Magic

Our third day was the BIG day.  Magic Kingdom.  An all day event.  I have to say, I was really prepared.  Did lots of research about when the best day to go was, what rides get busy and when, strategies for getting around the park, blah blah blah... my control freak was let loose and, I might add, to our advantage.  Sometimes I feel over-prepared, and then disappointed when things don't go as planned.  You know, control.  I like it.  Anyway, I did lots of preparing, and it paid off.

As prepared as I was, I had no idea that the tram wouldn't take you up to the gate of Magic Kingdom, like it does all the other parks.  Nope, you have to ferry-boat it or take the monorail.  So, we chose the ferry-boat first.  Actually, Cooper chose it and then asked "What is a ferry-boat exactly?"  Ha!

He enjoyed the boat ride.

Standing in line for the first character of the day.  I was surprised how long he was willing to wait for character's autographs and pictures.  We really would wait longer for those than for rides most of the time.  He would even understand when they had to go take a "break" and we were next in line... like this time.  For Daisy, he was willing to wait until she had gone for a drink and potty break. 

Walking up to the castle. 

First ride of the day.  This is Cory saying to me "Sorry he won't steer the elephant down so you can get his picture... you are outa luck lady!"  :)  O-well.

We managed to get everyone in this picture with Pinocchio... one of the only times that happened.  Notice Carter STARING at him, not the camera.

I don't know what ride this was... maybe Snow White's Scary Adventure or Peter Pan, but don't we look concerned???  All three of us.  Cory must have wanted to get that shot, but not be in it! 

Ok, Carter looks exhausted.  And let me tell you, he fell asleep about 30 seconds later.  This is It's a Small World, and the nice guy in front of us offered to take our picture.  You ride a boat through this ride and Carter was on it about 1 minute before falling asleep.  Amazing.

Going through the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse.

We did this while waiting for time to pass to meet the next character.  The only one he absolutely HAD to see while we were there.

Ariel. 

A dream meeting for him.  We went through the tree house and then sat and waited for another 30 minutes in line before she came back from her "break".  It was so adorable to watch my boy, the crazy, wild, silly boy that he is, start primping in line.  It was almost his turn and he took off his hat, licked his fingers, fussed with his hair, smiled at me, and was jittery nervous about meeting her.  I was amazed.  Then she spent so much time just talking and laughing with him.  It was like he was the only child in line to see her.  It meant a lot to both of us. 

A boy smitten.

Cory and Cooper are towards the back of this roller coaster, sorta peeking out.  Cooper rode so many rides that I was surprised to see him on and enjoying!  A real roller coaster!!!  He loved it!

Carter was able to ride quite a few rides too.  It was so nice for all 6 of us to be able to get onto something and all equally enjoy it.  I think that is the biggest reason why I liked this park the best.  He also really enjoyed this balloon.

The castle gets lit up at night.  All kinds of colors.

Night parade. 

All the characters and floats are lit up.  Cooper and Carter were drooping at this point.  It was only 9:00pm, who could blame them?  I don't have pictures of the fireworks.  Crazy.  But, they were awesome.  The music playing was about dreams and wishes coming true, and I teared up.  Ok, actually it was full-on crying.  It was just such an experience and I was thinking to myself - I can't believe we are here experiencing this with our kids.  Amazing.

It really was magical.

By the time we got in that night it was 11:30pm or something crazy like that.  We had  gone back and taken a nap in the middle of the afternoon, but we were all exhausted and SORE from all the walking.  I was so glad the next day was our free day, with nothing specific planned.  So thankful to be able to sleep past 5:45am.  We ended up doing more than I thought we would the following day, but that is for the next post!

Love & Laughter,
abby