Disney Travels-Heading North

As you can tell by the delay in posting, talking about coming home just isn't as fun.

Sam was up early on Thursday, but we didn't get up and moving until about 7 a.m.  After we got ready we tried out the resort's food court for the first time at breakfast.  We made the walk over and I used the time to take some pictures.  We were on the Alligator Bayou side of the resort, which is why the shot of our building looks swampy.

We had a good breakfast, filled our mugs, and returned to the room.  Ned started loading the car, and I took advantage of the slightly tidier room to take some pictures.

The vanity area was separated from the room by a curtain and made the perfect sleeping area for Sam in his pack-n-play.  We did have to have our teeth brushed early in the night, but once he was asleep we could slip by him to use the bathroom to the left.

Our room also featured a "fun" pull-down bed.  We stacked a lot of our bags on the bench to keep Sam from climbing, like you see below.

Once we had everything packed, we drove around to the main building to check out and leave our stroller, and we were on our way.  Let me tell you, that Disney magic disappears soon into the drive and does not reappear until you are home and rested.  We did not start a movie right away, and Sam seem to need something every 5 minutes.  I finally put on a movie and he got better.

We found that St. Augustine had a Chick-Fil-A, so we decided that would be our lunch destination.  We traveled down several odd streets for finding a Chick-Fil-A before I realized I still just had St. Augustine as the destination in my phone from where I had been checking how many miles we had to go.  I just knew things would be calmer after a good meal and nap.

The meal was good, but only one of our two children napped following the meal, and it was not the child that actually needed the nap.  Avery slept for TWO hours and Sam didn't sleep a bit.  In fairness to him, he was pretty quiet, but I knew after all we had done over the last few days that he needed rest.  I checked our time at some point and saw that we had about 8 hours to go, and when I mentioned it to Ned, he said we could go all the way home.  I had been hoping we could, and it was music to my ears. I knew it would be a late night, but it would get everyone home in our beds, we wouldn't have to lug into another hotel, and I'd have a bonus day at home

We stopped once in the afternoon at a rest stop then stopped in Santee, SC for dinner.  We had prayed for a Panera, but there was none to be found.  Subway sounded like a good second choice until we pulled up, so we ended up at Pizza Hut.  It definitely added to our time but was good.  We put the kids in their pajamas in the car and started the ride home.  Everyone was pretty happy to ride and watch movies.

We made one more stop for gas and coffee before the kids fell asleep.  I finally turned off the DVD player around 9:30 so that they would sleep.  Poor Sam could not get into a good sleep; he is just not a car sleeper.  He tossed and turned every few minutes.  We were thrilled to arrive home around 10:30 p.m. and hurried everyone off to bed.  It was a long day of travel but so worth it to be back in our home.

Disney Day 3-More Magic Kingdom

Our last day at Disney started bright and early with reservations at Chef Mickey's {or Mickey Chef's, as Avery liked to call it}.  We were out at the bus at 6:41 a.m. since they started running at 6:45.  We didn't get a Magic Kingdom bus until about 6:55, though.  Then it was a cold walk from the bus the the Contemporary resort in the cold morning temperatures {low 40s with a wind}, and I was feeling extremely low on blood sugar, but we made it about 7:30.  We had no issues running late, got seated, and got our food from the buffet.  Everything I tried was delicious, and the Mickey waffles were the best.

This was most definitely my favorite character meal.  The characters' interactions were no better than the princesses, but to me, these characters are what Disney is all about.  Avery was hugging and talking and Sam was staring and high-fiving. 

I took about 10 pictures before he ever stopped looking at Mickey.

Sam loves Donald and these just make my heart smile.

There is a fun celebration every so often with a song and napkin twirling.

Luckily we had seen Pluto on our first day at Magic Kingdom, because I watched him slip out during his rounds, and when we left 30 minutes later he was just coming back.  Our waitress said he was having a moment.  That kind of slowed us up, but we hopped on the Monorail, and after visiting the Polynesian resort and The Grand Floridian, we were at Magic Kingdom once more.  We went right to Pirates of the Caribbean, since I hadn't done a FastPass thinking Avery would be afraid.  We had no wait and everyone thought that was fun.  Then we made our way to Peter Pan's Flight.  That was my favorite, and I see now why the wait is always so long.  Thank goodness for FastPass.

