Disney 2013

Although our time at the magical place on earth (where dreams come true!) was cut a little short, I still wanted to share our pictures.  I felt like I planned a lot for this trip, but the first hour in, I was completely overwhelmed.  My lack of an internal compass and being directionally challenged was a large part of it!  Our first mis-step was driving to the park and not thinking about the amount of time it would take to actually get into the park.  Next, I had not properly prepared the kids for the character meet and greets.  The first characters we saw were Pluto and Minnie Mouse.  First I didn't prepare them that they would have to wait in a line to meet them and second I didn't prepare them that at some point the characters leave.  It was really important for Elizabeth to meet Pluto and after standing in line for a few minutes, it was announced that he would be moving on.  So EB had her first melt down.  Another lesson I learned was that if you think your kid might not be tall enough to do a ride it probably isn't a good idea to parade him up there only to be told "sorry buddy you don't meet the height requirement."  

To recap our trip and lessons learned... 1) allow plenty of time to get into the park (you aren't the only ones there!) 2) familiarize yourself with a map (side note - Brandon even struggled with the Disney app that was supposedly so wonderful) 3) prepare your children for the character experiences (would you rather do a ride or wait in line for a autograph with a character we may be dining with later) 4) have a back up ride for your shorter child to ride to keep them happy (Grant's melt down in the gift shop was something no one enjoyed witnessing!) Geesh this all seems so obvious now!

The good news is there was a lot that we did do right.  My pink scarf on the stroller was a great idea.  Renting from Magic Strollers worked out really well.  Packing a tube of pennies for the souvenir penny press was also a good idea and the kids had fun looking for the penny stations.  I am guessing the rain ponchos I packed would have come in handy, but we didn't have any rain while we were there.  

My initial emotion was just purely being overwhelmed and not exactly magical, but when I look back the pictures they make me smile and it's kind of like child labor - you just remember the sweet baby in your arms, not all the hard work it took to get there!  So here are our happy memories, until we go back and make a few more! (and maybe get a family picture together!!)

Grant was really excited!

Daddy took a turn pushing to stroller too

Main Street was decorated for Halloween

"White Rabbit" (Grant was OK watching from the sidelines)

On the Tea Cups

EB's very special face painting.  She didn't get to do it at the St.Jude Kid's Run this year because she had her dance recital and we have been promising her she could get her face painted somewhere.  Well of course Disney had a face painting station and she found it!  We smiled, bit the bullet (because we knew it would be pricey) but she was so thrilled and happy it was worth it and with the way everything went down over the next few hours we were so glad we said yes.  Plus everybody in the airports and planes complimented her so we really got our monies worth! 

It was worth the wait to see the step sisters and step mother from Cinderella.  They were a hoot!  Again, Grant was OK just watching :)

We were going to eat lunch but Grant spotted the carousel and insisted we do that before we ate.  Again, another thing we are glad we said yes to.  We all four rode on a horse and smiled the entire time! 

We also did Dumbo and Goofy's Barnstormer roller coaster.  There was no wait at Lilo and Stitch's Great Escape ride so we did that, but I would not do it again.  Personally I just thought the ride was dumb.  Grant pulled a good one on this attraction though.  You enter a round room with chairs and restraints automatically come down.  When they hit your shoulders they go up just a tiny bit so you are comfortable yet still secure.  Well our little buddy was sitting on his knees when the shoulder restraints came down so that meant he had plenty of room to weasel out.  Since we had never been on this ride I had no idea how important these restraints were.  I held my hand on his leg but half way through he slide out and tried to sit on my lap!  I was restrained myself so there was very little we could do to make him sit in his chair.  Brandon and I were looking at each other like "what do we do now?!"  I had to assume because no one came and checked our restraints that they weren't really necessary and that was in deed the case so it was all good, but a little hairy for a moment.  Needless to say I don't need to do that ride again!  Elizabeth and Grant drove us around the Tomorrowland Speedway and the last ride was Space Mountain.  This was the ride that Grant didn't make it on due to his height.  We did the rider swap and Brandon and I both rode with Elizabeth.  She is our thrill seeker and absolutely loved it!  I think she might actually do the Tower of Terror.