Another Magical Day

Wednesday, Sept 10th was our second day in the Magic Kingdom. We made sure we woke up early so we could see the opening ceremony for the Magic Kingdom. Being there for the opening ceremony made this day very special. The kids really loved seeing their favorite characters welcome them into the park. They enjoyed picking up the Mickey confetti that was blasted out toward the crowd when the park opening countdown zero from ten. Dan carried a pocket of it around all day.



Today we decided to go the opposite way in the park and start with Adventure Land. It was a great choice because again we walked onto every ride and even stayed on rides to go a second time. We rode The Magic Carpets of Aladdin several times, we walked right on with 0 minutes wait time for the Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean. I was able to get a nice picture of the kids outside of the Pirates of the Caribbean pretending to be pirates. We did have to wait about 10 minutes to get into the Enchanted Tiki Room. The kids really enjoyed running through the Swiss Family Treehouse. When we came out of the Swiss Family Treehouse we ran into Captain Hook and Smee. It was fun watching the Captain sign his autograph with only one hand. The kids were able to meet Peter Pan and Wendy and get their autographs as well. From Adventure Land we headed toward the front gates of the Magic Kingdom because we had lunch reservations at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporay Resort. On the way out of the park we were able to watch the new 'Dream Along with Mickey' musical stage show that they have on stage in front of the castle. Becca really enjoyed this because it had all of the princesses in the show as well as Peter Pan (also one of her most favorite characters).








We took the Monorail to the Contemporary Resort from the Magic Kingdom to go to Chef Mickey's. This restaurant was a lot of fun. It was a buffet where we were able to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy at our table. Each character interacted which each one of the kids and then posed for a picture. Our waitress informed the Executive Chef at the Contemporary Resort that we were from WV and he stopped by our table to chat because he was from Morgantown, WV. He asked where we lived and he knew exactly where our house is even though he left Morgantown in 1979. As the song goes from my most favorite ride (this is sarcasm), 'It's a small world after all, It's a small world after all, It's a small, small world'. While we were at Chef Mickey's the rain clouds opened up and dropped a big rain shower. We decided that since the fireworks were not until 9 PM that we would hop back to the resort and let everyone have some downtime. We went back for about 2 hours and then headed back to the park which was now fairly empty because of the rain.








We finished off the rest of Fanatasy Land including Michey's PhilharMagic which is a 4-d movie (you use 3-d glasses and they blow air, water and smells at you during the movie). The kids loved this movie, everyone but Dan. Dan didn't quite understand that the items flying at his face were not real and he was not amused with this concept. We went on Cinderella's Golden Carrousel again, this time I was able to get a picture of Becca riding Cinderella's horse (her horse is the one with the gold ribbon on the tail which is the only one on the carrousel with one). We were able to make it all awake to see the 'Wishes' Fireworks but Becca was begining to melt down. I was able to get some neat night pictures of the castle just before the fireworks began. And this was the end of another magical day.

Magic at the Magic Kingdom

Tuesday was our first day of three that we were spent in the Magic Kingdom. The forecast called for afternoon showers (only 30% chance) so Jen and I thought it best to go the direction of Tomorrow Land and Fantasy Land first. This was so we could do all of the outdoor rides first and then if it did rain in the afternoon we could go on the rides that are inside. As we entered the park I wanted to get a picture of the family on Main Street USA. This so happened to be the same time that several of the Disney Characters came out to sign autographs and have pictures taken. We were able meet Pluto, Chip and Dale, Daisy Duck, Pinocchio, and Jiminy Cricket. The kids loved getting their signatures and pictures taken. I was worried that the characters would freak Dan out so the week before we left for Disney, Dan and I watched youtube videos each day showing other kids meeting Disney Characters and we talked about how big they are but how nice they are. Dan really loved hugging each and every character that we saw. He even cried when he didn't get to hug Buzz Lightyear so Jen told him to run back and do so which he did.









The very first ride that we went on was Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. We went on this ride three times in a row without a wait each time. The best part was that after the third time we told the kids that we needed to move on and just as we were leaving we ran into Stitch. This made Michael's entire trip. His favorite character is Stitch and he was able to meet him. He was one giant smile. From there we moved through Tomorrow Land and went on the Astro Orbiter and the Indy Speedway. I know why they give licenses at the age of 16 and not 2, 4, 6 or 8. I rode with Sam and Dan and they practically threw me out of the car several times. We laughed the entire time and had a blast. We moved on to the Mad Tea Party (tea cup ride) and on the second time riding the ride, Alice and the Mad Hatter hopped on the ride in the next cup to our family. It was perfect timing.




We planned to work around the park from the right because of the weather but this was also the day that we were eating at Cinderella's Royal Table for lunch and I wanted to enter from the back side of the castle because this is where the reservation counter is located, away from the new stage on the front of the castle. This plan worked out perfectly. We checked in for lunch, were escorted in to meet Cinderella and have our family picture taken with her and a picture of Becca alone with Cinderella. This made Becca's entire trip. While eating lunch we met all of the Disney Princesses and had outstanding food as well. It was awesome knowing that we were eating inside the castle where many people never get to go because it is very difficult to get reservations for this meal. My favorite part is where Dan was flirting with Princess Aurora which she picked up on and gave Dan a big lipstick kiss on his cheek. He wore the lipstick for the rest of the day proudly. I think this made Dan's entire trip.







