A little bit of everything

Day 6 was full...seriously full! We made sure to wake up super early so we could get to the Magic Kingdom to ride a few of the things we didn't get to the day before. We got there by 8 and left by 12ish. It is amazing how much you can do in such a short amount of time when the waits are pretty much down to nothing.



For our first ride of the morning we decided to add a little thrill to our day. Since Kaylie could not ride this we did the parent share method. I went through the line (which was only 10 minutes) and Jason stayed with Kaylie. When I finished I gave him a ticket and he was able to walk through the handicap line and pretty much walk on. Awesome.


Crazy thing...As I walked through all the areas the cue line went it depressed me to think I have at one time stood in that ridiculously crazy line before. Since the line wasn't long they didn't make us go through it all but it was a little scary to see how many people could have been in these lines. Again...another plug for visiting in the off season. Highly recommend!

Apparently, the others on my train felt this ride was scarier than me. I was the only one with my hands up. Poor sports...scarredy cats...or just needing a diet coke to wake up? Hmm...My vote is the Diet Coke.

Jason's group had a few more participants. Must be the extra 20 minutes it took from his turn to mine. If you look he is riding in the front of the last car.

From the mouth of Kaylie..."Hi DADDDDYYYYYY!!!!!!!" She enjoyed seeing him come out of the tunnel.

Ecstatic daddy came back safely. For a brief second she was a little concerned. I think she might be calling her stroller right now.

"Hi Mommy" At least I wasn't forgotten about.

Brown dog waited patiently in her stroller so she gave him a kiss for being a good doggy. This was the days animal of choice.

Magic carpet ride...Even though Kaylie is cut out of the picture I thought it was precious. This was another one where it would go up and down in the air.

She was very happy flying until...

The silly brass camel that sat on the side of the ride surprised us with a shot of water. As you can tell this freaked her out so for the next minute or two she covered her head until we convinced her to fly again.

Today I decided to put her hair up into pig tails. They looked adorable until one of them popped after the flying carpet ride. The OCD part of me quickly kicked in and I high tailed it to any shop I could to find a rubber band. I finally went to one store where they had these new rubber bands that are different shapes. Being our only option I bought them. That is where the neon green ponies came in.

Apparently the rubber band things I bought are the newest things for young kids to trade and they are not actual rubber bands for papers and things they are actual intented for use as a bracelet. The kids will trade these in school with there friends. At some schools they became such a problem they were band. Who knew I was actually hip for a brief moment.

Swiss Family Robinson tree...Good workout. Didn't realize how many stairs we would be climbing. Thankfully, Kaylie loved it. She enjoyed looking at everything and tried to be "Miss Independent" when it came to climbing the stairs. She did great.

Very high up but I promise I was holding her incredibly tight. She wasn't going anywhere.

One of Jason's other favorites from his past was the TIKI room. We were pretty sure she was going to like this and thankfully she did. Once she got past all the birds talking she started to enjoy the music and the lights.

Since the last time we were there they change the two main characters. Now they use the two main birds from Lion King and Aladdin. They work well together.

Right after the TIKI room we were able to use our fast passes to do the Jungle Cruise. Kaylie enjoyed this but Jason and I enjoyed it much more due to the drivers commentary. She made a lot of cute jokes that always had something to do with what we were looking at. Above the little one's heads but I sat their cracking up. I am amused easily.

Elephants on the Jungle Cruise. Not real but pretty realistic. All of the animation on this ride was very well done. I couldn't believe I had never been on this one before.

Definitely a good ride. Highly recommend it.

You like her sunglasses. The lady taking in the picture stop to let us know they were upside down. We caught her off guard when we told her we knew. It was her signature look for the trip.

At this point we had seen everything else we wanted to see and decided to use our park hopper passes to go to EPCOT for lunch. We knew it would be hard to get into the restaurant we wanted to if we didn't go early so off we went.

We hopped onto the Monorail and after about 15 minutes we were there. It was an easy transition from one to the other. Right after we got in Jason went over to the Test Track to get our fast pass tickets while I went over to the Coral Reef restaurant. This was a good idea except for the fact that they wouldn't take our name until we were all there. Thankfully, we only waited for five minutes.

Blurry but still love it. I love Kaylie's smile in the back ground. At first she wanted out of the picture and at the last minute she jumped in. Even if she is the reason it was blurry it made the picture perfect.

The picture is actually a little deceiving. We were pretty close to the tanks and could see everything swimming by. It was so much fun to spot all of the different things they had in there. Great restaurant for kids but if you go in the evening you need a reservation. That is why lunch worked well for us.

The fish in the window is 300 lbs. Biggest on in the tank.

