Day 2- Magic Kingdom Part 2

After we joined back up with the boys, we all headed over to the most highly anticipated ride of the trip- the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Fantasyland.  I purposely left many of the main attractions of Fantasyland out of our first day in Magic Kingdom because I knew we'd be starting out there on our last day, and there were so many other lands to cover before then.  But we had heard so many wonderful and amazing and incredible things about this ride that we got FastPasses for it both days.  And let's just say- five of us thought it was pretty awesome.

Poor Noah was completely miserable on this ride.  It's a combination somewhat intense roller coaster and story ride that weaves through the mines of the seven dwarfs.  It was jerky and the drops and turns were more than I preferred, and Jason said that Noah was as white as a sheet by the end of the ride.  He did NOT like it at all, and it  ended his short-lived bravery on the roller coasters of Disney World.  We spent the rest of the week utilizing the kid swap, which made for extra fun for the other kids since they got to ride each ride twice- once with Mom and once with Dad.  

Even just watching this movie about the ride is too much for Noah- poor little guy says the same thing every time- "I did NOT like that ride."  He was plenty brave for a three year old, but this ride was one that he and I were both happy to skip for the rest of the trip.

We started to make our way over to Buzz Lightyear after that, with a stop at the teacups on our way.

I took the less-spinny kids in my cup and Jason took the daredevils, but Leah tricked me and tried to spin us right out of the park!  

Hey look!  Jason and I were in a picture together.  With two kids per parent at all times we spent a good amount of the trip separated- from the airplane with the boys row and the girls row to the hotel rooms with the boys room and the girls room (double beds at Disney World do not equal romantic getaway in my book!  Quality sleep whenever possible was key, and that meant the two biggest people in the family did not share a bed) to the times that we had to separate to accommodate little and big kids on the rides, we were both there but certainly didn't spend a whole lot of time connecting and snuggling on this vacation.  We did a great job of balancing each other's crazy moments out (mostly mine, let's be honest) and absolutely loved being there together, but this trip was definitely a family-oriented one!

We hurried over to Buzz to use our last scheduled Fastpasses of the day, and some serious magic happened for Noah.  He was adorable in his costume, and had seen enough pictures of Adam battling Zurg that he knew just what to do on the ride.  And that was a whole lot of fun.

Look at those brave space rangers!

Isn't this the sweetest thing ever?  

 We didn't have any time to explore the rest of Tomorrowland right then- it was time for dinner!  

We made our way over the bridge, back down Main Street and stopped for another picture in front of the castle

before making our way into this beautiful building for dinner at Tony's Restaurant- the location of Lady and the Tramp's first kiss!

Dinner was tasty- busy, but the service was prompt and we were all happy to sit and rest for a bit before we headed back into the park for the most magical part of the day- night time!  I just loved the lights and fireworks and even the light-up toys that we had been carrying around all day.  Plus, nighttime means even more chances to hold hands and snuggle up together (not that there was really even a chill in the air, the weather was so perfect), which was overall one of my favorite parts about the trip.

We got another FastPass for It's A Small World and hurried over to catch the boat.  On the ramp leading down to the ride Noah (who hadn't napped yet this day, and it was now around 7 PM) crumpled on the ground- I thought he had fallen- and Jason scooped up the sobbing little boy who cried out, "I don't waaaannaaa go on another ride!!!"  Poor little buddy- his nerves were completely shot.  This ride was right up his alley and he loved every minute of it.  

We wanted to see Rapunzel's village at night, so we headed back over there and spent a few sweet minutes twirling and trying to catch the floating lanterns.   

Then we headed back to the carousel.  We had a bit of time to kill before the fireworks show started at 8:30, and just enough time before our next FastPass to ride again.

Leah insisted on riding side saddle- 

Adam didn't mind one bit about being the only child not in costume- he knew his day was coming up soon.  And is there anything cuter than a Buzz Lightyear and his big brother riding horses together?  

