Warning: VERY pic heavy post ahead... But who wouldn't want to see pics of the Happiest Place on Earth? Especially when those same pics include our adorable kiddos? =)
Someone once told me that you haven't witnessed Disney World until you have seen it through the eyes of a child. After this weekend, I could not agree more with that statement. Disney is an experience. Everything they do, is an "experience". As an adult though, you can lose sight of that. A child though... They behold Disney for all the magic and wonder that it is truly meant to be. I think Kenzie spent her entire day with the widest eyes as she tried to take it all in. Even Will was enamored with so much of it.
We got up super early on Saturday morning. When we initially purchased annual passes, we knew that our first trip to the Magic Kingdom would be special despite the fact that we can go back whenever we would like. So, we decided to do our first visit as if we were not necessarily going back. We wanted to do whatever we could in that day, but the luck of having annual passes is that we also had the option to not wear out the kids knowing that we could go back. That being said... we were at Magic Kingdom very early.
As a caveat: You might notice this post is fairly Kenzie centered. Will was obviously with us and it was his first Disney visit, as well. He cannot participate in the same way though. Trust us though, when he is older and can understand, even though he has been before, we have plans to make a special Will centered day for him.
Kenzie was so excited that morning when we woke her up, put on her Minnie shirt, and headed out. When we got to the park (after some issues parking that are irrelevant to the rest of our story but they almost derailed us a bit in our plan to do our first day in style before it even started), Kenzie was super excited to ride the monorail. In all honesty, we probably could have ridden that back and forth to the parking lot a few times and she would have been a happy camper. She had no idea yet what was in store for her. We made it to the park just in time for the Welcome Show. When the train pulled in with all the characters and I saw our little girl waving and staring in wonder at all of her favorite characters, from Mickey and Minnie, to Donald, Daisy, Anna, Elsa, and Goofy... I might have teared up. I was just so happy to be living in the moment with her. Also, I'm a crier so it's not uncommon for me to be moved to tears fairly easily. Will wasn't as excited with the Welcome Show. Too loud. He cried. Poor little guy. Once I picked him up though, he was perfectly content to people watch. After the show ended, we made our way inside. The day was beautiful! We could not have asked for better weather. We went straight to Guest Relations to pick up the kids' "1st Visit" pins. Kenzie was so proud of her pin. Will just thought his was good for chewing so we ended up not leaving it on his shirt.
By the time we picked up pins and had a potty break, we realized that Pluto was right outside City Hall. Kenzie was stoked! We started to wait in line to meet him. Then.... Minnie showed up. We switched lines. Haha! Poor Pluto! He lost half his line but I'm glad we switched because I knew if we only had time to meet one of the two characters, she would rather meet Minnie. Kenzie did really well waiting. She is really good about taking turns and waiting for our turn. Once we got to the front of the line, we didn't know if she would actually go up to Minnie. I was fairly convinced one of us would need to walk with her and she likely wouldn't say or do anything. Then, she surprised us both. She ran right up to Minnie and hugged her like it was going out of style! Actually, she didn't want to let go. We had to encourage her to let go so she could talk to Minnie and we could get a few pictures. Minnie kept pointing to Kenzie's shirt and her hair bow and then pointing to her own hair bow. Kenzie informed Minnie that she was wearing a "Minnie Bow".... that's what we call it when we put it in her palm tree on top of her head. Will was just staring at Minnie. I don't think he quite knew what to do about this large mouse in a dress.
After meeting Minnie, we went back to Pluto's line. Kenzie still loves Pluto so she definitely wanted to meet him too. She did great, again! Ran right up to him, high-fived him and then gave him a huge hug. Again, we had to encourage her to let go. Pluto played peekaboo with her and tapped her on the head with his ears which she thought was funny. When we all lined up to get a picture, Pluto decided to pet Will, which was just adorable. Kenzie thought that was quite funny as well. I don't know that Will was quite as amused but he tolerated it. =)
After meeting Minnie and Pluto it was time to head towards the castle (after the requisite sunblock application stop). Kenzie was so excited to see the castle in person! She has seen it on TV and I don't think she could quite conceptualize that it actually existed and how big it really is. I remember as we were prepping for this day, I read quite a few blogs about taking toddlers and babies to Disney. One mentioned that you would want a stroller (which I totally agree with) unless you have a toddler marathoner because it is so much walking. I will tell you though, Kenzie was so excited all day that I think she could have and would have walked if we kept letting her meet characters and ride on rides. As we watched her walk down Main Street towards the castle, it seemed like her feet barely touched the ground. She was so excited. That's a mental image I want to carry with me forever. My baby girl walking down Main Street in Disney World for the first time in amazement of Cinderella's castle. =)
Our first "ride" stop was actually Enchanted Tales with Belle. We elected to fast pass this because we thought it would be fun for Kenzie to see Belle. At this point, we weren't surprised when Kenzie was more than willing to take an enchanted plate and join in the fun of surprising Belle by acting out the story depicting when Belle and Beast fell in love. She wasn't a main character, but she did great holding her plate. Belle even ate some "dessert" off of it at the end. Kenzie wasn't quite as sure when meeting with Belle, but we think it was more of the room full of people staring at her as she was getting her picture taken. She talked for quite some time about "surprising Belle" later.
