The Martins Visit The Mouse...

The alternate title for this post is "The World's Greatest Birthday!".  We recently visited friends in Florida and my birthday happened to pass while we were down there.  I'm not sure there is a better place to celebrate than the official most magical place on earth, ladies and gentleman, I'm talking about Walt Disney World.  At Disney, they will give you a button to let everyone else know what you might be celebrating while you visit.  Wearing a birthday button alerts staff and other visitors alike of your big day and you can count on folks shouting "Happy Birthday!" at you everywhere you go.  Some of my favorite encounters were ones when the well-wisher was also wearing a birthday button so when they shouted, "Happy Birthday, Jessica!" as I passed, I could shout it right back at them.  Also, a lot of cast members will simply say, "Happy Birthday, princess!" and who doesn't like that?  

I knew Disney was fun, but I didn't know HOW MUCH fun four childless adults could have there.  Here are the highlights in pictures... 

My birthday button and our host with the most, Florida Frank.

I may have been celebrating my birthday, but Sean and Frank were celebrating Sean's first visit.

I immediately joined Mickey's crew and got "stitched in" to make it official.

Sean found some hats that he liked too.

Family photo at Hollywood Studios.

We dragged Sean on some rides he maybe didn't like... #vodka #towerofterror

We rode a speeder bike on the forest moon of Endor.

We visited Epcot during the food and wine festival. Delicious.

We built a racecar and drove it on the test track.

We went to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party.

Where Frank and Krystina killed it as half of Devo and danced the night away with Mike Wazowski.

We fired at anything that moved on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. (I did not win despite that look of extreme concentration.)

We rode Space Mountain in complete darkness. (It's like that for the Halloween party only.)

Splash Mountain... Sean maybe didn't like this one either.

Cinderella's castle at midnight.

Yes, I wore the ears the whole time.  It was part of my initiation to Mickey's crew.  

To say we had a magical time would be an understatement!  Thanks to Big Urse, Lil' Merm and Lil' Gator Face for the best birthday a princess could dream of.  Did I mention there were also chicken wings, nature preserves, KISS, original Nintendo and a waterslide that ended by spitting me out of a clown's mouth and into the pool?  Happy Birthday to me!  

Disney World, we'll be back sooner than you'd like!  Has anyone else visited as a full grown adult without children?  Tell me about it!