Disney - The Happiest Place on Earth

Our first day of Disney started bright and early. I was up by 7 am and had the kids up and ready by 7:30 so we could grab breakfast before the 8:30 shuttle. It took about 20 minutes to the park, plus another 10-15 minutes to ride the tram into the park. I got my camera out right away, but unfortunately, it took a good 5 minutes to de-fog due to the humidity and we wanted to get a move on before the crowds hit, so there wasn't much time to stop for photos. The first chance I got was at the go-cart ride. This was our 2nd ride. Space rockets were first, but again, I found out very quickly that pictures taking was going to prove difficult - especially with my big bulky camera.

Pregnant women couldn't ride go-carts, so I sat in the stands and watched. The lines weren't too bad. 10 minutes or so. But it was already getting hot! You can see how the lines snake all the way around. And this wasn't even close to being bad!

Jason and the kids waiting for their car.

Waving to momma!

According to Allison, they won the race!

One of the favorites was the Buzz Lightyear ride. We all sat in one car and shot lasers at targets to get points. The first day, Allison and daddy got 25,000 points. By the second day, that was up to 44,000! So great! After the game, Allison loved to get into the "jail" and beat up on the evil emperor Zurg. HA!

Tea cups...classic, had to be done, but definitely not my favorite. Jason wouldn't even ride them. It makes him sick to spin. I spent the whole time holding tight to the metal ring in the middle to keep the thing from spinning out of control. The kids weren't a big fan either.

Dumbo...the kids loved this one! The wait was a little long, always is. By this point it was getting close to lunch and the kids were tired (can you tell by the pic)? The rides are so short, but Allison LOVED Dumbo. She put that on the list of ones she wanted to do again.

We took a quick break inside Cinderella's castle while we regrouped, grabbed a snack and decided our next course of action. We didn't get to go all the way through as it was closed up for a show, but the mural inside is great!

From the outside looking back at a stage show. We moved later to be a little more in front, but we were still a ways back. The kids loved watching the show. It was the same one they played every day and we caught bits of it a few days later.

We are headed out of the park. Not sure what was left to do and the kids were very tired. But as we were on our way, a man was shouting that Mickey and Minnie were inside some Theatre. So, we figured the kids were good for one last push. We waiting in line for over 20 minutes and finally, the creme de la creme of Disney...Mickey and Minnie! Andrew played shy, and Allison held Minnie's hand. So cute!

We got back to the hotel room a little before 3pm. The kids crashed! We tried to nap, but it took us a while to wind down. Our clothes were soaked from the heat!! I wish I had brought 12 sets of clothes so I could have changed every day at nap time. Ugh!

We got the kids up and headed back to the park that evening. It was not easy to wake them :)

The lines were worse and we wanted to keep the kids moving so we chose a few rides that didn't have much of a line. The first being the carousel. We ended up riding this several times on our trip. The kids LOVED it. There was never a line!

It wasn't too much longer that darkness settled in and the electrical parade started. Jason remembers this being one of his favorite things from when he was a kid. It did not disappoint! Enamored. That's the only word. I didn't get very many good pictures, but there were all these floats of lights and people with light suits with music playing. Some floats were just little animals, some were actual Disney characters.

The street was lined with families. So fun!

Right after the parade, we strategically booked it to the back and hopped on Aladdin's Magic Carpet. No line! That was also one of Allison's favorites and another one we had to do the next time we went.

We made it near the castle in time to catch the fireworks. Again, no pictures. I need to figure out how to photograph fireworks. Andrew was in love with the fireworks. We watched some later in the week from our hotel room and he kept saying, "Boom, castle!" We had watched the first set over Cinderella's castle. How funny!

Didn't get back to the room until going on 11 pm. Quick baths and bed. The next day was another pool day. More to come :)