I also happen to be a lover of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang and also a giant amusement park fan.  So, it is no wonder that I jumped at the chance to attend a media preview of Snoopy’s Starlight Spectacular at Carowinds.

Even better, I got to bring a date and I chose my daughter Sophia, who is just as impressed by glittering things as I am.  She picked out her prettiest white dress to prepare for the event.  In her words, “Mom, if this is a party I am wearing a party dress”.  She looks like a wonderful addition to the media in my humble opinion.

We sort of have a thing for meeting characters and have been known to wait in line for hours to meet certain princesses with very long hair at Disney.  We make our own autograph books and they rock! I thought my husband might die in line.  It turns out at a media event there are no lines.  It totally rocked.  We met the whole peanuts gang!  I had a mom fail moment as I did not realize this would happen and did not make her an autograph book like we do for Disney.  She forgave me after I promised I would have one for the next time.

After s’mores and Sprite in snoopy cups and some fun times with Bloggy friends Lisa, Jen and Maricris, the light show began!

There were millions of sparkling lights all through Planet Snoopy and I was so happy.  While it was not the spectromagic parade I am in love with, it was really enchanting.  I must admit I am a Peanuts fan, so the character cut outs made me and Sophia smile.

We got glow necklaces that were a huge hit and still are, weeks later when we light them up in the house.

There were spinning Peanuts shapes on the ground and fun music to dance to.  Yes, I always dance when music is played and my daughter is no different.  We shook our tail feathers!

So, Carowinds has gone all out with this Snoopy’s Starlight Spectacular and even added a nightly fireworks show!  I. Love. Fireworks.

We’ve got our season passes and they have more than paid for themselves already.  Now we are just waiting for our next date night.  We will go at night, ride the biggest coasters and see the light show.  It will totally rock.

If you are coming through the Carolinas, consider a trip to Carowinds.  Thrills and lights and tons of rides for kids makes for a very good time!

Anyone else want me to be Media, because I loved my first real media event!

Disclosure: Carowinds invited me and a guest to the preview of the Snoopy Starlight Spectacular.  My opinions are my own.

The whole show is about wishes, dreams and emotions.  It is a story about the triumph of good over evil.  It reminded me of my own childhood.  I experienced a memory rush of thousands of wishes I have had throughout my life.  Many have come true.  Some were pipe dreams.  I am not actually a princess, for instance.  I am not an actress on Broadway, although I suppose this is still within the realm of the possible.  I was impacted as much by the moving script on wishing as I was by the splendor of the lights above Cinderella’s castle. I was moved to tears as I listened to wishes from Pinocchio to princesses and gazed at the awestruck faces of my own children tinted with the colors of the sky.

It was incredible to reflect for a moment, in that beautiful place, on all my dreams and think that my children are just starting their journey.  They have their whole lives in front of them.  All of their dreams are possible.  They can be anything.  The “Wishes” song playing while we watched the finale moved me.

Ohh, a world of wishes, A world where dreams come true. So make a wish, see it through. Dare to do what dreamers do.

We’re all just children, Reaching for our dreams. They’re shining high above us, And even though it seems so far, We put our faith and hope on a shooting star.

Wishes…Dream a dream. Wishes…Set it free. Wishes… Trust your heart. Just believe.

As I watched the shooting stars, I believed.

As we sat on the bus on our way back to the hotel, I held a sleeping Violet in my arms.  Sophia fell asleep in her Daddy’s lap while Miles talked to him about the awesome fireworks.

Me?  I closed my eyes and wondered…What is my greatest wish?  It is certainly not for a bigger house or more money or great vacations or an iPad, although I have wished for all of those things.  My greatest wish is not even for my children’s education or their future careers, though I wish them all the success in the world.