Avery wanted to ride It's a Small World again, so we walked over and hopped on.  After that we got in line to meet Rapunzel.  That probably tied with our wait to see Buzz and Woody, and those character meetings were the longest of our trip, but they were well worth it.

Snow White was in with Rapunzel so we saw her again too.

We people watched with some popcorn and then rode Under the Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid.  That was another great ride and lots of fun.

We caught Mickey's Philharmagic, a fun 3D show after that.  Sam wouldn't keep his glasses on but still really enjoyed it since it featured Donald.  After that busy morning, it was time for some lunch.  We ate at Pecos Bill's, and Ned had a cheeseburger while I had the taco salad.  Ned says his was fine for a burger, and I enjoyed mine with lots of toppings from their big topping bar.

After lunch we took a ride on The Magic Carpets of Aladdin.  Thankfully it had warmed up a bit at this point.

We stopped for 2 more photo opportunities on our way out for naps.

We hurried right back to Magic Kingdom after naps and were thrilled to find that the barber shop on Main Street only had a short wait.  I wanted to do Sam's first haircut their but didn't want to make an appointment and tie up our time.  Just as Sam sat in the chair, the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! parade started right outside the barber shop door.  Avery watched from the door, and Sam was entertained from his chair.  I had asked the lady only to cut off the back, but she knew better and gave him great cut all over.  Sam did so good and only cried when they took the light-up Buzz away.

The parade was making it's way back down Main Street when we finished, and we had a great view.  I was so happy we saw this several times, since we skipped out on the lighted parade at night to get Sam in bed.  This parade was so happy and fun, and I'm still humming the songs.

We took another ride on the carousel since that's one of Avery's favorite things.  Then we walked around and enjoyed ourselves until dinner.

Dinner was at Pinocchio Village Haus and we were lucky enough to get a window seat overlooking It's a Small World.  Ned and had the barbecue chicken flatbread and I had the caprese flatbread, and both were good and filling.  We enjoyed our meal while watching the boats take off.  Avery wanted to do the ride again, so we did!  Luckily, Avery's most requested ride never had a wait.  For some reason, she decided that the girls with dark hair were Lizzie dolls, like Tiger Lily in Peter Pan, except of course her name is Tiger Lily.  But we kept hearing about these Lizzie dolls and she kept pointing them out in the ride.  So she decided Pocahontas was like Lizzie {whoever that is} and she needed a Pocahontas doll.  I will say I saw new things each of the three times I road It's a Small World.  Sam's little face was so peaceful and interested {and quiet and still!}.  Not sure Ned was a huge fan but he would have ridden it 10 more times for Avery.

We then walked around because I wanted a churro and a Dole Whip.  I found the churro cart first but had to wait because they were out.  While I waited, Ned found the light up Buzz for Sam.  I enjoyed my churro then purchased my Dole Whip float.  I got the pineapple ice cream and it was delicious.  It was not an ice cream weather kind of night but I didn't care.  Avery requested another Mickey ice cream sandwich, so we walked around until we found a cart of those.  Can you tell we were using up snack credits?  Despite the cold, Avery ate every bit of her sandwich.  Ned walked to get Starbucks, and the kids and I watched a show that had started at the castle.

We took one more picture with the castle, then went back to the Emporium for Avery's Pocahontas.  We said goodbye to the magic and walked to the bus.

We were shocked to find long lines waiting for buses and sad to see a long line for our resort.  It had been my best day at Disney, even though they were all wonderful, and I wasn't going to let my waiting/people issue ruin it.  A bus came soon and everyone in front of us was able to squeeze on.  I needed a spot to sit with Sam and there was no squeezing the 4 of us and a double stroller.  The next bus wasn't too much longer coming, but we had to pack in again.  We were at least sitting and Sam was calm, so I couldn't complain.  We got back to the hotel and it was time to turn in for our last night at Disney.