My top 30 Walt Disney World moments from our 2019 trip…

“We do not remember days…we remember moments.”

~Cesare Pavese

Some I expected and some totally took me by surprise…

A lot of the photos below are blurry, out of focus and super low quality but to me they are wonderful. They capture my kids in their most genuinely happy state and make up the moments of this trip that I never want to forget. To actually have documentation of some of these moments for the future, no matter how fuzzy brings me such joy.

1. Driving to Disney our first morning

This moment was all about the anticipation and excitement of what was to come. Knowing this was the best possible part of our vacation as we had the whole week in front of us. We were about to experience our kid’s first trip to Disney World, something we would never have again. Anika was about to enter a land of the stories that she had spent the last couple of years loving so much. The kids were eager and excited. Jake in the back seat told me, “I’m rocking out. ” Anika happily wore her magic band and danced along to the music too.

2. Watching Anika go on her first ride, The Alien Swirling Saucers

If you ask Anika what her favorite ride at Disney World was she always lists this one at the top. My guess is it was her first ride at the park and it will stick with her forever.  Of course upon the end of most rides Anika would delightedly shout, “more, more, again again”!

3.  Watching Jacob’s excitement over watching Slinky Dog Dash

He had so much fun just staring at this roller coaster go up and down. He kept yelling, “Dog! Take a picture.” No need to actually ride it, I think he could have stared at it all day.

4. The Toy Story Mania Ride

Jacob’s first ride and just such a fun experience. It was hard not to feel like a kid on this one. The section leading up to the ride was great. Giant tubs of playdough, monkeys in a barrel and huge boardgames to look at as we walked toward the actual ride.

5. Anika’s new love of Star Wars

We happened to stumble upon the Star Wars “March of the First Order” Storm Troupers show on our way to see Beauty and the Beast. A huge stage was smack dab in the middle of Hollywood studios with giant screens on either side projecting the image of a line of Storm Troupers marching down Main Street being led by Captain Phasma. The powerful music that surrounded us, the voice of the leader as she bellowed out orders and commands and the crowd that parted as they walked down the middle all led to a super emotionally charged performance. I could feel the energy of it. It was so realistic and life like. To our surprise Anika loved it too. She wanted more of this performance and more Star Wars rides in general. She even requested we check some Star Wars books out of the library when we got home.

6.  The Beauty and the Beast show at Hollywood Studios

Anika loves all things Belle so I knew one of our fast passes would be reserved for this show. Honestly, I wasn’t that excited about it because we have seen the play multiple times performed by community theater in our area. Well I was wrong. Disney was so far beyond anything we’d ever seen. The acting, the singing, the costumes, the set were all phenomenal. The kids were mesmerized. They literally could not take their eyes off of the stage. The singing was so good it was as though I was watching the movie, but I wasn’t. There were live actors right in front of us. I think this was the moment I realized how special this trip was going to be. I had both kids snuggled with me completely entranced with the performance in front of them. I was completely entranced with the performance in front of us and I just started to cry. I think I cried through the whole thing. All of it was just that good. I knew Anika would be into it but what really blew me away was how into it Jacob was. He commented, “not very nice.” about Gaston’s behavior. He laughed at the appropriate times. He started to cry (along with Anika and I) when Gaston hurt the beast and needed to be assured multiple times that he was going to be ok. I will never ever in my life forget that moment. My little girl getting to watch her favorite story come to life in front of her so expertly done with such high quality was beyond incredible.

7. Watching Anika and Jacob watch all the 3D shows 

You have not seen cute until you’ve seen your four year old reach out and try to grab onto something in the air because the 3D is that good. Every single time Anika sat up tall and reached out into the air with the sweetest, happiest look on her face. Jacob, who protested the glasses at first, quickly got on board when he saw one of his favorites, Donald Duck, glide towards him on a magic carpet during Mickeys PhilharMagic. He decided this was worth leaning back to watch and requested me to hold his glasses in place. 

8. The moment we walked into our beautiful Animal Kingdom Lodge hotel room

It was so clean, so beautifully decorated and the energy felt so nice. There were many cool touches, like the retractable clothes line in the shower. Why haven’t more hotels done this!?! The balcony looking onto the savannah with animals such as zebras, ostrich and some bull type things (we still don’t know the name of it) was such a cool experience for us and the kids. We saw zebras do all kinds of things this trip.

9. Watching Anika and Jacob run the really long hallway to our room

The Animal Kingdom Lodge rooms are set up in a way to allow for the most rooms possible to have the best views of the savannah. We were on the end and this made for a really, really, really, really long walk to the lobby. We made the best of it by letting the kids run the hall. There were windows at the end of each hallway and the kids knew to stop at each window. This allowed them the freedom to run without ever being out of our sight. They also enjoyed spotting the different animals out each window. Watching the two of them run as fast as they could, especially Jakey with his little legs, was so adorable.

10. Watching Anika’s princess makeover at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

Seriously is this not every little girl’s dream come true? She loved every second. It was the first time she’d ever worn finger nail polish or makeup so I think it might it have been extra special too.

