... Magic Kingdom

I have been somewhat avoiding this, my journal, knowing that this particular post would be really hard. There were so many things that we did and of course zillions of photos... 947 to be exact... I knew this post would take a lot of my time. That being said, here goes nothing.

Friday morning, March 13th, we arrived Thursday evening, Bill and I woke up extra early to go run. We had both agreed that we didn't want our exercise routine get away from us especially with all the food that would be so freely at our fingertips. It was weird that at 6:30 am it was still dark! The sun didn't even start to rise until 7. (At home it's getting light at 6.) I didn't particularly like running in the dark, especially in a new place. I didn't listen to music so I could be more alert. I always wonder when I'm running outside, "What would I do/be cable of doing if someone was to come up and attack me from behind?" Normally I think I could do a pretty good job of defending myself, I'm pretty fit, but when I run... it takes all my energy... would I have any to fight back? I digress... I'm in a thoughtful, yet weird mood tonight. Anyways, back to the fun.

Oh yeah, by the way, the week got so full, that was the first and the last time we ran for the duration of the trip.

Friday was a full day at Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Mistake #1: waking the kids up. They were on PST, basically we, I, woke them up at 5 am. Livi bounced right out no problem. Aaron had to be roused a couple of times, finally slipped out of bed and then laid back down on the floor. Bill advised me against it but I let my excitement control me and well, we headed to breakfast at the Gingerbread House.

The drive to the park took about 30 minutes, not bad, and as soon as I started seeing signs of our destination I could hardly contain myself. Bill even was nice enough to slow down on my request so I could take pictures of our entrance. As soon as the kids saw Mickey and the other Clubhouse characters they lit right up. 

We parked our car, rode the train/cart to the "port", took the ferry across the lake, and then, then we were there. At the "Happiest Place on Earth"! WOW! It was great weather, with just enough humidity to de-intensify the sun. We got through the ticket turnstile, Livi using her "Minnie  ticket", Aaron his Mickey, and us with Goofy. I took the fam straight to the first souvenir shop we saw, not even inside the gates, and had them pick out an autograph book and pen. At first I was trying to look for less expensive items, then remembered... "We don't have to do that this trip!" Thank you Make-a-Wish!!! Livi got a Minnie book with a Tinkerbelle pen and Aaron the "classic autograph book" and a Mickey pen. We stuck them in my backpack 

and we were off. From then, everything is a little bit of a blur. We watched the Disney cast members do a musical performance on Main St. USA. I don't know who I watched more, the dancers, or Olivia. And so went the trip. Everything that I loved was magnified 10 fold in my daughter's eyes.  Even Aaron was caught up in the magic and really came alive. (To this day, cliche or not, he is a very different little boy. As if all the anxiety of the past year was washed away by all of the amazing things he was able to experience. Daily, now, we look into eachother's eyes and smile. I can't explain it. All the frustrations that have been there are gone. I have found the love for my sweet little boy that I have been so longing for, and he has let himself be open to the love of his family. Where before he would pick at and torment for attention, now he plays and laughs. We've all noticed the change, and it is a welcome sight.)

As we made our way into the park we ventured around Cinderella's castle and saw her Fairy

Godmother standing in the shade of it's beauty. This was their first of many autographs/photo opps with the Disney characters. Olivia and I dutifully wore our Give Kids the World and Make a Wish buttons respectively and so it was noticed why we were "Celebrating" for our visit. The Fairy Godmother planted a big kiss right on Livi's forehead, where it stayed for quite a bit of the day. (I didn't think much of it, but toward the end of the trip I realized... I didn't see any other girls with kisses.) Very special. Everyone of the cast members commented on it too. Knowing that it was from either the princesses or Fairy Godmother. 

Off to the rides! I believe the first ride that my kids have ever ridden at Disney would be the Snow White and the Seven Dwarf's ride. (I'll have to check on that.) I know the first "ones" we rode were that one, Pooh Bear, and Dumbo. Bill did his part to help and wore a purple lanyard around his neck that the village had given us. It held our tickets, for safe keeping but also, and "handicapped" pass for Olivia. We were able to go in either the handicapped lane which cut our wait time to practically nothing. The longest we waited for a ride was maybe 10 minutes and that was for Dumbo. After waiting in line for the Fairy Godmother's autograph the cast member also told us that because Livi was Make-A-Wish, we didn't have to wait in the character lines either. That's when the purple lanyard got passed to me. Understandably Bill felt awkward cutting in front of people so blatantly. I too felt weird about it until I saw a little girl Olivia's age trying to brush her long hair out of her face. I surprisingly almost started to cry and told Bill, "You know what? I don't feel bad. These parents can be happy all they have to do is wait in a line when I waited in the hospital for days wondering if my child was even going to live." I was happy to wear the lanyard in the character lines. A bit self-righteous, maybe, but I guess no one can judge till they've stood in my shoes. I was and still am grateful to all the people who recognize challenges as simply that. They can't take the 

pain away, but they sure can add to the pleasure. A couple of times, lines would be short and so we'd wait like everyone else, until a cast member saw the Make-A-Wish button and then would usher us to the front anyways. Everything was so great!

