our directions to the polynesian resort - bus to magic kingdom, monorail to the hotel. it took a little longer than we expected, but we made it fashionably late at 7:45. (another bad character trait of mine). but that wasn't a problem. we had our family picture taken - which we bought for an additional $30 - and then into the restaurant. the food was great! if anyone comes across a recipe for the pineapple bread they serve i totally want it.
right away we could see the characters and xander started getting excited. last year he really didn't care about the characters or getting autographs or pictures, but this year was suddenly looking very different. "i see mickey! i see mickey!" "i don't see him. are you sure he's here?" "yeah dad, over there!"
we were visited at our table by first stitch, then lilo, followed by mickey and pluto. xander loved each one of them, asking for their autograph, giving them high fives and hugs. and posing for some cute pictures. we really didn't warm cassidy up to the idea, just threw her right to the sharks. stitch was first, and she was mostly shell-shocked to have too much of a reaction to him. she posed for a picture - i guess more accurately she stared at the camera dumb-founded at what was next to her. following stitch we were thinking she was going to be okay with the characters, but when lilo walked up she screamed. frightened, terrified, distraught - she screamed. so, no picture with lilo. but she was fine for mickey and fine for pluto. go figure, a huge bloated human head...why would that scare her?
during the breakfast (did i mention that it was yummy? and so much food! they just kept bringing it!) they had the kids stand up and form a parade around the room. each child help a maraca and marched with the characters. i tried getting cassidy to catch up to xander, but when i put her down she stood and watched all the kids pass her by. a little too overwhelming first thing in the morning.
after leaving we headed to magic kingdom. we rode the monorail again, and learned that they allow people to sit up front in the first car. you have to be the first to ask though. we didn't ask for this trip, but tucked that little piece of information away for another day.
riding the park transportation was a huge hit with the kids. they loved riding on trains and buses. and we loved it because we didn't have to worry about driving and parking. definite plus!
we learned from our last trip that you when you tell your kids you are going to disney world then you had better go to "disney world" first! magic kingdom is disney world (all other parks don't really exist under the disney world name). we rented a stroller for the week for way too much $$, watched cassidy fall on her head as she tried standing in the stroller, realized that the wheel was broken and had to split up so one could return it and the other could get the vacation going. off to a good start, eh?
todd and the kids headed into tomorrowland and rode the tomorrowland transit authority/train while i walked back up to the main gate with the broken stroller. as i passed by the castle the "dreams come true" performance was being performed on the stage and i was bummed that we had just missed it, literally by just a few minutes. another mental note to get back there to see it.
our next stop once we joined back up was the monster's inc. laugh floor. it is amazing what technology allows disney to do, but it was like a live action kind of show, where the monster's on the screen can "see & hear" the audience and respond to them. xander even got a kick out of the comedy.
buzz lightyear is always a hit in tomorrowland, using the fast pass we didn't have to wait long at all. it is definitely high on xander's list of favorite rides. cassidy even got into using the laser gun to shoot at the targets, although her score did not reflect the number of times she managed to push that trigger!
then we were off to the tomorrowland speedway. it was our first real line, but those cars keep moving, so it didn't take very long. we took pictures while standing in line - cassidy holding todd's hand, me and xander, the cars driving underneath us on the bridge...we were just getting that camera warmed up! xander was a pretty good driver. not as much herky jerky as last year. maybe in the next couple years he can go for his tomorrowland speedway driver's license!
heading into toon town we knew exactly where to go to first - the barnstormer! a roller coaster just for kids! the ride is literally just a minute long, but xander is enamored with it. so xander and i did the ride together, while todd and cassidy chilled. okay, maybe chilled isn't the right word for it as i am pretty sure the temperature was well over 90 degrees. but after the ride we went to donald's boat that has water fountains to let the kids cool off a little. i felt bad not letting them get wet, but knew that it would feel good while they were in the water, but not so good while they had to sit as their clothes dried. with much resistence we pulled them out of there and walked into the gift shop. once seeing the amount of time it would take to wait in line for the characters there we chose not to and shopped for a few minutes instead. this is where xander's wish list was born. high school musical, hannah montana, a goofy hat, a stitch hat, a prince caspian sword. he saw a lot of really cool things that he couldn't live without. calmly i tried explaining to him that we would write down the things he wanted and then in a few days he could decide, cause if he spent all his money now he wouldn't be able to choose something different if he found another "must-have" later on. we did get cassidy's souvenir. we picked it out while she was sleeping, but once she saw the soft touch, grippable princess dolls we knew we had picked the right toy for her.
we left magic kingdom, jumped on the bus and headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap. todd had some things to get at walmart, so he went off on the first of three trips while we were there, and brought back dinner. while he was gone the kids and i checked out the pool. it was warm, there was a fun ledge for cassidy to walk on pool side to keep up with action, and xander was outfitted with his water wings/floaties, and pretty soon i had two little fish. casual dinner, quick bath and we headed out again.
that night, animal kingdom. the character attractions were closed and many of the things that remained open were mainly adults, but we hit the dinosaurs and rode the flying triceratops. todd and xander went on the "dinosaur" ride and we had yummy, drippy, sticky ice cream treats. xander said he would never go on that dinosaur ride again! it was too scary and he almost got eaten by a big dinosaur. but all that was said as he tried not to grin. little stinker - he loved it! just don't ask him to admit it, cause it'll never happen. before we left for the night we watched the 3d bug's life show. getting cassidy to sit still for the shows is difficult and remained difficult for much of the week, but xander really got into it - the smell, the spray, the bugs coming right for your face, and the ones that crawl along the benches, right under your seat. that'll make you jump.
end of the day report : a fabulous first day!
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