Day 4: Magic Kingdom

So here's the deal:  I'm tired.  We are having a WONDERFUL time and all three of my children are holding up BEAUTIFULLY...... but Disney ain't for sissies.  And it's not restful.  So while I CERTAINLY want to document Mary's first trip with details and commentary, my mind is mush.

Therefore, I'm going to insert in today's blog Joe's commentary from our family Disney journal.  Have I mentioned our family Disney journal?  We started it on our VERY FIRST trip to Disney as a family.  It was WAY back in December of 2001..... Jack was two and a half and I was pregnant with Max.  We bought a little Mickey Mouse journal and documented that day's highlights each evening.  I started it, but then Joe quickly took over and has done an AWESOME job documenting our memories each night when we get in from our adventures that day. It is SUCH fun to go back through and read our entries of our time at Disney through the years.  The boys get a kick out of reading stories about how they pitched a fit outside Hall of Presidents or what souvenirs they bought, or what their favorite rides were or what they did when they saw different characters.   We've filled up one journal and have started our second..... here's a peek inside.....

And here's what Joe wrote for today's visit to Magic Kingdom: (I'll put my additional commentary in bold italics throughout......)

We got to the park right at opening time as the music began.  We headed straight for Fantasyland and did Peter Pan, Pooh, Ariel, and Small World in short order.  That was our plan and we stuck to it.  (Mom always likes to have a mental plan of the order for the day.... helps us avoid standing around going, "Where are we going now?"  It's okay to DEVIATE from said plan, but important to at least HAVE a plan.)  Mary liked it all.  It's neat to just watch her when she's really happy and excited about things.  She gets the biggest, toothy smile.  Peter Pan already had a long line, but we got through it quickly.  It's such a short ride, but Mom and I tried to do all the commentary, "Look, Mary!...." (She's watched the movie several times, so she knew all the characters.) She liked the Pooh ride, too, and recognized all the characters and loved the bouncing with Tigger.  The queue is good here, too, with all the things to occupy your time.... although we got in quickly.  The new Fantasyland is really something.  There are areas for Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, plus a new Rapunzel area. I don't feel like I know it all yet, but it's very nice.  The new Ariel ride is very neat!  NightNight likes the line here, says it's the best.  Disney thinks of everything.  One neat thing is we saw an episode of The Middle being filmed in front of Gaston's Tavern.  We stopped and watched that for about thirty minutes. (Max took some awesome pictures of the cast.  It was so, so neat to see a real show being filmed at Disney.  Jack loved seeing all the behind the scenes stuff that going on during a filming like that.  We're excited to watch for this episode when it comes on and know that we watched part of it being filmed!) We also took in Haunted Mansion and had lunch at Columbia House, a family favorite. (We enjoyed Mickey's Philharmagic, too, and Mary loved it all, except for when the corks flew at her and the water got her wet!) We went back over through the new Fantasyland and saw the re-imagined ToonTown, which they now call Storybook Circus.  (Mary was SOUND ASLEEP in Mom's arms at this point. Reckon how many miles Mom has toted sleeping babies through Disney World?) We decided to ride the train around one good time and then got off to head over to Tomorrowland.  The boys and Mom rode Space Mountain and we all rode the Peoplemover.  Mary got in a character greeting with Stitch.  She really liked him.... even lifted her pants leg and showed off her stickers.  I thought Stitch would fall over laughing.  We headed over to Adventureland and ended up with a nice spot for the new parade.  It was very cool. (We stood on the bridge across from Splash Mountain and had a great view.  Mary sat on Dad's shoulders and took it all in.) Again, Disney's always changing.  This time, all the water in the moat is drained and they're doing maintenance and painting the castle. (Get those cranes out of my castle pictures, please.)  After the parade, we took in Hall of Presidents.  Mary did great there, but we are still looking for Jack's Jafar Stick, lost, years ago. (That was a hot mess and not an exactly HAPPY memory.) For our next stop, we did a Fastpass Cinderella greeting for Mary.  She really enjoyed this because she knows who Cinderella is.  Sleeping Beauty was there also, but Mary didn't really know her, and she kept waving to Cinderella until Princess Aurora mentioned her finger getting pricked, at which point, Mary grabbed her finger and said, "UH OH."  She's got that phrase down.  We had to walk carefully out because, of course, there's a STORE.  Yikes.  We made it.  Forgot to mention, most everyone except Mudger, Mary, and I, rode Thunder Mountain.  We played on the wooden bridge deck and watched the boat and threw old popcorn in the water. (Interesting way to pass the time.  Sanitizer, anyone?) We got up just in time to see everybody riding.  The boys did Splash Mountain (and felt so big going off into Magic Kingdom by themselves..... can't believe we're at the point in our lives where we can do this.... kinda nice)  while everybody else headed towards Town Square.  We got to see the very nice Flag Retreat Ceremony.... very patriotic and moving.  Mom also got Mary a nice PINK Minnie Ears hat monogrammed with her name.  It was a great magical day at the MK. (Number of meltdowns at the Magic Kingdom today:  ZERO.  Boo.  Yah.)

