Day 1: Epcot

We woke the girls up at the crack of dawn Wednesday morning

and headed off to the airport. 

You better believe this almost birthday girl was super excited to pull 

her new princess suitcase around - just like her daddy. 

The girls were both excellent on the plane.

One Leap pad, many lollipops and even more stickers certainly helped. 

We landed in Orlando around 11am and hopped right onto the Magical Express 

- no waiting around for checked bags, all we needed were our "Magic Bands" -

new bracelets the parks are testing out which contained our room keys, credit card,

park paces, fast pass selections - all stored electronically around our wrists.

It was a total breeze and super convenient the entire trip. 

Day 1 was spent in Epcot, right near our hotel.

We stopped first in the UK where the girls enjoyed checking out the old fashioned 

red phone booths and had the chance to meet Alice in Wonderland and a long-time

favorite of Lexi's, Mary Poppins

We had a lovely (but chilly) lunch over in Mexico 

and then continued the sight seeing

The first ride of the day was the Nemo ride.

We all climbed in little clamshells and toured the "under the sea" ride that 

took us on the same adventures as the cute orange and white clown fish

Afterwards, we all enjoyed a skit with Crush, the sea turtle
The kids believed he was "real" as he talked through that huge window
and answered the questions of a bunch of children
The skit was pretty funny and really sweet - great start to the afternoon

Meet and greets/autograph signing continued with Chip and Dale.
They joked around with Lexi and Vic,
let her squeeze their noses, squeezed her back
and brought on lots of laughs
Real crowd pleaser for everyone on line.

While Ryleigh took a quick nap in her stroller (no going back to the hotel room this day),

Lexi and I jumped aboard Soarin'

We had a fast pass, so we skipped the whole line - added bonus.

You climb aboard what feels like a ski chair lift

and are transported up to a huge video screen that instantly "sucks you in",

before you are a bunch of Californian landscapes - San Francisco, Napa Valley, the Muir Forest,

LA and Disneyland, the Pacific ocean

You feel as though you're really right there, driving over the Golden Gate Bridge, grape picking in 

wine country, in a hot air balloon floating above the valley.

It was a trip highlight for me for sure.

We met up with Vic and Ry just in time for a really special character meet and greet:

Lexi ran right up to Mickey, smiling ear to ear.
Ryleigh, on the other hand, could be heard saying over and over,
"Uh oh, oh no, uh oh, bye Minnie"
She was not a fan of the animal characters up close that first day
(or the last day, or any days in between!)

But, we did still get her a bunch of their autographs to have for posterity.

 The iconic "spaceship/golf ball" in Epcot

We watch the Snow White movie often in the car, 

so both girls were really excited when we met her at the wishing well in Germany.

Afterwards, we had a great dinner at Tutto Italia
and finished up the night with a little impromptu dancing - see below
Vic and Lexi had a blast at Test Track where they designed and then raced
their own race car around a high tech track.
Then, after finally getting Ryleigh to sleep for the night,
Lexi and I snuck out to our hotel (The Beach Club)'s private beach and watched
IllumiNations, Epcot's nightly fireworks show.
It was truly the perfect way to cap off a perfect first day in Disney!