We stayed at the Grand Floridian for two nights and had two days at the Magic Kingdom park. It was nice having one day to drive over, settle in, and do a bit of the Disney stuff before hitting the actual theme park.
Day 1
Waiting for the monorail and finishing their breakfasts. It was very nice that our hotel was the last stop and the monorail went directly to the Magic Kingdom from there. It was nice a quick. As for breakfast, I recommend to carrot and zucchini muffin from the quick grill restaurant. It was tasty and surprisingly filling. I liked it so much, I had it again on day two.
We got an early start so we could be at the park about a half hour before they opened, to catch the "rope drop" show. Dorothy wanted to see characters from a distance, but wasn't so keen on up close meetings, and this was a good way to knock off several characters all at once without a lot of crowds.
Waiting before the show. I like to call this picture, "We don't like each other very much." In Kevin's defense, I don't think he knew he was in the shot, and I always have to beg the kids to stand closer together and pretend that they like each other.
The start of the welcome, opening show.
Singing, "Good Morning" from
Singin' in the Rain.
Mickey and friends arrived via train. Dorothy loved the singing, dancing, and getting to see such a variety of characters.
Snow White and Pluto. Minnie Mouse was right in front of us, but the picture I took turned out blurry. We had a great view (because most people were off to the sides to get into the park as quickly as possible), but we were a little too close for picture taking. The sun was also blinding on the right.
Who knew I could catch Mickey blinking?
Kevin and I had a great plan to ease the kids into the rides on the park. We knew that they scare easily, and we wanted a nice smooth start to our day so that we wouldn't be hearing, "Is this ride scary/fast/dark?" all day long. We would ride the carousel (Dorothy's favorite everywhere we go), then move on to It's a Small World. Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans...
Dorothy sobbed and wailed the entire time she was on the carousel. She was
so loud! She got right on her horse and waited for the other kids to file on too. Then she spotted a different horse that she liked better, climbed down and was heading toward it when she got disoriented and couldn't see it anymore. She ended up standing on the very center of the ride (the part that doesn't turn at all) right as the bell rang to signal that the ride was starting. I had been up on my own horse, and had to climb down and chase after her. When the bell rang, I literally grabbed her and threw her onto the first horse I could reach.
I think that I also sobbed on this same carousel in 1979, for the same reason of not being able to choose a horse that I liked.
Malcolm was having a great time and was eager to try to pull the sword from the stone (a favorite movie of his).
Instead of It's a Small World, we decided to do Peter Pan's Flight first because the lines for Peter Pan get long quickly and there was hardly any wait first thing. Malcolm
loved the Peter Pan ride, but Dorothy
hated it and wanted off about half way through. Peter Pan ended up being Malcolm's favorite ride at the park.
Luckily, It's a Small World calmed Dorothy down. I sold the idea to her describing it as singing dolls, and she thought that sounded OK. This was definitely more her speed and she exclaimed, "I love this!" at one point. Malcolm really liked it too and both kids wanted to ride it a second time right away. After our second ride, as we were walking out, the big clock that faces the wait line opened up and chimed. No one was around, so we stopped in the exit queue to watch. Kevin and I had no idea that the clock did that and it was neat to see.
After It's a Small World, we hit up all the other small-ish rides in Fantasy Land, including Dumbo and the spinning teacups. The kids really liked the teacups, but didn't want to do them again when we offered to ride a second time.
Outside the teacups, we liked the topiaries. Dorothy was feeling goofy and Malcolm wasn't really feeling up to little sister shenanigans, nor posing for pictures for mom. Dorothy spotted the White Rabbit and Alice here, but neither kid wanted to go and meet them. We spotted other characters throughout the park, including Gaston, Merida, Marie (the white cat), Pluto, and Cinderella's Step Mother and Step Sisters, but the kids were happy to see them from a distance instead of waiting in line to meet them up close.
Kevin, channeling his inner Gaston, from Beauty and the Beast. We stopped in the snack shop to split a Lefou's Brew (slushy apple juice with toasted marshmallow and topped with passion fruit-mango foam) to relax and cool off.
