Magical Christmas

They say it's the happiest place in the world, and sure enough, it was!  Our Christmas surprise for the kids this year was a trip to Disney World.  We spent a week there preceding Christmas and had a truly magical experience.  I have over 300 pictures, so will just post some highlights.

Our friends, the Gorskis, visited Disney World the week before us, and presented us with a special gift as we met up on the highway (they were heading north out of FL as we were heading in)-- a Fast Pass for Abbie, Jason, and I to ride the new and spectacular Avatar Flight of Passage in Animal Kingdom. It made the start to our first full day in the parks extra amazing.

The first day, we had lunch at Disney Springs, then we went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party for the evening.

Day 2 was Animal Kingdom.  They have added quite a bit to this park since the last time we went, and we made a full day of it, finished off with the beautiful River of Lights show.

We decided to ride Everest at the end of the night and it did not disappoint!

Day 3 was Hollywood Studios, with lots of Star Wars, and completed by the evening show Fantasmic.

Day 4 was Magic Kingdom. Brunch with Winnie the Pooh & friends, lots of rides.  Jason's favorite was the Tomorrowland Speedway.  Abbie's favorite was Space Mountain.

the kids LOVE Tom Sawyer Island

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

 I got a special surprise, meeting up with my friend Megan, who moved to Michigan then Ohio 8 years ago!  She and her family just happened to be at Disney at the same time as us.

Day 5 was Epcot, which also had some new attractions for us to enjoy, including Frozen Ever After, Mission Space (Relaunched), Soarin' (this was closed last time we came), and a Christmas Candlelight concert with orchestra and choirs.

Lunch with the princesses in Akershus Royal Banquet Hall

Test Track, where Jason loved designing his own car then taking the super fast test ride!

Jason loves swords, but I won't let him buy them (even the toy kind), so we have to take pictures. 

about to launch on Soarin'

Candlelight concert

Dinner at the Coral Reef

Thanks to a long wait for dinner, we were presented with an extra FastPass for our last day, which allowed us to ride the final "hard-to-get" and forever-long-line Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Magic Kingdom.

Day 6 was Magic Kingdom.  We were able to ride everything we wanted to, and some things more than once.  by the afternoon, we felt fully satisfied and ready to leave, despite being sad to end the vacation.

To finish the trip off we a bang, we had dinner at the Fort Wilderness Lodge "Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue" dinner show.  It was a hoot and tons of fun.

Our drive back led us to Grandma & Grandpa's house for a very relaxing Christmas weekend, complete with Xmas Eve with the Ahlstrom clan, delicious food, lots of chess playing, and Harry Potter reading and watching.  Not sure I could have asked for anything more!

Abbie played Christmas carols for GG

Hermione Granger!