Magic Kingdom (Day 2)

Day 2 was cold.  Very cold.  We pulled out our winter coats, gloves, hats, the works.  It was good though because the park was probably slightly less crowded due to weather and we were well-prepared, so it actually wasn't that bad.  All my obsessing about the weather forecast really paid off on this wacky-weather trip.

We once again got there early so that we could enter the park when it opened, but it didn't work out quite that way. We had some drama with Dan's free passes.  Long story short: the Disney website accidentally linked all 3 of Dan's tickets and used them simultaneously our first day.  We didn't do anything wrong, and the lovely people at the main ticket office figured it out, so we were all set.  It was quite stressful and it put us 30-40 minutes off schedule, but it was okay in the end.

 One of the beautiful mosaics inside the Cinderella castle

Once we got into the park and took our requisite pictures in front of the castle, we raced over to the Winnie the Pooh ride.  The kids loved all the things that they were able to play with while we waited in line.  These Disney people are geniuses.

 

 The kids loved the ride.  Dan and I tolerated it. :)  It's pretty perfect for the ages of our kids right now.

We happened to have lucky timing with our bathroom break because the kids got to wave to Alice and Tigger as they walked in/out for their breaks.

 

Dumbo used to have the worst lines in the park, but now they have 2 Dumbo rides side by side and while you wait, the kids get to play in a really fun play area.  There was actually no wait when we went because it was early in the morning, but the kids still took the time to play for 20 minutes before we went on the ride (2x). This was the one surprise of the trip for me.  I had researched all the rides, lines, height limits, rider comments, etc. but they must have just changed this ride because I had no idea that there were 2 Dumbos and a playplace.  Very cool!

 Kevin and Elena both loved climbing all around and there was an area in the middle of the room for little kids.  Jonah was playing on the little fire engine for a long time.

 

 

I was really excited for the next ride.  We went on the Barnstormer.  It's a tiny roller coaster that Jonah was actually tall enough to go on!  He was good.  In the picture below, I had him put up one finger because it was his very first roller coaster.

Kevin had been on Grover's Alpine Express at Busch Gardens and - for whatever reason - he was terrified to go on this one.  I really wanted him to go on it and overcome his fears.  I was starting to waver a little because he was freaking out, but Dan held strong and told Kevin that he had to go it.  He did (under LOUD protest) and he survived.  Afterwards, he said it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, but you can see how upset he was if you look at his eyes in this "after" photo.

 There was a Little Mermaid ride next and it was nice to have something happy and slow to help calm Kevin down.

 

 Regal Carousel

 The future rulers of Camelot!

The kids adored It's a Small World.  And thanks to the off-season crowds, we went on it twice this day and 2/3 times our second day at the Magic Kingdom.

 

Of course, they loved driving.  We did this ride just once due to the line length, but the kids had a great time and felt so grown up.

 

 Next up, we headed to Astro Orbiter which we hadn't been on before and I actually thought was a little scary.  It's a ride on top of a building and heights are not my friend.  I just had to remind myself that Kevin was having fun, so it couldn't be too bad, right?  I mean, look at that face!

 It was not even a long line to get our picture with Buzz (10-15 minutes).  I should print this one out - I really like it. 

 Buzz was very cool to high 5 the little one. Buzz was the first character without a real face that Jonah wasn't shy around.

Buzz Lightyear: Space Ranger Spin was one ride that the kids really enjoyed because they got to shoot things and the ride keeps score.

 

 A cute photo op in the Buzz Lightyear store.  Jonah was not interested in being in jail with them.  I think he was already pretty tired by now.

I went on the teacups with the kids to give Dan a break after he went on it with them, but about halfway through I had to ask them to stop spinning the cup.  I felt so sick.  Dramamine is a wonderful thing, but not a total miracle worker. They went a third time with Dan afterwards.

 Silly raccoon boy

One of their holiday shows:  Elsa comes out and lights the castle with ice and snow.  I took a video of part it.  It was really amazing and Elena was happy that she once again got to see the Frozen characters (from afar). Before:

 After:

Thank goodness for Fast Passes.  We only had to wait 10 minutes to get pictures with these two sweet princesses.  It was the end of the night, but they were still very good with the kids. I think Jonah was asleep at this point or else I would have loved to have gotten his picture with them too.

 Rapunzel and Cinderella

Peter Pan was Kevin's favorite.  He was really happy when they had technical difficulties and we got to spend more time one the ride looking around at the moving statues.

 

Both boys were asleep before the parade was over, but at least they got to see part of it.  On Kevin's first WDW trip, he slept through the entire parade.

 

 

After two very full days, we were all so tired. The exhaustion made it easy to fall asleep in the evenings even with 4 other people in the room.  Being crammed in one little room was actually a really fun aspect of the trip.