Our next fast pass wasn't for about an hour after that so we decided to ride the carousel. Unfortunately, right before we got on Will fell asleep in the carrier so I wasn't able to ride with Steven and Kenzie. I tried, but I had to get off because there weren't any seats available and I wasn't willing to wake him up to take him out so he could sit on the horse with me as that is a requirement for a baby. You can't stand while wearing them. Understandable. Kenzie loved her carousel ride though. She apparently didn't want to get off, but she was convinced that she could ride again another day. After the carousel, we went on It's a Small World because the line was short. Kenzie rode the first half of the ride in silence with her mouth hanging open just taking it all in. About half way through she seemed to snap out of her amazed state and she started talking and pointing out things she found fun on the ride. Will even woke up during the ride and he just stared at everything as if he was taking it all in, as well. I think this might have ended up being Kenzie's favorite ride. Maybe... she liked them all... but she talked about her "boat ride" quite frequently throughout the day.
Our second fast pass of the day was to meet Rapunzel and Cinderella. These were both exciting for Kenzie because she actually knew who both of the princesses were. She hasn't seen most Disney princess movies, but she is exposed to princess related things often so she knew both Rapunzel and Cinderella. As with Minnie and Pluto, Kenzie ran right up to them when it was her turn. We met Rapnuzel first. She told Rapunzel hi and they whispered about a bunch of stuff before we separated her from her requisite hug. I have no idea what they were talking about. We got a few cute pictures and before we left Rapunzel came over to say hi to Will and asked Kenzie who the prince was that she brought with her. It was a very sweet moment. Kenzie said, "That's Will!" because she is always so proud of her little brother.
After Rapunzel, we met Cinderella. Again, Kenzie enveloped her in a hug and they whispered about something for a while. I wish I could have heard what they were talking about. Kenzie got a few more pictures with Cinderella and told her bye before we left. I love hearing Kenzie talk about meeting the princesses still. She was so excited. Later, when we got home she ran to her step stool that has princesses on the side and told me that she met Belle and Cinderella as she pointed each of them out. It was beyond adorable.
At this point we had a bit more time to wait before our next fast pass was up. Kenzie asked (again because she started it shortly after we entered the park) where Daisy Duck was. I had no idea she liked Daisy so much, but apparently she does. We decided to see if we could find Daisy so that she was able to meet her too. Disney World has this handy dandy app that lets you book fast passes, see maps, see where characters are, check wait times on rides, etc. So, we pulled it out and figured out that Daisy was hanging out in Pete's Big Top. So, we weaved our way to the very back of Fantasyland to find the big top circus. Easy enough. It was not difficult to spot a circus tent. Lo and behold, you were able to meet Daisy and Minnie. They were different a different type of Daisy and Minnie as they were themed for the circus, but Kenzie didn't care. It was Daisy after all. Luckily, the line was only 15 minutes long. Kenzie was chosen to be the special time keeper that wears the time card around her neck and gives it to the person at the front of the line so they can figure out their wait times. We had to remove it from her after a while though because she kept attempting to put it in her mouth. Yuck. Kenzie waited patiently again and then was so excited to meet Daisy first. She told Daisy all about her "purple toes" (her painted toenails) and gave her a huge hug. Will thought he would try to grab Daisy's clothes when we all took a picture together.
