The next morning, I woke up before everyone else and I peeked outside to see whether the sun was up. When I looked over at the lobby, I was so excited to see that Santa’s elves had been busy decorating the Lodge while we slept!!!
This morning, we had breakfast reservations before park opening at the Crystal Palace (8AM reservations, 9AM park opening). Part of the incentive of having breakfast so early was to see the park mostly empty. 🙂
Time to go!!!
Before leaving for the bus stop, I took a picture of the boys next to the giant Christmas tree that they were putting together in the lobby:
Next, we made our way to the Magic Kingdom.
When we arrived, the Walt Disney Railroad train was in the station. Matthew was HEARTBROKEN when the train pulled away and was frantic to ride on it. No amount of consoling could make him understand that it would be back, we had to wait until we got inside, and that we would have our chance to ride it.
Matthew’s disappointment about the train situation caused for a slightly tense and fit-filled wait to get in the park. The situation was improved when we wouldn’t let him get anything from the gift shop just inside the gates. Can you sense the sarcasm?!? Oy, it was a rough 10-15 minute wait. LOL
Soon we were inside and making our way down Main Street the first time!
I have to say, our first day in the parks was very overwhelming. There was so much going on and so much to see. There were definitely times where we just walked from point A to point B and had no idea where we were going or what we were doing. LOL Thankfully, we caught on quickly.
Another family graciously offered to take our picture if I would take their picture afterward. I think they did a great job!
We took some pictures on Main Street before heading to the restaurant to check-in. Matthew refused to pose with his brother for pictures due to his train-induced-crankies.
I did manage to get a picture of Mike holding him.
Waiting to be seated for breakfast:
We got seated quickly and Mike and Ian headed to the buffet to get us food.
Matthew and I hammed it up in the mirror while we waited:
Soon, the characters started appearing!!!
In between the photo ops and autograph book signing, we tried to eat some food. The character meals were great for seeing your favorite characters but they felt a little frantic. LOL
At one point, they brought over a cupcake, a card, and sang “Happy Birthday” in honor of my birthday that week. Matthew jumped on the chance to eat a cupcake for breakfast.
While we waited to see Tigger and Piglet, the boys studied the map of the park:
Eventually we paid the bill but Tigger and Piglet were still across the room. The server told me that she knew we were ready to go and waiting to see them. To help us out, she had arranged for Tigger to see us but we had to stand in the corner so that we could meet him between tables. We really appreciated her help.
We decided to leave after that and NOT stick around to see Piglet. We had some rides to go on and the park was officially open!
The first ride of the day was Dumbo!
The line wasn’t too bad but the first day was a little rough on the boys. They were tired, weren’t used to the Florida heat, and didn’t really know what to expect about standing in line for rides. (Thankfully, they caught on quickly.)
Mike wasn’t a big fan of the ride:
Fantasyland expansion – they’re building “Beast’s castle”:
The crane you see in that picture planted the first tree that day (http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2011/11/the-first-tree-is-planted-in-new-fantasyland-at-magic-kingdom-park/) – we watched them lift the tree and move it into place!
After Dumbo, we got Fast Passes for Winnie the Pooh and then did Mickey’s Philharmagic. The boys LOVED Mickey’s Philharmagic!
After that, we headed over to Peter Pan:
There was a bit of whining while waiting for Peter Pan so afterward we took a break for drinks and some snacks. While I sat with the boys in the shade, Mike ran for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad fast passes.
The Main Street Philharmonic walked by while we were taking a break:
Three rides in and we already needed a break:
After our break, we headed over to ride Winnie the Pooh.
A better view of Beast’s castle while standing in line:
Mr. Crabby-cakes:
If I remember correctly, he was upset because our fast passes let us bypass the part of the line where they had interactive things for the kids to play with. He didn’t seem too interested in the fact that we got to bypass the long line. LOL
At least Mike and I were looking at the camera, right?
After Winnie the Pooh, it was time to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad so we headed over in that direction.
While Mike took the boys to the restrooms, I stealthily took a picture of Donald Duck while he was in between greeting other guests:
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was Matthew’s first experience riding a roller coaster and he did AWESOME. He rode with a very startled look on his face but said he loved it. Mike, on the other hand, was a bit green around the gills after he got off. We decided to take another break to let him recover.
After that, Ian decided he wanted to ride Haunted Mansion. I had expected to skip it because the boys tend to be chickens about scary stuff. I was a little concerned about going on but Mike thought it would be fine so we all got in line. Needless to say, Matthew FREAKED.OUT. during the preshow and Mike and Matthew ended up leaving out a chicken exit. Ian and I rode and he did awesome!!!
After that, we decided to head back to the front of the park to go back to the hotel for naps.
On the way, we caught the Dream Along with Mickey show in front of the castle. This was one of many thing I thought we’d never see but that we kind of ran into accidentally.