When we got on the carousel Emma took off in one direction while the rest of us went in the other direction, so I sent Jason after her.  That was the closest we came to losing anyone the whole trip, which was pretty miraculous, but I was still a little anxious about not being able to actually see her on the carousel until the ride was over.  They were on the exact opposite side of the carousel from us, so I didn't get to see her in her costume riding on one of Prince Charming's horses.  When we all reunited I asked Jason if he took pictures and he said that he hadn't , but that she had had fun.... which is when tired, crazy, months of planning Disney mom came out.  I responded, "I don't care if she was having a good time!  I want a picture of it so she'll remember it after tonight!  Go get on the ride again and this time take pictures!"  

It sounded ridiculous even as the words were coming out of my mouth, but I knew from experience that the memories we were most likely to keep from this trip were the ones that had pictures to go along with them!  And Emma was happy to oblige.  

Sad!

Happy!

And a shot of side-riding sisters.  Much better memory keepers!

 Noah and I waited this time out- 

 and then he finally fell asleep.  It was already past bedtime, and this poor little boy had no idea that we still had hours of fun ahead of us!  We stopped by the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, where Jason was spotlighted as "the guy who looks like he needs a hug" and then we found a place to park for the fireworks.

I think Noah slept through the castle fireworks both of the nights, but the view was clear for the rest of us.  I remember so clearly the crush of people that surrounded us when we were last at the Magic Kingdom- in June 2012- and was so happy that this was a far less crowded experience. 

There is something so magical about the castle, the music and the fireworks.  This night we were even surrounded by people that also had young kids and understood the reasoning behind letting the small people get the best view.  (Nevermind the many, many crazies that we encountered at other times throughout the trip that seemed to forget that Disney World is supposed to be about making childhood memories.)

This was pure magic.

We were definitely slowing down after the fireworks show was over, but the park was open until 11 and we were going to take advantage of it!  We experienced the magic of flying with Dumbo at night-

and then went to investigate what I had suspected for the last few hours- 

the princesses were waiting to meet us!  

The Hall of Princesses is located right by the carousel, and the wait time was over an hour- usually closer to two hours- for the majority of the day.  I purposely didn't plan any time for meeting characters because that seemed like a colossal waste of time to me, especially knowing that we will be meeting all the characters we'd like when we take a Disney cruise next year.  But once the kids caught wind of the fact that there were characters nearby, they were interested in making it happen.

Good time for a side note- our children are not overly opinionated and are certainly not whiners.  They are all super easy-going, like their daddy, which means that crazy mommy gets to make almost all of the decisions around here because I am just so darn passionate about ALL of the things.  Planning our days at Disney was almost entirely up to me because I cared about it being just right a whole lot more than anyone else.  And once we were in the park I had a happy little clan waiting to be told what to do- mostly because they had no idea what all of their options were.  Of course I was willing to acquiesce to Noah's vehement refusal to ride any more scary rides after Seven Dwarfs, but there really weren't a lot of opinions or refusals and certainly no foot stamping, whining, or melting children to be found on this trip, even as the days went by and the hours of sleep logged remained ridiculously small.  In general we were a happy family of troopers that were ready and willing to try just about anything, and we tried to stick together while we did it.

So!  Having said that, even when the kids found out that there were characters to meet, they fully understood that the wait times were outrageous and that we would simply do our best to see them if we could.  There were plenty of characters that we never tried to see, but by 10:30 on that first night the wait time was down to five minutes and we basically walked right up to meet Rapunzel, Elena, Tiana, and Cinderella.  And they were so beautiful and gracious and SO interested in the kids and of course didn't seem at all like they had already met 1,100 children that day.

Clearly I was excited too... ha!

Mom and Dad didn't really want to get in the pictures, but when Cinderella tells you to take a picture, you take a picture!

Elena was thrilled to meet some of her fellow princess friends.

 The girls had their Elena crowns but had left them in the stroller.  Still, what a beautiful trio!

Rapunzel was probably my favorite princess- she was so sweet and energetic!

She told Adam that she understood a man's code of honor and was willing to give him a high five rather than insisting on a hug.

