Disney World, Day 2 (Magic Kingdom) (part 2)

When I last posted, I was writing about the Wednesday experience at Magic Kingdom (our first full day in "the World"). We had left the park 3 hours after a gang-busters start.

I was actually pleasantly surprised at how quickly we got home, despite having to catch a Monorail and then walk to the car. I know Kathryn was very frustrated by this turn of events, but as I had said from the start, every moment of this trip was going to be magical for the kids....even the ones away from the parks. In their eyes, going to the pool was as big an "E ticket" as Big Thunder.

Sammy fell asleep on the drive home and mercifully transferred, so he got a GREAT nap....Josh cooled off with a cool bath and then napped, too....Kathryn caught a few zzzs too.

I took Matthew and Caroline to the pool. They loved it! We stayed for an hour or so. They had life jackets which helped. Having a huge, uncrowded, outdoor pool in springtime was really a treat to the kids.

Fortunately, we had dinner reservations at 3:45 p.m. which forced us to get back to the Park. We arrived with no hassles, even though we had to ride the parking lot shuttle and then the monorail again. We got in just as the parade was going on Main Street. It was great....we were able to see the majority of the parade (and cross that off the list...I'm not a big fan of camping out for Disney parades) without investing any wait time. I thought it would be a zoo to get up Main Street during the parade, but they did well with crowd control and we had an open path -- then we ditched under the rope and stayed to watch for a time.

We made it to the Crystal Palace and had a wonderful experience. Josh started saying he felt 100 percent better and the mood improved. The buffet was very yummy and Daddy got a full tummy. It was a Pooh and Friends character dinner, so we got visits at the table from Pooh, Tigger, Eyeore and Piglet. Some may complain that for all the money and effort you only get a brief moment with the characters, but I disagree. I liked that they came to us, and we could just be prepared to move fast and shoot our photos and get our autographs.

This is an area where Kathryn excels. It's like managing a Hollywood shoot. When the characters come, she has the autographs (bought at Target, not Disney) turned to the right page, the camera ready, etc. I think the staff learned quickly that we would respect the characters' time (even though we had 4 kids) and not monopolize them. I also like that there's plenty of time for the kids to eat BEFORE the characters come over.

I always made a point of thanking the characters....it can't be easy and I know it's hot. I like to think they don't get thanked a lot and appreciate someone appreciating their work.

I felt like we'd probably only stay another 2 hours, but Kathryn encouraged us to push onward, and we stayed the rest of the night, and it was a success. We walked right on Buzz Lightyear because I had gotten FastPasses before we left the park. That's the best trick -- they don't enforce the expiration of the Fast Pass, just the entry time. So while our pass had expired at 2 p.m., they didn't care....so we'd start stockpiling them (because you get one every two hours) and then use them when it was convenient to us.

Kathryn and I think Matthew and/or Caroline got an immediate second ride as their vehicle hadn't worked, so that was a nice bonus. Then, the little boys wanted blasters from the Toy Story gift shop. I don't know where Matthew and Sammy got into guns, but it's actually kind of cute to see them engaged in such an authentic boy behavior. It's harmless. The blasters didn't shoot anything...just lit up. Really kept them entertained. We went from there to seeing Buzz Lightyear standing in the Carosel (sp?) of Progress and got his autograph and photo -- posing with the Toy Story blasters. Then the gentle Tomorrowland Transit (people mover) which Matthew claimed as one of his favorite rides.

I had thought this may be as far as we could push it due to the morning issues, but as stated earlier, we made it the rest of the night. The rest of the day to be covered next posting.

Mark