The boys were super into the show and didn’t want to leave until it was over. LOL
After the show was over, we headed to the Mickey and Minnie meet-and-greet inside the Town Square Theater since it only had a 5 minute wait and it was on our way out.
When we were taken into the back room, Matthew ran past the other families and totally tackle/hugged Mickey Mouse from behind. He was SO.EXCITED.
Mickey and Minnie meeting with another family while we wait:
Sign on the wall:
Once you leave the meet-and-greet, you walk into a giant gift shop (shocking, right?). While we were there, we picked up our mouse ears. 🙂 There was a bit of confusion over the name to be embroidered on each hat (aka a short tempered cast member that was irritated by me trying to be specific), so Mike ended up with a child-size hat and Ian ended up with an adult hat. Oh well. Mike will probably never wear his hat again and Ian will eventually grow into his. LOL
Leaving the park to go to the hotel for naps, there were many tears and a wee bit of fit-throwing. It took a while to convince the boys that we would be back later that day. (After the first day, we never had issues about that again. They must have believed us. LOL)
Please note, Matthew is crying LOL
We walked over to the ferry dock and waited for the next boat to come.
We were all very glad to sit on the boat and within minutes, the long hot day took its toll on Matthew…..
Taken at 2:20PM:
Taken at 2:26PM:
LOL
When we got to our room, the hotel delivered a birthday card for me. 🙂
After a nice long nap for 75% of us (where does Mike get his energy?!?!), we went back to the park.
Our first stop was to get Matthew some “Cars bracelets” that he had been begging for All.Day.Long. He saw them in the gift shop while we were waiting to be let into the park that morning and had been whining for them all day.
I think he was a little disappointed in them because he didn’t wear them for long and never put them back on again. Money well spent. 😉
Next up, dinner at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland. On our way there, we got fast passes for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. While we were at dinner, Matthew had a faux “I need to go potty!!!!!” experience where he mostly wanted to go in the restaurant to play with the hula-hoops they had out for kids to play with. Little stinker.
After dinner and a real potty break, it was time to use our fast passes for Buzz so we went to ride.
After we rode Buzz, I wanted to hurry and stake spots for the parade and fireworks (actually, I wanted to stake spots well before this but I was out-voted by the guys). When we started walking in that direction, it was pretty clear we weren’t seeing the parade. The crowd was insane and there was no way we’d get close enough to see anything. We were able to see a little bit of the parade from a distance but I vowed that we’d see it on Thursday (our next Magic Kingdom day and the only other time the parade would happen while we were there).
We decided to hang out on the bridge to Tomorrowland so that we could have a good spot for fireworks. The fireworks ended up being off to the side but our spot on the bridge allowed for an unobstructed (and fairly uncrowded) view. While we waited (it was probably an hour long wait), Ian looked at a map of the park while sitting on the pavement. Matthew, generally, acted like a tired, impatient, cranky little 3 year old boy (whining, wiggling, needing up, needing down, needing to go potty, dropping ice cream on the pavement, knocking over drinks, etc). Amusing now but at the time I may or may not have sent a text to my mother indicating that I was ready to feed him to some crocodiles. 😉
Castle all lit up. It was gorgeous!
There is a show called “The Magic, The Memories and You” that they play on the castle before the fireworks start and it is so cool. They play music, video and show pictures taken in the park that day.
Unfortunately, we never got video of it so you’ll have to watch this video. The video doesn’t adequately express how cool it is.
Did you watch the video? Did you SEE the way they make the lights on the castle to look like fireworks and then the fireworks come shooting out? OMG! And that turret taking off like a rocket is UN.REAL. in person. People literally gasped out loud multiple times during the show!
After this show it was time for the fireworks!!!!
Tinker Bell flies near the start of the show and she went almost directly over our heads.
I got really awesome pictures of it:
NOT.
The fireworks show is called Wishes and it was absolutely spectacular. I realize I’m a complete Disney nerd but it brought tears to my eyes. LOVED it.
Gorgeous!!!
(Not really sure what’s up with the extreme smile, neck thing Ian was doing. LOL)
After the fireworks, we headed over to Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. It was an Extra Magic Hours night and since roughly 900,000 people were headed to the exit (and the buses/ferries), we decided to take our time before leaving. After the show was finished, it was definitely time to leave. We were all really tired and tired of standing! LOL
Heading towards the exit:
We got in line for the ferry and the Electrical Water Pageant was going by the dock. Yet another thing I wasn’t expecting to see on our trip. LOL
When we got back to the hotel (and it was a while because the boat seemed to go everywhere except our hotel LOL), I took some pictures of the finished decorations. Unfortunately, I only took pictures with my cellphone.
Here is a blog post link with more pictures of the hotel: http://www.easywdw.com/uncategorized/wilderness-lodge-2011-christmas-decorations-and-a-look-around/
After that, it was definitely time to go to bed. We had another long day on the next day!