WDW Day 3 & 4: Magic Kingdom & O'Hana

Tuesday morning, our 3rd day of vacation, we got up early for Magic Kingdom.  I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was more exciting than the kids to get to Magic Kingdom.  We got there shortly after the park opened (although we missed the rope drop into the park) and the boys were blown away, as were the rest of us! It's impossible to not feel like a child when you pass through the gates into Main Street, USA.  As soon as we walked in, we stumbled upon one of the many daily parades so we parked our stroller on the curb and watched the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It parade.  Collier was quick to point out the Toy Story characters but was really in awe of it all.  This is a short parade that takes place several times throughout the day and travels down Main Street and circles in front of the castle where the characters dance with you in the streets.  Since it had been YEARS since any of us had been to the MK, we grabbed maps to get our bearings and headed off toward the New Fantasyland part of the park.  Since we were there on a Tuesday, we were super pleased that the park wasn't busy at all and thanks to our handicap pass, we waited at the most for 5 minutes.  However, even without our pass, we would've been able to get on the rides fairly quickly. The longest wait time that I saw posted was 15 minutes.  September is a good time to go because the parks are less crowded however it was still really hot and temps were in the 90's with high humidity.  Our first ride was Dumbo the Flying Elephant.  I rode with Collier and Noah rode with Jamie.  Noah LOVED every single second on it and Collier was terrified... so much so that he was screaming and trying to CLIMB out from under his lap seatbelt and I had to pin him down!  Next we got on the infamous Mad Tea Party teacups and Collier chose to sit this one out.  Again, Noah was on cloud 9!  I was shocked at how Noah loved everything and Collier was so scared.  I actually thought it was be the complete opposite... just goes to show you how kids keep us guessing!



Next, we walked into Pete's Silly Slideshow, which is a Big Top circus tent where you can meet Disney characters (and cool off in the air conditioning!)... the boys got in line to meet Goofy and Donald Duck!  The expressions on their faces when they spotted the characters and ott to hug them was literally PRICELESS.  On the other side of the tent were 2 girl characters, I THINK Daisy was one of them, but I can't remember because we didn't get in line for them.  Like everything at Disney, after it's over, you end up in a Disney memorabilia store where the floor to ceiling is lined with Disney stuffed animals, toys, clothing, hats, candy, mugs, ...you name it! Of course, we did some shopping and the boys got their first set of monogrammed Mickey Mouse ears and Collier picked out a stuffed Goofy and a choo-choo train (that went on every single ride with us from this point on.)  After this we got right on Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid, which I loved every moment of! It was one of my favorites and such a cute ride that is a real life (animatronic) version of the movie. 

 

For lunch, we waited in a 30 minute line to eat at the Be Our Guest Restaurant in the Beast's Castle.  It was Ah-mazing and the food was delicious!  It was a replica of the castle, located in the "mountains" and the interior décor was breath-taking.  It's incredible the amount of detail that goes into everything that Disney does.  The castle was a sight to see and despite it being very, very busy, they have service down to a TEE and we got our food quickly.  This restaurant is a sit down meal where you place your order at a kiosk, pay and they bring it all out to you.  I had the Carved Turkey Sandwich and it was delicious!  After we filled our bellies, we set back out to ride more rides... "it's a small world," Peter Pan's Flight, and the Haunted Mansion.  After we got out of the Haunted Mansion, we claimed a spot in Liberty Square and waited for about 15 minutes until the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade began.  We had a front row spot and the kids got to see a lot of our favorite characters from all of the classic Disney movies.  This was my favorite parade that we saw the entire trip.  Following the parade, we did some shopping (Christmas ornaments from the Christmas Shoppe in Liberty Square!)  It was during this time that Collier spotted a glass race car Christmas ornament and had a meltdown over it.  MEEELTDOOOWN.  I was shopping and missed this ordeal (ummm, oops?!) but by the time I had made my purchases Jamie had had enough and since it was late afternoon, he decided it was time to head back to the condo for the kids to get a much needed nap.  The entire day, all Collier had talked about was riding the choo-choo train, so we walked to Frontierland and loaded up on the Walt Disney World Railroad and took the train ride all the way around the park back to the front entrance in Main Street.  Jamie's parents headed back to get in the van, but Jamie and I took the boys into the Town Square Theater, where you can meet Mickey Mouse and some of the Disney Princesses.  This was the longest wait of the day but was still only around 15 minutes, however, it had started raining so it was a great place for us to pass the time during the typical Florida pop-up shower.  Meeting Mickey for the first time was the HIGHLIGHT of our entire trip.  Collier was in awe.  His face lit up and he couldn't believe it!  Noah was so excited and it was absolutely precious watching Mickey interact with both boys.  He knew that Noah had special needs and gave him extra special time and attention.  It's that kind of special, accommodating service that makes Disney such an incredible, well worth the money experience.  The ENTIRE trip, they would go over and beyond for Noah and it's things like that they make the trip that much more special for us.  I'll bet we had a good 5+ minutes with Mickey, while most people get maybe 2 minutes.  When Collier first approached Mickey, Mickey touched his own nose to try and get Collier to rub noses with him... Then it was Noah's turn and he kissed Mickey on the nose. My heart melted right there.  Then Mickey bent down and played with Collier's choo-choo train that he had been carrying in his arms, giving it a gentle push on the floor.  We got family photos with Mickey and finally went on our way.  I think Jamie and I were both speechless after our precious, unforgettable encounter with the mouse.  However, it was a great way to end our amazing day at the HAPPIEST place on Earth, so we headed back to the van to meet up with Jamie's parents and headed back to get some rest.