We finished up Fantasty Land and used the first of our fast passes on Enchanted Tales with Belle. Malcolm was unimpressed, but Dorothy loved it and it was her favorite thing we did the entire time at Disney. However, neither kid would participate in the show and would not go up at the end to meet Belle and say hello. Dorothy did get brave on our second day (pictures farther down) and participated.
We moved on to Liberty square and waited in the insanely long line for the Haunted Mansion. It was easily one of the most miserable parts of the trip. The wait was longer than the 40 minute estimated wait time, it was really hot, and we were crowded in close with lots of other people. Then, both kids ended up terrified at the intro part of the ride. I was with Malcolm, and he was begging, "I changed my mind! I don't want to do this!" We all made it through the ride, but it was more intense than Kevin and I had remembered.
After that we hit the Columbia Harbor House for lunch. I liked that their kids' meals come with grapes and a yogurt as the sides and the kids each found something they would (sort of) eat.
From there, we headed over to Adventure Land to ride the magic carpets via fast pass. Dorothy and I were assigned the carpet that was lined up with the spitting camel, and got a bit damp. The kids loved the Swiss Family Robinson tree house since we had just watched the movie the week before we left on our trip.
By that time, it was getting late enough that all the lines were really long, so we did a couple shows like the Tiki Room and the Country Bears Jamboree. Dorothy liked them pretty well, but Malcolm was getting sulky.
It was finally time for the Jungle Cruise (again via fast pass).
The Jungle Cruise is just as cheesy as ever, but both kids loved it. It
was funny when the guide said to, "Hit the deck!" and Malcolm really
did hit the deck.
While Kevin waited in line to see if he could get any fast passes for Belle or Peter Pan later that evening, the kids and I shared a pineapple Dole Whip float. By the time Kevin got back to us, they had sucked down all the pineapple juice from the bottom.
It was time to head back to our room to rest and we decided to take the train from Frontier Land and ride it to Main Street.
The only problem was that it was 3:00, and we got stopped by the parade. For coming in late, the kids had a decent view and despite their expressions, they enjoyed it a lot. Once the parade was over, everyone else wanted to ride the train too. Waiting for the train might have beat out waiting for the Haunted Mansion, but only because it was even hotter, and we were even more tired.
By the time we got back to our room, we didn't dare let the kids fall asleep, or they would never be awake and pleasant in time for our dinner reservation. Instead, I went and got drinks for everyone, and they vegged out to Disney Nature on the TV. Kevin and I decide that we really needed showers and there was just enough time for each of us to run through before we had to leave again. I felt
much better after cooling off, and cleaning up.
While I checked in for our dinner reservation at the Crystal Palace, Kevin and the kids watched yet another parade. They again got lucky and had a spot right in the front.
By the time it was over, we only had to wait a couple more minutes before being seated. It was very lucky timing.
Kevin, being a rabbit, even though Rabbit does not make an appearance at this particular meal.
Malcolm, again not overly thrilled with the idea of meeting characters and having his meal interrupted.
Ever since we first mentioned to the kids that we would be eating here and what characters would be there, they were both pretty down on the idea. Dorothy told me multiple times, "But I don't
like any of those guys." Malcolm would at best just give me a non-committal grunt while plotting how he could out of interacting with any characters. I was a little worried because neither kid has the best track record with giant headed costumed characters. Ever since Dorothy saw Scoopie, the giant ice cream cone mascot for Culver's, at a park district event
three years ago, she has been terrified that she will run into him again. Every time we go to Culver's, she has to ask the counter person if Scoopie is there that day.
As soon as they saw Piglet, Tigger, and Eyore (Pooh was elsewhere at the start), they warmed up to them. Malcolm especially loved hugging each character and snuggling them. Dorothy liked standing next to them, but she hugged some of them too. Notice that in each photo Dorothy is usually standing nearby and excited, but Malcolm is soaking up as many snuggles as he can get.
Piglet was the one character I wanted my picture with. I have always really liked him, and he was a favorite of mine when I was little. So much so, that when I was given a stuffed Pooh Bear for Christmas, I exclaimed, "But I wanted Piglet!" I got piglet either the next year or for my birthday.
