Magic Kingdom - Day 2

Today was our second day in Magic Kingdom.  After watching the boys really struggle
yesterday, I decided to take a different approach today.  The park opened an hour early and
while I wanted to take advantage of those early crowd free moments, if the kids were too
tired to enjoy them it wasn't worth it.  Joe was up a lot last night coughing, which means the
rest of us were up as well.  He asked for some juice around 4:00AM and I gave it to him
thinking his throat must be hurting.  He downed the entire sippy cup full of juice, then he and
I laid back down.  He started coughing and proceeded to throw up all over the bed.

As I sat in the resort laundry room at 5:00AM I came to the realization that no matter how
great those early moments in the park might be, I was turning our alarms off.  Ryan and the
boys would wake up when they were good and ready to.  We've already had so much fun
and at this point everyone needed rest more than an extra ride on It's a Small World.  I laid
back down in bed happy knowing I was doing the best thing for my family.

The kids woke up an hour later than when we had originally planned to get up.  We got
ready and still got to the park only 30 min after it had opened.  Missing those 30 minutes
was completely worth having fully rested kids.  They were happier and in turn we
were happier.  They still weren't super excited to pose for pictures,
but Ryan and I made the best of the great photo op.

 We started our day with a little pick me up at the Starbucks on Main Street, then headed to
the rides.  It's a Small World definitely made our rotation today.  We've been lucky enough
to get the front row both times we've been on.  The boys stand up at the front of the
boat and just take everything in.

 
Then Ryan and Owen headed over to Splash Mountain.  Originally we hadn't planned on
taking Owen on this because the drop at the end is kind of big and we didn't want to
traumatize him.  But the rest of the ride is really cute and he had done so well on the other
roller coasters, so we figured we'd give it a try.  It's safe to say the drop caught him by
surprise, but with Daddy there to hold him he handled it with no problem.
 

After a few rides we went to lunch at Be Our Guest, one of the lunches I had been looking
forward to.  The reservations are pretty tough to get, so I was super excited when one
opened up.  Not only was the food delicious, but we got to eat in the "West Wing," which is
designed to look the way it does in the castle from Beauty and the Beast.  Pretty cool.
 

Before heading back to the room for naps (which clearly Joe is anxious for) we let the boys
use the money Grandma gave them to pick out something special.  It's no surprise that we
left with a stuffed Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck.
 

That night we came back towards the Magic Kingdom for dinner at Chef Mickey's.
 

  
As always, Owen was more than excited to see all of the characters that came by our table.
Joe was pretty playful this dinner too.  He's come a long way from the first night.
 

 

Minnie was lucky enough to get a hug from not only Owen, but Joe too.
 

 

 

It was a great way to spend our last dinner at Disney.

Epcot

Today we decided to visit Epcot.  Race cars are some of Owen's favorite things, so we knew
he was going to love the ride Test Track.  You basically design your own race car, then race
around the track at speeds upwards of 60mph.  Needless to say, he and Ryan both
thought it was pretty cool.

Meanwhile Joe and I went exploring.  We had gotten there right as the gates opened
because we knew how busy Test Track would be, so Joe and I had the park to ourselves.

After Test Track we went on a few other rides, then headed over to a Meet and Greet with
some of the characters.  In case you didn't realize by now, Owen LOVES hugging them all.
As soon as it's his turn he runs right up and gives them the biggest hugs.
It is the greatest feeling to see him so genuinely happy.

 And Joe made huge strides today in his comfort level with the characters.  

Goofy and then Minnie both got big hugs from him today.

 We walked around a little more and went on what turned out to be one of Owen's favorite
rides there, Gran Fiesta Tour.  It is essentially the Mexican version of It's a Small World,
 hosted by the Three Caballeros, one of whom is Donald Duck.  Obviously anything with
Donald is sure to be a favorite of Owen's.  Then we made our way over to Disney Springs
for a very special lunch date we had planned with my Aunt and her husband Hector.

My aunt moved to Florida a few years ago and I haven't had a chance to see her since.
Between being pregnant, having babies, and then small kids it simply never worked out for
us to take a trip there.  So I was really excited to not only be able to see her, but introduce
her to Owen and Joe, and in turn meet her husband Hector.

While in a perfect world my kids would have been on their best behavior and given the best
first impression, that was not the case during this lunch.  We had to wake the kids up this
morning so Owen was absolutely exhausted by the time we got there.  He cried through
roughly half of the entire lunch.  As frustrated as I was, I couldn't help but feel bad for him.

