Here was our first view of Space Mountain from the waterway.
Once we docked, we headed straight inside where the ropes had just dropped.
I really wanted to get a picture of their faces when they first saw the castle, but Andrew turned and smiled. They were really cute talking about it.
We let a Disney photographer make pictures of us in front of the castle, with a park camera. They then downloaded the photos to our online account. We knew we would be able to purchase them later, so we didn't worry about getting a double of every shot with our personal camera. Well. We came home and logged on to our account to discover that we could pay &14.95 per picture to download, or we could buy the entire slew of photos for $149.00. So we will know next time to have a double made with our personal camera every time.Here's a closer shot of the castle as we were headed into Tomorrowland. The crane was taking down the Christmas lights.
Mickey and Minnie were there to greet us as we entered Tomorrowland.
It had been over twenty years since I had been to Disney World, but it was neat to see that some of it still looked the same. I remember lots of the park spaces just like they looked this time.
Our first ride was the Tomorrowland Speedway. We didn't have a long wait at all. Andrew was my chauffer, and Coleman was Brent's.
The Bell part of our family has a funny/not-so-funny Space Mountain story from our visit to the Magic Kingdom. Gigi and MerMer, this picture is for you. The PeopleMover is still running and seemed to be very popular still.
Next up, we rode the Astro Orbiter. It was a rocket ride that flew us over the top of Tomorrowland.
From there we headed to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. It was another lazer gun blaster thingy ride, and we all loved it.
These two monkeys wanted to get in jail with Zurg at the end of the ride.
When we got outside, we saw a line to meet Buzz! He stamped their autograph books and posed for a great picture.
Then we headed over to Adventureland.
We rode Pirates of the Caribbean, which the boys had really been looking forward to. There were several rides and things I didn't get pictures of, and this was one of them. It was hard to balance documenting our trip with just enjoying it. So next time I'll get a picture of Pirates. Here are the boys on the Jungle Cruise, which followed Pirates.
After the cruise, we ate a fantastic hamburger at Pecos Bill's. They had a topping bar with some very sophisticated toppings for the burgers. It was great to know that our food would be so good each meal, and that we could sit down and enjoy it in a great atmosphere. It was a super little break each day. Right after lunch, we headed out and ran into Pioneer Donald!
Check out Coleman's face while Donald was signing their books.
Here's a picture of Liberty Square and the Hall of Presidents. We did the Hall of Presidents later that night, but I grabbed a photo as we passed it that afternoon.
The Haunted Mansion was next, and we wish we had skipped it. It was much scarier than I remembered and the boys did not enjoy it.
We recovered with a trip to It's a Small World. Andrew and Coleman had fun guessing the different countries represented.
From there we headed back to Adventureland to see the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse. We saw the movie last year and they remembered a lot of it.
Then we rode Aladdin's Magic Carpets.
Each day around 2 or 2:30 pm, the boys would get a little punchy and grumpy. So we cashed in our snack and things settled right back down. This day we got orange smoothies, which turned out to be frozen orange juice. Brent and I liked it, but Andrew didn't care for it very much. Coleman had picked ice cream.
After snack we went back to Tomorrowland for Brent to ride Space Mountain. Then we rode the Carousel of Progress. Andrew has really turned into a history buff and loved it. Then we headed around to Fantasyland. The famous Dumbo ride is closed right now for renovations, but we rode almost everything else. Our wait at Winnie the Pooh was our longest wait of the entire trip, but it was cute. Then we rode Prince Charming's Regal Carousel. Actually, three of my charming princes rode it without me. Seems I don't have a tolerance for spinning very much anymore. So while they rode, I grabbed our fast passes for Peter Pan's Flight for later that night.
I made this last shot because I wanted to remember that they were having Spring while we were there in the middle of January. By our last day, Andrew's allergies were even kicking in!
After the carousel we watched Mickey's Philharmagic, which was the best 3D show in all the parks.
It was suppertime then, so we headed past the castle to the Crystal Palace. Our dinner was a character event with Pooh and friends.
Once again, the food was incredible and it was great to sit and rest for a bit in a lovely place. Here's Andrew with Pooh.
And Coleman.
Each character came to every table and signed their autograph books and posed for pictures. No waiting in line or rushing around.
The boys ate chicken nuggets, pizza, and some vegetables. Brent and I enjoyed a carving station, grilled salmon with basil aioli (I KNOW! Who would have thought?!), and I don't remember what all else deliciousness. Here's a pic of my dessert plate. From the left going clockwise, a snickerdoodle, a chocolate hazelnut cannolli, a dish of apple cranberry cobbler a la mode, and a chocolate banana tart. I'll let you guess how much of it I ate.
Brent made sure to get some pictures of me with my two bigger boys that night.
Here's the Crystal Palace all lit up.
Then we walked back to Adventureland for the boys to get a souvenir. With everything that was in those parks, with all those options of things we've never seen and can't get anywhere else, do you know what they picked? A gun. Well good because they don't have thirty-eight different guns at home or anything. But that's what they wanted, so that's what they got. Then we got great seats right on the ropeline for the Electrical Parade. We sat down around seven o'clock, with about half an hour to wait, so Brent and Andrew wandered off for a bit. Coleman and I sat down and had a fun chat with some folks from England who had just arrived that day.
After the parade, we walked over to Liberty Square to see the nightly fireworks. They were great, and loud.
Then we headed right inside the Hall of Presidents. We knew we would be cutting it close to get to Peter Pan before the park closed, but I really wanted the boys to see the Presidents. Andrew is taking a co-op class this spring on the Presidents and I knew he would enjoy seeing the show. We couldn't make pictures inside the show, but we did grab a shot with good old George.
As soon as the show was over, we all but ran around the castle to get to Peter Pan before the park closed. We had about two minutes to get there. And magically, we made it.
So here we are at the very end of our longest day.
It was a super fun-filled day. I do not know how we could have packed anything else into it. I would never have believed we'd arrive at rope drop and close down the park,but we did! And boy did we sleep well that night! One more day of fun to come!
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