Well, we managed to keep Disney a secret from the girls until we arrived there Monday morning. In fact, we had to point out the sign as we went under it as Megan failed to notice and read any of the 167 billboards leading up to it. We had told them we were just going to another hotel that was near a place that had great toy stores, as they had been saving up their money for this for months. Oh, the lure of a toy store, especially one that had reached legendary status in their many discussions about it. Anyway, thanks to the extensive planning and researching, including many discussions at the Villages that involved code words and spelling, the morning went very smoothly and we made it to the Magic Kingdom just as it opened. Sean had used ridemax.com to plan out the day. (Why yes, as a child Sean would point out everything they missed on the map whenever they left an amusement park.... so he was trying to prevent the same torture being done to him by his own children).
So we started with what I would say are the nostalgia rides: It's a Small World, Snow White, Peter Pan, etc. There was no wait which I thought was an appropriate amount since I'd never been and thus it had no appeal to me. The kids loved them though so I guess that is why people were later wasting, I mean, waiting an hour to get on them. Then we rushed around getting fast passes for various things, again, according to the ridemax master. It's really all a blur for me... just trying to keep up with everyone and then hanging with Patrick while everyone went on the better rides. I feel like we did about 6% of the stuff there and I should have been off exploring instead of waiting outside rides, but I didn't want to deal with trying to find each other later. Fortunately it wasn't crowded at all (or so they say-- I cannot imagine going during the busy season, yikes!) and the weather was perfect, so no regrets on pulling the kids out of school, even though they missed their school carnivals and Anna's preschool program and some field trips. Fortunately we did all the same stuff last year and I think this was a tad more fun.
Okay, here are some photos from day 1 of 3. In no particular order... Bridget in It's a Small World, Patrick crashed out in the stroller again (amazing!), the crew minus me in front of the castle (duh), and a bad shot of some ride I didn't go on... Sean cut off on the left side, then Timer & Sharon, and then check the guy on the right side- hilarious! I have tons of photos of people I don't know from rides as I always timed those wrong...
