Walt Disney World: Chef Mickey and Pirates and Pals Fireworks Voyage

*this post is VERY picture heavy*

This year Dominick turned 5 and we decided to take him to Walt Disney World for his birthday. He had just started Kindergarten, but we really wanted to celebrate his actual birthday there so we pulled him from school for 4 days. Day 1 was his actual birthday, but we decided to keep it simple and have a birthday breakfast at Chef Mickey, go to Disney Springs so he could build a light saber and then that night we had a special surprise.

We were a mess...this was right about the time we realized Malachi was starting to get pink eye

I want to say I planned our entire trip, I didn't use a travel planner, I researched for over a year and rented our condo off of VRBO.com (The Wyndham Bonnet Creek). The location was perfect and since my parents were coming to take care of the baby it worked out flawlessly...for the most part.

Dominick woke up on September 3rd really, really excited that it was his FIFTH birthday. He came out and he was also extremely disappointed when he didn't see any presents or cake. He didn't understand that this whole trip was his birthday present...I guess we should have explained that a little better (fail!). He quickly got over it when we told him we were going to a special breakfast and he was going to get to meet a few surprise characters.

Chef Mickey's was a given for his birthday breakfast. It's a character buffet style breakfast and I just knew he would love it. The fun thing about this was my parents and Malachi also joined us. Since Kai was almost 7 months, I was still breastfeeding and it was so hot in FL at that time I didn't feel comfortable taking him to the parks with us. So he got special one on one time with the worlds best Papa and Gigi. Anyways, Dominick was SO excited when he found out who the special guests were (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Goofy) and his smile and joy were my favorite part of this whole day.

After breakfast we went to Disney Springs and Dominick picked out his light saber. It was so hot at this point and truthfully both boys were just over it so we went to activate our tickets and the memory maker and went back to take naps. Malachi was suffering from what we thought was pink eye and Dominick needed it before a late night.

Once he woke up we went to the Pirates and Pals Fireworks Voyage. This is extra and wasn't included in the tickets, but it was a special treat for D and he LOVED it. When we checked in I told the cast member it was Dominick's birthday and they noted it. Captain Hook and Smee were there and Dominick was pretty excited to meet them. When it was time to go to the boat Dominick got to carry Captain Hook's flag! He kept saying, "I can do it!" to Ryan and I because it was much bigger than he. It was definitely a magical moment for sure. We couldn't really see the show on the castle all that well, but it was still fun to watch and we plan on doing that again when our next little buddy turns 5.

All in all it was the perfect start to our WDW vacation!