More than anything, my greatest wish is for love to fill our lives.  I want my kids to know how much they are loved and I wish for their lives to be full of love.  With love in our lives we can do anything.  Love brings happiness and acceptance.  With love in the world comes peace.  I believe that love really can be the driving force in a positive life.  When I think of love I smile and my heart swells.  When I think of my children I think of love.  When I think of the world I think of what good love can do.  So, my greatest wish is for us all to be filled with love.  To live our lives filled with it and to give love freely and fully as we go about our daily business.  Yes, we may open ourselves up and become vulnerable but being open will allow us to let love in and live a more fulfilled life.

Some may think I am silly, but I take love seriously.  It is not easy to love.  Love is good and hard.  It is worth the work.

So I wish upon a star for love.  For me, for you, for our children, I wish a life and a world filled with love.

That would be truly spectacular.

So tell me, what is your greatest wish?  And hey, throw in something you would just really like to have too.  Just for fun!

While at Disney with children under a certain age or grownups like me who totally dig character greetings – the autographs are everything.  While most of the books Disney puts out are amazing, their autograph books just did not do it for me and my small children.  Some are way too small, some are a little boring and none that I could find have individual pages for each character.  So I made our own autograph books that are meant to become scrapbooks when you return home.   Someone is every line asked where I had bought these books and where they could get them so I thought I would show you how to make them yourself!

Kids LOVE having a page to show to each character and it got them extra time with most characters, who loved looking at their very own page.  Sophia actually got more than a minute with Aladdin and Jasmine!

Chip ’n’ Dale, the Stepsisters, the Mad Hatter, Marie and so many others made a big deal over these books.  Before the trip, the kids (2 and 3) flipped through their books every day getting ready to meet them.  It helped them identify all the awesome characters they met and lessened any fear at some of the larger ones like Goofy or Tigger or the Beast!  The books are sturdy and totally sharpie proof so you can bring your biggest sharpies for the Plutos of the world and their big hands!

I used Microsoft PowerPoint for this but you could use any program that allows you to format your fonts and insert pictures. It is really simple!

First, decide which characters you would like to have a special page in your book.  You can use Disney guidebooks or Intercot has a simple list of which characters are where.  My favorite place to check out character greeting information is at the Disney Parks Character Blog, written by a gal named Kim who is expecting a baby!  She gives as much information about where to find each character andhow likely you are to find them.  You can easily search for any character.  I listed basically all the characters I thought we had the chance to meet at Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Animal Kingdom.  I am now adding Hollywood Studios pages for our upcoming trip.  Altogether I created 55 character pages with Princesses sharing a page with their prince and Duos like Chip ‘n’ Dale or Lilo & Stich also sharing a page.  The kids met almost 60 characters so it was a big success!

Open a new document in portrait mode and set your margins to 8 1/2″ by 9″ .  I am making an 8″x8″ scrapbook.  If you wanted a different size you could adjust but this size is really perfect for backpacks and the 8×8 size is great for a child’s memory book.  You want enough room at the top to bind your book and leaving the width at 8 1/2 will save your page edges and a little money on having the paper cut.

Create your cover page and begin to add just the character names to each page thereafter.  You want at least a full inch left at the top of the page.  Make sure to add any special event your are celebrating to the front page.  Lots of people and characters at the parks do extra nice things for birthday boys and girls!  I added “Celebrating Miles’ 2nd Birthday” to his cover and he showed everyone.  He loved it!

Once you have added all the characters you want, it’s time to get a little creative.  I searched google for the right fonts for each character to make the pages look unique.  All of the fonts I used are free.  Here are a couple examples.  Mickey is Mickey font, Chip ‘n’ Dale is Gill Sans Ultra Bold, Mulan is Mulan font andWinnie the Pooh is the Pooh font.  I was able to find many exact fonts andsome that were close.  For the princesses, I found fonts that were similar to the actual Disney fonts and looked right on the pages when one was not exact.

