Back To Magic Kingdom

Thursday morning was our second day scheduled in Magic Kingdom.  Mickey's presents that morning were Mickey (or Minnie ears) and disposable cameras for each of them.  They were very excited to get to take their own pictures!

Thursday morning was the only morning that we took advantage of Extra Magic Hours for those for that stay on Disney property.  We were able to go into Magic Kingdom at 8:00 am rather than 9:00am.  Which meant that we were out to the buses at 7:00am rather than 8!  This was the only time we had to wake up Jackson (he and Wyatt would normally naturally wake up well before it was time to go.  Anna on the other hand, had to be coaxed up every morning :) )

Waiting for the opening show to begin. I haven't gotten their pictures developed yet, but I have a feeling they are going to be fun to look at :)

I love Wyatt's picture taking pose.

So as you can see most of were in pants and jackets that day.  It was considerably cooler.  Jackson held out in shorts and a T shirt, but I know he was feeling kind of chilly as the day went on!

I really just can't get enough of the opening show! It put a lump in my throat each time.

Also I really, really love Mary Poppins.  She was the one character I wish we had met.

Stopping to pose for a few pics.

Haha I love Jackson's face here.  So I had read on some Disney World message boards that for the past few weeks there has been a crane in the morning by the castle.  It didn't bother me too much. I guess I can always photoshop them out, but whatever, I guess they have to do maintenance on the castle some time!

Thursday morning we hit up Tomorrow Land and Adventure Land.  First was Astro Orbiter.  That spun a little faster than I would have liked, and felt mildly nauseous for a little bit afterwards. :)

We also went on Tomorrow Land Speedway.  It was so much fun sitting in the car with Anna and letting her steer.  She felt like big stuff, driving that car!

Waiting in line for Barnstormer.  A fun, little roller coaster.

Magic Carpet Ride, just like Dumbo.

Jungle Cruise wasn't one of our favorites.  The "tour guide" wasn't terribly charming and all of the memorized one liners they are supposed to say fell flat.  I have to say I was amused by it however.

Pirates of the Caribbean!  This was another one that seemed very different than the version from Disneyland (the other was Haunted Mansion).  I know they changed the ride after the Johnny Depp movie, but it was more than just adding Captain Jack Sparrow-- the whole ride was different.  I have to say I didn't like it as much as I remember.

Part of that lack of enthusiasm could be because the ride broke down when we were just feet from the exit.  This happened a couple of times during our vacation, but we were never stuck for more than a couple of minutes.  On Pirates however, we were sitting there for 10-15 minutes which got a little old.  Nobody got too upset luckily.

After the Enchanted Tiki Room we stopped for a mid morning snack: a Dole Whip!  This was something I was really excited to try and it was pretty tasty.

Next up was Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor.  I LOVE the characters from Monsters Inc, so I was really excited about this show.

And then it turned out to be hilarious!  Especially, because Robert was picked to be "that guy" (that gets made fun the entire show).  It was really funny and the kids still talk about Poppy being up on the big screen.  We also went on Stitch's Great Escape and the Buzz Lightyear ride.

Haha there are far too many pictures of my kids taking pictures, but I couldn't resist.  They were just so excited!

Lunch was at the Crystal Palace.  The Winnie the Pooh buffet.  The food was really delicious.  I kept waiting for one of the meals to be gross, and it never happened.  What I loved very most about this meal was Wyatt's excitement about meeting Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore.  He had been so reserved about the princesses, but I guess he was just waiting for some characters he liked!

By the time lunch had come around, Anna had fallen asleep.  Luckily, they let us take the stroller into the restaurant and she got to sleep a little longer.

The characters did a really great job interacting with the kids.

Anna woke up while Tigger was at our table, but wasn't awake enough to take a picture with him or anything.

After our meal there was another little parade for the kids and characters.

Oh gosh, nice smiles boys :) It really was a fun lunch.  We were nice and full and ready to go back to the hotel for a little rest after a very full morning.

I think this is on our way out.

Since we had taken so many group shots in front of the castle, I decided we needed to mix things up a bit and pose differently.  I suggested this pose and I'm so happy with the way it turned out.  Everyone (including the kids!) are cooperating and happy!

After we got back to the hotel, Robert and Janet rented a car to go visit some of his family nearby.  I was happy they could see family, but we did miss them! 

We came back to Magic Kingdom at 5:00.  Erik and Jackson went on Space Mountain I think and I took Anna and Wyatt to Dumbo again.

We then met back at the Under the Sea ride.

I think this may be my favorite ride in Fantasy Land.  It's definitely one of Anna's favorites.  I love all of the Little Mermaid songs, and it was so fun to sing and dance along during the ride!

The boys all went to Swiss Family Robinson Tree House (which the boys had been dying to see) while I used Janet's magic band to book some fast passes for Anna to meet a couple of princesses.  Before we did that, I picked up a cup of LaFou's brew in Gaston's Tavern.  I had read a lot about it.  It was good to try, but as I'm not really a fan of very sweet drinks it wasn't something I could ever consume completely.  After a couple of sips, the rest was Anna's :)

Ariel was very sweet.  I thought she looked nothing like Ariel from the movie, but she was very sweet.

When Anna's was done I asked if I could take a picture with them haha

Then we went over to Rapunzel, which was so fun!  She was the sweetest with Anna out of all the princesses we met all week.  Anna went through a serious Tangled phase a couple of months ago, so I know Anna was thrilled to meet her.

Rapunzel was right next to Snow White, so we were able to meet with her after we were done with Rapunzel.  She was very sweet as well.

After Anna and I were done with our princess thing, we met up with Erik and the boys.  We had a fast pass for a reserved spot for the Electrical Parade.  We also needed to get the kids some dinner.  So Erik decided to rush over and get our spot while I got some food for the kids.  Well the food line at the place I picked was so long!  We were standing in a very crowded restaurant for like 30 minutes and I had a feeling we were not going to make in time for the parade (and I didn't know which paths were going to blocked off once the parade started).  We finally got food and found Erik.  Then Anna needed to go the bathroom so Erik took her.  Then Wyatt needed to go to bathroom so I took him!

Finally together and enjoying the parade.  The rain was falling, but it wasn't too bad.

And then it got bad!  The rain started to really pour down.  We got out the ponchos, but the hoods kept falling off the kids so we finally ended up putting Anna and Wyatt in the stroller with a (new) shower curtain liner over it.

Jackson was a trooper and just getting wetter and wetter along with me and Erik.  Our plans had always been to stay for the Wishes fireworks show, however we decided that there wasn't a firework show in the world worth keeping the kids cold and wet.

After we took off the liner as we were waiting for our bus, we discovered both Anna and Wyatt fast asleep. 

And we got to see a couple of the fireworks while we waited for our bus :)

When I looked at my fitbit that evening, I couldn't believe all of the walking we had done.  Especially when you consider that Jackson walked alongside the whole time!