Day 2 was a trip to Universal Studios. We got up early, called an Uber, applied for a credit card, and went straight to the Minions ride. The kids were decked out in Minion shirts and Avery had a minion hoodie on. So safe to say, they were pumped about the first ride.
The whole family got to meet a couple of Minions after the ride. I don't know what Carter was doing, but that look is hilarious.
Here he is showing them that he has a Minion shirt on.
Avery on stage at the Jimmy Fallon show ride. There were quite a few rides that Carter couldn't do (for no good reason) or he had to sit in a non motion vehicle, but he didn't know what he was missing.
Carter meeting Duffman!
Carter and I on one of the Simpson's rides.
The girls on the same Simpsons ride. I think we ended up hitting almost every single ride across 2 parks (thanks to our Fastpass), but so many of them were indoor movie screen rides so it was hard to get pictures.
The kids getting some steam out and enjoying Florida January weather.
Carter met Wolverine!
Carter started to warm up to the characters especially the ones he knew.
Giving the Cat in the Hat a big hug.
Playing with the Cat in the Hat
I don't know what's going on in this picture, but this is Carter in a nutshell.
On the Dr Seuss alphabet train
And a Dr Seuss ride that spun around and went up and down like Dumbo.
Me and Carter. Not pictured, me getting soaked because those fish would spit water at you randomly.
Carter enjoying the story of the Cat in the Hat. Probably why he was so excited to meet him earlier.
One more time on the minion ride! We didn't buy this hat, but she did get a giant stuffed fluffy unicorn. Carter got a Minion stuffed animal that now occupies a part of his bed beside his Mickey mouse and froggy.
I am pretty sure we covered the most distance during our day at Universal Studios (even in the stroller) the kids were tired. Carter fell asleep at dinner in the stroller and Avery knocked out pretty quickly back in the room with her new fluffy unicorn.
Ok...Finally caught up so that we can do Disney posts. So after the snow stopped, we took the kids out of school to Disney for a week. It may take a while to get through all the posts because we ended up taking nearly 2,000 pictures so it will be a lot to sort through.
First stop the airport. We had a reasonably early flight, so we had to wake the kids up early so that we had enough time to load all the bags and not be super rushed with a free-spirited toddler in a high stimulation environment. As soon as we walked in he shouted, "I SEE AIRPLANES!" So we had to stop and watch them for a while.
"Yeah, Man! We're on an airplane!" He of course was a flirt with all the passengers around us and the stewardesses.
Which was good, because he was bouncing off the walls to start until we turned on the tablet for some cartoons.
It took a while, but we made it to the boat headed to Disney.
Right outside the gates!
WE MADE IT!!!!
We did a lot of fun things, but here are the kids meeting their first characters. It was interesting to see how Carter warmed up to the entire experience.
Getting excited about meeting Goofy.
A picture of the girls on a rocket.
Carter was a hoot the entire time. He was pretty excited to talk to this random duck waiting on popcorn from other people. Group pictures was always a 50/50 shot getting his cooperation.
However, meeting Mickey was a big step that changed his attitude about characters. One of his favorite shows is "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and Avery brought him a Mickey stuffed animal that he sleeps with from her last visit. I love the looks on his face during these pictures.
Could he be any more excited!?
Look at that smile...
Here he is showing Mickey that there is a Mickey on his bracelet.
I don't know what they were doing, but both kids were pretty excited about it.
The whole family!
We also did a few roller coasters along the way. That was always Avery's favorite part of the day. She is going to have a blast this summer at Carowinds now that she can ride a few more bigger ones.
Here she is with Laura on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
Carter got in on the action too with a half a dozen trips on the Barnstormer.
This is a video of his first time on the roller coaster. You can see him go from excitement, to fear, to excitement, and back multiple times. The next few times he would be "HOLD ON GUYS!" or "HERE WE GO!"
Riding Dumbo with Mommy!
That night for dinner we had a character dinner at Crystal Palace with the Winnie the Pooh gang. I thought for sure that Carter would be crashing by then, so we were prepared for the worst. However, that night and pretty much every night in spite of not taking any naps he was 100% full speed. You'll see later on the trip he turned up to 110%.
You can see how he was patiently waiting his turn. He was also doing the Anna hop while waiting for the characters to sign his book, he was so excited.
Tigger and a sad looking Winnie the pooh.
After dinner Avery took Laura on a bumpy car ride. Only a few more years until this is for real. Pray for my insurance rates.
