Morning - Disney Hollywood Studios
We arrive at Disney at about 8:30. After taking the tram over, and getting our bag checked, we are in line at 8:45. It does not open until 9:00, but Jacob wants to ride the new Toy Story Mania ride. On Monday night, the ride had a 70 minute line. The line is much shorter first-thing in the AM. We were let in the gates at about 8:50, but everyone was held up behind a rope part-way into the park. With about 5 minutes to go, Disney does a small show prior to letting everyone in, and away we go. Jacob and Mom go to the Toy Story Mania, which only has a 10 minute wait, while Dad, Ally, and Zeke go to the Little Mermaid musical show. (Yes, Ally saw this Monday, but she wanted to see it again.)
After those were over (about 9:30), the kids played in the "Honey I shrunk the kids" play area. Then Mom and Jacob went to the Muppets 3D movie, while Ally, Zeke, and Dad went to the store. Ally and Zeke both liked some things and Ally ended up buying a toy. From there, Jacob, Dad, and Mom went to Star Tours (the star wars show). They have a deal called "baby-swap", where Mom stayed with Ally and Zeke while Dad and Jacob went in first, then Dad stayed with Ally and Zeke while Mom went on the ride. Jacob got to see it twice. (He did not mind.)
From there, we wandered over to see a Playhouse Disney Clubhouse show before heading back to the apartment.
At the apartment - we put Zeke and the kids down for naps at about 1:15. At 2:45, we gave up on Jacob and Ally napping, so Dad took them to the arcade. (Pool was closed because it was raining/thundering.) At 3:45, Zeke was still awake, so we decided to get just get loaded up and head to Magic Kingdom.
Afternoon - Disney Magic Kingdom
We rode the Walt Disney World Railroad after we arrived to get to Mickey's Toontown Fair. After playing in the playground (named something cute and county fair-ish that I can't remember), we headed into Mickey's house. It is very well done with lots of cute touches, but the main attraction is out back in the Judges' Tent where we finally got to meet Mickey. It was a long and winding line, but moved pretty quickly. Jacob and Ally were amazingly patient and Zeke did pretty well too. When it was finally our turn, Zeke stayed with Mom, but Jacob and Ally asked for autographs and posed for many pictures. They do such a great job keeping the lines moving, but also letting each family have special time with the Mouse!
We tried to meet the princesses, but the line was 75 minutes long. We promised Ally that princesses would be at the top of our agenda on Friday and moved on. Jacob rode the kiddie coaster with Matt (Goofy's Barnstormer), but Ally decided it was too fast. She is her mother's daughter!
Next it was on to Fantasyland and the Mad Tea Party. Matt stayed with Zeke while Ally, Jacob and I spun and spun til we thought we would spin right out of the park! Ally was the patrol woman- she'd yell spin and we'd all spin the wheel as fast as we could, then she'd yell TOO FAST and we'd stop til she was ready again. Fun!
Since we started talking about Disney World, we have told the kids about the Flying Dumbo ride- it was one I knew we could all ride. I'd been warned the lines can be very long, but we didn't have to wait too much. The boys rode in one elephant and the girls in another and a fun time was had by all. It was Ally's highlight of the day until our next stop, which may be the highlight of the trip for her.
We had headed to Fantasyland with hopes of stopping at Ariel's Grotto since we'd skipped the other princesses. When we arrived the line was 60 minutes, so we had thought we'd wait, but it didn't seem that long. Since there is a playground in front of the line, the kids were able to play while we waited in a line that didn't seem to move (we later found out Ariel was on a break then). Eventually, we started moving and Matt took Zeke to wander around a bit while we waited. At last we were able to catch a glimpse of Ariel and she was soooo beautiful and really took time with every child. Ally was absolutely amazed to be sitting next to a real live mermaid. I think it was even more amazing because Ariel spoke!
It was time to find a place to eat and stake out our spot to watch the Spectro Magic Parade. It was late, but the kids were very good waiting. We sat in Liberty Square and strolled Zeke in place to get him to sleep a bit. It was crowded, but the parade was amazing. Jacob's favorite part was seeing Peter Pan and Smee. Ally loved seeing Ariel and Flounder and hearing her say "Look Flounder, look at all those humans!" She is convinced Ariel looked right at her and recognized her.
After the parade, Ally said she didn't want to stay for the fireworks (which were 10 minutes away), but since Zeke was wide awake, we told her she could ride back to the Monorail in his stroller. We gave both Jacob and Ally ear plugs, but Jacob still covered his ears. The fireworks were great, but Ally was in the stroller and actually fell asleep half-way through. After the fireworks we took the monorail back to the parking lot, the tram back to the van, then headed back to the hotel.
Here are some photos:
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