I love going to Disney. I’m really not sure who likes going to Disney more…me or the kids. So this week, while Jonathan was on vacation we were able to go with my parents thanks to some wonderful friends.
This was Charlotte’s first trip to Disney. At 9 months, she is older than both Rosemary and Ben were on their first trip. Rosemary was just 7 months old and Ben was a mere 4 months.
Riding the tram to the Transportation and Ticket Center. The trams now have doors! (Which were a bit difficult to navigate with a baby and diaper bag).
One happy baby girl! Welcome to Disney World, Charlotte!
Once we were in, we stopped by to see the princesses and Mickey and Minnie first.
Meeting Cinderella in their matching outfits. The outfits turned out okay, but I about tore them up when I was making them. I decided to make them on Wednesday since I had almost all of the supplies I needed (well, I decided to make Charlotte one and Rosemary asked for a matching one) and we were leaving on Friday. They *should* have been super easy, but the elastic on the skirt nearly killed me.
Cinderella asked to get a pic with just Charlotte. I thought that was sweet of her.
Meeting Mickey and Minnie. Minnie gave Charlotte a sweet little kiss on our way out. So cute.
Charlotte got her first set of ears. She kindly shared them with Jonathan. We bought ears for the other two their first trips and they still wear the same ones. Soon they’ll need bigger ones, but they’ve lasted a long time for us.
Next, Ben requested a ride on the train. It’s the thing that he requests first every time we go to the Magic Kingdom.
Waiting for the train to arrive.
Holding hands. Right now, these two really are great friends. I pray that it stays that way.
We headed over to eat at the Columbia Harbor House. Rosemary wanted a Lobster Roll when we saw that it was on the menu. We’d read about Lobster Rolls in Night of the Moonjellies. So we got one for her and Ben to share. She devoured it. In fact, after the trip she said it was one of the highlights. She cracks me up.
After lunch, Jonathan and I took Rosemary and Ben over to Tom Sawyer’s Island. They’d never been there before so it was fun. Charlotte stayed with my parents and got to see the Hall of Presidents. She fell asleep. :-)
On the raft over to the island.
Climbing around in the fort.
We met up with my parents for the parade and Charlotte snoozed a bit more in the stroller. Dad and Jonathan took Rosemary and Ben on the paddle boat while mom and I saved our spots for the parade.
Right before things were about to start, we moved the stroller and sat down to watch the parade.
Once the parade was over, we headed to Tomorrowland. On our way, Rosemary, Benjamin, Jonathan, and I rode the Tomorrowland Speedway.
Charlotte rode the People Mover. I considered this her first ride. Jonathan didn’t. He classifies it in the same way he classifies the train.
After this, we all rode Buzz Lightyear (my dad put us all to shame!) then the Carousel of Progress. Rosemary and Ben were mesmerized.
I finally got my pic with Charlotte in front of the castle (really to the side of it) late in the day. I was looking rough, but at least we got it. It was super crowded on Saturday so taking a photo on Main Street early in the day just wasn’t going to happen.
Finally, after dinner we headed over to Fantasyland. The lines were super long (Peter Pan was 70 minutes). We got a FastPass for Winnie-the-Pooh then waited for it’s a small world. The 20 minute wait wasn’t normal for us, but I didn’t want to leave without riding small world. That ride is the quintessential Magic Kingdom ride for me.
Finally in our boat and on our way.
It was fun to ride with Rosemary. In each room she kept asking, “Where are we now, Mommy?” She was very excited to go by the France section and see an Eiffel Tower. And in most of the rooms we’d studied about one of the countries represented.
Charlotte’s first small world ride. She was awake the whole time.
After small world, we met up again with my parents to watch the 8pm Electric Light parade. On our way to meet them though, I was pretty sure we were going to witness a fight. It was pretty crowded and people were trying to get through throngs of other people and no one wanted to move. Finally, we found them and watched the parade, then the light show on the castle, then the fireworks. Well, we watched the parade, Ben fell asleep. Rosemary put her arm around him the stroller so he could lean against her. It was very sweet. He woke up at the end of the parade.
Just before the fireworks began Ben said he had to go to the bathroom. I was holding him. There was no way we were going to be able to get through the crowd and get back before they started. I asked him if he could wait and prepared myself to have pee all over me by the end of the night. Amazingly, he made it and Jonathan ran off with him as soon as the show was over and he made it to the bathroom. Thankfully, Jonathan was there. If I’d taken him to a ladies restroom, we’d probably still be there.
Cinderella’s Castle was so beautiful at night.
We had a great time. The day flew by and it was packed full. There were some rides we didn’t make it on, but then we also did things that we’d never done before with the kids like Tom Sawyer’s Island, the paddle boat, and the Carousel of Progress. And we saw both parades and the evening shows. We came home exhausted, but all had a wonderful time. I think I’m still recovering. :-)
