George and I are lucky enough to be traveling to Florida with his mom and dad (Grandma and Grandpa Bird) this year and due to Abbey’s maturing obsession with Mickey Mouse and friends we’ve decided to tack on a day at Disney during this week-long trip. We know that she adores Mickey and Minnie and will bust out some serious dance moves when the “Hot dog” song comes on but we aren’t sure how she’ll react to the characters and the events of the day as a whole. After spending about 20 minutes in the Disney store tonight at Kenwood Mall with Abbey, I’m pretty sure she will have a BLAST!

As soon as Abbey rounded the corner to step inside the store she transformed into super toddler that had just received a bolt of energy. She wanted to touch and hold every single plush character and looked back at mom and dad with this huge smile and of course she was babbling on and on (in toddler speak) the whole time. Abbey even made a friend, Austin, who chased her around the back part of the store and through the tunnel of the windmill tower thingy. Personally, I had my eyes set on the clearance rack where I found a 12-18 month sized Tinkerbell dress for $19.99, I’m sure this would have been every bit of $35 at Disney. Perfect fit and I had to put it on Abbey as soon as we got home.

Here’s my model showing off her new dress! She saw herself in the mirror and said, “ABBEY” which is one of her new words this week.

Besides finding this great dress for an awesome price we also talked with the cashier who had been an amazing resource to us the last time we visited the store in November. She suggested that we book a breakfast buffet at Chef Mickey’s (where you are guaranteed to see characters without waiting in long lines) and to do it way in advance. So when she and I were talking I brought up that conversation, told her I took her advice and asked if she had other information to pass along. Lucky us she had just got back from Disney 4 days ago and had plenty of ideas, tips and tricks to share.

• Tip #1: bring a soft pouch cooler with your own snacks and drinks (Jami, I need to place a Thirty-One order soon).
• Tip #2: Park at the Central Ticketing Center (CTC) then take a ferry or train to Magic Kingdom.
• Tip #3: Go to the park early!
• Tip #4: She assured us that going from Magic Kingdom to Chef Mickey at the Contemporary Resort and back was a cinch, I like “cinches” a LOT. 

Even though Disney store Cashier (didn’t catch her name) was amazing with the resources I’m happy to take other tidbits of information and especially any tips with bringing a toddler to Magic Kingdom. I started a “rides for Abbey” list in Evernote, I might be a bit too organized. Nahhh!