Day 6

Hollywood Studios!

It's not easy being green!

Of course our first stop was Star Tours which we loved and rode twice in a row (I think we must have gone on Star Tours a dozen times all up). Our very first ride Olivia was chosen as the Rebel Spy! Then we went to the Muppet movie, and the Honey I shrunk the Kids playground till it was time for our Toy Story Midway Mania fast passes. We all loved the ride but I often saw standby queues well in excess of 90 minutes - I don't know why anyone would wait that long for any ride!

Halloween cupcake at Pizza Planet

Lunch was at Pizza Planet, and then after a few more rides (including Tower of Terror for Daniel and I twice and Rock'n Rollecoaster) we had dinner at the Sci Fi Diner. You sit in 'cars' and watch movies on a drive in screen. The whole place is dark so it feels like night - such great fun sitting in the car while we watched the movies. It was great food too!

Sci Fi dining!

Day 5

ahhh - magical

So the day finally dawned for us to go the Magic Kingdom! We had a late start to the day and made it just in time to see the Move it! Shake it! parade just starting. It was fantastic and the girls loved seeing the characters. Then we hit the rides - Jungle Cruise, Aladdin’s magic carpet ride (x2), Pirates of the Carribean (x2), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (x2), watched the Tikki room and then rode the Haunted Mansion (x2).

Parade watchers

Honoured with a greeting from the Queen of Hearts

Most Magical place on Earth!

Then we went to Ohana at the Polynesian resort for dinner. The girls learnt to Hula while we ate our fill of potstickers, sticky chicken wings and more. It was all too good!

What a magical day:)

Day 4

The girls watching the sun set from our resort looking across at Downtown Disney

The girls and I in front of Mexico

Day 4 began and ended at Epcot with a swim break after lunch. So what ride at Epcot did we go on 3 times in one day? The Three Caballeros! The girls just loved this little ride and there were no queues:) 

 We also rode Soarin' which we all loved, and The Seas with Nemo which we rode multiple times over the next 2 weeks. Then Turtle Talk with Crush which was so clever.

Olivia telling Aurora she is her favourite;)

Lunch was at Akershus with Belle, Aurora, Ariel, Cinderella and Snow White - what a line up! The food was very nice, I had the roast chicken which was delicious. Alexis was getting tired so her and Daniel went back to the resort, my parents went off to explore World Showcase and Olivia and I had a look in some shops before also heading back to the resort.

That evening we came back to try some Food and Wine festival fare (the Jerk chicken from the Caribbean was great) and watched Illuminations! What a memorable show:)

Beautiful Epcot at night

Day 3

An early morning bowl of cereal (or should I say sugar)

Olivia and I heading off on safari:)

Today was the day for Animal Kingdom! We set off early on the bus, once we reached the park I had to swap my photopass+ voucher for the real thing and we were off. It's Tough To Be A Bug! was our first stop - I was really impressed but the girls were a bit frightened of the drop down spiders. Then Kilamanjaro Safari which was fantastic.

Goofy!

Breakfast was Donald's Safari breakfast at Tusker House which was really fun and the girls seemed much more comfortable with characters who couldn't talk!

"He's eating me!"

Then a long play in the boneyard - what amazing theming! Grandma stayed with them while Grandpa, Daniel and I went on Expedition Everest! Great ride:)

We walked around to see some animals before heading back to the the resort for a swim.

Dinner was at Wolfgang Puck Express. We loved Downtown Disney - that night it was about 25 degrees and the whole place was lit up with fairy lights with live musicians playing, families walking around and overall a great atmosphere. The pizza from Wolfgang's was spot on:)

Pizza....

Day 2

We had a good sleep in before heading down to Artist's Palette which is Saratoga's quick service restaurant. We managed to get our refillable mugs and order our first meal on the dining plan without any trouble. After lunch we went for a swim in the closest pool to us which was a quiet pool. The sun was brilliant blue and the water was perfect - it was a gorgeous way to start our holiday.

Turkey and Brie Panini with chips

First Mickey ice cream sandwich - perfect treat after a swim!

Then it was time to get dressed up for our first character meal - Cinderella's Happily Ever After dinner at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. Olivia dressed in Cinderella's wedding dress and Alexis dressed as Merida.

Olivia and Prince Charming having a moment:)

The food was delicious - really something for everyone from the buffet. Our first character was Prince Charming! The girls loved meeting everyone, although they were a bit shy and didn't interact much, especially Lady Tremaine who I think they were both a little scared of!

Saratoga Springs Resort!

This was our two bedroom villa in the Congress park section of Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa. The master had a king sized bed and an ensuite with a shower and a spa. The second bedroom also had an ensuite with a shower over bath and a double sink. The villa also had a lounge room, full size kitchen, washer/dryer and a balcony. My parents had the master bedroom - here are the photos of our room...

Second bedroom

Second bathroom

Kitchen

Lounge room

We have arrived!

After an hour long delay our Delta plane touched down in Orlando at just after 7pm November 2nd local time.

Finding our bags and hopping on Disney's Magical Express was really straightforward and then it was a half hour bus ride to the World.

Pulling into Saratoga Springs Resort felt almost unreal after all the preparation and not much sleep for over 24 hours!

I had decided at the last minute before leaving home to do online check in which I'm glad I did because it was a very quick and easy check in (and we were all dead on our feet).

Our room is in the Congress Park section, it's within walking distance of Dowtown Disney, we are going to explore more today because on arrival it was too dark to see much!

It is currently 10:20am here and everyone else is still snoozing! Can't wait to see what today brings:)

Waiting Game...

I've dropped Olivia at school and Alexis at kinder. Stripped and changed our bed, swept (again) wiped the benches, emptied the bin - and now I'm sitting here nervous, excited and very well caffeinated;)

We have 3 checked bags for the journey over - the big black bag has another red bag in it (the same as the larger one in the photo) so it's ready to be filled with shopping;)

On Friday...

... we will be boarding a QANTAS plane from Melbourne's Tullamarine International airport and flying 14 hours to LA before boarding a Delta flight to Orlando, Florida. Total flying time = 19 hours. Add in airport checks and the lay over in LA and the total travel time is closer to 26 hours - and that doesn't include the drive to the airport on this end or the bus ride to the hotel on the other.

Thanks to the magic of international datelines we will arrive in Orlando at 6pm Friday the 2nd of November, a mere 8 hours after we left Melbourne time.