We had been planning this trip for several months and I had this great idea in my head. Will and Cate have been asking about Disney World and hoping to go (maybe with only a little bit of hyping from me). I thought it would be cool to not tell them we were going, tell them how they would know one day way in the future that they were going, and then film them the morning we were going. I just knew this was the way to get a video that would end up in a Disney commercial. I told them that they would know it was the day when we would wake them up so early one morning that it would be dark outside still, they would have Disney shirts on, their backpacks would have special Mickey tags, and I would tell them we were going to the airport to go some place fun. So we did exactly that. Here is the video we got from that exercise:
Feel the excitement. I blame it on the lack of sleep. It also didn't help that Will was too smart and basically figured out what was going on. The entire time he was getting ready he was asking stuff like "Mommy, why am I up when it's dark outside?" or "Mommy, why am I putting on this Mickey shirt?" Oh well. We tried.
We got to the airport, did that whole show, flew to Orlando, and caught the Magical Express. The Magical Express is a bus service that Disney provides to guests staying at Disney resorts to transport them to and from the airport. It was super convenient and really easy to use. Here are some exciting pictures from our travel:
We stayed at the Polynesian Resort. I can't speak for Jenna and Sarah, but I really liked the Polynesian. It was conveniently located (on the Magic Kingdom monorail and a five minute walk to the Epcot monorail). It had a really unique and excellent food option (Tonga Toast-basically giant banana stuff french toast covered in cinnamon and sugar). And the theming was awesome. Jenna did a great job of getting some pictures that captured the atmosphere of the resort.
Check out the nose on this guy (and the statue is funny looking too):
And check out the view of the Magic Kingdom from the Polynesian beach (which provided excellent fireworks viewing later in the week):
We went to our room to take a nap before heading to the Magic Kingdom and we found a pleasant surprise from Mousekeeping.
Last Polynesian picture. One thing I love about Disney is the "Hidden Mickeys." For those that don't know, these are places where images of Mickey Mouse are hidden in something. It is completely random, they have done it everywhere, and it is always fun to spot. Like this one in the Polynesian lobby:
After our nap (yes, Aunt Sarah took one too), finally we were on our way into the Magic Kingdom!
It was really cool to see the kids' facial expressions when we turned the corner onto Main Street and could see Cinderella's Castle in all its glory. The pictures we have don't really capture it, but Will was so excited. For Cate, you could see it slowly dawn on her face where she was--she went from this confused look, to one of awe, to just the biggest smile ever. It was so great. That was the moment when I 100% decided Jenna was right and this was actually a good age to take the kids. By the way, these pictures also set a nice theme many of you will notice--we greatly struggled to get good pictures of the kids at Disney World. Put it this way, it turned Jenna into Captain Ahab with a camera and the perfect Disney picture of the kids into her White Whale. [Editor's Note: I never did get my "perfect" picture in front of Cinderella's Castle--oh well, maybe if we go back in a few years...]
We walked in and straight down to the castle. From there, we hooked a right and went straight to Dumbo. The kids were excited about riding Dumbo and we figured it was a good ride to break them in. We were right. They loved it.
After that, I had a Fastpass+ for us to ride The Great Goofini's Barnstormer. This a roller coaster that isn't exactly slow, but it also isn't Space Mountain. It is over in 30 seconds or so. We thought this might be a good introduction to roller coasters to warm them up for possibly riding some bigger rides. What did we learn? It was too fast for the kids and Jenna became concerned that the bigger rides were too much for her. Her first words after the ride ended were "That was supposed to be a tame roller coaster???"
I had dinner reservations at Liberty Tree Tavern (a Revolutionary era themed restaurant) and we walked over there. Immediately following that I had another Fastpass+ for Enchanted Tales with Belle. If you can't tell, I had the PERFECT PLAN laid out and I was a little tense about time. Dinner did not go well (Cate was everywhere) and I learned I needed to relax for the trip. I would like to think I was much better the rest of the trip after that (you can check with Jenna and Sarah). On our way to dinner, though, we walked past Rapunzel's tower, which basically got the same slow reacting reaction from Cate as the castle.
Like I said, after dinner we went to Enchanted Tales with Belle. This is a really cool interactive story time where they tell the story of the night that Belle fell in love with the Beast. Each kid gets to play a part in the story if they want. There is an interactive Lumiere that does the narrating while Belle herself helps act out the story. Anyway, when they were handing out the parts, they asked all of the kids to shiver like they were cold. Will was the king of the shivers and was chosen to play Belle's father, Maurice.
Cate somehow didn't get picked for a part even though she was right up front and into it. I think the girl handing out parts just missed her (she was the youngest there).
Oh yeah, they also had all the adults march in place at one point and, you guessed it, I was chosen as a suit of armor.
We went in and Lumiere told the story. Belle came out and participated. At the end, all of the kids (and the suits of armor) got some close up time with Belle. Cate was so excited about that opportunity that she cut in line and walked right up to Belle when it wasn't her turn. Belle was great with her. Will gave her a big hug without hesitation (I took this to mean he was cool with the princesses--we learned later in the week that he really just had a crush on Belle; I will detail further in another post).
After Belle, we wrapped our evening with a quick ride on the Carousel and Journey of the Little Mermaid.
With Aunt Sarah on the trip, we could rotate one adult taking the kids back for naps and bed time while the other two stayed behind to do adult stuff in the parks. Jenna thought it would be best if she took the kids back the first night. So we rode the Magic Kingdom train around to the front of the park to walk them out. To our surprise, the Main Street Electrical Parade was going just as we got off the train. We stood at the top of the train station and watched for a few minutes before Jenna and the kids took off. Sarah and I managed to ride Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, the Haunted Mansion, and Space Mountain and watch fireworks in the two hours after they left (I had Sarah hauling butt through the park). In case anyone is curious, Sarah alternates from uncontrolled giggling to shrieking like she is being stabbed when riding fast roller coasters. We made our way back to the Polynesian after the park closed and went to sleep. After 17 hours (from Dallas to the end of the day), our first Disney day was done. I consider it a major success that would only be surpassed by subsequent days.
Future blog posts to come:
Day 2 (Chef Mickey's, Animal Kingdom, and Magic Kingdom)
Day 3 (Magic Kingdom and the Crystal Palace)
Day 4 (Epcot and Akershus Royal Banquet Hall)
Day 5 (Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios)
Stay tuned...
Awesome Post Billy! Can't wait to read the other 4!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you all had a blast!