Day 3: Magic Kingdom

Ok, so actually, we're going to start on the the night of Day 2.  We got back to the resort after the Halloween party and it was immediately time for bed.  Riley got top bunk that night, so Gavin was on the bottom and I was on the side of the queen bed closest to him.  Remember how I said he was up with some tummy issues the night before?  Well around midnight, I hear him start to stir a bit.  I sat up and asked if he was ok, if his belly was hurting again, and he didn't really respond much, just some noises.  Thirty second later, he threw up all over the bed.  :( Of course, I instantly thought our Magic Kingdom day was going to be ruined.  I called the front desk and major kudos to Disney...they were on it!  Apparently, this happens often there because of dehydration.  She had housekeeping up changing the bed within minutes, gave me some suggestions for Gavin and even had Pedialyte at the desk for him.  I was so grateful.

I didn't sleep much the rest of the night as I was checking on him (who was now asleep next to Jarrod so I was in the bunk bed) but he slept fine the rest of the night and woke up feeling ready for Magic Kingdom (thankfully!) so off we went.

We ended up riding the bus to the Grand Floridian that morning and hopped on the monorail just so the kids could experience it and they loved it!

As recommended, we got to the park before they opened and were ready and waiting when they did the welcome ceremony.  Pretty special! 

 

  

When the gates officially opened you could see the crowd! 

We followed the crowd right back to Fantasyland and hopped in line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.  Sadly, they told us Riley was a bit too short.  Darn!  She was so excited about that ride.  I distracted her though and scooped her right up to wait in line to meet Elsa and Anna! Our moods quickly changed from sad to excited!

While we waited, the boys got to ride the roller coasted (in the very back car!)  Gavin forgot to take his ears off and they almost got lost forever....luckily Jarrod grabbed them right as they were about to blow off.

 

They joined us for the rest of our wait to meet Elsa and Anna, but of course, Gavin was too cool to pose for pictures with the princesses.

She loved talking to Anna about Olaf (he was at the beach...darn, we missed him!) and showed Elsa how she, too, can make things freeze with the stomp of her foot.

 We had a great time riding rides in Fantasyland and visited Gaston's Tavern for a cinnamon roll treat.  I'm kind of bummed that I cannot remember where we had lunch that day!  Even looking back at the lists of restaurants doesn't help.  Wow...my memory is bad! 

More princesses!  We got to meet Rapunzel and Cinderella, too.  Rapunzel was one of my favorites...she really got Riley to smile and told her she had to show her teeth.

Another fun part of our trip was Enchanted Tales with Belle.  I'd read about this and knew they'd ask for volunteers.  I hadn't told Jarrod that part, and while I was hoping he might be picked, I didn't think he would...but he was!  Haha!  Riley, of course, wanted a part...Gavin did not.  ;)

Jarrod got to be one of the knights, and Riley was a salt shaker.

After the 'show' all the kids were able to go up and get a bookmark from Belle and Gavin did go up to get his picture with her. :)

We, of course, loved seeing Cinderella's castle.  So magnificent!  I'd love to see this thing all lit up for Christmas.  I can only imagine...

The Tea Cups were quite the hit!  We rode this ride twice...and this picture could very likely be my most favorite picture of the whole trip.  Pure HAPPINESS on both of their faces.

We had dinner that evening at Liberty Tree Tavern, which was awesome.  It was a Thanksgiving-type family style dinner set in an 18th-century colonial atmosphere.  We stopped by for a Pineapple Whip before heading back to the resort for a little rest.  I knew I wanted to stay at the park late that night for the Electrical Parade so I thought we should have some down time.  Honestly...there was very little resting.  I think we were only in the room for 20 minutes before the kids were ready to head back.  And when we arrived at around 7, there were already people lining Main St. for the parade.  Bummer...  That kind of made us feel like we needed to pop a squat so we parked the stroller and then took turns wandering through shops with the kids to keep them busy. And we blew bubbles.  And we took funny face pictures.  You know...basically everything we could!

 

We bought light swords and made as many collector pennies as we could find on Main St.  And then, about five minutes before the parade was about to start, this happened...

Gavin opened his eyes for part of the parade, but there was no waking Riley at all.  In fact, when I tried, she looked at me and shook her finger in my face, chanting 'No, no, no, no!' and immediately went back to sleep.  So...she missed the one thing I actually remembered from my trip to Disney from my childhood.  Haha!

 

And because they were so tired, we chose not to wait for fireworks.  We headed back, put the kids to bed, and then to my pleasant surprise, I found that I could see the fireworks show from our balcony.  And it made my night!

Phew!  Two more days....I'm getting there!