Magic Kingdom

After a good preparatory sleep of 10 hours (we had driven through Saturday night and arrived at the hotel in the afternoon). We woke up Monday morning at 6:30. We had a relaxed hot continental breakfast and got to the park at 9:20. They play the happy music of our childhoods while we walk down Main Street towards the Castle. Eleanor wants to go straight to it, but I explain there's not much inside it. Unlike the Temple, which is beautiful as well as useful. Our family tradition (comes down from Sterling's grandfather) is to start our touring with a ride on Pirates. Our kids were in awe. They had no idea what to make of it. Especially Charlotte. She got scared when everything was dark and the boat dropped down a dip. But there were enough realistic animals that she could be distracted. Cats, pigs, chickens, dogs, and donkeys, besides hairy-legged pirates and Jack Sparrow. After Pirates we went to the two big mountains in Adventureland. Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. And oh what horrors: Splash mountain was closed!!! I got fast passes anyway (you put your park tickets into machines and get timed tickets for later). So Big Thunder Mountain was our only option in that area. Since it was still early, the standby lines were only about 10 minutes. Sterling (who I will now call Dear Husband or DH) went on Big Thunder Mountain with the two older kids and Sterling III really did not like it. Eleanor went a total of 3 times.



Our fastpasses for Splash were for 11:30 so we looked around for something to do on the west side of the Kingdom. We headed to the Haunted Mansion. Sterling III hid his face in my lap the whole time and Eleanor said she didn't want to go on it again. I'm not in love with the attraction myself. They all wanted to do Pirates again. So, we did. I wanted to do something Charlotte would like so I waited in a very hot line for Aladdin's flying carpets. Charlotte loved it. She will definitely be a roller coaster lover when she grows up. It was finally time for Splash Mountain! Everyone love love loved that one. That was a real relief after Sterling III's reluctance about Big Thunder Mountain and Haunted Mansion. After going with DH twice, it was my turn while he waited with Charlotte. The Rider Switch pass lets you take two riders with you because you have a little one who can't ride. On that my first Splash and the kids' third, they delighted to explain the whole story to me and tell me when the big drop was coming.

Underneath a railroad overpass Disney has built a small playplace for the little ones who aren't big enough to go on Splash. Charlotte loved it. there are wide benches to sit on, and drinking fountains and trash containers. We chose this moment for a picnic lunch. We had brought sandwiches chips and drinks. That was a lovely moment in the shade watching the kids play and take bites of lunch and run to play again.

We got on the Disney Railroad to hopefully get dropped off at Fantasyland but since they are building a huge new addition to that area, they dropped us off at the front gate again. Well, might as well see the inside of the Castle which Eleanor wanted to view so badly. How wrong I was! There are stunning mosaics of the story of Cinderella. These are worth seeing. It was too dark for any pictures to come through, and I had never seen pictures of them. A nice surprise. Of course there's a restaurant in the castle now but it's super expensive and still has to booked 6 months in advance. Bleh.

It was a hot day and walking to Fantasyland Charlotte fell asleep in the stroller. The lines were all long (Peter Pan was consistently over 40 minutes long all week), so we stepped into Mickey's Philharmagic because I thought Charlotte could sleep in some air conditioning. Wow, this was an amazing show. It's a 3D tour through the best of Disney cartoons with Donald Duck (one of my favorite characters).My kids were enchanted and I'll admit to a couple of tears shed. From sheer nostalgia. Charlotte slept the whole time and woke up just in time to ride Small World. That was the shortest of all the Fantasyland lines. The kids loved it and wanted to go on it again immediately. But we decided to go home and take a break. It was so hot and the lines were so long. We had decided this would be the gameplan but in the midst of it you are tempted to somehow push through and not "waste any time!" But really it's so much better to take a cool 3 or 4 hours at the hotel and come back in the cool evening hours when the crowds are lower. We also can eat much more cheaply outside of the parks. As you will see. We went to Fuddruckers where they were doing a family special for 25 bucks. We were all stuffed and re-energized to go back to the Magic Kingdom.

