Magic Kingdom 2015

Yay, Magic Kingdom! We went to Magic Kingdom twice. The first day, Wednesday, Aidan and I got there at about 7:40 or so, but the park was already open! I was confused until I realized that this is a *thing* they do--open super early. We'd even missed the welcome song. No worries, though. We were still there early enough to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad twice in a row, the Barnstormer twice in a row, and get some yummy things to eat!

We managed to pack a LOT into a very long first day. Haunted Mansion (Aidan finally got brave enough to try it--and ended up LOVING it), Carousel of Progress, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, Mickey's Philharmagic, wow, so much. Character greetings (I finally got to meet Merida and she loved our hair!), general people watching, and both parades plus fireworks. And I finally got to eat at Casey's! I still didn't get a hot dog, but we shared a big order of fries and they were great. I also got my chocolate-covered pineapple, which always makes me happy. I can't even remember where we ate dinner. OH! It was Liberty Tree Tavern! Aidan loved the mac and cheese, and I enjoyed the cake.



Our second day, that Friday, we ate lunch at Be Our Guest. I had the Croque Monsieur (grilled sandwich of carved ham, Gruyere cheese, and bechamel with Pommes Frites) and oh my God yes. It was perfect! Aidan loved his pasta with marinara sauce as well. We got there TOO early (I thought the park opened at 8, nope, it opened at 9) so we spent a lot of time people watching. The park did open early again, though, and this time we headed toward Tomorrowland, which was so empty! I got to ride the Astro-Orbiter for the first time in ten years and it was as fun as I remember! And then we did Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger spin, another one I hadn't done in years. So much fun!



We didn't do too much on that second day. I did convince him to do Country Bear Jamboree, which he found entertaining (especially that Blood on the Ground song), and Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain happened again. I didn't convince him to try Space Mountain. Maybe next time! OH I did get him to try my churro and he liked it so much he wanted to buy his own! Only a rainstorm rolled in and the cart shut down. So we hung out and waiting until it was safe to open again, then we had to wait for the fresh churros to arrive. SO WORTH IT. We also met the talking Mickey Mouse in Town Hall, and Tinker Bell!

We ended up leaving earlier than I wanted. A storm was rolling in, and Aidan was getting tired and cranky. I was tired too. We headed back to the hotel to rest up. I'm always sad when I leave Magic Kingdom, but I was looking forward to the next day of nothing before heading back to the parks on Sunday.



I can't wait to go back. :)

(crossposted at anywhere is)

Animal Kingdom 2015

Our first day in the Disney Parks was Animal Kingdom. It used to be Magic Kingdom always, but I think the crowd calendar or dining reservations or something factored into my decision to start with a different park this time. It was a fun, but short day, even though Animal Kingdom stayed open until 8pm that day.





We got there and immediately headed over to the dinosaur section, where we hopped on to Primeval Whirl and Triceratops Spin. Aidan was excited to ride Dinosaur again. That ride is fun but it has a lot of jump scares which I am not a fan of, but I'll take that over Tower of Terror any day (which I used to LOVE).



He didn't want to see the Finding Nemo show ("I don't like musicals") but I dragged him to The Festival of the Lion King because I wasn't going to miss it. He liked it. We ate Pizzafari for lunch, went on the safari, and took the train over to the Conservation Station where I made him hold the elephant poop.



We watched the Flights of Wonder show and that was really cool. I'd never seen it before. I got selected to sit on stage with my camera and *try* to photograph the owl coming at me. I couldn't do it. It was fun being on stage though!

We had a minor emergency! After using our FastPasses for a second go-round on Primeval Whirl, we marveled at how much faster and spinnier it was compared to that morning. We walked along and I noticed that Expedition Everest had a 10-minute single rider wait. Aidan has no interest in riding that coaster, but it's one of my favorites. He sat down to play on his phone...and there was no phone there. He'd had it before we got on Primeval Whirl, so I deduced it had to have come out in there. Back to Dinoland USA we went, and we talked to some cast members. Sure enough, they found his phone in one of the cars. The ride was so much more spinnier it spun the phone right out of Aidan's pocket! But we got the phone back and all was well! And I got to ride Expedition Everest with only a 5-minute single rider wait.

Animal Kingdom is undergoing a lot of renovations, so a lot of what makes the park so beautiful was masked by tall fences and signs. There were some pretty parts, though.



We didn't have a very long day at Animal Kingdom. We did everything we wanted to do, and I had a phone call scheduled, so we made an early day of it. It was a super fun day, though. Not too tiring or overwhelming. After my call, we hung out at the resort. I sunbathed by the pool and sent Snapchats. Then at 7:30, I watched the Movie Under the Stars (which was Wall-E) and ate a turkey sandwich and Doritos. It was a relaxing night. We knew we'd need to rest up for Magic Kingdom the next day!



So obviously, my next vacation post will be about Magic Kingdom! So, till next time!

(crossposted at anywhere is)

It's About That Time

2013
I made the BIG payment last week--you know what I'm talking about. MagicBands have been customized for the (hopefully) last time, FastPass+ plans have been scheduled, ADRs made, and now I'm just waiting for the travel documents to show up. And in just over a month, Aidan and I will be heading to Orlando once again!

We're both very excited. I'm also a little nervous. It will be just the two of us for most of this trip. He's been wanting to do a mom-son trip for a long time, and I wanted to really do this and make it special for him before he became a teen and decided that being seen with me in public is a travesty. (I really hope that never happens but you never know.) I really hope we can spend the time to talk about anything and everything, and just enjoy each other, and have fun together.

This time we're staying at Pop Century. He really wanted to stay at Art of Animation, but the thing about that is the only room that is practical for us would be The Little Mermaid rooms and he really did not want to stay in one of those. However, we're going to be so close to AoA that I figure we can walk over and explore on our "resort" day.

I made ADRs for The Garden Grill, Liberty Tree Tavern, 50s Prime Time Cafe, and Be Our Guest (lunch). I am looking forward to having a Dole Whip, eating a churro, and having a chocolate covered pineapple. If they have brought back the Reese's Pieces covered marshmallow wands, I will have one of those as well.

Because he and I have gone so many times, and because I have the FastPass+, I feel like we can take it pretty easy this trip. It will be crowded and hot, so I'm hoping we won't feel the need to rush or cram a bunch in. Also, the longer trip will help spread things out. We don't have Park Hoppers, but I reserve the right to add them if I feel led to.

I have so much to look forward to! We'll be there soon.


2005