During lunch Kaylie had been so good we decided to give her a special treat. As a kid I grew up with these rings that you could adjust according to size. With a lot of adjusting and some very sore fingers Kaylie enjoyed four out of five of the princess rings. The fifth one was lost between the seat before she could get it on. By the end of the trip I am pretty sure we made it home with 3 of them. Not too bad considering how small they are.

After lunch we did the Finding Nemo. This was nice but nothing that would make me have to ride it again. Kaylie enjoyed the sea shells we got to ride in.

After that we went to the show by Crush the turtle from Finding Nemo. This was an interactive show where this animated turtle is on the screen with a guy in the back that could not be seen. He would pick kids in the audience, have them ask a question and then provide answers. Jason and I laughed the entire time. Definitely well done. Even though the jokes were over Kaylie's head she enjoyed watching the turtle move back and forth.

The last thing we did at EPCOT was the Test Track. This one took awhile to wait in line even with a fast pass but it was worth it.

That was about it for EPCOT. We were hungry and hot so we decided with nothing else we really wanted to do there we would head over to the Hollywood Studios for the remainder of the day.

The entrance to Hollywood studios. She must have been in a good mood today because we got some pretty good smiles out of her. Finally adjusted to the day to day schedule filled with running around.

A pic from farther back so you could get the entire part of Mickey's magic hat.

After snack time we waited in line to make the last showing of the Disney Playhouse show. We would have had to come back to the studios if we missed this because it turned out to be one of her absolute favorite things.

She sat so well. She was definitely into it!

The theme centered around Mickey's Playhouse but it incorporated other Disney shows as well. It was very nicely done for a kids show.

All they had to do was turn the board and the next set for the next show would appear. If you do not know much about Disney shows this his Handy Manny. Kaylie knows what the show is but doesn't watch it.

Bubbles...she was in heaven at this point.

She is yelling for the Mouska Tools.

Up dancing and clapping.

Beauty and the Beast...we also caught the last showing of this. They have changed it since the last time we were there and even though I liked it I didn't LOVE it like I used to.

I was shocked to see how interested Kaylie was to watch the show. She pretty much stood there the entire time. I am coming to the conclusion she will be our musical child.

Right after this Jason and I ran over to the Rock N Roller coaster to see if we could ride it before going over to the Litte Mermaid show before it was time to leave the park. This had to be my all time favorite ride. It is so ridiculisly intense. You go from 0 to 60 in about a sec. When I got off of it all I could do was say..."wow."

Since the Studios closed at 6 and we were exhausted we decided to head back to the hotel and try and eat at the hotel resturant. Thankfully it was only a five minute wait because we were starving.

As you can tell from some of the pictures this resturant was very contryish. At one point they gave all of the kids these horsies to run around the resturant. Definitely provided a fun atomosphere.

I was shocked at how willing she was to do this. At first she didn't want to go around the resturant but once she had daddy in tow she was off.

Funny thing about the resturant. As you can tell they keep people laughing. One of the ways they do it is by keeping the condiments off the table such as ketchup, mustard, and jellies so that the customers are forced to stand up and yell, "I need ketchup." At that point all of the kids that have ketchup...usually the table that needed it before...takes all they have and run it over to them. It is a great way to get the kids moving. I gaurentee they regret needing it because after they ask they may end up with 10 or more bottles of ketchup. Definitly a cute touch.

The Hokey Pokey...Little Miss didn't want to do it until I had her do it with the waitress. Then she did a great job at trying to do what everyone

Another reason I think she will be musical...She is playing the fork like it is a trumpet.

When we got home we snuck in to surpise her animals who were having a staff meeting on who was going to get to sleep with Kaylie that night. As usual Meow Meow and Ruff Ruff always seem to win.

She is providing her 2 cents. After she told them her choices Mickey decided to console her baby doll who would most likely be left out yet again.

I love this picture. So sweet and innocent.

Magic Kingdom (Updated)

Day 5 brought about an incredibly busy day. Having stayed up late the night before getting ready Jason and I did not appreciate the 5:45 am alarm we set so we could make sure we were up and at breakfast by 6:30 so we could be off the ship, pick up our luggage, go through customs and board a bus for an 8:30 departure to our hotel at Disney. Whew...makes me tired just typing it. The fun thing about all this was knowing that even though our cruise was over our trip was not. It made leaving a little easier. Otherwise, Jason and I may had to be physically removed kicking and screaming!!!

Having made the big mistake of trying to put the suitcases out while Kaylie was still awake making it difficult for her to go to bed we decided to wake her up as late as we possibly could. She was so sweet and peaceful in her bed. It made us smile to see how tight she held on to her babies.