And here are a few fun images from today....... (in no particular order...... too tired to put in order....)

Mary LOVES Cinderella.  Even when she had to move over and visit with the other princess in the room (Princess Aurora), she kept pointing over to Cinderella and waving at her.  (This was at the end of the day, so we all looked a bit haggard.  Piggy tails are drooping, dress is covered with orange juice, stickers are EVERYWHERE..... but we're happy!)

Poor Princess Aurora.  Mary has not seen this movie, so she was greatly disturbed when Aurora mentioned that her FINGER HAD BEEN PRICKED on the spindle of a spinning wheel.  Mary grabbed her hand and started studying it saying, "UH OH" over and over again.  Dear child.....

Loving on Stitch while the boys rode Space Mountain.

Taking a break after Haunted Mansion.  These three humans are magnificent.

On the Peoplemover!  I love Joe, but would REALLY have loved to have all three of my kids on one side for the picture.  Note:  This must happen on Friday.

Family selfie before Mickey's Philharmagic!

Seeing Stitch for the first time!  Hey, I know him!

Do you guys see?  It's Stitch!  Stitch is RIGHT HERE!

Night Night and THE CREW.  Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

The wildest ride in the wilderness!  And a favorite of just everybody.

Watching the new parade!

Totally groovy getting to watch The Middle being filmed in the new Fantasyland!

Happy family.  Happy place.

Welcome to Magic Kingdom, angel.

Ariel's grotto?  castle?  in the new Fantasyland.  Excited to explore this some more!

Somebody got some Mickey ears.  Some PINK Mickey ears.  Some pink Mickey ears with HER NAME on them.  

Gosh!  It's so windy, my ears are about to blow off!

Cute.

Never got a great castle shot on this day.  Decided NOT to remove the child from the stroller.  Bringing A Toddler to Disney Rule #892:  Never take a happy child OUT of the stroller at the END of the day.  The danger of doing so is creating for yourself an UNHAPPY child that you will now be TOTING to the bus.  So, the stroller makes the castle picture.  Note:  Must retake without stroller on Friday.

Playing Peekaboo with Princess Aurora.

 Mary and Stitch.  Both kinda wild.

Day 3: Animal Kingdom!

Let the adventure begin!

We hopped on the bus in a drizzly rain at around 8:30 this morning.  We knew that Animal Kingdom had opened at 8, and usually, we are eager to get there when it opens, but we decided to give ourselves a little more time this morning.  When we got there, we walked right in and headed straight to the Safari.  We've always done the Safari first thing because first thing in the morning is feeding time and the animals are most active at that time of day.  We walked right on with absolutely no wait at all.  

As soon as we got on our Safari vehicle, a pretty steady drizzle/rain started falling.  I'm not sure if it was the time of day or the rain, but the animals were more visible than they'd ever been!  Especially the giraffes..... the GIRAFFES were everywhere and VERY CLOSE!  I counted 8 in a little herd at one point, including a new baby giraffe.  So great.

