So, without further ado, let's do Days 1 and 2 tonight!
Day 1: Travels by Car, Shuttle Bus, Plane, Monorail, Motor Coach and Riverboat to Downtown Disney....seriously!
Our trip began Saturday with an early morning flight out of St. Louis direct to Orlando. They boys got their first taste of a monorail at the airport...and loved it.
Disney's Magical Express picked us up at the airport and our bags were automatically transported to our resort. It did take a little while for them to get to our room, but still we never had to touch our bags from the time we took them out of our car until they arrived at Port Orleans - Riverside.
Speaking of Port Orleans, it was a nice resort. Very big, but fortunately our package had priority room assignment so we were very close to the main buildings/pool/restaurants. It was modeled after the Bayou region of Louisiana, complete with lavish manor plantation homes and riverside bayou like homes, which is where we were, in Alligator Bayou, building 15.
The grounds around the resort were, well, swampy. It was like we really were in southern Louisiana, on the bayou, complete with jungle like plants, bogs, and lazy rivers. Check out this pic, basically the whole resort looked just like this:
Mmmm, swampy.
Our maid service welcomed us with a little bit of Mickey.
We got in around lunchtime so we headed over to the main building for lunch.
Big E walking around with his Disney cup in the hot weather. Saturday was in the mid-80s!
In addition to renting boats, you actually can take a boat all the way down to Downtown Disney...so we did!
So if you're not aware, Downtown Disney has lots of shopping and fun things for the kids, so off we headed to check things out! One of the big attractions for the big guy was the Lego Store. They had quite a few awesome creations around the store.
Most exceptional about this dragon and the battle scene below, these are all made of little Legos, not Duplos. That is a ton of Legos!
Even Buzz and Woody were there!!
Next it was onto the World of Disney store, where Aid and E both got their Mickey ears! E (thankfully) also got a nap during this shopping time. :)
Everything around WDW is about buses. And boy did we ride a ton of them. From here to there and everywhere, bus travel is how you go!
So from Downtown Disney to our spot for dinner at Captain's Grille at the Yacht Club resort we took the bus Gus!
Mommy and E....Bus Riding Champs!
This is the view from the Disney Yacht Club looking out at Disney's Boardwalk resort.
At this point we should talk about that Mooks. He was sooooo shy for the first couple days, so most of his pictures have him with a death grip on Emmy, but alas, he did come around!
Real neat feature at DYC. A wrecked ship, that, if you look close has a tube coming out of the top that kids/adults can slide down into a pool at the resort. Cool stuff dude.
Wow! Now Mookie's happy! While he was sleeping a "Mickey" magically jumped in his stroller, and became E's new best snuggle pal! Dinner was so-so, not a fan, but who knew, many folks rated it good on Trip Advisor. There would be MUCH better dinners...just wait for them :)
That's all for Day 1!
Day 2: The Magic of the Magic Kingdom!
We are doers...big time. So bright and early on Sunday morning, we were up and ready to take on the Magic Kingdom, supposedly the "most magical place on Earth". But first, we had our first character meal. This first time was at Chef Mickey's at Disney's Contemporary Resort (the one that the monorail goes right thru).
The boys were ready...Daddy, Aidan and Ethan all were sporting the Mickey gear and big smiles!
On the bus, happy Frosty's!
Outside of Chef Mickey's what a massive place!
We were sat quickly in a prime spot, right outside the entrance to the kitchen. Yep, you heard right, that's the best place to be because that's where the characters come out from. And the first we met, was #1, Mickey Mouse himself!
Aidan was GREAT with the characters. Five years old is PRIME age for this (although Mr. Smarty did figure out right away that there was a person in there, Emmy did a good job diverting that question)
Poor Mookie, just shy and scared. But don't worry, he get's much better!
Donald came by next. If you look you'll see a pad of paper with a pen. We got every character's autograph after each meeting. You'll have to wait until the last post of this trip to see how many autographs we got. (Hint: A ton).
You da Duck, Donald!
Up next, Mommy's favorite, Minnie Mouse!!!
Fortunately the characters went away and allowed us to eat, but I had to get a shot of the Monorail coming through the hotel.
Ethan absolutely loved the Mickey Faffles. Great gift idea if anyone knows where to find a Mickey waffle iron.
Next character to come by was none other than Goofy. And boy is he tall!
Pluto was awesome. He had to balance our autograph pad on his nose to sign. Aid loved seeing Pluto and later, E told us that he liked seeing Pluto too!
That E...still a bit freaked out!
We took the monorail from the Contemporary into the Magic Kingdom and got this gem of a picture. I love the look on the boy's faces. They are like "What in the $(&#$# are you wearing kid? You look ridiculous."
Seriously Parent of Spiderman....What were you thinking?
Check the flowers...unbelievable.
The famous sign at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom.
A view down Main Street USA and our first glimpse of Cinderella's Castle.
It really does just stand apart, what a sight!
Shy guy still in da house...:) Aidan is Mister Photography.
My first Postcard shot...simply splendid huh?
This is Tomorrowland....a spot we spent many an hour at. The boys favorite ride in the park, and probably the trip was the Tomorrowland Peoplemover. It's a smooth and long ride that takes riders all around Tomorrowland, into Space Mountain and through most of the buildings you see above.
We all could fit into one car, so this was an FFA favorite. I think we rode it like 6 or 7 times during the trip.
Next up, Buzz Lightyear and his action ride. We got Fastpasses and were on right away to this interactive shooting ride...it was really fun.
Particularly scared of Buzz....death grip fully engaged. :)
At sometime during the ride they get your picture....Look how intense Mommy and Daddy are!
Every couple hours this parade would start up and it was character city!
It's Dale!
And Woody and Jessie!
Aidan the paparazzi took this picture, not bad eh?
I don't think you can take a bad picture of Cindy's castle.
With Mommy and a SMILE!
Almost smiling Ethan!
Close up of the intricate detail of the castle. All those features are not real masonry...just a facade.
These boys love carousels. Here's the one right behind the castle (Prince Charming's I think).
E particularly loves carousels.
The inside of the castle has an entire wall of mosaic tiles depicting Cinderella's story.
Mickey was truly everywhere. Here's the Mango sorbet at lunch. Two Aidan bites and one Daddy bite. Completely unplanned...it just ended up being Mickey!
After lunch we headed to Frontierland on the Disney RR!
Looking Downtown from the train station!
Chooo!!!
Train riders....happy train riders.
In Frontierland...Country Bear Jamboree was a fun show with all sorts of animatronic animals.
Next, over to Tomorrowland Speedway...where Aid was tall enough to be a driver!
Hang on, Aidan's drivin'
Lots of 3D rides, Aid loved sporting the cool 3D shades.
The Winnie the Pooh ride was pretty dark and poor E...at least he had a Mommy to hold on to!
Overall...fun ride, great scenery.
Now to Alice and Wonderland's tea cups...a spinning adventure!
Go boys go!
As night fell, some shows were performed at the steps to the castle, which looks downright awesome at dusk.
This is the famous picture. The statue of Walt and Mick with the castle behind!
Peoplemover again? Yup.
The night's finale at the castle was spectacular. They project images and such up on the castle which is really amazing. The fireworks were fantastic....awesome end to the day!
Projections onto the castle...how did they do it...don't know but it's so cool!
Nearing the end.....
Grand Finale....what a grand way to end the day!
That's all for Days 1 and 2....what a great time!
Thanks for reading, have a great night.
Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Ethan