The rest of the day we finished most of Fantasy Land , Mickey's ToonTown and then headed to Liberty Square to sit and watch the parade. The parade was fun and the Mad Hatter recognized Michael from earlier in the day because he made fun of Michael's mohawk calling him a hedgehog. After the parade I thought it would be fun to let Jen ride her favorite ride since all of the kids went on their favorite rides so we hopped over to the Haunted Mansion for a spin in the Doombuggies. Dan and Becca rode with me and Dan was not too amused with this ride. I thought he was going to crawl into my shorts mid ride.







This was a perfect Disney day at the Magic Kingdom. The park closed at 7 PM this night because it was the first night of Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween Party which cost an extra $55 per person and ran until midnight. We figured it was not worth the money since our kids breakdown at 9 PM so we thought it would be wise to leave a bit early (around 6 PM) to get dinner back at the hotel. This is where my brain kicked in and said let's ride the ferry to the Transportation Center and catch the bus back to our hotel. The idea was that the kids get to ride a large ferry boat on our vacation, not something they get to do everyday in WV. Jen thought it was a great idea since I knew what I was doing. After 30 minutes of waiting and riding the ferry, we went to look for where the bus stops were for the resorts. When we couldn't find them we asked where they were and the Disney person said that resort buses leave from the parks only, not from the transportation center. So we gathered everyone up and hopped on the Monorail to go back to the Magic Kingdom. So now after a large circle on a ferry and Monorail, we were right back to where we left the park 1.5 hours earlier. The kids did get their Monorail driver's license by sitting up with the driver. Oh well, as the motto goes, Hakuna Matata. We made it back to the bus and to our hotel a bit later than we thought but we still had fun.

Back From Disney and Back to Blogging

Wow, what a week we just had. We are back from our first real vacation as a family. We were at Disney World this past week and had a blast. It was the best vacation that I have ever had. We took the kids out of school and I had my grad students teach my classes with Hurricane IKE heading south we had no worries the entire week. The weather was hot and muggy but we had fun anyway. I have so much to share with our vacation that it may take a couple of blog entries to cover it all.

As a quick overview, we left WV on Saturday, Sept 6 and headed toward Orlando stopping in Columbia, SC (our half way point). We made it to Disney World by 3 PM the next day which made me very happy because we had dinner reservations at the Polynesian Resort at 4 PM to eat at Ohana. I highly recommend this restaurant if you like grilled meat. The food never stopped coming and the bread pudding and ice cream dessert at the end was heavenly. We went to the Animal Kingdom on Monday and then spent the next three days at the Magic Kingdom and then did the reverse drive back to WV again stopping in Columbia, SC. This was my third time at Disney World and it was by far the most fun that I have had so far being able to share the experience with my own kids.

The longest we had to wait on any ride while we were there was 15 minutes for Peter Pan's Flight. We walked on every ride while we were there. The kids loved Cinderella's Golden Carousel, Mad Tea Party (tea cup ride), Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin the most. I think we went on these rides seven times each.

With going when we did we received the Disney meal plan for free for our entire family and with Jen's amazing phone skills was able to get us into all of the best dining options at Disney. We had lunch with all of the Disney Princesses inside Cinderella's castle at Cinderella's Royal Table; we had lunch with Mikey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto at Chef Mickey at the Contemporary Resort; and we had dinner with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom. With the free dining plan we figure we saved around $1000 in food costs while at Disney. Since we had our SUV there with us I went to a local grocery store and purchased milk, yogurt etc. for breakfast. So while at Disney, we did not spend a dime on food and had some of the best food that Disney has to offer.

It was fun to go with a childs perspective of Disney. We hunted for all of the characters to meet them and get their autographs and pictures. I have never done this and we had a blast doing so. We have over 30 signatures from various charactures while we were there.

We made matching shirts for each day while we were there. Each shirt had West Virginia on it. We tie-dyed two days of shirts and had solid for the other two days. It was fun to see how many people came up to talk to us because either they were from WV or knew someone living in WV. It was a blast.

This post has a few of our family shots from our first day at the Animal Kingdom. This was Jen's and the kid's first visit to the Animal Kingdom so it was fun to see their reactions to the park. Sam went on the Dinosaur and Expedition Everest rides with Jen and was terrified of the rides when he got off. I was proud that he tried anyway. Dan fell asleep just as we went to meet all of the characters but he was able to meet them all over the next couple of days in the Magic Kingdom. Michael really enjoyed seeing all of the animals since he is our animal nut in the family. During the parade, Briar Bear pretended to sit on Becca and then gave her a big hug which she really enjoyed. Overall a great day, a hot day but a great day.

I will try to post and comment on our trip at the Magic Kingdom tomorrow. I need to get a sandwich before I head to bed.