 But the girls were all hugs!

 This picture... I think she loves Buzz Lightyear just as much as I do!

And Tiana had so much to say- the kids could hardly get a word in!

 Which Emma loved.

 Tiana insisted on hugs all around.

This is possibly my favorite picture of Noah from the entire trip... poor boy hardly knew what to do with himself at this hour of the night.  So instead of "smile", he went for "shoot".

Meeting the princesses felt like another bit of Disney magic- there were SO many things that we wanted to do on our trip, and with the exception of the boys getting out to Tom Sawyer's island (which they didn't really care about at all), we were able to do every single thing.  Another spoiler alert- we did EVERYTHING we wanted to do at Disney World- all of the rides to ride, shows to see, foods to eat, characters to meet, fireworks to enjoy, buses to catch, souvenirs to purchase, even all of the pictures we wanted to take- we were able to do it all.

It was magic.

And we were all smiles right up to the end.

Eventually the park closed and we had to make our way back to our hotel- no small task with two sleeping babies and a stroller that had to be folded up on the bus.  But we made it back without any tears and I looked at the clock just as I tucked the last sleeping baby into bed- 11:59 PM.  It was a very FULL day of magic, and we were all happy, exhausted, and excited to do it all again in the morning.

Day 2- Magic Kingdom

Finally!  It was time to make our way into the most magical of all kingdoms.  We were up and ready to go with the sun on our first day- stroller, snacks, magic bands, costumes, lights sabers, scepters, and matching Mickey shirts all in tow.  Our hopes were high and our energy levels were too.   If I don't mention this a hundred more times before I'm done posting about this trip, I'll say it now- there is nothing relaxing about a DisneyWorld vacation, at least not the way we did it.  There was so much to do and see and eat and meet and enjoy- and we were ready to go!

I'll declare it right now- this was my favorite of all of our days in the parks.  Starting at the castle.

 Look who joined us!

The day was very nicely and carefully scheduled out, we were all rested and ready to go, and everything was new and pure magic, from the first sighting of Mickey Mouse at 8:45 in the morning to the last princess we met just before the park closed at 11:00 at night- this was a perfect day of Disney.

 After asking and asking, Noah finally got to see what he'd been looking for- this was Disney World!

 Once the lands officially opened, we started out on the traditional Henscheid family route- to the left!

We did Aladdin's magic carpets, the jungle cruise, the tiki room, and Pirates of the Caribbean with hardly any wait on any of them.

And then we made our first mistake of the trip- we stopped for a snack.  It was in our schedule, and it felt good to sit down in the shade for a minute (this was the coolest day we had with a high of 78 and we were all wearing jeans for the only time of the trip) but then we headed over to Frontierland and proceeded to stand in line for Splash Mountain for a good 40 minutes.  Lesson learned- whenever possible snacks were brought snacks into the line with us and ate as we inched forward.  That would have been a good distraction for this ride in particular- while some were excited to get wet and volunteered to sit in the front-

some of us were just a little worried about the 50 foot plunge.

Poor Leah was about to have a full-blown anxiety attack by the time we sat down in the log.  She doesn't like log rides, and I know that, but I also know that she sometimes talks herself into making something worse than it really is.  And that she was going to miss out on a lot of the big kid fun of Disney World if she wasn't willing to give these rides a try.  So I snapped this picture then talked to her about things we could see, hear, smell, touch, and even taste to help her get control over the situation as best she could.

It was definitely a scary drop, but we all came out alive and- another spoiler alert- it gave Leah the confidence to try every other ride in every park that she wanted to.  She rode Splash Mountain 3 times, Big Thunder Mountain once, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 3 times, Space Mountain once, the Rock-n-Roller Coaster twice, Expedition Everest twice, Test Track twice, and even talked Noah through the Haunted Mansion.  And she loved them all and was super proud of herself.  So this was the band-aid ride for her, and I think she's glad she did it.  And any ride that she was nervous about she grabbed onto me and said, "You helped me so much on Splash Mountain!  I need you to sit with me on this ride!"