By the time we finished there, it was time to use our Fastpasses for Expedition Everest, so we headed to the other side of the park.  We had enough Fastpasses among the 10 of us that the boys got to ride twice (I joined in on the first ride, too!) On the ride, I sat next to a guy whose son-in-law works for Disney as one of the workers who builds the roller coasters.  Currently, he's working on the new mine train ride in the new Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom.  It won't be ready for us this trip, but it's close, so we'll be looking forward to that for next time!

We then walked over to Dinoland and the whole hee-haw gang rode that Dumbo-type-dinosaur-flying-around-in-a-circle-thing.  I can never remember the name of it...... 

Mary rode with Aunt Paige and Night Night and was the pilot.  She gave them quite a ride..... up and down, up and down.  Aunt Paige said her little heart was beating ninety to nothing.  Sweet thing.

At 11:00, it was time for the Nemo show!  We ate a quick little snack on the way (boys are always needing a quick little snack) and then it was showtime!  This is always a favorite, and since she's been watching the movie in the car during carpool a lot, Mary recognized the characters and the jellyfish and such and kept pointing and laughing.  I didn't even have to feed her any gummies during the show to keep quiet!  (Cause all of our gummies are stragetically hidden in the backpack for such a time as this.... showtimes..... to keep her quiet..... did the same thing with the boys when they were little.....)

After Nemo, it was time for our Primeval Whirl Fastpasses.  This time, NightNight accompanied the boys on the first ride, and then they used the extra bands in the group to ride it again.  That system seems to be working well for us and has helped alleviate a LITTLE bit of our frustration with the new system.  But have I mentioned that I DO NOT LIKE the new Fastpass system?  Boo.

Mary and I took some time while the boys rode to do some artwork.  We spread out our towel-blanket and got out some magic markers that Aunt Paige had brought as a surprise.  There may also have been some stickers distributed out to everyone, too.

After a yummy lunch at Flametree BBQ (where two ducks walked ACROSS MY FOOT to eat the slaw that Mary had dropped on the floor..... she kept telling them NO NO), we were ready for our third Fastpass selection of the day - the Minnie/Mickey character greeting.  Yes.... we used a FP for that.... cause the choices for FPs at AK are not good.  Again:  FP system = Bad.  (Although I must admit:  the option to have a Fastpass for a character greeting worked VERY well for us today. So there's that.)

Mary, once again, was THRILLED to see her pal, Mickey.  She is doing unbelievably well with her character greetings..... even when it's time to leave (which could trigger a bit of a come-apart in ANY two year old), she just blows them a kiss, gives a final hug, and waves goodbye.  The most precious part, I think, is when she turns her back on them and looks at us and points behind her like, "Hey!  Do y'all see who I found?  Do you SEE them???  Look who it is!!"

We bid Mickey goodbye and then walked up just in time to see the 2:00 show Flights of Wonder.  This is a BIRD show....a GREAT bird show (even though I normally DO NOT like birds.).... but as long as the birds are trained, I'm fine.... no worries.... cause I already had DUCKS pecking on my ankles (they maybe didn't actually touch me, but my anxiety with them right at my feet made it FEEL like they were pecking on my ankles).....but it was fine.  I'm pretty sure Mary knew there were birds in the show, but right before it started, Aunt Paige had showed her how to TRACE HER HAND on paper, so she pretty much spent the rest of that 25 minutes tracing her hand.... and Aunt Paige's hand.... and maybe NightNight's hand...... 

By the time that show was over, we decided to call it a day.  Mary fell asleep in her stroller on the way to the bus and slept in my arms all the way back to the room.  She is currently STILL asleep beside me on the bed as I type this.  Our plan tonight is to just relax and enjoy spending time as a family.  Everyone gets to do something they like:  NN, Paige, and Josh have gone to another Braves baseball game, Max is gonna go to the arcade, Jack wants to swim some more, Will wants to learn how to play Rook, Mudger is gonna watch Mary sleep, and Joe is doing laundry (I think it relaxes him).  I plan on shopping and maybe trying to catch some more fireworks off our balcony tonight.... or watch the movie by the pool, maybe?

