This post is approximately seven months overdue, but since I apparently use this blog as both a travel diary and a backup memory bank, I figured it was still worth documenting.

I was actually sitting down to write about our Banff trip a few weeks ago when I realized that I never got around to sorting through the Disney photos. We’ve taken several trips since then, visited family, survived a house move (more to come here), and generally had a very full summer. I also did my first triathlon in June and have been pretty proud of myself of how much work I’ve put in after 3 kids in 4 years (and a terrible pregnancy with C!)

Somewhere along the way Disney got skipped over in documentation despite being one of the traditional trips we seem to take with our kids – each of our kids have gone to DisneyWorld when they were approx 9 months old (February of even years – see posts from last 2 times here and here). Better late than never.

Magic Kingdom! I guess I really am a Disney fan because there is a unique happiness that flying on Dumbo (with kids) provides me, HAHA. At this point we know Magic Kingdom like the back of our hand, and strategically used our Fast Passes and rope drop accordingly. Top rides for this age include Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Dumo, Aladdin, the Carousel, Princess Hall, Teacups, Little Mermaid, and -new this time for us – Enchanted Tales with Belle.

Disney is loud and chaotic and hot and there are a ton of lines. I tell everyone that we had a great time because we also love Disney as adults (but we’re not DISNEY ADULTS! …even though we’ve gone so many times as adults. lol) But I love seeing Disney through my kids’ eyes, and this time it was a little sad it felt like S, as an almost 5 year old, was already growing up so fast. When we came when she was 3, she had unbridled joy and excitement at the princesses. I’m not sure if it’s because now she’s had too many opportunities to meet princesses (at birthday parties, etc), but she did not have the awe-striken reactions she did when she was 3. They all still had an amazing time and loved it, and every night ask when we can go back, even now, so completely worth it – but made me want to go as much as possible before they grew up too much! (Don’t worry, we’ll still do other fun non-kitschy trips).

This time we stayed at Art of Animation for the family suites, which was the perfect size for a family of 5, and didn’t cost a million dollars. And, the kids LOVED the skyliner. T said it was his favorite part. We also brought two strollers – a double for the big kids, and a single for C, since we didn’t want to rely only on the carrier during the hot Florida days. And stroller naps are way more comfortable for both baby and parents, at this age.

AoA – it was great doing the parks in the morning, coming back to the hotel for (late) naps, and then doing the pool until bedtime

We did Magic Kingdom (of course), Hollywood Studios, and Epcot. I wish we had done a sitter night in Epcot – next time! -; this time we used it for Magic Kingdom because I really wanted to ride the new Tiana ride (and we couldn’t with our age kids). Animal Kingdom is always great with this age kids but when we were visiting a bunch of the lands were closed, so we opted for Hollywood Studios for the shows instead.

Hollywood studios. This is where T discovered his love of Buzz Lightyear!

It was a great trip and kids made a lot of memories! I already can’t believe how small C looks compared to how she looks now. Now I will write out our Banff trip next 🙂

On some of the afternoons we visited other resorts (Boardwalk, Carribbean). We mostly used it as an excuse to take the Disney transportation that our kids loved – the SkyLiner, some boats, a bus…