We went straight to Tommorowland and watched the Monster's Inc show. It's a comedy show where the animated monsters interact with the audience. Next we rode Buzz Lightyear SpaceRanger Spin. This where you get in a spaceship like a teacup that you can spin and ride through different rooms shooting monsters. It was really fun. I thought I had gotten a great score but DH got one ten times higher. Lame. But still fun. One thing about Disney is that the lines are so entertaining. There's a lifesize Buzz waving and talking as you walk by to get into the ride. The kids liked it. Charlotte started waving and tried to talk to him. Next we rode the Carousel of Progress. I hadn't ever been on this one and I really really liked it. Kind of like the Hall of the Presidents with a catchy tune. The kids loved it too. They were all singing "It's a great big beautiful tomorrow..." for the rest of the day. We worked our way around to the Tea Cups (Pooh and Peter Pan AND Snow White were all still mobbed. Disney's lines aren't THAT fun). The Tea Cups are so iconic, and we got a great picture of us in front of the back of the castle while we were in line. I apparently like to pretend I'm in a commercial....
Again, a crazy ride that Charlotte adored. She wanted to go on the Golden Carrousel next so we did that one too. Sweet experiences watching her chubby smile on that antique horse. She has this funny expression when she's proud of herself for being a big girl and she tucks her chin into her neck and smiles from ear to ear.

This is where we go into crazy Mom-pleasing mode. I must have gotten a second wind or the weather finally got cool but it was almost 9:00 and we decided to go to Splash during the early parade (same parade, the early one is crowded). We told Eleanor our plan and she started "mentioning" her tired feet. Poor kid had walked all day while the other two had ridden in a tandem stroller. We promised her ice cream if she could make it. This was not just any ice cream, this was a Dole Float!! Pineapple soft serve ice cream floating in pineapple juice. Each one as big as Charlotte's leg. In the Florida twilight, we just sat in Adventureland amongst the jungle trees and pirate music sipping our pineapple deliciousness. Nevermind that Charlotte tried to commandeer one all herself. She's just trying to be a pirate.

Sufficiently refreshed, we realized the whole world was at the parade so we could walk on to a number of attractions. We took the Jungle Cruise. Oh man, that was super good at night. The cheesy jokes and the petrified children. We didn't tell them that the crocodiles weren't real. Needless to say they never asked to go on that one again all week. LOL. Walked on to Pirates again. Charlotte wasn't as scared this time (yay!).

More crazy Mom shenanigans. I wanted to see the fireworks and they were going to happen in 15 minutes! So I dragged the troops over to Fantasyland to try to get a seat. We had a great view of the castle at Pinocchio's restaurant but the waitress showed us where we'd be able to see the fireworks better. Apparently they are shot off right behind the restaurant. So we stood right between the Carrousel and Snow White and had bombs bursting right above us and around us. Beautiful but startling for Charlotte. I held Charlotte in my arms to soothe hare and she thought they were pretty cool. It was a magnificent experience. This is one of my top 3 experiences of the week. Thrilling and tender at the same time.

As soon as they were over we walked on to Snow White (I am glad I didn't have to wait 40 minutes for this one). Crossed the park AGAIN because we hadn't gotten to ride Splash thanks to my obsession with fireworks (although later we were SO glad we did this, it ended up being our only chance). We all rode Splash about 3 or 4 more times. The kids claimed this as their favorite ride. I was excited to see the castle all lit up at night from the top of the drop, but fear got in the way and it was all I could do to not duck like my son. We decided we had finally pushed ourselves to the limit and headed toward the exit. Then, total bonus, we found that the Electric Light Parade was going and we found a fence rail to sit on and enjoy it. The kids were the only ones on this stretch so all the characters on the floats waved to them or blew kisses. It was great. The kids saw everyone. Tinkerbell, Snow White, Peter Pan and friends, Mickey Mouse, dragons, enormous American flags....cool cool cool. I honestly think this first day was so amazing it was worth the whole trip.