Once you have your character names in fonts andcolors that you like, it is time to find pictures.  I searched the Internet for images and because this is for personal use, that is perfectly fine.  For many of these characters you could also just use stickers but I really liked being able to size the images and have them saved in the document.  Some are of better quality than others, but hey…finding a good quality jpeg of Brer Bear is not an easy task.  Don’t worry about this…remember, it’s for your kids and you will be decorating the pages anyway.

Finally, you are ready to print your book.  Start with just one page and print it out on heavy card stock.  You can buy packs at any office supply store.  My printer will print on this so I did it at home but you could also send your document to a local Kinko’s or Staples to have it printed.  Either way, print a test page and make sure the alignment is right.  You need room on the top for binding and want to make sure that your contents fall within the 8″ width of what will be your final pages.  Once you have okay-ed your layout, go ahead and print.  Because of the heavy paper and the amount of ink, I made sure to individually feed my pages into the rear feed of my printer.  I did not want any pages catching or smeared ink.

When you have your pages complete you are ready to take them to your local Staples or Kinkosto have them bound and protected.  You could do this at home with a 3 ring binder too and not cut your pages down until you return but this way comes out much neater and easier to carry.  You want to ask for your pages to be trimmed to 9″ andthen bound with spiral.  It only costs a couple of dollars to cut all the pages and about $10 to bind them.  I had the cover and back done in heavy plastic, clear on the front and black on the back.  It was amazing.  The kids looked at these books for more than a month before or trip and nothing ripped or was destroyed.  After the trip we had a little water under the front cover but inside the pages were perfect!

When you have your books you are ready for the parks!  Throw a bunch of big colorful sharpies in a plastic bag and go!  You will have a sturdy book with places for everyone to sign and enough room for special notes if you get in good with a character or two!

Get the cutest pictures possible and head home ready to make an awesome scrapbook with your kids that includes their autographs!

When you get home grab a piece of 8×8 scrapbook paper and take it with you to your local office store to have the paper cut down perfectly.   Find some cute scrapbooks and purchase as many pages as you need.  The kids picked theirs out at Michael’s.  I also purchased some big paper packs of bold colored solid sheets for the scrapbooks.

Then have fun assembling your scrapbooks!  The best thing about this is that you can combine the autograph pages with scrapbook pages for your non character memories.  Everything can be in one place and the kids can help decorate them.

Here are a couple shots of the inside pages.  We got some sticker packs from the craft store and are adding our own little handwritten memories as well.  My kids are very young (now 1, 2 and 4) but the older they are the more creative they can get themselves!  We love these books and spend lots of time flipping through them and adding decorations or memories as we think of them!

I hope you can find a way to get to Disney with your kids.  If you have the chance, it is a magical experience.  Kids of all ages (that means you too) will love it!  Creating these books was simple and helped to make wonderful memories last.  I hope you will let me know if you have any questions and please tell me if you make on of these yourself!  I would love to see your work!

Oh, by the way, we make simple pages whenever we will meet characters anywhere and they are always a big hit.  Busch Gardens, Six Flags…if there are characters…we want autographs!

After hours of searching we were on our way out when (I kid you not) I saw a glimmer of the most beautiful wings through the crowd and knew we had found our fairy.

Sophia was ecstatic to find her and I have to say I can see why.  While she was concerned about why a fairy would want to be named twig, when we met her, those worries vanished.  This fairy is so cute and all one with nature.  Her fairy garb and crown are to die for.  And the wings…oh the wings…where oh where can I get us some of those?  I swear I would wear them to parties.  They are just so fabulous and fancy!

The only problem…Twig seems to only speak fairy unless on Facebook or Twitter so I will have to ask her there all of Sophia’s questions.  Does he have a special talent?  Is she friends with Tinkerbell?  Where does she live?  Has she ever met Silvermist?  The list goes on.  The fairy beautiful Twig did give us a mischievous gaze and dig into her bag and bestow some fairy dust and  a jewel upon us.  This seriously made Sophia’s day.  I should carry these around because Sophia was mesmerized.

