Hollywood Studios

It was another beautiful sunny day.

Highlights of our day included

Meeting Star Wars characters

BB-8

 and Chewbacca

 Plus Daddy and his girls riding Tower of Terror

Another great day at this Magical Place

Animal Kingdom

Warrior Strong 

The Meierdiercks Clan

 Nana and Papa with their Sparkle-diercks
(I love that Cooper is hugging the crying Evie)

 Evie enjoyed the characters... as long as she didn't see them

 Riding Everest the Yeti roller coaster

 Nana's King Louie
Madison has always said since her very first trip to Disney 12 years ago that King Louie is Nana's favorite and thus always requires that we meet and take a picture with him when we visit.
(Nana doesn't quite agree but she will do anything to bring Joy to her Sparkles)

 Starbucks and Disney 😍
This Warrior Momma is thrilled

 Riding the safari... we brought our own zoo

 Working on their adventure badges

 and enjoying their popsicles

Chef Mickey

We do not do character meals every trip but I always enjoy the trips that we do them.

Chef Mickey is one of my favorites. Probably because the buffet food is excellent and I love meet the traditional characters.

I especially enjoy the interactions with the characters as they travel to each of the tables.
You never know quite what to expect.

Posing with Chef Mickey before being seated

A little pre-dinner chatting and smiles

Not everyone is a fan of Minnie

 There are always hugs for Mickey

 And playtime with Goofy

But this dinner, Donald Duck was the star

Ok not to Evelyn but she is one tough cookie to please (unless you are her Momma whom she adores)

 Madi and Donald

 Playing with the sisters

 Didn't want to leave the boys out

 I love their smiles- per joy

And then this happened... 

Madi went up for dessert (2 oreo truffles to be specific) and instead came back with a heaping plate of all the desserts and a Duck escort 

 Donald made sure everyone had dessert... choosing to hand feed each person

 The size of the bites kept getting bigger and bigger

We laughed and laughed and laughed

It was worth every penny- to have us all around the same table, laughing and eating and being reminded how richly we are blessed.

Meeting the Characters

I am always excited to hear and visit the Sparkles Top Picks and although we always see the favorites its nice to see who they love on this particular trip vs previous trips

We enjoyed dinner at Be Our Guest and the chance to meet the Beast (our first time)

 Thomas really wanted to meet Baymax and the Sparkles were thrilled to join him

 Even Evie was impressed

 A trip isn't complete without pictures with the Mouse

 And here is sweet Evelyn and her true feelings of meeting the characters... not a fan

 The goofy boys

 But this is my favorite... for my Grumpy non-Disney husband.
You just help but experience Joy at the most Joyful place

 Meeting Buzz was also high on the list and love looking at these 3 and their interactions

 We never meet everyone and I rarely push when they are not interested

But I still love these moments every trip.
Watching joy on their faces as the characters they love come to life is not an every day joy and its nice to have magical moments.

At the Polynesian

Our resort was beautiful and it was wonderful to stay close together.

Hard to believe that our first trip nearly 30 years ago started at the same resort- it has changed just a little. 😉

Ferry boat rides to the Parks

 Playing in the pool and Riding the water slides

And a family luau