I think so. 

Disney Day 2: EPCOT and lots of WONDERFULNESS

Today.  Was.  Amazing.

I mean, EVERY day at Disney World is meant to be amazing.  It's magical, after all.  But TODAY?  Oh, good golly.....

As I thought about/planned this trip, I knew it would look a little different from our past few trips.  It has been a while since we did Disney with a two year old, and there's a certain PROCESS to it.

One part of the process happens WAY before you actually GO.  You gotta REALLY prepare that little tyke to know the characters, the movies, the songs, etc.  If they don't see things they're familiar with, it's just not as fun. So, there has been LOTS of homeschooling going on about a few of the classic Disney characters.  Since Mary's not doing much in the way of conversation yet, I decided that keeping it to the non-talking characters might be more fun for her.  They don't talk to her, she doesn't talk to them....  it works.  So, my focus this trip was NOT the princesses, really (except for Cinderella.... we just love her), but I've made SURE she knows Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Chip and Dale, and Pooh and his gang.  We weren't sure if she would love the characters or NOT love the characters (it can go either way with a two year old.... there's no middle ground here), but we were going to test it out today.

Now.  At EPCOT, there's a little place called the Character Spot.  It's one of the best places in all of Disney to see Mickey, Minnie, and one other classic friend (Goofy today) in their dressy, classic clothes.  I've heard for years that if you're the FIRST family in line at the character spot for the day, that your ENTIRE group can get a picture made with ALL the characters at ONE time.  This does NOT happen at Disney.  Ever.  Except for at the EPCOT Character Spot.  But you HAVE TO BE FIRST.

So, that's what we planned to do.  We got to EPCOT early and were second in line at our gate.  Once the gates opened, I zoomed off.  HOWEVER.... many, MANY people zoomed off faster than I did.  I looked around and immediately assumed that these crazy MARATHONING DADS who were RUNNING PAST ME LIKE MANIACS had obviously heard that same rumor about the Character Spot, and I gave up hope before I even reached Spaceship Earth.  My nephew Josh, however, kept the faith.  He ran on past me, and when I rounded the corner to the Character Spot, JOSH was FIRST IN LINE!  I ran up there and got the scoop..... YES..... we were going to get THE GROUP PHOTO.  Oh, my word.  Now we just hoped that Mary would actually LIKE IT.

Well.  She.  Did.

  See for yourself.....

 Note:  Some of these pictures are sideways.  I've been blogging for a while now and have YET to figure out how to turn those things around.  So, just tilt your head or your computer....whichever.  But do tilt, cause the cuteness is something you'll want to see right side up......

K.  Let me start again....

Now we just hoped that Mary would actually LIKE IT.

Well.  She.  Did.

See for yourself.......

By the time we were finished, I was crying, Mudger and NN were crying, the cast members were crying.  I tell you, it was a scene.  A precious, beautiful, God-written SCENE.

After all that, we were ready to go.  The trip was MADE and we could honestly have loaded back up in the car and called the trip a success.  OH, but there was MUCH to do!

We headed over to The Land (just to check on the wait time for Soarin.... usually we head straight there and get in line cause it backs up AWFUL BAD, but we had to see Mickey first, so......)  Well, it was 9:10 and the line was already yucky, so we hopped on an old favorite, Living with the Land.  Mary's first official Disney ride was Living with the Land.... I find that hilarious.  Anyhoo.... as I think will be a pattern on this trip, she loved it.  

Then, the Raney fam headed off to Norway for their Princess breakfast (which we skipped cause character MEALS are a NIGHTMARE with a two year old - so we'll wait for another year on that one), so the rest of us followed through with a family tradition:  Eat eggs at Soarin.  

Normally, we wouldn't take time out of our schedule so early in the morning to sit down and eat, but this is something the boys have loved to do since they were LITTLE, and the Powells love some family tradition, so eat eggs we did.  (Well, eggs for most of us.  Jack gets this gigantic chocolate chip muffin.)