Having gone to bed after 11pm you can imagine she was not happy to be woken up a little after 6 am. The entire way down to breakfast she cried and refused to walk on her own. Our servers at dinner were our servers for breakfast and they were so excited to see her. They were shocked to see her angry and upset. She refused to eat and wanted nothing to do with the world. I really can't blame her. A 6:30am diet coke for me and coke for Jason were definitly appreciated. Made our world a little easier. Thankfully, Kaylie snapped out of it once we got our suitcases back an hour or so later.

I don't know why but the transfer buses made me happy. They are so cute and rather comfortable. It was nice not to have to worry about driving especially since we were exhausted. It made the hour + drive that much more relaxing.

On the way to Disney they played a Mickey movie for us to keep us entertained. Since the bus was not even close to being full we were able to spread out and didn't have to worry about Kaylie not wanting to stay in her seat. That made a world of difference in the mood of this ride. With no one directly in front of or behind us we did not have to keep on her to sit down. The part I enjoyed is when the bus driver put on a Mickey classic from her own private library. I was shocked I remembered it and enjoyed seeing how Mickey used to be. It also helped that Kaylie had her fill of Pluto during these movies as well.

The bus had about 5 or so hotels that they dropped off too. The Wilderness Lodge was the 3rd or 4th one to stop at. By the time we got there it was close to 11. We went to check in and as expected our room was not ready yet and since they couldn't tell us if it would be ready as soon as 12 or as late as 3 we decided to feed Kaylie and then check our luggage with the hotel before taking the boat from the hotel to the Magic Kingdom for an afternoon of fun.

In the picture above Kaylie is enjoying yet another Mickey movie at the hotel. She didn't seem to mind that our room wasn't ready.

Right after we walked into the Magic Kingdom and stopped to have a famous hot dog at Casey's...Yummy...we walked to the castle we were happy to see one of the shows they had. Definitely helped spark Kaylie's interest taking off the fear of all the people around us.

If you asked Kaylie what she wanted to see she was say the princess castle so having a show where the princesses came out to dance was the best thing that could have happened to her. We didn't watch the show very long but I gaurentee being able to see the princesses was all Kaylie needed to see.

WARNING...The rest of the pictures are not too pretty. Please keep in mind we were exhausted, doused in sunscreen, and in 90 degree + heat with an incredibly high humidity rate. The humidity was so bad I had to leave my lense cap off my camera so it had time to adjust coming in and out of buildings and on and off rides. It was crazy. I didn't expect it to be as hot as it was. Thankfully a good amount of rides allow for a breeze and/or are inside with AC. That was good planning on their part.

As a kid Jason's favorite ride was the race cars so we thought it would be fitting to make this Kaylie's first ride. She had actually already ridden it once with daddy while I took pictures and had a blast. After a minute or two of her driving she took the wheel from Jason and demanded she drive while Jason did the gas and break pedal. She had so much fun moving the stearing wheel back and forth. Thankfully, her first Disney ride was a success. When she got off she wanted to go again so this time she let me take her while Jason watched and took pictures from the grand stands. I couldn't believe how many smiles she gave him. Even though we look rough these are some of my favorite pictures.

Unfortunately, none of the pictures I took with Jason turned out well at all due to the humidity. I didn't realize that until we were back at the hotel and I was going through my pictures from the day. Since this was Jason's ride was so special to him we decided he would take her back on it before we went home on Monday. Thankfully, we could do this having made the decision to buy park hopper passes.

Blowing kisses to daddy. My far away lens rocks. We weren't that close to him.

We had to take her comfort toy. Pluto won and had the pleasure of riding everything with us. It is amazing how much having him helped.

Hi daddy!!!

With me she was a little more nervous going into the first few turns and ended up hitting the rail shaking us back and forth. After seeing a little bit of fear in her I slowed down big time so it would not ruin the experience and frighten her from riding anything else. I felt really bad because it slowed the cars behind us down but I didn't want her to be scared. Thankfully, it worked.

Since little miss was on a nap strike she would chose the most random places to pass out. This would be in line for the Dumbo ride. Thankfully, the line was one of the longest we had to wait in so she got a good 15 minute power nap.

Jason and I were really careful not to push her too much when it came to the rides. She put a stop to that real fast when she grabbed the lever and shot us as high up in the sky as she could go laughing in the process. She had no fear and loved going up and down.

Jason was really good at making her comfortable and came up with the idea of having her fly in the air. The was the best thing he could have done for her. It made all rides that may have frightened her a little bit easier.

