Another Fun Day At The Happiest Place On Earth

Happy Tuesday everyone! I didn't get this posted yesterday like I wanted to because I was way too exhausted Sunday night to get the post done. We spent last Saturday at Magic Kingdom, and I think I am still recovering from walking around there for 12 hours. It was SO MUCH FUN, though, and well worth all of the sore muscles I still have.

I have a few friends that work at Disney (it is kind of inevitable when you live in Orlando to have at least one friend who works there), and on Thursday afternoon, one of my friends offered me tickets for Saturday. HECK YEA! So Mama drove up and the five of us went to Disney World!

We headed over to Tomorrowland as soon as we went in, and checked out the new Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. Rylie and Bryce love Monsters Inc, and even though a lot of the jokes were over their heads, they liked the interactive show. After that, we hit the People Mover for the first time.

No visit to Magic Kingdom is complete without at least one ride on the People Mover. It really doesn't do much, but my kids LOVE that ride! While we were on the ride we noticed Buzz Lightyear hanging out, so we ran over to meet him. The kids were so excited! Rylie ran right up and gave him a hug and posed for a few pictures with him.

Bryce, on the other hand, wouldn't go near him. I tried to walk up to Buzz and the kid pretty much scaled the side of my body and had a death grip on me. Buzz did end up tickling him, and he was cool with that.

After we met Buzz, we went on his ride and got to "shoot monsters". Bryce and Brian were very serious about the task at hand.

After the ride, Rylie ended up in jail with Zurg. I guess she didn't defeat him after all.

We ate some lunch after that, and it was getting close to the time when we needed to go find our spot for the parade. We had to ride the People Mover again first. I don't know what it is about this little ride around Tomorrowland, but I think the kids would ride it all day long if we let them.

You can't go to Disney World and not get a picture of Cinderella's Castle.

My friend who works there got us in the "VIP" section for the parade. It was AWESOME! We were right in the corner where the floats and characters come out. While we were waiting, the kids were given hula hoops to play with.

The "Master of Ceremonies" came out and Rylie was just fascinated with her.

This is the first time we were so close to the parade, and it was so cool to see the floats close up.

Rylie and Bryce waved to all of the characters the whole time. We waited for the parade to come back through, so they saw everyone twice.

The best part of being in this area, though, was that so many of the characters came up and gave the kids high fives, and even some hugs. I have a TON of pictures of Rylie with the characters, but I think Cinderella's mouse and her step-sister were Rylie's two favorites.

We don't usually make it a point to see the parades when we are there, but I think we will have to do so from now on. The kids had such a blast watching it and getting to meet the characters for a second.

After the parade, we headed back to Fantasyland to ride Snow White's Scary Adventures since Rylie had been asking to ride that from the second we entered the park. When we got back there, we found out that not only Snow White, but also Dumbo, were closed due to the Fantasyland expansion. Boo! We cured Rylie's disappointment with a ride on the Mad Tea Party.

We had to ride the Carousel too!

The lines weren't very long at all and we didn't wait for most rides. The line for Peter Pan, however, was like 50 minutes, and after the kids waited so patiently in that line, we tried to keep them happy while we waited for It's A Small World. Things got a little goofy then.

This was Bryce's first time at Disney World, so of course he was fascinated with It's A Small World. I loved watching him take it all in.

It was around 6PM when we got off Small World, and the kids were starting to get a little tired so we headed over to Pinocchio Village Haus for some dinner. Rylie and Bryce scarfed their food down like they had never eaten before, and then Rylie joined some other little girls over at the coloring table while the rest of us finished eating.

By this time it was dark, and all of the street vendors were out with their carts filled with bright lights. I actually saw the Buzz Lightyear toy and suggested we get it for Bryce since Buzz is his favorite these days, and Rylie picked out a Tinkerbell toy. I figured those would keep them entertained in the lines since it was already their bed time.

I was so happy the park stayed open until midnight. We still had so much we wanted to do. Not only did Rylie want to ride Snow White, but she was also excited about riding Thunder Mountain again. Guess what? That was closed too!!!! I have no idea why. So we headed over to the Haunted Mansion.

I was worried that the ride would scare the kids too much, but the only part that bothered Rylie was when the lights went out in that first foyer where you stand before getting on the ride. She pretty much freaked out. Of course she wanted to go on it again as soon as we got off, so she just closed her eyes during that part the second time. Silly girl.

We headed over to the Country Bear Jamboree next. I was hoping the crew wouldn't fall asleep on the bench while we waited. It was a fun show and the kids really enjoyed it.

After that, we headed over to ride Aladdin's Magic Carpets. Just as we were about to get on the ride, I looked over at Rylie and she was sound asleep. So Mama and I got on the ride with Bryce and Brian took Rylie out the exit. Just as the ride was about to start I hear "Hey!" and Rylie and Brian were getting on behind us. I guess she just needed a five minute power nap.

Rylie wanted to ride the People Mover again, Bryce wanted to ride Buzz Lightyear again, and Brian and I wanted to ride Space Mountain, so we had this great plan to go back to Tommorowland and my mom would take the kids on their rides while Brian and I went on ours. Unfortunately, Bryce fell asleep and apparently he needed more of a power nap than Rylie did because we couldn't wake him up. Brian and I took Rylie on the People Mover one last time, and then skipped the 55 minute wait at Space Mountain. Rylie asked for a Mickey ice cream bar, so she got her little "midnight snack". Bryce, unfortunately, missed out.

Rylie finished her ice cream and told us she wanted to take another nap, so she snuggled up with her Lotso bear and Brian's sweatshirt and passed out within seconds. I still can't believe I bought my child a bear that looks like he has been sitting in a mud puddle! And this, my friends, is how you know it was a GREAT DAY!

We had so much fun! It was such a great day, and now we can't wait to go back! Disney has a pretty awesome deal for Florida residents right now which is $99 for a 3 day pass, so I think we will be headed back there very soon...