The Craigs are Back from Disney!

**Warning: for those of you not into small children squealing with delight over magic, pixie dust and total cuteness overload please move on to any previous post of mine. This post is totally dedicated to the over-the-top fun, delight, complete frenzy and total hysteria that comes with visiting Walt Disney World. ;-) Booooooooo.....hisssssssssss.....Not.Ready.To.Be.Back. *sigh*....eight days is simply not enough at Disney but what a FANTABULOUS time we had. It was a total whirlwind and I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I am already planning our next trip. Tee hee! From every giggle to every jaw-dropping-total-awe stare, our Disney experience was everything it should have been....and our daughter Ella was excited too!

So below are a few (ahem...thousand) photos that I wanted to share from our trip.

Couldn't pass up this photo. Our resort allowed us to take a ferry to Magic Kingdom (oooooohhh the convenience was worth every penny) and here is our little miss sunshine waiting with absolutely no patience at all. Can you blame here??

Now, here starts the tail of 1 of 2 of the best experiences (among a billion other wonderful experiences) that Ella had at Disney. The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. If you have never heard of this then be prepared for, again, total cuteness overload. It is a salon totally dedicated to making each child into a prince or princess. There is hair, makeup, nails, dresses and of course....magic! As you can see in the photos below, Ella was simply tickled pink throughout the whole process...

Just chit-chatting away with her stylist...of course!

Ahhh...what we women go thru for beauty....

It's official. She's Cinderella.

Sneaking in a little Mommy love. ;-)

Just look at this place! I want to live here! Pretty please with pixie dust on top! It's beautiful, sunny, everyone is always smiling and best of all, there's a castle here! A CASTLE!

And friendly critters that sign your book and give you hugs! I want to move here!

Of course occasionally the cuteness overload turned into just plain overload and a few tears were shed. But Mommy always comes to the rescue.

Even with the pout...cutest little Minnie Mouse I ever did see.

So.Daggone.Cute.

Aaaaaaand...back to her sweet self. Nothing a little ice cream, cookies, cake and a hug from Micky can't fix.

And a little play in the sand...

Daddy and his princess. :)

Imagine Ella's joy when none other than Ariel herself surprised her with a visit.

BFF...

Ice cream break! We had A LOT of those, to my absolute delight. "They" say that you can eat whatever you want at Disney because you walk an average of 10 to 15 miles a day so you walk it all off. I am here to tell you that "They" lied. Boogers.

FUN FUN FUN! We had dinner one night at a resort that had a Luau show. It was so fantastic! Ella is typically pretty quiet when she sees any type of show...awestruck really (as you can see in the first photo) but as you get to the end....you'll see she just couldn't help herself (and mommy too).

OK--so here is experience #2 that Ella just adored...and me too. My Disney Princess Garden Tea Party. This was so so lovely. This little brunch was held in the most adorable little garden room, each table was set up so beautifully with pink linen napkins folded inside each little girl's tiny little ceramic tea cup to look like a rose, each girl was surprised with a little Princess Aurora doll waiting for her at her table and each girl got a little charm bracelet (which you could buy charms for "conveniently" at the gift shop that the children "conveniently" paraded to after the party). There was a lovely woman all dressed in costume to tell stories and sing songs with the girls and a surprise visit from Princess Aurora herself near the end of the party. Ella was just beside herself....

Tea, ma' Lady?

And here begins the one activity that I think rivaled every fascinating and magical site at Disney: swimming. :) We just couldn't get her out of the pool. She's the one on the blue noodle in the bottom right corner.

What a time we had....

I also wanted to give a special shout out to Rose Mannarino, official Disney Trip Planner of The Magic for Less. This trip would not have been possible without her. From the very start, Rose planned every moment for us and if you have ever tried to plan your first trip to Disney, you know how completely invaluable this is. Her advice, her guidance and her knowledge and resourcefulness were worth every penny. Not only did Rose plan our entire vacation but she continually kept an eye out for any deals we could take advantage of and because of this, about 2 weeks before we left for our vacation, she informed us that we were getting back almost $800 because of a deal she dug up. Amazing! So, if you are planning a trip to Disney you would be very very wise to contact Rose (rose@themagicforless.com) Make sure to tell Rose we sent you!