Next up, was circus Minnie. Kenzie didn't even mind that she was dressed differently and she had already met Minnie. She ran right up to her as well. Again, Minnie pointed to Kenzie's shirt and hair bow before pointing to her own bow and drawing hearts in the air for Kenzie. This time, during our family picture Will decided that he HAD to have Minnie's nose. Thankfully he couldn't actually get it because I think he would have launched himself out of my arms to try to get it in his mouth. Just what we needed, two kids licking random things as Disney World (yes, we already had a discussion with Kenzie about why she couldn't put the ropes that make up the line barriers in her mouth... ew...).
After meeting Daisy and Minnie it was time for our next fast pass. You can have three a day so we chose to book only mine for Dumbo. Kenzie was so very excited to ride on Dumbo. She kept asking if it was her turn yet as we waited in line. The fast pass line was much shorter, but there was still one to wait in. I wondered if she was going to want to ride high or remain low while it went around. When it was our turn, she chose a Dumbo in green and blue because it was "pretty". She got right in and as soon as the ride started she told me she wanted to go "up, up, up". So we did. =) We rode the entire ride at the very top and she became sort of upset as it started to go down on its own when the ride was over. She asked to do it again so we promised that we would another time. Daddy and Will were waiting for us when we got off and she wanted to know if Daddy saw her on Dumbo. She melts my heart.
At that point, it was lunch time so we headed towards Tomorrowland because we know there is a larger restaurant over that way near Space Mountain. On the way to the restaurant we saw the cars. Kenzie immediately wanted to do that. Unfortunately, we could not book any additional fast passes at that point and the wait was 40 minutes. We learned that out wait time limit was around 20 minutes with a toddler and 6 month old. We assured her that we would ride that next time so we plan to make that a priority when we go back soon. We had a pretty good (easy) lunch. Kenzie had peanut butter and jelly, grapes, applesauce, and milk so we were happy with that. Steven and I each had chicken nuggets and fries (Kenzie ate some of our chicken nuggets as well and commandeered Steven's ketchup immediately refusing to return it which was pretty funny.) After lunch we had some time before Steven's other fast pass (Space Mountain) came up so we went on the Transit Authority People Mover. Kenzie thought that was pretty cool. She liked going through the "tunnels" and the dark part of Space Mountain. Will seemed to think it was a fun ride too and he looked all around at everything he could crane his little neck to see.
After that we decided to go to the Carousel of Progress. We knew this was low key and since Kenzie was likely going to miss her nap, we figured it would be a good option. Plus, it was indoors and it was beginning to get warm out and it had absolutely no line. The best part of the ride? Kenzie not weighing enough to keep her chair down. Haha! It is like a movie theater chair and it kept closing on her. Steven had to hold it down throughout the ride. She watched the entire 20 minute show without making any noise or trying to get up and move all around. We were impressed. Bonus? Will fell asleep for his second Disney nap of the day. Fail? Will pooped. I could smell him, but I wasn't willing to wake him up and lose the entire nap. I just prayed it wasn't too bad. When we left he was so out that I was able to put him in the stroller, buckle him up, and he stayed asleep.
It ended up being time for Steven's fast pass on Space Mountain so I insisted that Kenzie buckle into the stroller and gave her a snack to keep her busy while hoping she would magically fall asleep. She didn't, but it was at least a "resting" time. Will napped the entire time Steven was gone.
When he returned we set out towards Frontierland so that we could ride the train. On the way there we happened to wander by Cinderella's castle right before a show was set to start. We stopped to watch the show for a while, but it was getting pretty hot and we wanted to get the kids out of the heat. Will woke up during the show too so it was easier to keep walking towards the train. Kenzie seemed to enjoy the show though and was pointing out Mickey and Minnie to me as well as all of their friends. She didn't say much though. That's how I know she really liked it. She was so enamored that all she could do was stare in silence. Haha!
