Disney Part 1

On Friday, October 12 we were up early to go to the airport to fly to Orlando.  Dave was down there for a conference already so we were just meeting him down there; my mom had flown up a few days earlier so I had some help on the flight. 

The boys with their backpacks.

Q in his own seat for the flight, but after I made him sit down and wear his seatbelt for take off, he didn't want to sit with me anymore.

So he went to sit with Mom and E and fell asleep there.

In Orlando on the Disney Express!  

And look, it's Dad!  He just came to the airport to meet us so he could take the Disney Express with us.

We checked into our hotel and picked up our Magic Bands.  These things are great and I cannot imagine doing Disney without them.  Q didn't need one at all but they still included him.  He wore his band for about 2 hours before he decided it wasn't for him.

Our rooms were not ready when we first arrived so we went down to the pool, changed into our swim suits and cooled off in the pool for a little bit.  Dave also picked up a couple of sandwiches at the cafeteria.   This is at our hotel, the alligator is not real ;)

Our room was ready right at 3:00 so we went back to get dressed and then go to Disney Springs for supper.  At our hotel we could take the boat over there.  A beautiful night to be on the water.

Disney Springs had lots of stuff to see and do but we were only here for a couple of hours, most of  which was spent eating.  It would have been fun to go back on another night but we ran out of time.

Lego sea monster.

We love these guys!  To Infinity and Beyond!

We had reservations at Chef Art Smith's Homecoming'.  The only time we could get was 4:40 but I actually really liked eating at that time.  We were able to enjoy the evening after we ate and it meant no one was cranky and hungry.  The food was Southern Comfort Food and it was tasty (and of course too much to eat all of.)

I had a couple of glasses of the Sweet Tea Shine, yum yum.

Then we just walked around, and stopped in to see T Rex.  We had wanted to eat here but it was booked. It is like The Rainforest Cafe but with dinosaurs instead.  We bought a bag of little plastic dinosaurs that turned out to be a good purchase as we brought one or two to the park with us everyday and it kept Q (and E) entertained!

The waiting area for the restaurant included a fossil dig, so we jumped into that.

Then back to the Lego store for some building. 

I've been up since 4:45 am!

Catching the boat on the way home.

The next morning we were up early to get to Magic Kingdom before it opened!  The view from our room.

Ready to go!

Waiting for the bus at our resort.  This was hand's down, Q's favourite part of each day.  He loved calling out "bus!" whenever he saw one, and there are lots of busses on the road to Disney.  And if he saw the monorail, even better - "Choo choo!".

Even though we were there before 9:00, we were able to go right in, after a brief stop at security.  This is where the magic begins.

Mickey and friends officially open the park from the steps of the castle.  The Fairy Godmother asks everyone to say the magic words "Bibbity Bobbity Boo!" and I almost cried.

Ready for Halloween!  I can't imagine what the Christmas decorations would look like since they go all out for Halloween.

Our first stop was Tomorrowland to ride the go-karts.  

Then onto Dumbo!

Under the Sea with The Little Mermaid.  I was singing right along!

Onto the carousel.  Magic Kingdom is so great for all of the rides that little kids can go on.

We had a Fast Pass for the Seven Dwarf's Mine Train.  Me, E and Mom are in the back car.

Then E got to go again with Dave since we did the Parent Swap.  This is a great thing about Disney - when you have a kid that is too small to go on the ride, they will let the older kid go on twice and the parents can take turns going on the ride and everyone gets to go without having to wait twice.

We waited for It's a Small World.  We have this book about Mary Blair, one of the creators of this ride, so we had to see it for ourselves.  It has so much detail and so neat to see in real life. 

We also got a coffee at Gaston's tavern, used our Fast Pass for Peter Pan's Flight and went on the Winnie the Pooh ride.

After that we went over to The Crystal Palace for lunch with Winnie the Pooh and friends.  This was our only character meal (and the only one we could get) and that was fine.  

Q liked Piglet.

Q was not feeling it when Pooh came around.

We watched some of the castle show and sand along to some "Let it Go".

Then we got an ice cream and went over to Adventureland and Fronteirland (I kept getting them mixed up).

Some Country Bear Jamboree.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. First Mom, E, and I went on this one.  We are in the front car.

Then Dave and E, they have their arms up on the right of the photo.

We climbed up the Swiss Family Robertson Treehouse.

Q played with some dinosaurs while I picked up our dinner.  

We knew we were staying for the fireworks so we stopped to get a few photos, went to the stores on Main Street, and then discovered the Sorcerers of Magic Kingdom.  You can go to the fire station on Main Street and sign up as a sorcerer.  Then they give you some spell cards and a map and you can go from mirror to mirror casting spells with your cards (I know this explanation makes no sense, but E loved it, you can see more photos of this on our last day when he played again). And you can read more about it here.

Waiting for the show.  We stood near the back with plans of getting out of the park as soon as the fireworks were over and beat the people to the bus.  

No pictures of the fireworks on this nice, come back on Friday to see our second day at Magic Kingdom (last day at Disney).  We got back to our hotel in good time and the kids went right to sleep.  Great first day in the books!