The Magic Kingdom is...well...Magical! It's very much like Disneyland in California so I instantly knew where I was going here. There are little differences but very similar.
As soon as we got there the first day we were there Derek made a mad dash for Splash Mountain since was his favorite ride when we went to Disneyland. He'd planned to get fast passes for as many as he could and he did but the wait was so short that he rode it too. He went on that ride 6 times while we were there and never did use the fast passes since the lines were so short all the time. Hyrum enjoyed the play area there too.
Hyrum got by with a little help from his cousins. They totally looked out for him.
The first ride that Hyrum and I went on was the Dumbo ride. I had been looking forward to this ride since we purposely chose not to go on it at Disneyland and saved it to go on with our kids for the first time. I was sure to introduce Hyrum to the movie so he'd have some inkling of what it was all about. We ended up buying a book too. He loved the movie and the book.
It was the longest line we waited in at Magic Kingdom. It was worth it to go on such an iconic ride with my son for the first time for both of us.
We had a huge list of rides we wanted to go on and was able to go to must all of them. There were 5-10 minute waits for all of them. Peter Pan, Small World, Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room (much better at Disneyland) we also went on the Winnie the Pooh ride, apparently, since I have it written down and crossed off in multiple places but none of us remembers going on it.
But we DO remember eating breakfast with Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eyore and Tigger. It was probably the BEST breakfast we had while we were there. One of the best things about it was that it was at 8:25 which is before the park opens for the day so we got the chance to walk down Main Street with practically NOBODY in sight and got our pictures taken as well.
It was a really windy day that day thus my hair was in knobbys and my bangs are plastered to my forehead. :) As you can see Hyrum didn't want to smile nice for the camera that morning. He was pretty stoic with the characters too.
That last picture doesn't look too good does it. Humm.
But he did get out and dance with Piglet...kind of.
Not only was the timing good and the company good but the food was to die for too. Definitely recommend doing Crystal Palace for breakfast.
We did some things at the Magic Kingdom that are not available to do at Disneyland one of those being The Hall of Presidents. It was an amazing and inspiring presentation of our history as a country and the role amazing men had in keeping us whole and free.
We also saw Mickey's Philharmagic where we got to don 3D glasses again. We did our best to look cool though this time.
This is the first time Hyrum really got into the 3D aspect of things. At first he just kinda sat and watched the show then he noticed his cousins reaching for the bubbles and he started doing it too. It was fun to watch him discover.
Hyrum also got to go on his first ROLLER COASTER ride. They have a roller coaster called The Barnstormer specifically for kids ages 2 and up. But I couldn't go on it so Derek took him on his first roller coaster ride. I guess I got to take him on Dumbo.
After it was all done. He's not crying. :) Although I guess he didn't know what to think of the girls behind him screaming during the ride.
We even get a little smile! From both my boys.
A strange thing happened after that ride. When we are in the car now and we are going up and down hills Hyrum will shout. "We're going up!" and then when we go down the hill we put our hands in the air and scream like we're on a roller coaster. I think he liked it.
He also got to drive his first car on the Indy speedway which I kept wanting to call Autotopia because that's what it's called in Disneyland. Another one Derek got to take him on.
Another thing not at Disneyland is Monsters Inc Laugh floor which was great! It's an interactive comedy show where they use people in the crowd by showing them on a screen. We even got to be on screen when they were talking about a cute baby ( Hyrum was on my lap)
We did the standards of Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion (yes we took our 2 year old on the Haunted Mansion ride - no one turn us in to the authorities please) Space Mountian, Big Thunder Railway. We thought Cinderella's Golden Carousel would be a cake walk after Haunted Mansion but apparently not so.
But eventually he warmed up to the idea. But he didn't want to go on it again. Funny.
We discovered that Derek had a secret desire to ride on the Monorail. He remembers commercials for Disney World where you'd see the Monorail go around the Epcot Spaceship Earth ball and thought it looked so cool. So we had to take the Monorail when we went back to Epcot for dinner one night.
At the end of the ride Derek was a bit disappointed but I thought it was pretty cool. Guess it just depends on your expectations. :) We also took the Monorail to our last breakfast at The Grand Floridian which is an amazing hotel. They were setting up to film some of the Christmas Day special there. It was a great breakfast but we were bypassed by Mary Poppins because of some exuberant girls in the table beyond us. We were able to have breakfast with Tigger and Pooh again though.
But this time we got to meet Alice and the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland too. Before we went I read a review from this lady who said that she was super offended by the Mad Hatter and would never go here again because of him. He was a little on the annoying side and Hyrum didn't know what to think of him... but he wasn't so bad.
Alice was sweet. She told Hyrum that he was no bigger than a door mouse.
I may get Derek mad at me but I have to tell the story of why we specifically wanted to do breakfast with Alice. When we were at Disneyland in 2006 and we were looking at pins Derek was looking for a Alice pin. He said he really loved his Alice in Wonderland book when he was little and would kiss the pictures of Alice on the pages. I thought that was the cutest thing ever and may have made too big of a deal about it (I usually do when I hear cute stories about my man) I'm sure he was afraid that I was going to make him pose for a picture kissing Alice or something but I didn't even suggest that Hyrum kiss her.
Our last day in Disney World was really rainy. The relentless soaking rain that happens in the south east. We'd already packed our really heavy raincoats and sent them to the airport so we just had our coats to ward off the rain. The stroller got soaked and so that made it uncomfortable for Hyrum. We were all kind of miserable when we decided to call it a day and head back to the resort to use up the rest of our snack and counter service credits and get our last minute souvenirs.
Can you see how soaked we were? This is Derek and Hyrum playing a game they played alot in lines at Disney World. Derek would puff out his cheeks then Hyrum would squish them and he'd blow in Hyrum's face. He thought it was great.
I have to say that I was amazed by Hyrum who didn't complain at all as we stood in line in the drenching rain as we waited for the bus to take us back to the resort after saying goodbye to cousins. As soon as we got on the bus he fell asleep and slept HARD while we shopped, which was sad because he would have been so excited that we were actually buying things. :)
We really couldn't have asked for better weather while we were there. It was cooler when we got there but warmer than it had been here then gradually warmed up to the 80s and got really humid (which believe it or not Michiganders, I really miss) throughout the stay and then rained hard the last day we were there so that it wasn't so hard to leave.
But the best thing about this trip were moments like these.
This picture makes me laugh because we all look a little crazy. I think in reality we are all a little crazy so it fits. Can't wait to do it again!!
2 comments:
Globe Trotters said...
I love the picture of the flying Dumbo. I think that is one of the few rides I remember as a kid. Your family looks like so much fun!!!
Nikki said...
Great way to wrap it all up! You need to have a girl next and name her Alice.. or Allison (When Jillie was little she thought the chraracters name was Allison Wonderland)