Since mommy is anit merry go rounds Jason got the priviledge of taking her on this. Her favorite thing was picking out her horse and as you can see putting Pluto in the belt with her so he could enjoy the ride as well. Once in Jason hopped on and thankfully, I was quick with the camera because right after Kaylie turned around and told him to get off because she wanted to do it herself. Hee Hee...Miss Independent told him!!! Her little independent self really came out during this trip.

Right after the "horse" ride as Kaylie called it we decided to go on "It's a small world." This was a great choice for us considering the wait in line as well as the enitre ride had air conditioning. It helped Kaylie loved this ride as well but the AC was definitely a mommy plus. This was probably the one time where a longer wait would have been welcomed.

I don't know why but I loved the hippo on the ride.

Winnie the Pooh ride...After we got off we walked through a gift shop. Kaylie was very happy to get a pop for a treat. Made her happy.

For some reason I had it in my head we were going to do the tea cups. Jason decided to sit this one out so after asking Kaylie if she wanted to go on it we decided to try it. Kaylie found the one we wanted and got in. She immediately grabbed the middle turny thing that spins you. I showed her how to turn it and off we went. I didn't think she would want to spin so I didn't try it. Again, she proved me wrong and started to turn the wheel making us go faster and faster, around and around. Fearful she would freak out...oh yay...and I would throw up...I slowed her down a little. I was pleasantly surprised and somewhat shocked she had such a good time.

After the tea cups we took a well needed snack break. Frozen lemonaides always make things better. In the picture behind us you can see Minnie's house. The character houses where added since the last time we were her. Aren't they precious!!!

As we sat there eating our snack we could hear the swooshing of the roller coaster going behind us. As we were finishing up Kaylie stood up and said, "I ride." Surprised we asked her if she REALLY wanted to ride it. It was not the type of ride you would imagine a three year old going on but she was determinded to go on what was now deemed "Goofy Train." The ride was actually called "Barn Stormer" and was actually a ride with planes but when ever she referred to it it was the Goofy Train ride.

After her most recent doctors appt. she came in at 34 inches. To ride Goofy she had to be 35 so we were crossing our fingers she would make it. Thankfully she JUST made it. Her head literally fit perfectly against the 35 inch mark. Phew...melt down avoided.

As we walked through the line we would watch the roller coaster fly by and continued to ask her if she was sure with which she would quickly reply with a very aggressive "yes!!!" We asked her all the way up to getting on the ride. Once we got to the top of the ride we had to hold our breath once more because they wanted to check her height again. This time she struggled to stand up straight making it difficult to see. Right before we were about to give up she did what she needed to and were good to go.

On her first time on she did great at first. Once we were going full speed and went through a tunnel or two the tears started as she clutched to her daddy. As we got off Jason and I were pretty sure that was it for the Goofy Train. Yet again, we were shocked when she got off and immediately said, "again?" We asked her if she was sure and if it scared her. She told us she ws scared but it was fun. Wow...that is kind of deep for a 3 year old.

Goofy Train Take #2...Even though she wanted to go she was a little more scared than the first time but still insisted on going.

**Jason addition** So you can see what she braved (and then asked to ride again daily) here is a decent pic of the Barnstormer I grabbed off the internet.....


With the weather starting to look as if the clouds were going to open up and us being hungry we decided it was time to go. 7 hours at the park was not to shabby for our first day at the park.

As we got on the train to get back to the front entrance it started to thunder. Right as we were heading towards the line for the boat to take us back to the hotel it started to pour. Thankfully, we were already ready to go because it ended up raining from 6:30 when we left and last for a good two to three hours.

We ended our night by getting our bags, ordering room service pizza which was surprisingly good, and taking some well needed showers before forcing our little one to lay down in her queen size child proof bed so she could get a somewhat decent nights sleep so we could get back to the Magic Kingdom as close to the park opening as we could to ride some of the things that would take a little longer to get through.

Once asleep Jason and I went out on the porch, played games and enjoyed the top part of the Magic Kindgoms fireworks as well as a light display that the hotels send around from hotel to hotel that is set to music. It was pretty cool.

Overall a great first day. The thing I thought was the greatest was that we did not have to wait that long for any ride because it was off season. If the ride was popular we could grab a fast pass which gave us a frame of time that we could come back to ride it. With that you could walk through a special line and at times walk right up to the ride.

On the rides that didn't use a fast pass you could use a parent swap. If you have a child that is too young to ride they will give you a pass for the other parent. Once you have waited in the regular line you give the pass to the other person and they walk through and all the way up so they don't have to wait again.

The other ride thing that helped people with children was the single rider feature. Since the popular rides want to make sure everything is full you walk through and pretty much walk up while waiting for them to need and "extra" person for an odd numbered group. Got me through lines a lot faster.