I was too because I totally forgot that Miles did not get one.  Oops. 

He tried to find his own and seriously – the non fairy rocks just weren’t cutting it for my knight.

Finally, my own fairy felt bad for her little brother and shared her fairy stone.

Finally, our day was complete.  And we were all happy and ready to make our way towards home.

Phew, we found our Fairy Tale ending.

p.s. On Twig’s Facebook page you can get your fairy name.  Yes…I so did it!  You can now address me as Brittany or as Lark Widget Bloom Notchwood.  I love it!  (You all see how funny it is that Lark is just awesome and then widget and wood are in it and being all handy and stuff well, it just suits me!

p.p.s. Sophia’s is Pithia Spryly Bloom Notchwood.  Love that it matches at the end but hmmm… not so sure what she will think of Pithia…even when I tell her that Pythia was the priestess at Temple of Apollo at Delphi.  Won’t fly with a 4 year old huh?

p.p.p.s Miles’ fairy name is Violet Thorn.  How wierd is that.  He got his baby sister’s name as his fairy name!

I will never travel on an airplane again with small children without the CARES harness.  Never.

This harness is for children 22 to 40 pounds, weighs 1 pound, is approved by the FAA and took about 1 minute to put on.  Oh…it fit in the little side pocket on my carry on.  People it’s like twice the size of my blackberry.  Awesome!  Here it is…the actual tiny bag.

It’s good to go in the U.S. and is approved by the FAA  and has been certified in  has also been certified by Canada,  Australia, New Zealand, and the UK and flies on most of the major airlines of Europe and Asia

Usually, this is what I need to carry when we travel. We need the car seats on the plane and we need to lug this through the airport.   And this is with 2 kids.  Now we have 3.  Yes, I have tipped over before.  I was not amused.  I am pretty sure I convinced people not to ever travel with kids….or to risk leaving them without a proper child restraint system.

Children should be buckled up on an airplane just as in a car and we always just lugged the giant Britax and infant seat onto the plane with us.  Little bodies cannot handle the jolts and jostles of airplane travel very well and they risk injury throughout flight, but particularly on take-off and landing.  During heavy turbulence, I have seen a parent lose their grip on their lap child.  If at all possible financially children should have seat and have be using a restraint system, whether the old fashioned way (huge car seats approved for both motor vehicles and airplanes) or the CARES harness.

Now I can check all the big car seats and as car seats check for free I stuff lots of diapers and blankies and such in those giant car seat travel bags.  Good tip huh?

So, how easy was it?  Very easy.  I was short on time and read the instructions waiting for boarding.  I easily installed the restraint in about 3 minutes the first time as I had to adjust the buckles for Sophia.  It was really easy.

That red belt goes around the seat and behind the tray table area of the back and then the two shoulder straps come down and the airplane seat buckle goes through them.  Couldn’t be easier!

And she really liked it! (I made another adjustment to the buckle after this photo – took about 30 seconds.

Throughout the flight Sophia was comfortable and steady in her seat.  This made me comfortable and happy.  It probably helped that my back did not kill from carrying that behemoth seat through the airport with an infant and a pre-schooler.

As we get ready for the holidays and all that travel I would highly recommend the CARES harness for your kids safety.  Also…comes highly recommended for your sanity.

Sophia Adored the Pretty Girl Ones. Shocker!  She adored playing with the Zhu Zhu hair salon! 

Miles spent most of his time with the new Kung Zhu Pets – battle hamsters who roll around in armour and try to knock each other over.  He loved watching them in the battle arena. 

The kids thought the huge hamster trail where they had to search for gold coins was a blast! 

Even though Sophia has never met a Zhu Zhu before – she was great at the “Which Zhu Zhu Pet” question game! 

After completing an obstacle course (at least 30 times) where the Zhu Zhu Pets staff were awesome…over and over again… 

…the kids got to ring a gong and were told they are Kung Zhus!  Needless to say they were big fans of the gong! 

