Where dreams really do come true

Little Graycen can tell you the name of every Disney princess along with every character that's a their stories. Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, Ariel, Mulan, Poccahontas, Belle, Tinker Bell, and all their supporting cast.

So when we looked at the calendar and found a few open dates following our speaking engagement at the Florida Professional Photographers convention, it was the perfect excuse to take Graycen to Disney World for the first time. Speaking of the convention, if you're reading this blog and you were at the convention and happened to get a pic of me speaking, we'd love to include it on our blog. We accidentally left our cameras upstairs in our room and didn't have time to run back up and get them.

Now back to Disney. I remember my first time at Disney World. For me, the magic was in Adventure Land. The Swiss Family Robinson Tree House was amazing and it inspired my brothers and me to unite our individual fort-building efforts, and upon our return home we began to connect my fort to Brandon's tree house and Brandon's tree house to Tabor's. Looking back, it was a pretty rough comparison, but with our collective imaginations at work we realized that anything was possible.

For the past two months Graycen has been asking, "When is it going to be August so we can go to Disney World?"

Well, yesterday was finally August and the excitement was unreal. She woke up first and announced, "Hey everybody, it's morning!" as she pulled back our eastern sunrise-facing curtains letting the Florida sunshine flood our room. She was singing and dancing around the room before we left and I honestly can't remember the last time we've never seen her so wound up.

Minutes after entering the park we rounded the corner and saw Cinderella's Castle. She was so excited.


And a few minutes later, on stage were Mickey and Minnie, Goofey and Donald Duck, Cindarella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. It was great!




We rode It's a Small World, the Peter Pan ride, Dumbo, Aladden, the boat adventure, went to the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, and played in the water fountains outside Ariel's Grotto. Graycen's Lola and Lolo came as well, and we met up with them half-way through the day.








Everything was fantastic. But without a doubt, the highlight of the day was meeting Princess Ariel and Princess Jasmine, two of Graycen's favorites. She just stood there with her eyes fixed and a smile from ear to ear.


Graycen and Princess Ariel


Graycen and Princess Jasmine


It was an amazingly magical day. And for Graycen, it ended on the elevator somewhere between the lobby and the 15th floor.


This morning, well-rested, we head back for more.