world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy

Our first full day in Orlando we went to Disney World Magic Kingdom! I have been dreaming of this day ever since Ashtyn was born! I feel like the question of "when?" to take your kids to Disney World is something that has always been and will always be debated by parents. Do you take them when they are toddlers and think that Mickey is real? Do you take them when they are old enough to ride rides? Do you wait until your youngest child is old enough to remember the trip? It's a never ending debate and now, after going, I feel like there are pluses and minuses to every age group. Of course, in an ideal world you would take your kids every year and get to experience ALL age groups with them at the happiest place on earth but for those of us that that is simply not an option we have a choice to make. Honestly, I am happy with waiting until our kids were older before going to Disney World. Sure, they didn't want to stand in line to have their picture taken with any characters and we had to trick them into riding It's A Small World (they didn't think that was funny and gave me a quite obvious eye roll when we got off the ride...!!!) but we also got to ride nearly everything as a family, our kids weren't breaking down mid afternoon in desperate need of a nap AND the first mom I passed trying to make a bottle for her baby in the 95 degree heat while doing her best to soothe her baby quiet I was relieved to be there with my 9 and 7 year olds, standing patiently in line for anything and everything we wanted to get on.

I don't care how old you are, when you enter Magic Kingdom and see Cinderella's Castle in the distance you can't help but giggle like a kid! Disney World truly is magical and the castle spires standing against the blue Florida sky scream "young at heart." You just can't help but feel overwhelmed with the feeling of magic! It's a fairy tale come to life!
 

First, we rode the Jungle River Cruise but I didn't get any pictures of that. (I'm a bit paranoid about dropping my phone in the water...) After our cruise into the jungles of Africa Doug and Brandon rode Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride with the kids! Look ma! No hands!

The boys wanted to climb to the top of the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House and so up we went! It was quite the climb but the views were beautiful! How they created an island jungle oasis in the middle of a giant theme park that truly felt secluded and quiet I will never know but they did it!

Next up, we got in line for Splash Mountain. Thankfully we had taken the advice of friends and family who had already vacationed at Disney World and arrived at the park when it opened and so didn't have to stand in line nearly as long as those who showed up in the afternoon. Splash Mountain was AWESOME! We all fit in one boat and, honestly, if we weren't only going to be there one day I would have ridden this again and again!

We got pretty wet on Splash Mountain and so we sat down and had a frozen lemonade in the shade before we got in line for Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger. The boys were pumped for this ride!

One of my favorite things about Disney World was how they had so much to look at while you were in line for each ride. Even in the slow moving lines the kids were kept entertained and mom and dad were mesmerized by the special effects, video screens and characters throughout each ride's line.

The Buzz Lightyear ride was interactive. You sat in a two person vehicle pod that swiveled and moved through a variety of space scenes. Each pod was equipped with two laser guns and you got to shoot aliens throughout the ride. Your gun kept your score with each alien you shot. At the end of the ride, I had MAXED OUT my score to the highest it could possibly go! Everyone was jealous of me and I earned bragging rights for the rest of the day! Maybe even the rest of the trip! I made sure not to tell anyone that I'm fairly certain my gun was malfunctioning and giving me WAY too many points for each shot (especially once I saw what everyone else scored) but that was a secret I kept to myself! Shhhhh! Don't tell anyone! As far as they know I'm a master shot and a true Space Ranger!

The boys were good shots but I guess not good enough! They were captured by Zurg and held as prisoners in the gift shop!

About midday we spent a good hour in line to ride Space Mountain. We probably still had another 40 minutes ahead of us in line when they announced that the coaster would be closing indefinitely for maintenance. Bummer! At first we tried to wait it out and stay in line, until they came back over the intercom and said that they were asking everyone to leave the building and that the ride would be closed for quite some time. Ugh. Thankfully on our way out, Disney staff was handing out fast passes to come back and ride, line free, at any time after the coaster re-opened. We took advantage of the Disney App and kept our eye on Space Mountain until we finally saw that it had reopened! We made a bee line for the coaster and were ushered into the fast pass line where we only had to wait minutes before we were ready to board. Ash was pretty nervous to ride this roller coaster. I assured him that it was safe and fun and that he "would love it". He had been nervous to ride pretty much everything up to this point and had ended up loving every single ride so I encouraged him to give it a chance and he finally got on. If you've never ridden Space Mountain then you probably don't know that it is an indoor roller coaster that takes place in complete and total darkness. There are flashes of light from time to time and glowing planets throughout the ride but for the most part you are blind to what is happening around you. Ash rode right in front of me and so I did my best to keep my hand on his shoulder or shout encouragements to him throughout the ride but unfortunately it just wasn't enough. When we pulled back into the well lit loading dock, ready to get off the ride for the next group of people, I leaned forward and noticed that Ash was SOBBING! Not just afraid or trying to catch his breath but actually crying so hard that I could hardly get him off the ride. I felt TERRIBLE! I got him off the ride as quickly as I could and consoled him right there on the platform as others were trying to get on the coaster. Yikes! Poor Ash...

Maddox, on the other hand, LOVED Space Mountain and wanted to ride again!

When we exited Space Mountain we came out into a gift shop with an arcade. We let the kids play a few games for fun and also to calm Ash down so that he would hopefully (fingers crossed...) ride something else the rest of the day!

By the time we left the arcade, Ash was still pretty upset but was ready to find something else to do. We decided to make our way towards the main road of Disney World and find somewhere to eat dinner. The clouds had rolled in and the evening Florida rains were beginning to pour down. After dinner we agreed to let the kids go to the gift shop (which we knew would take a long time...) and then find a spot to watch the nightly parade! We did stop for some pictures along the way though!

We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant themed like scenes from Lady and the Tramp. It was neat to sit in a glassed in room and eat pasta while it rained outside! It may have actually been romantic if we hadn't been sweaty, rain soaked, over heated and tired! Ha!

The boys each chose a set of mickey mouse ears in the gift shop. Ash went with an old school pair from the original mickey cartoon and Maddox chose a Star Wars themed pair! Love!

We made a quick stop at Starbucks (hallelujah!) and then staked out our spot for the Disney Electric Parade! We camped out for about an hour and a half before the parade started and were some of the lucky few who got front row seats! The early bird gets the worm! Brandon was very excited for the parade, as you can clearly tell, and even wore Maddox's mickey ears to get in the spirit! (Hang in there daddy...it's almost time for bed...)

I personally thought the Disney Electric Parade was AWESOME! The boys weren't so sure at first but once they saw what it was I think they were excited too! (Maybe not as excited as mom...but still happy!)

Hi Goofy!!!!

 

  

The Peter Pan scene was awesome!!!!

Pete's Dragon took me back to my own childhood!!!!

  

 

After the parade, and after over 13 hours in Magic Kingdom, we had just enough energy left to walk to the tram that would take us to our car. This day was everything I could have hoped for and it's only the beginning! We still have over a week left in Orlando and another fun day planned for tomorrow at Disney Hollywood Studios!