The kids got to answer some questions and find out which Zhu Zhu pet they are.  This was the funniest part for  me because Sophia got Rivet – the special forces and explosives expert of the Kung Zhu gang.  She was devastated even though I think they probably got it right!  She’s more than a handful – as my readers know.  They were kind enough to let her go again and this time they answered the first question for her, which then takes you to a screen that asks if you are a girl or a boy.  Ask them about this if you have a sensitive child like me.  Second time around she got Peachy – phew!  She did not want to be a boy!  The kids got very official V.I.P. badges with a code on them for us to get their picture as a Zhu Zhu from the computer.  Ours aren’t ready yet but the kids can’t wait!  The badges are already favorite playthings in the house for doctors office, fashion show VIP access and more! 

Finally, for us parent photogs there are cute Zhu Zhus set up for photo ops!  A blogger’s dream!  The kids picked these for their photo albums at home!  Sophia is wearing her VIP badges in this one (she did not care that the badges were pulling her dress down to almost inappropriate places). 

Miles loved the skateboard hamster and kept shouting “Zhu Zhu”! 

Even Violet got to hang with the hamster!  She was trying so hard to lick him!

The Zhu-Niverse Tour is going on through October so head on over and find out where you can party with the Zhu Zhu’s!  They have stops at festivals and also at Toys R Us locations in each area.

I want to thank the Zhu-Niverse crew  for being so friendly and fabulous at yesterdays event in Pineville, NC and say that the kids enthusiastically give the Zhu Zhu pets a big thumbs up!  They would love some of these hampsters at home to play with!  I also want to thank Maria and Amy at BSM Mediafor letting the Charlotte Bloggers in on this awesome event!

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Our first topic was Courage.   The second was Happiness.  Today’s is Memory.

If you are already a regular Mommy Words visitor, I hope you enjoy these posts.  If you are here as a part of the Five for Ten, welcome!  I can’t wait to get to know you.

Many people laugh when they hear all the places we take our very young kids.  Some say “Why go through the hassle?  They won’t remember”.  Some people’s mouths drop open.  There are even crazies who imply we “force” them to do things they aren’t old enough for.  I say…as my mom said before me…”PSHAW!”

My kids are 3, 2 and 15 weeks. I readily admit, I do not remember the days before about my 4th birthday, but I am sure glad my mom did not  think it was a waste to take me to the zoo or a museum for the first 4 years of my life just because my little brain might not forever remember blowing out my first birthday candles or petting my first goat or walking into my first day of pre-school.  Likewise, I’m sure glad she decided to have me at all, seeing as I don’t remember my birth and all.  I think I probably liked being born and all that birthday cake and goat petting and stuff.

We drag take our tots as many places as possible because I believe that even if they don’t remember, these experinces help their precious minds to grow.  Going lots of places also  aids in social development and has helped me to teach important lessons about acceptance, patience and even money!  As an extra benefit, the more active we are, the less bored I am and the more likely it is they will nap.  I am not the only one who thinks that really cool experiences plus a really great nap makes for great days. Right?

Yes, it is often tiring and takes a lot of planning.  Yes, sometimes we have massive meltdowns and contemplate never leaving the house again.  Yes, these trips are primarily for the kids and usually lack the sort of relaxation and fruity cocktails that are nice on a vacation day.  But I have no regrets.  I just have thousands of wonderful memories.

I capture all of our experiences with my camera or Flip Video and we spend lots of time picking out our favorites, making albums and sending them to family and friends.  We re-live all of our experiences by talking about each trip for days on end.  Many therapists think this kind of repetition, where children learn the words to associate with their experiences, will actually help them remember.