On the way to Frontierland I wanted to stop and see what the Haunted Mansion wait was. Unfortunately, they were started to set up for the parade so getting there took quite a bit of back and forth walking. We finally made it, but the wait was 40 minutes so we knew it wasn't feasible. Getting to the train was also not really feasible with the parade route starting to go up but we made it eventually. We parked the stroller, took off hats since the train was covered (remember this part... it's going to come into play in a few minutes) and made it to the train station just in time to catch the next train around. We jumped on and started towards Fantasyland. We planned to ride it all the way around (again, as a rest period and because Kenzie LOVES trains) but our plans were derailed (heh heh heh) pretty quickly. Kenzie loved watching all the scenery go by as we approached Fantasyland. Once we got there though, we were informed that the train would be stopping for 20 minutes until the parade round crossed the tracks. What?? We weren't informed of that before we got on and EVERYTHING was still in Frontierland. Normally, we would wait the 20 minutes but we have two small children and one was starting to inform us that she had to go potty "right now" ... so we got off. The initial plan was to walk back to the stroller but we severely underestimated the distance. If it was just the two of us, we could have done it with no problem but I didn't bring Will's carrier so I was lugging almost 20 pounds and Kenzie HAD to walk (which she loved) but she refused to hold anyone's hand because... toddler. Eventually we made it to the Hall of Presidents area and Steven parked us in a shady spot (which was rare at this point due to the sun being right ahead and everyone gathering for that annoying parade.) He then went it alone to find the stroller. Kenzie did well sitting and waiting because we could see the parade from a distance. Both kids were starting to turn beet red though from the heat and I knew we were hitting a limit. Finally, shortly after the parade ended I saw Steven's Dolphins hat bobbing in the crowd. Saved!! We insisted Kenzie got back in the stroller and headed towards the Baby Care Center because I wanted to feed Will one more time before we left and we thought it would be good to give Kenzie a place to rest in the AC which I did so. Steven told me that he had to weave through the parade crowd and he watched it in fast forward (thanks Mitch Hedberg.... there is totally a joke in there somewhere) until he reached the stroller. Then he followed the end of the parade all the way back at a snail's pace until he got back to us. He apparently ran over a few people along the way, as well. Haha!
We finally made it to the Baby Care Center and I fed Will while Kenzie watched Frozen. At that point we were back at the front of the park so we headed out. We had enough for the day. Both kids were beat and we can go back, so we weren't in any sort of rush to get everything in. Kenzie was thrilled to ride the monorail one more time as we left. She is too funny.
On the way home, Will fell asleep almost immediately. Kenzie somehow stuck it out. We literally walked in the door and started the kids' bath. After getting them clean we had dinner and Kenzie was down for bed early. She was so exhausted but we think the kids' first trip to Disney was a definite success. We are already making a list of what we want to do next time we go to the Magic Kingdom and these kids have no idea yet that there are actually 3 more parks. This is definitely going to be a fun year. =)
Someone once told me that you haven't witnessed Disney World until you have seen it through the eyes of a child. After this weekend, I could not agree more with that statement. Disney is an experience. Everything they do, is an "experience". As an adult though, you can lose sight of that. A child though... They behold Disney for all the magic and wonder that it is truly meant to be. I think Kenzie spent her entire day with the widest eyes as she tried to take it all in. Even Will was enamored with so much of it.
We got up super early on Saturday morning. When we initially purchased annual passes, we knew that our first trip to the Magic Kingdom would be special despite the fact that we can go back whenever we would like. So, we decided to do our first visit as if we were not necessarily going back. We wanted to do whatever we could in that day, but the luck of having annual passes is that we also had the option to not wear out the kids knowing that we could go back. That being said... we were at Magic Kingdom very early.
As a caveat: You might notice this post is fairly Kenzie centered. Will was obviously with us and it was his first Disney visit, as well. He cannot participate in the same way though. Trust us though, when he is older and can understand, even though he has been before, we have plans to make a special Will centered day for him.
Kenzie was so excited that morning when we woke her up, put on her Minnie shirt, and headed out. When we got to the park (after some issues parking that are irrelevant to the rest of our story but they almost derailed us a bit in our plan to do our first day in style before it even started), Kenzie was super excited to ride the monorail. In all honesty, we probably could have ridden that back and forth to the parking lot a few times and she would have been a happy camper. She had no idea yet what was in store for her. We made it to the park just in time for the Welcome Show. When the train pulled in with all the characters and I saw our little girl waving and staring in wonder at all of her favorite characters, from Mickey and Minnie, to Donald, Daisy, Anna, Elsa, and Goofy... I might have teared up. I was just so happy to be living in the moment with her. Also, I'm a crier so it's not uncommon for me to be moved to tears fairly easily. Will wasn't as excited with the Welcome Show. Too loud. He cried. Poor little guy. Once I picked him up though, he was perfectly content to people watch. After the show ended, we made our way inside. The day was beautiful! We could not have asked for better weather. We went straight to Guest Relations to pick up the kids' "1st Visit" pins. Kenzie was so proud of her pin. Will just thought his was good for chewing so we ended up not leaving it on his shirt.
