Johnson Smiles

The time has arrived...Monday we visited the Magic Kingdom.  This was the day I was most excited, and most nervous for. Mostly because I wasn't sure how we would all deal with crowds, waiting, lines, and chaos in general. Magic Kingdom was the most challenging park to get to.  There is no parking lot at the park so we had to drive to the Ticket and Transportation center (also known as the monorail/ferry station).  Luckily we were there before dawn and got a close parking spot, otherwise you have to hop on a tram to transport you to the line for the monorail.  After our hike to the monorail we realized that the "non-Disney" guests (us) had to wait until just before 8 to get on a monorail.  The ones currently running were for resort guests only.  Of course during our hike Sylvie needed to go potty.  Hmmm, this could be tricky because the only bathrooms were beyond the gates (only Disney resort guests allowed until 8am).  We tried one bathroom, no ...

Our second park day was a trip to Hollywood Studios.  We were extra excited this morning because we had a breakfast booked at Hollywood and Vine with the Disney Junior characters first thing!  We made it to the front of the line for rope drop again. Better yet, we were the first family to arrive at the restaurant.  This resulted in a nifty little certificate and a photo op with Sophia the First, Handy Manny, Doc McStuffins, and Jake all together before the rest of the guests were let in!  Breakfast was an all you can eat buffet complete with Mickey waffles. It was a hit, the Johnson family is a big fan of breakfast buffets :).  Like the night before, each character came around to our table for pictures and autographs.  They also did a little musical show between each character rotation.  The first time Cora ran right up there to get in on the dance, but quickly realized there was a large crowd staring at her and retreated back to our table.  Sylvi...

On our first day at the parks we visited Epcot.  We woke up to our 4:30am alarm (this is an adventure, not a vacation remember) and started the coffee.  How people get through a Disney trip without coffee is beyond me!  We got everyone ready and sunscreened and stepped outside to the 50 degree weather....it was freezing!  I know, I know we live in MN, 50 degrees is downright balmy.  But when you're in Florida dressed in shorts, tank tops, and Minnie ears it feels freezing!  Regardless, we woke up excited and ready to go and arrived at the park shortly after 7.  This was the kids' first experience with "hurry up and wait" on this trip.  They were a bit confused by the fact that we still had 45 minutes before the park even opened.  I, however, was ecstatic that we were the second family in line.  Maybe it was all the practice being early birds in the real world, but I will say we were rope drop masters this whole trip!  We passed the ...

Let me start by saying I've been dreaming of Disney since I was in 3rd grade.  One of my classmates missed a week of school to go to Disney World, and I remember thinking "WHAT!?  Disney World!! I thought only really rich people went to Disney World!"  Ever since I've been dreaming of Disney, and patiently waiting for my turn to visit the most magical place on Earth.  Well folks, the time has come!  On October 31st 2014 (yes I remember the date specifically) it was decided that we would indeed be visiting Disney World.  I floated around in giddy disbelief for a few days and then got down to planning.  And when I say planning I mean I went about this thing like a research project.  We decided we weren't going to tell the kids until we were ready to leave and it's hard to say whether I was more excited about the actual trip or telling the kids about the trip!  Finally the day had arrived when we could spill the beans.  I had contacted Beau...