Disney

We’ve been wanting to take the kids to Disney for as long as I can remember. But it isn’t exactly in our budget. Especially now that Connor is 3 and no longer free. But good ‘ol Uncle Andy hooked us up with his roommate who works for them. She was able to get us in for free! We knew we wanted to go before it got too hot and too crowded with summer nearing so we decided to go this past Monday. It turned out to be a perfect day for it! By the time we left the house and dropped the doggies off at the kennel it was almost 9 am. Disney is just over an hour away so we were making good time. We had decided not to wake the kids up early or anything because we figured the chance of them napping later was slim to none. I’ve been so consumed with making sure we had everything we needed for the park that I hadn’t really stopped to think about the car ride there. Yep, you probably guessed it. Addison cried almost the whole way there :/ not a great way to start our day but thankfully she quit after a quick stop at a rest area where we let her get out and run around for a bit. She is something else ;) We had some insider information that if we made a reservation at one of the Disney restaurants we could park for free. So we made a reservation at the Polynesian Resort and it worked! We had no issues parking and were able to get on the monorail right from the hotel. Connor was excited just to ride the monorail! We met up with Andrew’s roommate, Virginia, outside the gate where she got us into the Magic Kingdom. There was a parade going by as soon as we entered and from there we just made our way around the entire park. John and Connor had checked it out online so we had a list of a few must sees. We also got suggestions from our friends that go there frequently. The first ride we went on was Buzz Light year which was a lot of fun. Connor loved zapping the aliens and spinning our car around. Addison seemed to enjoy it as well. Then we headed straight to the speedway where Connor could ride in a race car. Daddy had to drive of course but he was in heaven. They did it twice in a row. Addie and I parked ourselves on a bench in the shade and had ourselves a little snack. After the cars we rode the Tea Cups and then stopped to eat lunch.

After lunch we hit up It’s a Small World. It was one of the longer waits we had, about 20 minutes which isn’t bad at all, but it was right after lunch and the kids were getting tired. It was their normal nap time after all! We got on the boat and made it through one country before Addison was asleep. Kind of a bummer as I think she would have really enjoyed the whole ride. She transferred to the stroller after the ride and napped for the next hour or so. In that time Connor and I rode the carousel, he and Daddy climbed Swiss Family Robinson tree house and we rode the Magic Carpet ride where a camel spit on us!

We got off the ride to find Addison awake. We stopped to change her and have a snack. We notice another camel spitting on people walking by. These weren’t real of course but fun to watch as many weren’t expecting it! After our snack we headed to Pirates of the Caribbean. We had no idea what to expect on this ride. I had completely forgotten that my friend told us her daughter was scared on it because it is so dark. Connor was a little scared but even more so was Addison. I felt so bad and just wanted the ride to be over quickly. She was clinging to me dearly! We rode the train around the park next and as we were getting off we spotted Winnie the Pooh and Tiger! We waited in line (forever) for the kids to get their picture taken with them. Connor was excited and said he was going to give them both high five. Addie seemed very interested too and kept pointing at them and smiling. When it was our turn I put her down and she started running toward them but as she got closer, they got bigger and she changed her mind. She practically jumped into my arms and was shaking in fear! Poor girl!

After getting Connor’s picture we noticed it was already 5 pm so we decided to call it a day. On our way out we caught the tail end of a show going on at the castle. They shot a few fireworks off at the end which thrilled Connor. We rode the monorail back and headed straight to the pool at the resort. We thought it was worth a shot. No one gave us any issues though and it was so nice to get in a cool off. A nice, refreshing end to our day. We had dinner at their café and then headed back home. The kids were spent. By then it was 8:45 pm. An hour past Addison’s bedtime and Connor had had no nap so he was done. They were both asleep before we left the parking lot. We had a such a fun and memorable day. You can view the rest of our pictures from our magical day at Disney here J