The Magic Kingdom

We started every morning bright and early, eating yogurt, fruit, and bagels in our hotel room. We arrived at each park at least half an hour before opening so that we could ride all of the cool rides -- we rode some even twice. At the Magic Kingdom, we raced to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain, which we did two times. As we were leaving the ride, we saw this awesome heavy granite ball floating on water. With only a thin coating of water, we could move the ball around and around in the water. The great thing is that my dad designed the water portion of this feature. How cool is that?

This was such a fun trip. The Disney cast members are so nice, courteous, and helpful. R was just learning the Boy Scout law -- with attributes like trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, and cheerful -- just like the cast members at Disney.

Here are the boys in a shot in front of the castle. Notice that they have matching Goofy shirts? I bought those before we went at a discount online store. I figured it would be way cheaper than buying shirts there. M has a Goofy shirt too -- he looked great!


M and I were comparing Disney rides to other theme park rides and we both noticed that Disney rides are much longer. Disney makes it worth your while to wait. Speaking of waiting, we didn't wait in line much at all. We read books on how to get around Disney and ride what you want without waiting in line. We learned to get there early and we learned how to use their Fast Pass system. Was it ever worth the reading!

Splash Mountain wasn't supposed to be open when we were there, but they opened it three days early so we got to ride. I brought along ponchos to wear for the water rides. Since it was barely sixty degrees, I knew we'd be really cold while walking around wet. R took me up on the offer, but not T nor M. So guess who this is a picture of walking away soaking wet? Yep. T and M. They both said that they weren't cold, but the both immediately put on their fleece jackets and zipped while waiting in line for Pirates of the Caribbean.

While we were waiting for a parade, cast members got a group of kids in the street to play Duck, Duck, Donald. T got picked three times -- I think because he looks little. Here he is chasing a little girl (T has the blue baseball cap.)


One time he wasn't fast enough and ended up in the mush pot.

The timing of this game to keep the kids occupied was impeccable. The parade was just seconds away before they ended the game, passed out stickers to the kids, and got all the kids back on the sidelines right when the first float went by.

I was happy to see that even my big boy, R, enjoyed the parade and even waved to Doc when he walked by.

That night, we had dinner at the Hoop De Doo dinner show. Oh my goodness, did we have fun! It was a western show with singing, dancing, and jokes. They were the dumb Hee-Haw kind of jokes -- and did R laugh his rear end off! We all enjoyed it, but he repeated those jokes for days to come. The food was tasty too -- fried chicken, bbq ribs, mashed potatoes, beans, cornbread, and strawberry shortcake. Yummo!

At one point, they told us to wave our napkins in the air to the beat of the music. M and R had fun with it.

The waiters passed out washboards so that each table to contribute to the band. What a really fun way to end a long day!