I have to honest here.  While they may not remember, I WILL.  If I am wrong and my kids do not get any social, intellectual or physical benefits from all of our activities over the past 3 years, I am creating memories that will last for my whole life.  These experiences with my kids are precious to me as I see them open their eyes and hearts to the world around them and watch the huge smiles spread across their little faces.

In the spirit of getting to know me, here are some of my favorite memories with my kids out and about the country.

We alwasys go to the zoo.  Actually, I think we go to every zoo and aquarium whenever we are within 90 minutes of one.  Asheboro, Columbia, Charleston,  Baltimore, New Orleans, San Antonio, Orlando…where there are animals you will find us!  We have done this since Sophia started pointing to animals.  The kids love animals and have a fabulous time.  I have a ball watching them have a ball.  It makes us all happy!   How could I miss this excitement on Sophia’s face at 1?

A 1 year old thinks it is pretty awesome and very silly when a gorilla picks his nose and eats it.  So do I.  You should never get so old that this does not make you giggle.  And your kids are almost never too young to find this funny.

At the Reston Zoo in Virginia, Miles got licked by this camel when he tried to kiss it.  Unforgettable and yes, he stil tries to kiss animals.  Sheep, cows, horses…he has smooched ‘em all.

We usually go to Charleston, S.C. for New Years and find so much to do with the family.  When Sophia was 2 and Miles was 8 months old we went to Patriots Point, home of the U.S.S. Yorktown aircraft carrier and TONS of airplanes.   We explored the ship and then ran around the flight deck on a cold winter morning.  It was wonderful!

I loved taking the kids to the Angel Oaktree believed to be more than 1500 years old.  It is enormous at 25 feet in circumference and providing 17,000 square feet of shade.  It is also breathtakingly beautiful.

We rocked Washington D.C. while visiting my mom last year and hit the best parts for little kids in most of the National museums.   The National Building Museum was the kids’ favorite.  Why?  You can actually build things and run around in this giant open hall!

The Smithsonian and the Natural History Museum were not far behind.  We all had a BLAST at the National Air and Space Museum.  Little kids are pretty impressed by big airplanes and oh yeah..space ships.  We learned how to dye wool at Mount Vernon and watched a sheep being shorn.  She may not really remember it, but I will remind her how cool she thought the Washington Monument is…even at 3…she could see that Obelisks pretty much rock.

Our best and most recent trip was to Disney World.  After4 days, 3 parks and thousands of pictures I would say we made memories that will last a lifetime.

So now you know.  My tagline really could be Have Kids…Will Travel. 

I think we can make wonderful memories with our kids in much simpler ways too.  We are blessed to have family in so many wonderful places and be able to travel with our kids to add these very special experiences to thir early years.

I would love to hear where you have made your favorite family memories and would LOVE to hear what your child’s earliest memory is.  I mean come on – is there any chance they will remember any of this?

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The Lights Begin!

From the first floats we were mesmerized.  I felt a rush of anticipation as the parade officially began.  We sat right across the Liberty bridge and had perfect views of the parade..and seats at a table where Miles had his first taste of fried dough.  Is there anything better?

Introducing Spectromagic

After the introduction the parade of sparkling Disney characters began and my kids were swept away with the magic and excitement!  I did feel for those around us as Sophia and Miles screamed out the names of each character as they came by and my little girl squealed with glee at the “most beautiful stuff ever.”  The parade was priceless and my kids were loud but precious.  It was a night I will never forget.

Sophia Sees Mickey - The Parade Begins

Mickey was channeling Elvis in his snazzy getup. I loved it! The kids went crazy when they saw him!

Mickey the "King" of the Parade

It was perfect when we saw Merryweather as we told the kids the fairies were making the castle change colors before the show!

Some Blue Magic

We saw the Genie in all the parades both day and night.  It was a special treat because he was not in any of the character greetings.  He is a special favorite of Ross’.  I mean come on, Robin Williams rocked as Genie and Aladdin remains one of our favorite movies.

Make a Wish!

