When in Florida, Do Disney - FL Vacation Part 4

And for two days we did Disney.

Now if you have ever been to Disney World you know that two days is not enough time to visit the entire thing (I'm not sure two weeks is either), but we tried. We stayed at a Disney resort and for two days we had park hopper passes. Now with young children you can skip over things that they won't see (like fireworks shows) and, since they don't sleep in anyway, you can get to the parks early. But with young children you do have to take some time out/nap time during the middle of the day.

We tried to use these to our advantage and arrived just after the parks opened the first day. The first park we went to was MGM Studios. This is a great park to go if your children want to meet the Characters. My daughter just was beyond herself when she met Mickey. Here she is waiting in line getting her pen and autograph book ready.


After lunch at the Studios we went back to the Resort to rest, which didn't last as long as we had hoped, and then went to the pool for a quick swim.

Redressed and ready to go we headed for the bus station to catch the next bus to Animal Kingdom. Of course it was just driving away as we got there, so when the Epcot bus arrived we decided that we would just go there. If we were smart we would have called for dinner reservations right then, but unfortunately we didn't.

Epcot was fun. We got strollers for each kid and started towards the Nemo ride. Along the way the three year old fell fast asleep so we thought we might visit the world showcase first. When we got to France they had a Craft for Kids sponsored by Sharpie. It was paper masks that the kids decorated with the new sharpie color markers. Now I don't know about you, but sharpies are the last markers I will buy for my child. Okay, maybe when she is 17 and needs them for a school project. But seriously. My daughter actually said, "But mommy you told me that I can't use those markers." And I did, so I had to amend it to just this once. Here is her mask:


Each country had a little dangle that you could add to your mask, things that represented that country. We had fun until we couldn't find a sit down restaurant that we could get a table. I wanted Japanese food, but we should have stayed in Morocco like my friend suggested. Finally in China we found a place that had seating and food the kids would eat. Due to time we were rushing out as the fireworks started and headed to the Monorail for the Magic Kingdom.

We arrived at the Kingdom just in time for the fireworks over the castle, but the children decided they wanted only to ride rides. There were no waits in Adventureland so in less then an hour we rode Pirates of the Caribbean, the Jungle Cruise, and Aladdin's Carpet ride (many times). On the way back to the hotel both kids passed out. Here's mine:


Day two there was no sleeping in. We got back to the Magic Kingdom for it's early opening for resort guest. This time we headed straight for the Haunted Mansion. My daughter was scared at first, but I've never gone to Disney and not ridden it. I told her it was just pretend and as long as I held her hand she seem to enjoy it. After the ride was over, she asked if we were going back to the hotel. I said no and asked why. She said she didn't want a ghost to follow us home, but if we were going to the hotel that would be okay. LOL

After that we headed for Fantasyland before it got too crowded. This is where you find my daughters now favorite ride, Dumbo. I can't believe I stood in line for 45 minutes in the Florida heat in August to ride it, but she loved it and that made it so worth it in the end.


After all the rides in Fantasyland and some ice cream on Main Street we headed home. What a great time. I won't forget my daughters first time at Disney.