing floats.  Sarah Ellen loved it and said one day she wants to dance and sing on stage and we can come watch her.  We were all so proud of Lily and she really enjoyed the show.

While waiting for the Flights of Wonder show, we stumbled upon Baloo and King Louie.  We are racking up autographs!

Next we watched the Flights of Wonder show.  This was truly a spectacular bird show!

I think Animal Kingdom has been our favorite park so far.  It was hot out but the girls once again were troopers.  Lily walked the whole time while the stroller queen strolled the whole time.  As we were heading back to the buses the sky opened up with huge crack of thunder.  That pretty much wrapped up our afternoon as it continued to storm until evening.  It worked out well, though, as we all needed some down time.  We are rested and ready for the big day tomorrow: Sarah Ellen turns SIX!!!!