The bribe of our first Mickey bars helped, too. which we grabbed after we watched the Bear Country Jamboree.  I think that was the weirdest show we saw all week, and Emma really wanted to know how those mounted heads were talking.  I answered a lot of the kids questions about how things worked with "it's the Disney Magic!" but for this show she said, "I think they killed the animals then stuck a machine inside their heads to make them talk after they died."

Close enough.

It's funny, but for as silly as the show was we've had a good time laughing about it ever since.

We enjoyed a special treat with our first Mickey Bars- the cast member working the cart asked us if it was really our first time at Disney World (the kids were wearing "1st Time" buttons, since it was our first time as our family, and the first time by most of their memories) and then he gave us our ice cream for free!  Anything free at Disney World is pretty hard to come by, and that was a fun way to make the day feel even more special.  

Side note on food- we opted not to pay for the $275/day dining plan, not only because there is no way our kids would eat enough food to justify that expense (Leah was considered an adult, so she would have needed to order- and probably throw away half of- $68 of food a day), but also because we didn't want to spend a huge chunk of our day in restaurants waiting for food.  We've vacationed enough that I knew what to expect from my kids eating habits and planned accordingly.  We had breakfast in our hotel- either food from our grocery run or in the cafeteria (which served Mickey waffles!) and had one dining experience planned each day.  That combined with lots of snacks from our stroller and a few treats from the parks thrown in here and there and no one went hungry, ever.  Hungry babies are grouchy babies, so if they asked for food they got it.  And since we walked an average of 10 miles a day, we had plenty of reasons to need fuel!

So we ate our Mickey bars (except for Noah, who was more interested in the fruit bars and frozen lemonade, and Jason and I, who just finished off what the kids couldn't) while we were in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and also learned that we needed to have water with us at all times.  It was getting hot!  Not that we were complaining- it was the middle of January after all!  That ride had a too-long line and was a bit too jerky for me- I already knew my fearless roller coaster days are behind me, but if I was going to make Leah- and Noah!- do it, I was going to do it too!  

We were all ready for another break after that ride, so we headed over to the "Tangled Toilets" and enjoyed sitting in the shade, eating lunch from the stroller, and feeling like we had landed in Rapunzel's hometown for a bit while we waited for our first FastPass time of the day to arrive- Peter Pan!  The most magical of all rides on which you actually fly!  It was fun watching some of the magic change in Leah's eyes from the last time we went (when she was 6) but also fun to listen to her enjoy the magic with the little kids.  We also watched Mickey's Philharmagic before we split up.

It was time for the most highly anticipated event of the day for the girls- a visit to Cinderella's castle to transform into princesses at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique.  Leah and Emma both wanted to dress up as Elena of Avalor, which wasn't offered by the boutique when I made the reservation back in October, so we packed in our own beautiful dresses to change into in the castle.  The hair, nails, and makeup were so magical, and I especially loved watching Leah for what will definitely be her last time enjoying such a sweet childhood memory in the making.  And oh, Emma and her sweet sparkling eyes.  These godmothers know how to make an inner princess shine!

I opted not to wait for the 45 minutes plus to get studio pictures of the girls- we had another FastPass to catch!

But these cute girls did a great job posing for me outside Cinderella's castle.  Disney World is tricky because it is so difficult to really slow down and enjoy each thing- there is always another amazing memory waiting to be made in just a few minutes.  But this was an espeically fun pause in the day with my girls- my little princesses!

While we were in the castle, the boys rode on Prince Charming's carousel (Noah's tied-for-top favorite ride of all the parks) and tried to catch the riverboat over to Tom Sawyer's island, but they didn't quite make it in time.  Jason said that was one of his least favorite parts of the day because it was unstructured time- further proof that a detailed day at Disney is the way to do it!

And I'm going to stop this post here.  There is still so much to cover before this day was over- the park didn't close until 11:00 that night because it was a holiday weekend.  But we were definitely off to a wonderful start!