Custers at Disney!

The girls couldn't wait to have a proper Disney vacation together this Summer. Our girls consider themselves much more like sisters than cousins so they came up with the word 'custer' to describe their relationship:). Zoe, Ali and Mya came to O-town on Wednesday night and we started the trip out right with some Epcot fireworks and a quick trip around the World Showcase as soon as they arrived. In the morning, they came to Studios with me for park opening and spent the day completely on their own, other than for lunch and for the evening after I got off work. After the morning safety briefing, hydration and sun-blocking, I made them promise to text me all day so that I could be sure that they'd stayed out of trouble and away from any strange boys. I was a bit worried when I saw they had succumbed to the charms of Indiana Jones :)

Zoe and Maddy rode Rock 'n' Roller Coaster twice!

 

After American Idol we got our seats for Fantasmic! We laughed so much during the wave before the show...

 

 

Studios is hosting the Frozen Summer Fun! nightly event at the moment so there were lots of Anna and Elsa related festivities and extra fireworks. They were fantastic and we all loved it when Elsa 'let it go' and made it snow :) 

 

 

It was such a great night:). On Friday morning , Mike took them over to Animal Kingdom for the day...

 

 

 

They all did Everest...twice!

 

 

It's not easy to have fun when you are the responsible adult for the day, right Mike?

 

Custers and monkeys :)

 

On Saturday we were up bright and early to get a spot in line as soon as possible for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Then the girls were all selected to take part in Enchanted Tales with Belle...

 

Maddy is close to perfecting her photobomb... 

 

The mandatory castle shot:)

 

The dance party on Main Street was really fun. But the best part was watching the girls letting loose and having such a great time :)

 

 

We had way more than our fair share of good luck. Be Our Guest is the new Beauty and the Beast themed restaurant that is part of the new Fantasyland expansion. Since it opened last year there has consistently been a 6-12 month waiting list for dinner. We couldn't believe our luck when we managed to snag a cancellation spot! It is absolutely gorgeous in there...

 

The attention to detail is just incredible. The cherubs on the ceiling in Beast's Ballroom (where we ate) are real pictures of the Disney Imagineers when they were children!

The meal was delicious and the dessert was to die for...

 

 

And then Beast came through the restaurant to take his spot in the Library for character greetings after dinner :)

 

 

The restaurant has three rooms, snow falls at the windows in the Ballroom, the torn picture turns into the Beast when lightning strikes every 10 minutes and petals fall from the rose in the West Wing and there is a beautiful music box and pictures from scenes in the movie in the Rose Gallery.

It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime dining experience and I would completely recommend it!

 

We did a whole bunch of attractions and the girls were still going strong after fireworks so we decided to meet some princesses too.

 

 

After our 16-hour Magic Kingdom marathon we realized that there was only a 30 minute wait for Anna and Elsa so we decided to go all out and make it happen to round off the day!

 

 

To watch all the little girls in the Frozen line after literally weeks and weeks of 2-hr plus waits have their dreams come true and see my own girls light up with joy, I'm not going to lie - it was overwhelming. I shed a couple of tears. And my feet really hurt :). It was a beautiful end to a perfect day.

 

The girls still had enough energy to finish up Epcot the following morning before their flight home so Mike did the honors while I rested up:).

 





 

 

It was an amazing visit for all of us - especially me and Mike - who don't get to spend nearly enough time behaving like kids with our nieces! Thank you Maddy, Mya, Zoe and Ali for coming to visit - we love you all very much!