11. Having an empty Fantasy Land at Magic Kingdom Park

We got early entry into fantasy land both days we went to Magic Kingdom. One day by doing an 8 am at BBB and one by doing an 8 am at Cinderella’s Royal Table. It was so worth it. Getting to see the castle and this area without huge huge crowds was fantastic.

12. Enchanted Tales with Belle

Since Anika loves Beauty and the Beast I decided the priority for our first fast pass at Magic Kingdom was going to be Enchanted Tales with Belle. Upon approaching Maurice’s cottage I knew this was a good plan. We began by walking inside the tiny living room. It was adorable with so many details, like a photo of Belle with her mother when she was a little girl. More surprises happened during the visit to Maurice’s house, which of course concluded with the kids meeting Belle.

13. Watching little girls on their daddies shoulders 

It must be an innate thing for a father to do but so often during random pop up shows that go on throughout the day I would see little girls on top of their daddies shoulders to get a better view. During one performance Anika and a couple others were in a row and it made me tear up. What a sweet sight. The time period that a little girl has the ability to have this seat is so short but so wonderful.

14. Watching Anika’s face light up everytime someone called her a princess

The bus driver standing up bowing to her and saying she was the first princess on his bus today. The girls in their 20s coming out of the Beast’s Castle who made a point to smile at her and say, ” Hi Belle”, when she was wearing her Belle ballgown. This happened multiple times throughout the trip. These people taking a couple of seconds to make her feel special meant so much to her. 

15. Gaston’s Tavern

Drinking a Lefou Brew ( a delicious frozen apple juice with mango whip cream on top) and eating a huge cinnamon roll that we all shared. In the end I think Anika got to enjoy the majority of the Lefou Brew and next time I’m getting my own…it was so good.

16. Watching Anika in the Animal Kingdom Lodge pool

She happily swam. She conquered the water slide and then taught me how to do it. She relaxed in the hot tub. This girl was on vacation.

17. Anika pulling the sword out of the ground

Upon entering Magic Kingdom on our second day Anika needed to use the bathroom. Jamie took her and I stayed back with Jacob. Two Disney cast members approached us and asked if Jacob would like to try and get a sword that was stuck in the ground out for them. Jacob was shy and didn’t want to but Anika returned from the bathroom and eagerly wanted to give it a go. She grabbed on and tugged. Out it came and the look on her face was priceless. She beamed. The cast members thanked her profusely and told her how helpful it was. Their comments were something along the lines of they couldn’t have a sword hanging around in the ground like that all day. One cast member cleaned it off and wrote a sweet little note for her. The other performed a quick ceremony and proclaimed her Princess Anika. 

Afterward Anika kept saying to me, “I wonder how I got it out of the ground?” When I asked her how she did it, she said “I just grabbed on and pulled really, really hard.” Shortly after this Anika and I had a breakfast reservation at Cinderella’s castle. Anika hung on to that sword throughout the whole thing. She didn’t even let it go while meeting Cinderella, to whom she told the whole story too and Cinderella responded that she was ready to come and work for her and her guards. Even getting a magic wand at the castle did not replace the love she had for this sword. She held one in each hand and in that moment epitomized everything I hoped my daughter would be. Sweet and beautiful enough to look good with a sparkly wand and tough, and strong enough to handle a sword. 

18.  Having breakfast with Anika at Cinderella’s Royal Table

I mean come on, it’s a castle, you get to eat breakfast in a castle.  Not to mention Cinderella greeted her and thanked her for coming to eat with her and then she got one on one time with Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel and Jasmine who all came around to each table to say hello and pose for pictures. 

19. Jamie surprising me with the Castle Couture photo shoot

Jamie hates having his picture taken. He looks miserable in most pictures of him. While Anika and I were having breakfast at Cinderella’s Castle Jacob and Jamie were hanging out around Fantasyland. They got some breakfast sandwiches, rode the Carousel and then stumbled upon Castle Couture. There is a small little photo studio in the back for the girls after they have their princess makeover at the BBB to go and have a photo shoot. As a joke and surprise for me he asked if they would take his and Jake’s picture. I am still laughing about it today as I write this. The best part is the pictures actually came out awesome. They are hands down the best I have ever seen of Jamie. His smile is totally genuine and so happy. I’m guessing it’s because it’s a combination of I’m totally going to make my wife laugh while I do something ridiculous and also I’m getting my money’s worth out of this whole photo memory maker thing. Jacob also looks pretty darn cute too. 

20. The Carousel of Progress ride 

“There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow, smiling at the end of every day.” Was stuck in my head for days in the most wonderful way possible.

