Little Miss Avery and Sweet Caroline

We visited Disney World last week. With two 5 year olds and two 2 year olds. With 100 degree heat and 100 percent humidity, my hair barometer was off the charts.

We had a great week, but it was not without it's to-be-expected Disney pitfalls. These days, your Disney vacation must be preceded by a 6-month preparation period and a possible degree from MIT. And that's just to figure out the new Fast Pass system. The park has gone completely digital, starting with holding your plastic ticket against a futuristic Mickey head that turns green to let you in to the park. This works properly around .03% of the time. The same system is used to ride each ride with a Fast Pass you have previously registered for on the Internet. Gone are the days of running around to your favorite rides and collecting Fast Pass tickets to use later in the day. Nope, now you must do a retinal scan and give your finger prints so that Disney can identify you. Just kidding about the retinal scan. Not about the finger prints. Nevertheless, I love the Fast Pass system in general, and it allowed us to bypass particularly stinky, hot long lines on some Disney favorites, like Jungle Cruise and the Spinning Tea Cups. And if we did have to stand in line, we weren't stationary for long. Disney does a great job of continuously keeping their lines moving by asking everyone constantly to "fill in all available space to the yellow line." At any moment I expected Mickey to jump out with a cattle prod to herd us all in a little closer. Just kidding.

The kids did really well, considering the conditions. I was probably most impressed by their ability to ignore the mass-merchandise offensive launched by Disney at every turn. Practically every ride has an exit that funnels directly into a gift shop. Its a never-ending onslaught of stuffed characters with giant eyes, glittery Minnie ears as the size of bagels, and Rice Krispie treats shaped like Mickey's head dipped in chocolate and covered with 8,000 sprinkles (actually those are pretty amazeballs). We did fall into the trap of the "mister fan." These are $20 spray fans stationed strategically every 5 feet in the park in a huge tub of ice. You're thinking, "I need that. Right now. It will mist me with icy cool goodness and then fan me with a refreshing cool breeze." In reality the water becomes bath water temperature within an hour and the fan breeze barely registers because the batteries aren't the greatest after sitting in an ice bath for days on end.

Our girls loved every minute of meeting the characters, who really do a nice job of making each and every kiddo feel special, despite the internal temperature of their costumes averaging around 118 degrees. I think the only character who wasn't on the cusp of heat stroke was Tarzan, who wore only a loin cloth. Avery's favorite character meet-and-greet was with Anna and Elsa. We were told by one "cast member" that the average wait to see these ladies was an hour. Thankfully Papa and Chris strategically got in line while the rest of us ate breakfast inside Cinderella's castle. They were more than happy to stand together in line holding pink autograph books, and I'm sure no one thought that they were creepers. Caroline is a Disney purist, so of course her favorite Disney characters were the fantastic four (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy).

I wasn't surprised that Caroline loved all of the rides and wasn't a bit scared of anything, including the
Haunted Mansion ("This is fooky, Mommy"). Ave, on the other hand, was still pretty freaked out by most rides and loud shows. Even "Muppet Vision 3D" at Hollywood Studios was a bit much for her to handle. She was terrified that the rubber chicken exploding out of the screen was ACTUALLY going to hit her. Meanwhile, I looked over at my mom during the show and noticed she was grumbling to herself, "These glasses don't even work." I informed her that she was, in fact, wearing her own sunglasses and not the 3D glasses provided for the show. Love my momma. :)

Despite the heat, the lines, the digital fails, and the occasional ill-timed poopy diaper, it really was a magical trip. We are grateful, grateful, grateful to Nana and Papa Finney for taking all of us to Disney World. It was full of family time and laughs...Just.What.We.Needed. :)

The obligatory family-in-front-of-castle-with-asleep-toddler shot.

A really wonderful gal at my mom's pediatric firm made these adorable shirts for all of the girls.

Notice how we are all glistening. :)

The ever-perfect "It's a Small World".

Swiss Family Robinson treehouse- my favorite place at the Magic Kingdom.

Aunt Jen, Avery, Addy, and Papa, about to witness some incredible 1970's puppetry in the Tiki Tiki Room.

The most giantest Disney store EVER in Downtown Disney. We lost Caroline for 30 minutes in here and found her in a bin of stuffed Mickeys. Just kidding.

The quintessential Avery-and-Caroline picture. :)

Coordinated cousins. A Nana operation.

We had a really fantastic view of the fireworks from our balcony.

My favorite park- Animal Kingdom

Caroline is unimpressed by this massive hippo. "Meh," she says.

See the meerkat?

Oh my goodness, this ride scared the pudding out of all of the girls- "Bug's Life" in the huge tree. Things poke you from the seat and dry ice is everywhere and a giant grasshopper emerges from the wall. I'm pretty sure someone peed their pants (it might have been me).