Disney Trip Recap - Magic Kingdom Day One

The Magic Kingdom was probably our favorite park of all.  It had the most rides and things for the boys to do and I'm pretty sure they could have spent the entire week in just that park (and the pool) and have been happy.

Can you tell they were excited? Wesley asked me to do his hair extra nice and make sure none of it was sticking up because we were having lunch with the princesses that day. He also wore his shirt that said "I'm the man" so there was no question about who was number one!

We got to the Magic Kingdom a few minutes before they opened - just in time to see the special song and opening ceremony they do each day. Part of the fun is throwing Mickey Mouse shaped confetti and the boys busied themselves picking it up off the ground and stuffing it into their pockets. It was all fun until Ryan realized that Wesley had more confetti than he did, then he started throwing a full blown temper tantrum. I'm talking red face, tears, jumping up and down kind of tantrum. A Disney World cast member came over and asked me what was the matter. I explained that the boys were picking up the confetti and that Wesley had more than Ryan, so Ryan was upset.

"Well, no one can start the day at the Magic Kingdom in tears!" she said. "Please come with me."

We followed her to the stroller rental area and she disappeared while we got our stroller. "I'll be right back," she said. When she returned a few minutes later, she had a paint can FULL of the Mickey confetti as well as a Disney Parks bag. She gave the bag to Ryan and told him to take as much confetti as he wanted. Within moments Ryan was smiling as he dumped fist fulls of confetti into the bag. It really made an impression on us - that a cast member would take the time to make sure Ryan's day got off on the right foot.

We grabbed a quick breakfast at the bakery and took some pictures of the castle before heading into Adventureland for the morning.

Brothers sharing a chocolate milk at the bakery

My happy place

Yet another family photo Ryan refused to be in

My favorite statue

We met up with Uncle Kirk and Aunt Susan, Grandma and Grandpa again and hit Adventureland.

When we were walking into the Magic Kingdom, all Wesley could talk about was seeing Peter Pan - and he was the first character we saw! Must have Duane's good luck. Peter Pan teased Wesley a bit about wanting to see the princesses and for wearing a shirt saying "I"m the Man" since Peter wants to be a boy forever, but Wesley wont' forget him!

I may or may not have insisted on stopping to see the Disney Fairies. Here's me and Wesley with Vidia.

Wesley and Tinker Bell

Me and Tinker Bell

Ryan loved this ride! He rode it three times in a row!

Jasmin, Wesley and Aladdin

Duane with the spitting tikis

The boys hanging out in the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse

After the Jungle Cruise, it was time to start heading to the castle for our lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table with the princesses.  We stumbled onto a parade on our way there, but it didn't hold us up too much.

Lunch at the castle was everything I hoped it would be for Wesley and Ryan. They were treated like princes from the moment we arrived.  They each received a wishing star and a knight's sword during their meal - and got special attention from the princesses!

Inside the castle's dining room

Cinderella and the family

The W. family and Cinderella - with Ryan actually looking at the camera!!

Snow White was very sweet. She called Duane "Doc" and Ryan "Bashful"

Wesley and Princess Aurora

Wesley and Ariel

Wesley and Belle. Belle was my favorite princess at lunch because she came back to our table when she saw Ryan was no longer hiding. I won't say he was welcoming to her, but she was so sweet to him

From this point on, Wesley was totally and completely smitten with the Disney princesses. Really, it was almost embarrassing.

Ryan decorating a cupcake for his dessert.

After our royal feast, we rode Peter Pan's Flight and It's a Small World before heading back for a swim. Once we were refreshed, we returned to the park to ride Pirates of the Caribbean (twice). The boys bought pirate telescopes and sang "Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirate's Life for Me" quite loudly. Then we headed to the Tiki Room.

A pre-dinner ice cream snack

We managed to hit Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (another hit) before dinner at the Plaza restaurant.

After dinner we met up with Grandma and Grandpa and waited for the Main Street Electric Light Parade. For awhile we weren't sure it was going to happen because some ominous looking clouds rolled in, accompanied by lightning, but the rain held off.

Ryan made it through one or two of the floats before falling asleep, but Wesley stayed awake for the whole thing and really liked it!  Another successful day!

Disney Trip Recap - Animal Kingdom

Next up - Animal Kingdom!  And another character breakfast - this time with classic Disney characters decked out in safari attire. Oh! And the food at the Tusker House was amazing! So many wonderful things to eat and the Jungle Juice they give you is addictive!

Daisy Duck signing Wesley's autograph book

Another family picture without Ryan. He was still being shy.

Wesley had THREE donuts with his breakfast. "They make awesome donuts at Disney!"

Anytime a character came near Ryan hid.

Me with a whole other kind of character!

After breakfast we headed out on a walking "tour" to see some animals.

Timon? Is that you?

We were sure to go on the Kilimanjaro Safari attraction too. The boys really enjoyed it and I got some great pictures!

We also took in the "It's Tough to Be a Bug" movie by the tree of life. Ryan was not impressed by the movie at all, but it was getting to be the time of day when he wasn't impressed by anything. We also saw the Festival of the Lion King, which did interest Ryan a bit.

Since Grandma and Grandpa were staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, we decided to mix it up for our afternoon swim and head over to their place. Now, I love the hotel we stayed at, but Grandma and Grandpa were gifted with a room at AKL and it was something else. I have always wanted to see the inside of AKL and I was not disappointed.

If you have a savanna view room, you can look out your balcony at more than 30 different kinds of animals. Grandpa actually saw a giraffe walk by as he was having his coffee one morning!

See the Mickey in the carpet?

A public balcony with rockers for relaxation and animal viewing



Duane and I pretending we were the ones staying there

The water slide where the boys spent a chunk of the afternoon

Grandpa and Wesley taking a dip

Once again, we headed back into the park after our swim. We caught the Finding Nemo show and then met up with Kirk and Susan for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.

The whole family!

Our delicious dessert

And that was the Animal Kingdom. We tried to turn in a little early and rest up for our first day at the Magic Kingdom!