Dorothy and Tigger had just finished bouncing together, so she was a little excited. Malcolm just wanted to snuggle.
We had to practically pry him off of some of the characters.
Because of how we were sitting, Malcolm was always the first to get to any character that came to our table. Dorothy was pretty quick to get up and come around to get close to them too though.
Through a thorough scientific study, it was determined that Eyore was the softest of all the characters at this dinner.
It was nice the the first three all came around to our table before we even had our drinks. The kids didn't have to stop eating and could just concentrate on having fun with the characters.
When Pooh finally came around, he was a big hit! I love this picture of both kids hugging him.
They were both talking with Pooh (who can only answer in pantomime) and Dorothy asked him how much honey he eats each day. Pooh tried counting on his paws, but lost count and the kids thought this was pretty funny. Then Malcolm asked if he ever ate the entire container of honey, jar and all. When Pooh indicated that he did sometimes eat the jars too, they found it hilarious. A week later and Dorothy is still talking about it and giggling.
This dinner went much better than I had hoped, and I thought the food was better here than at the dinner with Cinderella the night before. The kids were much more at ease at the Crystal Palace and they seemed to have a better time with the fuzzy characters than the ones who could actually talk to them.
As we were leaving, Piglet was almost to our table again and Dorothy didn't want to leave until she could wave good-bye and blow him a kiss. Piglet's handler asked if we had had a chance to see him yet and I told that we had, but that Dorothy wanted to wave and blow a kiss. She made sure to let Piglet know so he could turn around and wave bye to Dorothy so we could leave. It was very nice of them.
Before leaving home, I had bought some glow sticks and other things to keep the kids occupied while waiting for the night time parades and fireworks. We had been rushed and not had as much time resting in the room as we had planned, and I forgot to grab the stuff I had bought and put it in my purse. Kevin took one for the team and went back to the room to get the stuff. While he was gone, the kids promised to pose for some pictures for me, and we rode the carousel again.
I'm not sure this counts as cooperating.
We moved closer to eliminate some of the crowds from the background.
Dorothy's second ride of the day went much better than her first.
Kevin met back up with us shortly after riding the carousel, and we decided we had time to try for one more ride before the parade would start.
On our way to Tomorrow Land, we passed Cinderella's wishing well and each kid tossed in a penny.
We opted for the People Mover since it had no wait at all. I really wish this picture wasn't blurry because it captures so much in this one quick moment. We all liked the People Mover and it was a good ride to end on for the day.
We lucked into a great spot for the Electrical Parade. There was a sleigh in a little courtyard of the Christmas shop in Liberty Square, and the kids had front row seats. It wasn't even crowded where we were, despite people being packed in like sardines just a few feet away.
We even were able to use the bubbles Kevin went back to get.
We had a great view of the castle too.
Dorothy wanted to make sure that all the people in the parade could see her and she had to wave her Minnie Mouse glow stick (thank you, dollar store) at them.
I managed a few lucky shots of the parade.
The blowing smoke shot isn't as good, but Elliot scared me half to death as a kid. I was sitting on the curb and as the dragon went by, he lowered his head and blew smoke right at me. Evidently, I was done after that.
We decided not to stick around for the fireworks and attempted to make our way back to our hotel. We hoped to get the kids changed, then they could watch the fireworks in their jammies and go straight to bed when they were done. Unfortunately, the fireworks started while we were still on the boat, heading to the hotel. We stayed on the dock to watch them. Dorothy was tired and wanted to go to bed, so Kevin started to take her to our room. She ended up watching the rest of the fireworks before going to bed, exhausted.
Day 2
Day two, and they are thrilled. It had been a long night, so we tried to let them sleep in a bit, compared to the day before. We checked out of the hotel and loaded up the car before hitting the park, so we were later getting there on our second day.
Dorothy wanted to do Enchanted Tales with Belle again, and Malcolm wanted to ride Peter Pan, so the plan was to split up first thing when we got there and let them each do their thing before the lines got too long. We were there around 9:00, but by the time we got to Peter Pan, the line was already a 40 or 50 minute wait. Belle was only 10 minutes, so we all hopped in line while we decided what to do.