Then, it was off to Nemo at The Living Seas.  Mary's been watching Nemo in the car and it's one of Max's favorite Disney movies, so everyone was excited.  

There's NEMO!  We found him!  And Dory, too!

After we found Nemo, we headed over to Test Track.  With this new Fastpass system, you can't get a Fastpass for both Soarin AND Test Track, so, since we had Soarin passes for later, we all the boys hopped on the Single Rider line at TT while the girls shopped a bit. And ate a snack.  And colored a picture of Minnie Mouse.

(More to come on the new Fastpass system.  Before I write a SCATHING blogpost that will SURELY get Disney's attention about how AWFUL this system is, I'm giving it a couple more days.  But I don't like it. So there.)

Then, the boys all headed over to Mission Space and we took care of a few things.....

Some cute pictures in the spot that I ALWAYS take pictures.....

Some popcorn from Aunt Paige.....

Dad's sunglasses.....

And then the boys finally quit riding rides long enough to hang out with us!

By this time, the Raney people were done with their breakfast and back with us, so we all headed over to Soarin with our Fastpasses.  We utilized the "child swap" and everyone went on the ride while Mom and Mary hung out on a bench.  In about three seconds, Mary was SOUND ASLEEP.  So, when the crew exited the ride, Mom decided to save her Fastpass for later.  Cause holding your sleeping two year old is WAY better than riding Soarin.  For REAL.

After ANOTHER trip over to Test Track with ALL the people and a trek through history on Spaceship Earth (which Mary LOVED), and the Coke stop (we love those free drinks!), we headed over to the World Showcase.  First up on the agenda:  meet Pooh and friends at the United Kingdom.

Here's her face when she looked in the room and saw Pooh and Tigger.....

And here's another great meeting!  (Again, head tilt, people.)

Then some country photos....

Now.  Here is where I would blog about going to the American Adventure.  Here's where I would tell you that during the Voices of Liberty (a Powell FAVE), Mary fell fast asleep in her mother's arms.  Here's where I would mention that she stayed asleep through MOST of the show..... but that right about the Great Depression, she WOKE UP.  NOT HAPPY.

Here's where the blog would detail the MELTDOWN that was bound to happen at some point.  That the meltdown lasted for an hour.... through several countries..... 

We hoped that things would calm down a bit by the time we got to China, but alas, she was not quite right yet.  So, the pictures that I'd dreamed about getting at China didn't happen.  But it's okay.  We've been there.

I would blog about all that, but I don't want to mention it.

Mom DID do a bit of shopping (while carrying a little one who kept shaking her head saying, "No, No, No, No, No....")  We got three children's books about the various festivals that they celebrate in China! Plus a CUTE little China doll keychain!

I did try to get ONE picture.....

It did not go well.

And it MIGHT have been just after this at Norway where the entire family had a bit of a breakdown in communication for a bit.  So, what do you do when your family is a bit off-track at Disney?  REGROUP.  That's right.  You find a curb in some shade, sit down, and wait.... for just a bit..... and then, everyone will reboot and you proceed again.  And that's just what we did.

Mary was still a bit agitated....but THEN when she saw Donald Duck on the ride at Mexico, she was ALRIGHT.  Meltdown OVER.  Peace returned to ALL.  Thank you, Donald Duck.

To end our day, we headed back over to the front of the park and let the boys jump on the Universe of Energy ride (only we call it the Ellen ride).  They love that thing.

Dad ran back over and got some fish and chips at the United Kingdom (Jack's favorite at EPCOT), and Mom and Mary had a little picnic.

Our finale was Mom, Jack, and Max using Mom's child swap pass from earlier to ride Soarin while Dad and Mary rode and found Nemo again!

It was an awesome day.  An.  Awesome.  Day.

Minus the hour-long meltdown, it was an awesome day.

More images from the day:

GOT STICKERS?

A COUSIN CIRCLE.

LOVE MY DAD.

FIRST RIDE ON A DISNEY BUS.... EATING A POWDERED DONUT.

GOODNIGHT FROM EPCOT.