Magic Kingdom Day 1

We started off our first full day with breakfast in our rooms.  We had adjoining rooms with Gigi and Papack which worked out great.  Well, we thought it did.  They may have another opinion.  Anyway, each day the boys would get dressed and then head over for a quick breakfast.  Here's JonJon giving you a wink.

We snapped a quick picture before we headed out to Magic Kingdom.

 I made a few pictures of the resort on our way to the monorail station in the lobby.  Here's the volcano in the pool.

Gigi made us all cute Mickey shirts to wear that day.  Jonathan is holding up his 1st Visit button.

It is just so hard to get a good picture of everyone at the same time right now.

 Since our trip fell in August this time, we decided to do the parks in five days instead of four.  That gave us some cushion time to take a nap or enjoy the pool during the heat of the day.  It was a great idea.  It also let us enjoy Magic Kingdom at a more pleasant pace.  We spent two full days here and divided up the park.  Day 1 we spent in Tomorrowland and  Fantasyland.

Here's the "Good Morning" show before the rope drop.

Our first stop was the Tomorrowland Speedway.  Since we had Gigi and Papack with us, it freed me up to be a Fastpass runner a few times.  While they waited in line for the cars, I went over to Space Mountain and grabbed fastpasses for those of us who wanted to ride it a little later.  That let us skip a huge line later on, and then I was able to get back to the racetrack in time to capture these shots.

I can't remember exactly the order we went in that morning, but I think next we went over to ride Peter Pan.  Well, that line was way long, so we hopped out of it and rode It's A Small World.  Somewhere in there we rode Winnie the Pooh too.  Next, we went to get fastpasses for Under the Sea, but there was no line so we went ahead and rode it.  It was really good!

 We stopped for a funnel cake snack and I think our third glasses of water.  It was really humid and a little on the warm side.

I got so tickled at these two.  Whenever Brent and I share a dessert, I can barely enjoy it because I feel like I have to keep up with his eating pace to be able to get my fair share.  Well, the bigger brothers were sharing a cake (Jonathan and I had shared one and Brent had his own), and I heard Coleman say, "Hey Andrew.  Let's take a drink of water now."  I guess he didn't want to miss out on any of his share either!

From there, we headed back to Space Mountain and the People Mover.  Papack, Brent, Andrew and I rode Space Mountain.  Andrew did really great!  It was way rougher than I remembered it being.  I wanted to make his picture after he rode it, and Mr. Funny Face posed like this.

We picked up Gigi, Coleman and Jonathan and rode the Astro Orbiter.

He's holding his ears because he's afraid it'll be loud.

Then we ate lunch.  Our first choice was closed, so we ate at Harbor House which was really good.  We headed back to the new Fantasyland for a few more things before leaving for the pool.  The Goofy Barnstormer line had this spinning wheel prop and Andrew wanted to pose.

I don't have any pictures of that ride, but I do want to remember Jonathan's take on his first roller coaster.  If you remember the old Mini Mine Train ride at Six Flags, this one is pretty similar.  Fast, a little loud and lots of good turns and hills.  Jon Jon rode with me and held my hand the whole way.  When we were coming back into the station, he gave a cool look with a thumbs up to the folks waiting in line.  But he said, "Mommy, that was NOOOOOOOOOOT fun!"

We needed to cool down, and fortunately they built a splash pad into the new addition.  Everyone, except Coleman, enjoyed getting wet and cooling off a bit.

Then our fastpasses were up for the Dumbo ride.  This was everyone's first time to ride it.

How cute is this little fella waiting patiently?

We walked back around to the Buzz Lightyear ride with a fastpass and rode it.

And then caught the Monster's Inc. laugh show.

When we got back on the monorail, someone noticed it smelled like elephants.  Someone else said, "Um, I think it's us."

We rested at the pool and in the rooms and then headed back to the Crystal Palace for dinner with Pooh and his friends.

Gigi and Coleman had a big conversation going.

We were surprised when our waitress brought out a cupcake and birthday card for Coleman!  His birthday was the next day, but he was happy to eat the cupcake a little early.

We walked around to meet Goofy and Donald.

And then Brent, Papack and the boys rode the carousel while Gigi and I got spots for the Electrical Parade.  It was terrific!

Somebody was fading fast at this point, so as soon as it was over, we hurried back to our rooms.

One quick picture of the castle as we headed for the monorail.

It was a great day, but we were all ready for baths and our pillows!  We had the Animal Kingdom the next day, and SOMEONE had a birthday!!

A Visit to Walt Disney World

 Well hello!  I don't know if anyone even checks this place anymore.  I had not meant to take such a hiatus, but the spring got away from me and we have been busy having lots of fun this summer.  Last week, we celebrated Coleman's 6th birthday with our trip to Walt Disney World.  I'll start with that, and then back up to catch up on what I've missed in the last six months.

We left Gainesville on Tuesday afternoon and stopped to pick up Gigi and Papack.  Then we travelled to Valdosta to spend the night.  Wednesday around lunch, this site greeted us!

 We drove on to our resort to check in quickly before heading to EPCOT.  Brent decided the Polynesian would be a great place to stay this trip, and we were so excited to be there!

 The grounds looked just like something out of the South Pacific.  When I was in junior high, we went to Disney World and stayed at the Polynesian.  Parts of it looked just like I remembered, but parts of it were very different.  I grabbed a few shots of the room before we headed out.  Andrew and Coleman are checking out what became Andrew's bed.

Then we headed over to the monorail to get to EPCOT.  The boys were super excited about our transportation!

 We ate lunch at the yummy Sunshine Seasons cafe and then headed over to Mexico for a nice, air conditioned ride.  It is a cruise through a huge Mayan pyramid with Donald Duck.  All the boys enjoyed it.  The adults were very thankful to be in the cool.  Central Florida in August is not for the faint of heart!

We toured the Imagination ride next.

Then we went back to the Land exhibit and rode through it.

 The Living Seas were next.

Ever since he was two, Coleman has loved the ocean and its creatures.  So this was one of the birthday boy's favorites.

Next, Papack, Brent and I took the two bigger boys to ride Mission Space.  Jonathan and Gigi had a much needed popcorn snack.

Then we waited for a bit to ride Test Track.  Sadly, we realized there was no way we would make our dinner reservations if we stayed in line, so we had to leave.

Our dinner that night was our first character event with Chip and Dale (my favorites), Mickey and Pluto.  The food was great and we all enjoyed sitting down for a while.

You might remember from Andrew's birthday trip that Coleman took full advantage of the soft drink availability on vacation.  This trip was no different.  At each meal, we had to take his cup and return it after he had eaten a sufficient amount of his dinner.  He did drink lots of water too though, so don't worry about his hydration!

Yummy desserts!

 That get all over us!

After dinner, we rode Spaceship Earth and then we walked around the lake to see "The American Adventure."  Everyone enjoyed it, especially our history buff, Andrew.  We even got to see the fireworks on our way out of the park.  A quick monorail ride back home and we were sure to have Sweet Dreams at the Polynesian!

The next day was our first day of Magic Kingdom!