Malcolm had zero interest in sitting through Belle again. The previous night, the kids watched some other kids playing a sorcerer card game that interacts with little screens that play different scenes as you try to "defeat" the villains. We had stopped to pick up a pack of cards each on our way in, so Malcolm decided he would rather play the game than do Belle or use up all morning on just Peter Pan.
Not the best picture, but it's the only one where I caught Lumiere, the candlestick. The animatronics hasve gotten much better. He and the enchanted wardrobe were both pretty impressive. Dorothy was trying to work out how they could be pretend if they looked so real*.
She needed a little push from one of the helpers, but she did go up to meet Belle.
*She gets nervous about certain things, and we reassured her that everything in the park was just pretend and they wouldn't do anything if it was actually dangerous. Sometimes things just seem a little exciting to be silly or fun or thrilling. She's always been wary of people in costumes and she had to be told over and over that it is all just pretend. I was sure some other parent would be mad at us for "spoiling" it for their child, but that didn't happen.
She is way more excited than she looks. She was so nervous and said that she tried really hard to be brave and go up to Belle. She was very proud of herself for doing it.
She then
had to watch everyone else who went up to greet Belle (she was toward the beginning of the group).
Off to Tomorrow Land! Other than our late night ride on the People Mover, we had skipped Tomorrow Land on our first day. We had fast passes for the race cars, but not until after we rode the People Mover again, and did the Carousel of Progress. I was hoping to get the kids into the Monsters Inc. Laugh Factory, but they both
hate that movie and were very suspicious when I suggested it.
We still had some snack credits to use from our meal plan. One per person, per day is
a lot. We did fine splitting the snacks four ways because they are so big and so sweet. This time we got a root beer float for the kids and an iced coffee float for the grown ups (Cool off and have a much needed jolt of caffeine? Yes, please.).
Notice how sweet they look? See them sharing so nicely? See Dorothy's spoon, poised, ready to attack? Seconds after this picture was taken she did...something, to anger Malcolm. He then sulked and refused to share with the likes of her anymore, while Dorothy gleefully polished off the rest of the root beer float.
A small truce was reached while they checked out what cards they each had. Malcolm had finished one portion of the game while we were at Belle, but that meant that Dorothy's cards wouldn't work in the new games he was ready to play.
Malcolm, playing the game. You unlock the portal with your wristband at a keyhole, then you stand on the circle medallion on the ground. A video plays with a bit of a story, and you hold up the card you are going to use to "fight" the bad guy. Then you tap the card to let it read it.
Dorothy, standing on the medallion and picking out which card to use.
Kevin, helping Malcolm (though, I'm not sure he needed any help).
Dorothy had been playing (we made them agree to take turns with Malcolm's cards), but Scar, from
The Lion King, roared very loudly and scared her. She made Malcolm finish her turn while she stood off to the side with her hands over her ears.
As close as I could get to a decent picture with the castle in the background.
We were on our way out, when we passed the Dapper Dans on Main Street. We stopped to watch them do one song. The kids liked it, but we were all really tired by this point and were pretty much
done.
This is the only picture we managed to have taken of all four of us. We were on our way to the boat back to the hotel and I asked the staff photographer to take a picture with our camera for us.
I did get a cute one of just the kids.
Can we move away from each other now?
This is how Dorothy waited for the boat 90% of the time. She's holding herself up with her arms with her feet off of the ground. All those gymnastics classes are starting to pay off I guess.
I tried to take her picture on the boat and asked if she could show me her happy face. She told me that this is her happy face. OK then.
We stopped by the quick grill at the hotel to fill up our drink mugs before hitting the road to grandma and grandpa's house. While we were waiting, we took off our wristbands. Dorothy was excited to discover a "hidden Mickey" on her arm. I guess her arm swelled a bit in the heat, because it wasn't that tight when I put it on her that morning.
It didn't take long before both kids were out cold.
It had been a very exhausting two days.
Overall, it was fun, but we were all completely over it and done by around 2:00 on the second day. I wasn't sure how long we would last, and that was our uppermost limit.
Up next...The Space Coast...