The characters kept coming and we loved every one but I especially liked Ariel and her villain, Ursula.

Ariel & Flounder

Ursula was HUGE!  And so cool looking!

Ursula Looms Large

Sophia kept asking about Cinderella and Minnie Mouse and she was not disappointed!  We saw Cinderella with Jaq and Gus in her carriage.

Cinderella in Her Bright Carriage

And as the parade drew to an end all of Mickey’s friends, including the Queen Minnie, made their way across the bridge.

Minnie Mouse in Lights

The Spectromagic parade made us all happy.  Very happy.  It was truly an enchanting experience and I would give it a not to be missed ranking in things to do at Disney World.  After the parade we hightailed it back to the monorail to catch the fireworks from afar at the Polynesian, where they play the fireworks music while you watch from the beach.  It was a perfect evening.

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Cinderella's Castle

Rose Colored Castle

Purple Castle

The Castle Blues

Citrus Castle

A Castle in Two Colors

Dreamy Castle

I am writing a series of posts on our experience with pre-schoolers at Disney World with lots of great tips, itineraries, and tons of photos!  Stay tuned for the Mommy Words Disney page!

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The Castle Before a Show

Many people looked at me like I was a looney bin when I told them we were taking our kids to Disney World for 4 days and 3 parks.  Sophia is 3.  Miles celebrated his 2nd birthday at Disney.  Violet was just 13 weeks old.  I am here to say that each and every day was magic.  I saw more smiles in that time than in the last year as my kids enjoyed rides, met characters, saw amazing shows and explored the different lands of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot and the Animal Kingdom.

There is a whole side of Disney that is made for little ones, perfect for encouraging imagination, getting their first thrill of a ride, learning about different places around our country and our world and yes, practicing patience.  Disney has a whole program called Magical Beginnings for their smallest friends and they treat every little girl and boy like the prince or princess we all know they are.  Disney made my kids feel like their dreams came true! 

There was a lot of planning that went into this trip to make sure we got the most out of every day.  I am going to write a series of posts on planning your trip with small children and I will give you my super successful itinerary for each of the parks we visited.  If you can, put Disney World on your list.   You will be tired at the end, but you will never forget the magic.

Why?  Because kids this young BELIEVE the magic.  The kids think that Mickey and his friends live in Toon Town.  They think Cinderella and her friends live in Cinderella’s Castle at the Magic Kingdom or Akershus at Epcot.  They believe that each and every day all of their favorite Disney friends have a huge dance party and that they were invited.  Sophia was astounded that Minnie invited her to the dance party by the castle and that Belle invited her to breakfast.  Miles gave priceless bear hugs to giant fuzzy characters that he knows are his friends.  He loves them.   

Sophia was a Princess and met Belle, Ariel, Snow White, Mulan, Cinderella, Pohahontas and Sleeping Beauty.  Hello?  Could anything be better for a 3 year old?

Sophia and Belle at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall

Miles finally rode Dumbo (which he has been watching of YouTube for months) and got to see Dumbo in front of the castle.   You cannot see Miles in the picture.  Kids must sit on the inside.  Still, Ross is having a blast!

Ross Enjoys Dumbo with Sophia and Miles

Miles is 2 – so even the little Iron Dumbo was awesome for him! 

Miles and Dumbo the Elephant

Lest you think we forgot our littlest princess Violet – nope!  She had a great time snuggling with Mommy, riding rides (yes, there are tons of family rides) and meeting the princesses and fairies like her.  Actually, Violet was a huge hit with all the characters.  Mommy LOVES the pictures!

Violet Meets Tinkerbell's Friend Fawn

We loved our Disney vacation and I am trying to plan another trip as soon as possible!  I will be posting all my juicy travel tidbits, reviews of rides and attractions, tutorials on making your own rockin’ character autograph book and of course, my itineraries so stay tuned!

Should you take pre-schoolers to Disney?  My answer is a resounding yes!

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