We took them right home after lunch for naps and ended up having to wake them in order to
make it to dinner on time.  Dinner followed the same path lunch had taken.  Owen was
overtired and nothing could make him happy.  It made me realize that we need to slow
ourselves down a little and just relax.  At Disney it is so easy to get caught up in squeezing
in as much as possible, but when things stop being magical it's time to step back and
reevaluate priorities.  My goal for tomorrow is to slow things down a bit.

Looking back at the picture we took this morning upon entering Epcot, 
this sheds so much light on how the kids were feeling.

Tomorrow will be a better day. 

Magic Kingdom - Day 1

Our first full day in Florida we went to Magic Kingdom.  

(outfit credit to my doctor - I had my 20 week appt the day before we left and she tried to
convince me to cancel our trip because of the Zika Virus scare.  She agreed to let me go but
insisted I wear pants, long sleeves, shoes and cover myself in bug spray.  Thus the lovely
outfit I had to change at the last minute and the wonderful Off fan attached at my hip.
Thanks for making me look like a complete nerd, Doc!)

Anyway back to the magic...The Magic Kingdom has the most for the kids to do, plus it's
always been my favorite park.  What's funny is it always seemed huge and overwhelming to
me.  This time, being the one in charge of the map and having to find our way around, it
became a lot more clear.  It no longer seemed as big and crazy.  I feel like I became very
familiar with how to get us where we needed to go.

The morning started out pretty rainy.  Not ideal, but awesome because we were able to get
on lots of rides since there weren't as many people.  The boys started out the day racing
around the Tomorrowland Speedway while I raced around trying to find a good place to get
pictures of them.  I remember a picture from when I was little of my mom and I on this ride,
laughing our heads off (most likely because I kept driving us into the center rail).
I wanted the boys to be able to look back on similar memories.

Then we moved on to The Little Mermaid and Buzz Lightyear.

  

Joe loved having control of the rides.  I was the lucky one that got to ride with him on Buzz
Lightyear and Dumbo.  Both have joysticks that control how your cart moves.  In Buzz
Lightyear it spins the cart around so you can shoot different targets.  Joe could have cared
less about the targets.  Instead he preferred to continually spin our cart around, most of the
time away from the targets.  I think Ryan bribed him to do that so my score would be lower.  

 Then on Dumbo the joystick raises and lowers your elephant.  Owen and Ryan were flying
high.  Meanwhile Joe made our Dumbo nose dive to the ground.  For a minute I thought we
crashed so hard we were stuck down there but eventually we made our way back up.

And what better place to seek shelter from the rain than a spin on It's a Small World.

When the rain cleared a little Ryan took Owen to try out his first roller coasters, Barnstormer
and the Seven Dwarves Mine Train.  He was very brave and did great, but with him being so
little he got tossed around a little bit on the Mine Train.  He told me he "bonked heads"
which I'm guessing means he hit his head when they went around one of the sharper turns.

 While the boys enjoyed their thrill rides, Joe and I relaxed.  He ended up catching a bug the

day we left for Florida and spent most of the vacation coughing and with a fever.  Pair that

with all of the excitement from the parks and it is safe to say he was pretty exhausted.  Not

even a marching band walking by could wake this little guy.

When Owen and Ryan were done, we grabbed some lunch then went back to the hotel to

let the boys nap (Ok, I might have taken advantage of that napping time too).  I wasn't sure

if they would even be able to fall asleep, but they had no problem at all.  They both slept

over 2.5 hours and we actually had to wake them to make it to dinner at Epcot on time.

They both look pretty happy to be awake, don't they? ;)

 

Tonight's dinner was another character dinner, but Joe was a little more relaxed for this

one.  He didn't run up and hug the characters like Owen did, but he also wasn't terrified of

them anymore which was a nice improvement.

 

He wasn't so calm during our interaction with Baymax on the walk out of the park however.

 Ryan and I showed him there was nothing to be afraid of,

and that seemed to ease his fears.

We had such a great day!  It was so much fun being back at the Magic Kingdom after so

many years.  I remember so much of it, yet there is lots of new stuff to look at as well.  Plus,

it is completely different being there as a parent and watching your kids experience it.  Joe

might not enjoy the characters quite yet, but Owen absolutely LOVES it!!  And they both are

having a blast on all of the rides.  I can hardly wait for the fun that tomorrow will bring.