I was amazed at the wonderment placed into our children's eyes as they experienced "It's a Small World" for the first time. Needless to say once was not enough.

Bill and I were itching to ride some "bigger" rides and so talked the kids into the "Haunted Mansion". We practiced our spooky laughs while waiting to try to take the edge of the anticipation off. It worked. I still get scared from that ride. At times I don't know if I was making jokes about it for mine of Olivia's sake. Aaron rode with Daddy and did rather well himself. We tried to keep it even. One cutesy ride for every grown up ride. They did really well. "We told them it's good to go on all the rides so you can see ALL of Disney World." They ate it up. Pirates of the Caribbean was fun. The drop was exhilarating for us all and we were able to enjoy the gift shop at the end. Aaron got the gun, Livi, got sunglasses.

   

More character signings and then the Jungle Cruise. It was great to go on for nostalgic

purposes as well as the fun. My mom LOVED the Jungle Cruise. I remember her talking about how hilarious the tour guide was. Their jokes are so corny, hearing the banter reminded me of my mom. The kids loved it. And then just in the nick of time, great seats for the parade. The parade was spectacular. The song was so great, as all Disney songs are. It said, "It's the time of your life..." and it was. Some of the classic cartoon characters were on floats as well as the princesses with their princes. They even had an evil villains' float. With every princess that came Olivia's mouth 

dropped more and more. She just about fell over when Prince Charming, Snow White's man, blew a kiss to HER! I cried. Sappy I know, but come on. My little girl's dream was so real for those 

moments. She even gasped and raised her hands to her face at the surprise of it all. More than one princess was caught by Livi's gaze. They all did such a fabulous job at making eye contact and recognizing the individual children that were there. Aaron spent the duration of 

 the parade on Bill's shoulders and was quite content. 

Add to the euphoria a little reality and the kids had a meltdown around 3:00. We snapped out of it with a tease of a roller coaster and a few more rides. Aaron was convinced that he was going to do Splash Mountain. He kept saying, over and over, "It's not scary. Me no scared." He settled for Thunder Mountain. The kids loved it. Aaron technically was 2 inches too small but the worker didn't mind and let him on. (The next day his heart was broken in a million pieces when the new worker "did" his job and said no to him. He cried his sad little tears saying, "It's not fair." I cried too. He was right, it wasn't fair. Stick to the same rules everyday.) Regardless, we all loved it, and can't wait 'til Aaron is the coveted height of 40" to ride all the rides. (Or at least most of them.)

We ventured over to Tomorrow Land where the kids got their "licenses and we drove the race

cars. Aaron was so proud of himself, at the end of the race he "bumped mommy" with his car. He thought it was hilarious. (And talk about skill, I took this picture of Livi and I while driving. I'm 

 getting real good at the self photography thing.) The kids and I also flew the rockets up on top of a building. The three of us got to sit together and had a great time. It was the end of a long day and I wasn't so sure I could handle another round and round, Bill knew he couldn't, so I gave it a try. I'm glad I did. It was really nice. Much

better than Dumbo. And a great view. We also got to cool down on the "Laugh Floor". This was FANTASTIC. We all laughed out loud for the entire show. It's from "Monster's INC" and it's different monsters on screen interacting with the audience. Bill and I were amazed at the technology of it all. They did jokes with the audience members as if the comedic monster was live on stage. Aaron was sitting on my lap and the monster/comedian said, "And how about this two headed monster over here?..." A live feed of Aaron and I was put up on the big screen. He asked about where we were from and made some jokes about it. We had a blast. Bill and I agreed that it was nice for Aaron to be in the spotlight.

 

As we left the park there was another parade happening in front of the castle. We stopped to watch and then it turned into a street dance. They pulled the audience into the street and we got to dance right along with the cast members. They were sweating buckets, but looked as if they were having the time of their lives. We surely did. Kudos to Bill for sacrificing his mad dance skills and standing on the sidelines to take pictures for us. We love you Daddy!

We drove back to the village with the intention of getting to bed early. We had 7:30 breakfast reservations with Mickey and the gang on Saturday. But when there's basketball hoops and ice cream who can think of going to bed before 10!