By the time we picked up pins and had a potty break, we realized that Pluto was right outside City Hall. Kenzie was stoked! We started to wait in line to meet him. Then.... Minnie showed up. We switched lines. Haha! Poor Pluto! He lost half his line but I'm glad we switched because I knew if we only had time to meet one of the two characters, she would rather meet Minnie. Kenzie did really well waiting. She is really good about taking turns and waiting for our turn. Once we got to the front of the line, we didn't know if she would actually go up to Minnie. I was fairly convinced one of us would need to walk with her and she likely wouldn't say or do anything. Then, she surprised us both. She ran right up to Minnie and hugged her like it was going out of style! Actually, she didn't want to let go. We had to encourage her to let go so she could talk to Minnie and we could get a few pictures. Minnie kept pointing to Kenzie's shirt and her hair bow and then pointing to her own hair bow. Kenzie informed Minnie that she was wearing a "Minnie Bow".... that's what we call it when we put it in her palm tree on top of her head. Will was just staring at Minnie. I don't think he quite knew what to do about this large mouse in a dress.
After meeting Minnie, we went back to Pluto's line. Kenzie still loves Pluto so she definitely wanted to meet him too. She did great, again! Ran right up to him, high-fived him and then gave him a huge hug. Again, we had to encourage her to let go. Pluto played peekaboo with her and tapped her on the head with his ears which she thought was funny. When we all lined up to get a picture, Pluto decided to pet Will, which was just adorable. Kenzie thought that was quite funny as well. I don't know that Will was quite as amused but he tolerated it. =)
After meeting Minnie and Pluto it was time to head towards the castle (after the requisite sunblock application stop). Kenzie was so excited to see the castle in person! She has seen it on TV and I don't think she could quite conceptualize that it actually existed and how big it really is. I remember as we were prepping for this day, I read quite a few blogs about taking toddlers and babies to Disney. One mentioned that you would want a stroller (which I totally agree with) unless you have a toddler marathoner because it is so much walking. I will tell you though, Kenzie was so excited all day that I think she could have and would have walked if we kept letting her meet characters and ride on rides. As we watched her walk down Main Street towards the castle, it seemed like her feet barely touched the ground. She was so excited. That's a mental image I want to carry with me forever. My baby girl walking down Main Street in Disney World for the first time in amazement of Cinderella's castle. =)
Our first "ride" stop was actually Enchanted Tales with Belle. We elected to fast pass this because we thought it would be fun for Kenzie to see Belle. At this point, we weren't surprised when Kenzie was more than willing to take an enchanted plate and join in the fun of surprising Belle by acting out the story depicting when Belle and Beast fell in love. She wasn't a main character, but she did great holding her plate. Belle even ate some "dessert" off of it at the end. Kenzie wasn't quite as sure when meeting with Belle, but we think it was more of the room full of people staring at her as she was getting her picture taken. She talked for quite some time about "surprising Belle" later.
Our next fast pass wasn't for about an hour after that so we decided to ride the carousel. Unfortunately, right before we got on Will fell asleep in the carrier so I wasn't able to ride with Steven and Kenzie. I tried, but I had to get off because there weren't any seats available and I wasn't willing to wake him up to take him out so he could sit on the horse with me as that is a requirement for a baby. You can't stand while wearing them. Understandable. Kenzie loved her carousel ride though. She apparently didn't want to get off, but she was convinced that she could ride again another day. After the carousel, we went on It's a Small World because the line was short. Kenzie rode the first half of the ride in silence with her mouth hanging open just taking it all in. About half way through she seemed to snap out of her amazed state and she started talking and pointing out things she found fun on the ride. Will even woke up during the ride and he just stared at everything as if he was taking it all in, as well. I think this might have ended up being Kenzie's favorite ride. Maybe... she liked them all... but she talked about her "boat ride" quite frequently throughout the day.
Our second fast pass of the day was to meet Rapunzel and Cinderella. These were both exciting for Kenzie because she actually knew who both of the princesses were. She hasn't seen most Disney princess movies, but she is exposed to princess related things often so she knew both Rapunzel and Cinderella. As with Minnie and Pluto, Kenzie ran right up to them when it was her turn. We met Rapnuzel first. She told Rapunzel hi and they whispered about a bunch of stuff before we separated her from her requisite hug. I have no idea what they were talking about. We got a few cute pictures and before we left Rapunzel came over to say hi to Will and asked Kenzie who the prince was that she brought with her. It was a very sweet moment. Kenzie said, "That's Will!" because she is always so proud of her little brother.