21. The Mickey Muffin Magical Moment 

This is hands down one of my very top moments of the trip. Anika had gotten two Mickey Muffins from our breakfast at Cinderella’s Castle. Since Jacob wasn’t there and he loves Mickey she wanted to save them to eat with him later. We got a box to put them in and left them in the bottom of our stroller while we went on a couple of rides. Later on Anika and Jacob wanted a snack. We went to pull out the muffins they were both super excited about and discovered someone had come and not only eaten them, but then put the empty box back in the stroller. Seriously. Who does that? Anika started crying and was so disappointed. Now I know she’s lucky just to be at Disney World and in the grand scheme of things it’s not that big of a deal but still, gesh, I was disappointed for her. I passed by a customer service stand right after this happened and I approached a cast member named Sam. I told her the whole story, she took my phone number and told me she would make it right. We went about our day and about fifteen minutes later while on the Carousel of Progress she called Jamie’s phone. He told her where we were and asked if he could call her back when we got off. We left the ride and she was outside waiting for us with a brown bag that contained a box filled with Mickey Muffins. Anika and Jacob were elated. Jamie and I both teared up and I gave her a hug. She totally went above and beyond anything that I expected her to do to make a bummer moment a magical one for my kids on their first trip to Disney. So thank you Sam. We will never forget this moment you created for our family.

22. Watching Anika and Jacob meet all of the characters

Especially watching Jake meet any of the characters when he did it with his sister. When he was by himself, because Anika was on one of the bigger rides with Jamie, he was shy and a bit timid. Being with Anika gave him the confidence to run right up to them…especially Rapunzel…hehe.

23. Using Anika’s joke in Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor show.

Q. Who’s the fairy that never takes a bath? 

A. Stinkerbelle. 

24. Eating an orange swirl

Yum.

25. The Magic Kingdom Parade

We were on the fence about whether or not it made sense to stick around for the 3 pm Magic Kingdom parade. We got to the parks early each day and the kids were pretty wiped, but we had heard from so many people that the kids would love it. Our second day there we decided to rally and go for it. Jacob had taken a pretty decent nap in the stroller. Last second we found a spot at the exact end location of the parade. We were right near the big doors that open and the parade exits out. It actually ended up being a great spot to view everything considering we weren’t waiting around for a long time for it. Jacob and Anika both snuggled in my lap while we sat on the ground. I had no idea what to expect, but boy does Disney know how to put on a show. They were all there. Every character you could want to see performing and singing and waving. I will never forget how sweet Jacob looked sitting on my lap looking up in awe and waving his tiny little hand the whole time back at the characters waving to him. I still tear up thinking about it.

26. Our picnic lunches 

This trip we wanted to focus on the things that mattered to all of us at this point in our lives and invest our money towards that. The kids are hit or miss about what they will eat and eating out with them is not always pleasant. To put it really bluntly, it kind of totally sucks sometimes. Especially when they are tired. We also didn’t want to spend a lot of our time in restaurants. We wanted to spend as much of our day before the kids burnt out enjoying the parks, rides and characters. We had a simple breakfast in the room before getting to the park and the majority of the days we packed a picnic lunch to eat. One of my favorite memories from the trip was finding an empty table, sitting down for a bit and feeding the kids foods we knew they would eat. It was such a relief to not have to search for a restaurant, search on the menu for something the kids would actually enjoy, fight the crowds, wait in line, etc. Instead we’d find a quiet spot. Give the kids a sandwich, watch them devour it in two minutes because they were usually starving at this point and then sit and relax and watch them play with rocks or pick flowers they shouldn’t have been picking for a couple of minutes. Doing this allowed us to spend money in areas that were more important to us. Like our awesome hotel room, something that I believe will provide a much more lasting memory for the kids then any meal in a restaurant would. The kids also didn’t have the expectation that we were going to be buying a lot of food at the park. In fact the only time Anika actually asked for anything was an ice cream our last day in Animal Kingdom and we delivered. It made the 5.95 per Mickey Mouse ice cream a little more bearable knowing that it was a conscious decision to spend this money and make a special memory for the kids. This applied when we bought any food in the parks. Each time was a memorable, planned, special experience. We got the things that really brought us joy and that we knew we wanted to try. We didn’t dilute the experience.

27. Frozen Ride at Epcot

Frozen ride, the moment Elsa sings let it go, the ride turns you backwards and drops you a bit. The timing of the beautiful scenery, the music and the drop with the wind blowing on you is just perfection. 

28. Watching Anika perform a show on the rocks at Epcot outside of the Japanese restaurant after both kids had total meltdowns

Epcot was not the highlight of our trip for our family at this season of our lives. The rides are different from Magic Kingdom, there is so much walking and we were all kind of burnt out by this point in our trip. The kids were done. Jamie and I were done. We found a huge pile of rocks near a picnic table. We ate some lunch and in between the kids played on the rocks while Anika sang some songs like she was a Disney princess on stage. Everyone got a half and hour to decompress and recharge and it was awesome. I’ll never forget her sweet little songs. 

29. Watching Anika and Jacob eat Mickey Mouse ice cream

30.  Both Anika and Jamie wearing their my first time at Disney buttons throughout the whole trip

Although technically it wasn’t Jamie’s first time at Disney I think it was in a way because it was his first time there with his kids and a totally different magical experience for him.