First Day at Disneyworld

We are staying at the Art of Animation Resort here, in a "Cars"-themed suite. By "Suite", we mean that there is a bedroom with a queen-sized bed, and in the other room there is a sofa that folds out into another bed, there is a kitchenette, and there is a small table that folds out into a Murphy bed.  So the kids tripled up on the sofabed, Grandma slept on the "table" bed, and I got the master bedroom to myself.

Until about 5:30, when Daniel came into my room and tucked himself into the bed.

I woke up at about 8 and set about doing things - talking to Grandma, heading to the bathroom, taking a shower.  All before the kids stirred even an ounce.  I was just out of the shower when Daniel woke.  He bounced out of bed, super excited.  "Mommy! I slept in my own bed last night!" And before I could correct him, he spun around to show me the bed, stopped, and then asked, "But what happened to Max and Caroline??? THEY DISAPPEARED!"  WHen I explained that he had, in fact, come into my bed in the middle of the night, he laughed and said, "my body did not remember which bed was mine!"  Too cute.

They dressed easily and were excited to get out and head down to meet Boppy in the lobby, after a short detour to visit most of the Cars in our area.

We all converged at the shuttles and were off to Magic Kingdom.  After collecting Boppy's ticket and getting our bags checked, we headed in with our "magic bands", only to discover that Uncle's band had both been keyed to the wrong room and didn't have his park tickets connected to it.  Luckily, he had a card that allowed him in and he was able to correct the matter at "City Hall" just inside Main Street.

And while he did that, we waited in line to meet Pluto (and got to see a little parade while we waited, too).

(These are both my photos and those of the official Disney photographer...so some doubles...)

While we waited, Wendy had gone up the street in search of food.  She found the Main Street Bakery (aka Starbucks) and was dutifully waiting in a monster line.  As we walked up to meet her, we bumped into another Disney Photographer!

Check out Tink!

And then we were off to It's a Small World.  It might not be the most exciting ride, but there's nothing better for your first Disney ride than a classic.  I sat next to Daniel, who was excited every time we moved toward a tunnel that "we're going into a new continent!"  All in all, a rousing success.

And then we moved on to the Fairytale Castle where we were set up for a meet & greet with Rapunzel and Cinderella.  (these are photos by Boppy, me, and the Disney photographers)  Rapunzel had a lovely little banter about horses, asking whether or not Caroline had brought her own with her or if perhaps she needed to borrow Maximus for a ride later.  The boys decided not to meet her, but she waved to them and signed their autograph books.  In fact, when they hid behind me, she teased them about how good they were at hide and seek.

And then it was off to Cinderella, who was all bubbles as she asked after Caroline's carriage, how large it was ("the size of a very large pumpkin?"), and asked if it smelled as much like pumpkin pie as hers did.  The boys didn't meet her either, and hid when she approached, but she just blew kisses to "the little princes" and waved.

The boys now wanted a "boy ride" after having to go see Princesses (I was later accused of "ruining Max's day because he didn't want to see princesses), so we waited in a 45-minute line for Peter Pan while Boppy and Grandma bought lunch and saved a table for us across the way.

After lunch, Wendy got them to sign their wishes into the Blue Fairy's guest book (Jake the Pirate toys, a rainbow fairy, and to ride on a Luke Skywalker ride) and then we were off to the Haunted Mansion, which was a hit, though a little scary for Daniel, especially.

Then back to Main Street for Mouse Ears for everyone. (I know, if you're familiar with the layout, we did not plan this well - hence why my legs are aching.)  I am wearing a reversible Chip n Dale hat which was purchased for Grandma.

At this point, Grandma and Boppy tapped out of the proceedings and we rushed back to Fantasyland for Dumbo and Ariel's Under the Sea.

And then Mommy made the first of her mistaken suggestions (well, second, but I didn't know the first one was a mistake, yet).  Instead of steering the kids to Adventureland, where the crowds were small, I suggested the cars at Tomorrowland.  30 minute wait, so Max vetoed and dragged me to the "solar system", which was at the Astro Orbiter rocket ride.  Another 30 minute wait, but we did it and the kids loved the ride.  It was now time to head out to meet Boppy and Grandma and head over to Epcot for dinner (this was the real first mistake - we had had a reservation for dinner at Disney Springs, but we would've had to leave Magic Kingdom around 4 to make it over there, so we switched to a place at Epcot...more about why that was a mistake in a moment).  But as we left, I saw that "Stitch's Great Escape" had no line.  Let's add one more ride, right?

WRONG.

Worst. Ride. Ever.

You sit, pinned into a seat, while the room blacks out and stagnant water is spit at you and weird sounds and motions surround you.  Max and Caroline were very unhappy and Daniel freaked out entirely.  He actually squirmed out of the restraint and climbed on my lap and then past me and into the row behind us to hide.  Caroline asked, through tears, "Why would they even MAKE that ride?"

I don't know, Caroline.

And so I bought everyone Star Wars toys to make up for it.  And we headed to the monorail, and off and onto another monorail.  At this point everyone was DONE.  Grandma and Boppy had walked too much and the kids were too tired.  And, of course, I had made a reservation at the restaurant that is perhaps farthest from the entrance to Epcot.

But we made it through (with Grandma and Boppy arriving on scooters) and back to the hotel and the kids seemed to have had a good time overall.  We came back and settled in - Grandma got right into bed, Caroline got in the bath to wash off the "Stitch Spit", and the boys played while I started writing this.  As they got ready for bed, Caroline complained that she was too squished sleeping with her brothers.  So she got a make-shift bed on the floor using the discarded couch cushion and the extra blankets we'd gotten last night.

Oops - side note I forgot from last night.  The kids were amazed to discover that when you stay in a hotel, you can call someone and ask for extra pillows and blankets.  So when we arrived, I called Housekeeping and Caroline asked, "Can we please have five extra pillows? and Max asked, "and a lot of blankets, like five, or maybe three."  When I got back on the phone, the woman laughed and asked, "now how many of those things do you really need?"  When they arrived, I was in the middle of changing and walked out of the bedroom in my pants and bra just as the kids opened the door.  I ran to the bathroom and from there handed Max some cash for a tip, which he handed to the man, saying, "Here's some money for you."  Gotta work on that one.

And back to the end of the night.  Caroline is asleep on a cushion on the floor, Max is in the sofa bed, Grandma is on the Murphy bed, and I am finishing this up with Daniel snoozing at my side.

Good night.