After Rapunzel, we met Cinderella. Again, Kenzie enveloped her in a hug and they whispered about something for a while. I wish I could have heard what they were talking about. Kenzie got a few more pictures with Cinderella and told her bye before we left. I love hearing Kenzie talk about meeting the princesses still. She was so excited. Later, when we got home she ran to her step stool that has princesses on the side and told me that she met Belle and Cinderella as she pointed each of them out. It was beyond adorable.
At this point we had a bit more time to wait before our next fast pass was up. Kenzie asked (again because she started it shortly after we entered the park) where Daisy Duck was. I had no idea she liked Daisy so much, but apparently she does. We decided to see if we could find Daisy so that she was able to meet her too. Disney World has this handy dandy app that lets you book fast passes, see maps, see where characters are, check wait times on rides, etc. So, we pulled it out and figured out that Daisy was hanging out in Pete's Big Top. So, we weaved our way to the very back of Fantasyland to find the big top circus. Easy enough. It was not difficult to spot a circus tent. Lo and behold, you were able to meet Daisy and Minnie. They were different a different type of Daisy and Minnie as they were themed for the circus, but Kenzie didn't care. It was Daisy after all. Luckily, the line was only 15 minutes long. Kenzie was chosen to be the special time keeper that wears the time card around her neck and gives it to the person at the front of the line so they can figure out their wait times. We had to remove it from her after a while though because she kept attempting to put it in her mouth. Yuck. Kenzie waited patiently again and then was so excited to meet Daisy first. She told Daisy all about her "purple toes" (her painted toenails) and gave her a huge hug. Will thought he would try to grab Daisy's clothes when we all took a picture together.
Next up, was circus Minnie. Kenzie didn't even mind that she was dressed differently and she had already met Minnie. She ran right up to her as well. Again, Minnie pointed to Kenzie's shirt and hair bow before pointing to her own bow and drawing hearts in the air for Kenzie. This time, during our family picture Will decided that he HAD to have Minnie's nose. Thankfully he couldn't actually get it because I think he would have launched himself out of my arms to try to get it in his mouth. Just what we needed, two kids licking random things as Disney World (yes, we already had a discussion with Kenzie about why she couldn't put the ropes that make up the line barriers in her mouth... ew...).
After meeting Daisy and Minnie it was time for our next fast pass. You can have three a day so we chose to book only mine for Dumbo. Kenzie was so very excited to ride on Dumbo. She kept asking if it was her turn yet as we waited in line. The fast pass line was much shorter, but there was still one to wait in. I wondered if she was going to want to ride high or remain low while it went around. When it was our turn, she chose a Dumbo in green and blue because it was "pretty". She got right in and as soon as the ride started she told me she wanted to go "up, up, up". So we did. =) We rode the entire ride at the very top and she became sort of upset as it started to go down on its own when the ride was over. She asked to do it again so we promised that we would another time. Daddy and Will were waiting for us when we got off and she wanted to know if Daddy saw her on Dumbo. She melts my heart.
At that point, it was lunch time so we headed towards Tomorrowland because we know there is a larger restaurant over that way near Space Mountain. On the way to the restaurant we saw the cars. Kenzie immediately wanted to do that. Unfortunately, we could not book any additional fast passes at that point and the wait was 40 minutes. We learned that out wait time limit was around 20 minutes with a toddler and 6 month old. We assured her that we would ride that next time so we plan to make that a priority when we go back soon. We had a pretty good (easy) lunch. Kenzie had peanut butter and jelly, grapes, applesauce, and milk so we were happy with that. Steven and I each had chicken nuggets and fries (Kenzie ate some of our chicken nuggets as well and commandeered Steven's ketchup immediately refusing to return it which was pretty funny.) After lunch we had some time before Steven's other fast pass (Space Mountain) came up so we went on the Transit Authority People Mover. Kenzie thought that was pretty cool. She liked going through the "tunnels" and the dark part of Space Mountain. Will seemed to think it was a fun ride too and he looked all around at everything he could crane his little neck to see.
