Disney Day Two: Magic Kingdom

Our day started off with breakfast at the hotel, and then a bus ride to Magic Kingdom. Tralee absolutely ADORED Haylee, so she HAD to sit next to her on the bus. Tralee called the buses we rode on the whole week school buses. This was fine by me, as every time we see a school bus on the road at home she begs to ride on one. So, Tralee's wish to ride on a school bus came true at Disney. It really is a place where dreams come true!

I wanted to get a shot of Tralee's first glimpse at Cinderella's castle. I think she loved it! In fact I remember her saying, "I want to go there!"

Our first stop of the day was Pirates of the Caribbean. Goofy was right outside so we stopped for a photo op.

I like the picture below. First of all, whenever I asked Tralee to hold hands with me her response was always, "No thanks." Then she scampered off to find her "best friend" Haylee and hold her hand instead. I didn't think the shunning of parents happened until the teenage years. I am glad that Tralee loved her cousin Haylee, and that Haylee was such a good sport with Tralee wanting to hold her hand. Also, doesn't the picture below kind of look like a paparazzi shot?

Water break.

Tralee's first ride on Splash Mountain is pictured below. She rode this two times in a row the first day! What a trooper. I'm not sure she would have if Haylee and Brady didn't want to go again. She didn't want to be left out, but she was a little shaky ride number two.

Grammy Char Char or Mommy Char Char as Tralee says it, got soaked the first time we rode Splash Mountain.

There was a nice little play area outside Splash Mountain that Hunter climbed around on while waiting for the bigger kids to ride. Actually, most of the kids had fun climbing around this little play area for a bit.

By far, I think the ride that EVERYONE loved the most was Big Thunder Mountain. That was one of my favorites as a child as well. All the kids wanted to ride Big Thunder again and again. Good thing we had Hunter along, as he allowed the kid pass off ticket. Whoever watched Hunter while the rest of us rode, got to take a group of people to ride again without waiting in line. Usually that person took all three of the littles with them. You're only supposed to take two people with you, but we had three kids that wanted to go again, so they usually let us. I mean, how could you turn away one child? You couldn't! So, Haylee, Brady, and Tralee got to ride most of the rides two times in a row. Wahoo!

We had dinner reservations at the Crystal Palace our first day at Disney. At this point we didn't have a stroller with us, and Hunter hadn't napped all day. He slowly progressed into a very cranky little boy during dinner. It didn't help that the reservations were running behind schedule. The good news is, they gave us two fast passes all of us could use on any ride at MK to make up for it. YES!! We saved the fast passes to use on Friday. The bad news is, I quickly scarfed down my dinner so I could get back to the hotel to put Hunter to bed. Jim and I decided we should just bite the bullet and get a stroller to use the rest of our trip.

Grandma and the kids waiting for dinner.

You can tell that my kids are waning at this point.

Tralee's cousins were teaching her the fine art of thumb wars while waiting to be seated.

Poor Hunter was so tired and grumpy in the happiest place on earth.

Tralee wasn't too sure about the characters at this point. She warmed up after a few days.

Tralee didn't need any help warming up to chocolate ice cream with sprinkles at dinner.

Hunter is pictured at dinner below. He finally fell asleep, but woke up when we had to move him. Some lady came up to us and said it was a hazard to lay him in front of the emergency exit. I guess that's true, but still! Never wake a sleeping baby! Oh well.

I think we all kind of felt like Hunter after day one at Magic Kingdom. Tired.

It felt good to climb into bed that night.

Some favorite highlights of the day:

*Tralee always wanting to be next to Haylee and hold her hand

* Disney's Philhar (not sure I spelled that right) Magic. It's a 3d show, and Tralee's and Hunter's first 3d experience. Hunter watched most of it with his glasses off, but when I managed to keep them on him he reached for some 3d thing. Tralee was reaching and grabbing at things the whole time. I loved it, and remembered doing the same thing when I was a little girl. FUN!

*Our kids' first glimpses of the Castle

*Jim lizard hunting with Haylee and Brady at night

Day three on its way. . .