Disney World

Last week, during Spring Vacation, we had the opportunity to travel to Florida, visit friends, the beach, and the highlight…..The Magic Kingdom. I have been looking forward to this day since we had Everett! Our friends, the Claytons, babysat Eleanor and Thatcher and we headed to Disney with just our big boys. We got there right before the gates opened and left right before the fireworks, around 10:30. Our boys walked the entire day and did wonderful! Truly, it was one of the best days of my life. And their's too! I want to remember every detail, so I'm writing out our schedule that day (because yes, I had a written schedule we followed!) Thank goodness for my friend Alicia for helping me come up with a great plan!

We arrived at parking around 8, and then took a ferry boat to the Magic Kingdom. The boys were thrilled by the boat….oh, what they still had in store for them!

When we got there, we shuffled our way to the front and then were greeted by some of the characters. Gates then opened. 

We scurried over to Fantasy Land. We got our Fast Passes for that day.

We rode on our first ride, "It's a Small World." The boys loved their first ride! It was a great way to introduce them to rides. 

Next, we used our first Fast Pass to ride Peter Pan. The boys love all things Peter Pan, so this was a huge hit. Neither boy was scared when we flew over Never Land. 

Next up was the Winnie The Pooh ride. We waited for this ride for about 10 minutes. Not bad!

We then rode Dumbo. Everett had a fall when we were getting on the ride and scraped his knee. Unfortunately I think he was more concerned about his bleeding knee than the ride. He got over it quickly. 

After Dumbo, we headed over to a section of Fantasy Land I have never been before, which was set up like a circus. Here we rode the boys' first roller coaster called the Barnstormer. It was kid-size, but never the less a real roller coaster! Everett hooted and clapped the whole time, Hampton was a bit more unsure, but still very brave!

We then took a train back the entrance. 

Next, we had a coupon (which had to be used before 1:00pm) for the Emporium. Here the boys each picked out a souvenir. Everett picked out Disney Villains figures and Hampton picked out a Peter Pan toy. We also got Eleanor a big stuffed Minnie Mouse. We got a magnet for our fridge and chose a snow globe of Cinderella's castle as a thank you to our host/hostess for the week. 

After shopping we had lunch at Caseys. We had hot dogs, corn dogs, and french fries. 

Next we headed to Adventure Land and rode The Pirates of the Caribbean. I thought the boys might be a bit scared, but they did great! They love all things pirate as well. 

We then headed over to the castle for the Move it Shake it Dance Parade. The boys had a ton of fun dancing in the streets to the music with Goofy and Woody. They especially liked participating in the Conga line. Since the boys shirts had their name on them, they even got a "shout out" from one of the characters atop the float! I LOVED that. 

After the parade, we went back to Adventure Land and walked through the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. Everett was a bit unsure of the height. 

We then rode on the Flying Carpets ride (Aladdin). 

Frontier Land was next where we saw The Country Bear Jamboree. 

We then found a good spot for our next parade (in Frontier Land) and waited for about 30 minutes for it to start. It was about 3:00 at this point, in the heat of the day, so we got a bit sun kissed while waiting. The parade was well worth the wait (Festival of Fantasy Parade) and featured all the classic Disney characters. 

After the parade, we headed back to Fantasy Land for a few more rides.

We rode the spinning Tea Cups (Hampton-"This makes me dizzy!")

And the carousel (Everett-"I feel like Mary Poppins!"  Hampton-"This makes me dizzy!")

And we saw a 3D movie called Phil Har Magic. The boys thought the 3D film was hilarious and they were so hilarious to watch!

We then headed to Tomorrow Land and used our second Fast Pass for the Buzz Lightyear ride. Eric got the most points (of course) on this ride.

The People Mover was next. This was a nice ride just to sit back and people watch.

Dinner was next at Cosmic Rays Starlight Room. We enjoyed roast chicken, BBQ, and vegetables. 

We then used our third Fast Pass back in Fantasy Land for the Ariel's Grotto ride. 

We then rode It's a Small World for the second time. 

The Jungle Cruise (Adventure Land) was our final ride of the day. The line was super long….and we waited the longest for this ride out of everything. I think we waited about an hour, but the boys did not seem to mind. It was starting to get dark when we got on the Jungle Cruise and everyone enjoyed the ride. 

We then went to the front of the park and got the boys some Mickey Mouse ice-cream. They loved it of course!

We found great seats and around 9:00pm the Electrical Parade began! The boys were tired, but still very excited to see our last parade of the day.

Before we left the park, we went to meet Mickey. This was another highlight of our magical day. Mickey and the boys pretended to be lions and growled and made silly faces. It was the perfect end to a very perfect day!

 "It's a Small World."

 "Dumbo"

 Riding the train back to Main St.

 Carousel in Fantasy Land

Mad Hatters Tea Cups 

 Meeting Mickey

 Dancing with Goofy