After that we decided to go to the Carousel of Progress. We knew this was low key and since Kenzie was likely going to miss her nap, we figured it would be a good option. Plus, it was indoors and it was beginning to get warm out and it had absolutely no line. The best part of the ride? Kenzie not weighing enough to keep her chair down. Haha! It is like a movie theater chair and it kept closing on her. Steven had to hold it down throughout the ride. She watched the entire 20 minute show without making any noise or trying to get up and move all around. We were impressed. Bonus? Will fell asleep for his second Disney nap of the day. Fail? Will pooped. I could smell him, but I wasn't willing to wake him up and lose the entire nap. I just prayed it wasn't too bad. When we left he was so out that I was able to put him in the stroller, buckle him up, and he stayed asleep.
It ended up being time for Steven's fast pass on Space Mountain so I insisted that Kenzie buckle into the stroller and gave her a snack to keep her busy while hoping she would magically fall asleep. She didn't, but it was at least a "resting" time. Will napped the entire time Steven was gone.
When he returned we set out towards Frontierland so that we could ride the train. On the way there we happened to wander by Cinderella's castle right before a show was set to start. We stopped to watch the show for a while, but it was getting pretty hot and we wanted to get the kids out of the heat. Will woke up during the show too so it was easier to keep walking towards the train. Kenzie seemed to enjoy the show though and was pointing out Mickey and Minnie to me as well as all of their friends. She didn't say much though. That's how I know she really liked it. She was so enamored that all she could do was stare in silence. Haha!
On the way to Frontierland I wanted to stop and see what the Haunted Mansion wait was. Unfortunately, they were started to set up for the parade so getting there took quite a bit of back and forth walking. We finally made it, but the wait was 40 minutes so we knew it wasn't feasible. Getting to the train was also not really feasible with the parade route starting to go up but we made it eventually. We parked the stroller, took off hats since the train was covered (remember this part... it's going to come into play in a few minutes) and made it to the train station just in time to catch the next train around. We jumped on and started towards Fantasyland. We planned to ride it all the way around (again, as a rest period and because Kenzie LOVES trains) but our plans were derailed (heh heh heh) pretty quickly. Kenzie loved watching all the scenery go by as we approached Fantasyland. Once we got there though, we were informed that the train would be stopping for 20 minutes until the parade round crossed the tracks. What?? We weren't informed of that before we got on and EVERYTHING was still in Frontierland. Normally, we would wait the 20 minutes but we have two small children and one was starting to inform us that she had to go potty "right now" ... so we got off. The initial plan was to walk back to the stroller but we severely underestimated the distance. If it was just the two of us, we could have done it with no problem but I didn't bring Will's carrier so I was lugging almost 20 pounds and Kenzie HAD to walk (which she loved) but she refused to hold anyone's hand because... toddler. Eventually we made it to the Hall of Presidents area and Steven parked us in a shady spot (which was rare at this point due to the sun being right ahead and everyone gathering for that annoying parade.) He then went it alone to find the stroller. Kenzie did well sitting and waiting because we could see the parade from a distance. Both kids were starting to turn beet red though from the heat and I knew we were hitting a limit. Finally, shortly after the parade ended I saw Steven's Dolphins hat bobbing in the crowd. Saved!! We insisted Kenzie got back in the stroller and headed towards the Baby Care Center because I wanted to feed Will one more time before we left and we thought it would be good to give Kenzie a place to rest in the AC which I did so. Steven told me that he had to weave through the parade crowd and he watched it in fast forward (thanks Mitch Hedberg.... there is totally a joke in there somewhere) until he reached the stroller. Then he followed the end of the parade all the way back at a snail's pace until he got back to us. He apparently ran over a few people along the way, as well. Haha!
We finally made it to the Baby Care Center and I fed Will while Kenzie watched Frozen. At that point we were back at the front of the park so we headed out. We had enough for the day. Both kids were beat and we can go back, so we weren't in any sort of rush to get everything in. Kenzie was thrilled to ride the monorail one more time as we left. She is too funny.
On the way home, Will fell asleep almost immediately. Kenzie somehow stuck it out. We literally walked in the door and started the kids' bath. After getting them clean we had dinner and Kenzie was down for bed early. She was so exhausted but we think the kids' first trip to Disney was a definite success. We are already making a list of what we want to do next time we go to the Magic Kingdom and these kids have no idea yet that there are actually 3 more parks. This is definitely going to be a fun year. =)
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