Hello everyone, and welcome back to another of our favorite Disney memories series! This time, we are taking a look at Disney memories 2008, which was our second straight year staying at Coronado Springs, and also the first time we had ever brought Sophie to Walt Disney World for her birthday. The memories from that trip are still strong, and I love taking a look back at them — it’s almost like I’m there right now!
The picture at the top of the post is Sophie and her BFF Riley, who we invited to spend the day with us to celebrate Sophie’s birthday. This was actually on Sophie’s birthday, and the picture was taken in the queue for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Riley’s family was visiting their family, so her mom ran her over and we had fun for the day. It was a great day because Sophie and Riley, who are just four months difference in age, have been best friends since before they were born.
For all three of us, our favorite memories stem from this day. It’s not that the rest of the trip was no good, but it’s not every day that you get the opportunity to be at Walt Disney World for your 7th birthday on your actual birthday with your best friend, so the memories we have from that day are incredible.
We stayed over at the Magic Kingdom on this day in part because we were eating dinner there, but also because it is their favorite park, so it makes perfect sense. We rode the Caroussel, we saw Mickey’s PhilharMagic, we rode it’s a small world, and we went to Liberty Square. We did a lot of things I don’t even have pictures of, but one thing I know we did was had fun.
As you can see, we ate dinner for Sophie’s birthday at the Liberty Tree Tavern, back in the days when it was a character dinner meal. For this night, Minnie Mouse, Chip and Dale, and Goofy came by to see us, and the girls loved seeing them all. I’ve always had a soft spot for Minnie — just ask Cindy — so I miss that they don’t have this as a character dining location anymore.
For all of us, our favorite part of this trip was having Riley spend the day with Sophie at the park — best friends, just enjoying themselves at our favorite vacation destination. I can’t wait until this summer, when these two friends — and another new friend — are reunited for Sophie’s 13th birthday!