 



 

 

 



 



We relaxed around the hotel room until later that evening, when around 7:30pm Jamie and I decided we wanted to get the boys out of the room and go to dinner.  We loaded the boys up in the huge 15 passenger van, headed to Downtown Disney and had. a. BLAST! We went to the T-Rex Café, which is basically the Rainforest Café with huge, life-like dinosaurs. It was such a fun, loud restaurant with lots to see and a huge variety of yummy food.  I would DEFINITELY recommend this restaurant, especially if you had little kids because our boys had a blast.  I had tried to make reservations months in advance but didn't have any luck, however that night, we walked up and the wait was only 20 minutes, but actually ended up being a little less than that.  Following our dinner, we headed back out into Downtown Disney and found a saxophone player surrounded by a crowd of people playing a great rendition of a Pitbull song so I swept Collier up and we danced in the streets. This night ended up being my absolute favorite of our whole trip.  While it was fun being there with Jamie's family, it was nice going out and acting silly and making memories with my 3 boys! 



Wednesday morning, Jamie and I woke up early and headed to Magic Kingdom for a morning by ourselves.  His parents agreed to watch the boys for us so that we could have some fun and ride the roller coasters.  Our first one of the morning was Space Mountain and we literally walked straight onto it at 9am.  Talk about starting your morning off with a bang! I got stuck riding in the front cart and was a nervous WRECK the whole ride!  I couldn't see a thing and was terrified there would be a big drop so I kept my eyes shut almost the whole ride.  Thankfully, there was no drop and I survived.  After Space Mountain, we headed allll the way across the park to Thunder Mountain Railroad and were able to ride it twice back to back without any wait.  This was my favorite of the two... something about being in the pitch dark scares me on a roller coaster so I preferred Thunder Mountain Railroad, which is an easy but fun coaster.  Afterwards we headed to Aloha Isle for the famous Dole Whip ice cream, vanilla soft serve with pineapple juice poured on top.  I've heard about hour long lines just to get the Dole Whip but fortunately for us, there was no line.  Jamie and I rode Pirates of the Caribbean and got stuck on the ride for 15 - 20 minutes where we sat listening to the pirates sing "Yo-Ho-Yo-Ho a Pirate's life for me..." over and over and over and OVER.  Finally they got the ride up and going but that song stuck in our heads for the rest of the day.  We ate an early lunch/snack at Sleepy Hollow where I got a Waffle sandwich... a big waffle with layers of Nutella, fresh strawberries and blueberries.  YUM-MY.  I think I was on a mission this particular day to try all of the snacks that I had heard and read about!  After some more walking around and just hanging out together, we headed back to the condo around noon because Jamie's parents had to have the van to go to the airport because his brother, Wes, his wife, Haley and their little girl Madelyn were flying in that afternoon!

By the time they all arrived back from the airport, another Florida shower moved it's way in and it rained a good bit of the afternoon.  Once the rain stopped, we all walked out to the covered playground area that was beside the pool at our resort, and let the kids burn off some energy while we enjoyed one another's company.  I'm telling you, I was initially disappointed that we weren't staying in the parks, but our resort was pretty amazing.  I've already mentioned how huge our condo was and the pool was gigantic and had all kinds of daily entertainment.  Then they had the covered play area on AstroTurf with lots of playground equipment.  So even though we got rained out from going to the Disney parks that day, we didn't get rained out from letting the kids play outside.  It was kind of a nice break from parks, anyway. 

Later that evening, we had dinner reservations at 'Ohana at the Polynesian resort.  This restaurant is recommended by ALL who've had it and it's a MUST during a Disney vacation.  'Ohana means family in Hawaiian and the food is served family-style.  In the center of the large dining room is the open fire pit, where cast members are grilling long skewers of meat and shrimp.  The meal includes plates and bowls of Polynesian-inspired dishes, beginning with the delicious freshly-baked pineapple bread, which is also known as "Welcome Bread."  Next up is a mixed green salad with Honey Lime dressing (amazing!), lo mein noodles with vegetables and teriyaki sauce, stir fry veggies, pork dumplings drizzled with sweet and sour sauce and honey-coriander chicken wings.  After you eaten all of these delicious appetizers, the main course is served...grilled meats stacked high on long skewers: mesquite grilled turkey, Asian BBQ Pork loin, marinated sirloin steak, and spicy peel-n-eat shrimp.  Just when you think you've reached your limit, they bring out the dessert... 'Ohana Bread Pudding a la mode with Bananas Foster sauce.  Even though you may not have room for dessert, you MUST eat the Bread Pudding.  All the while, a cast member is providing entertainment: passing out leis, showing anyone willing how to hula and singing and playing the ukulele.  'Ohana makes for a fun evening and we loved the meal, even if we did all leave stuffed!  After stuffing our bellies, we loaded up in our 15 passenger van and headed back to the hotel to get ready for another fun day in Disney!