Boys' Birthday Trip: Day 2, Magic Kingdom, at Night

You can't stay at a hotel and not partake in the free happy hour, right? That's just wrong.

So after naps on this day we headed down to the dining area for all you can drink juice and snack mix. First, I should point out that the plastic cup next to Cole has pineapple juice, not beer. Looks very similar, I know. He was really excited about it, so maybe he thought he was having a beer like Dada? Whatever makes him happy. Second, in that striped bag is your average snack mix. Note how he is picking all the bagel chips out. I commented to Keith how he is OCD, and Keith was quick to point out that I do the same thing. My retort was that 1) I am not OCD, and 2) d*mn, I thought I was being sneaky when I did that. 

Grady was less selective about the snack. I don't even know why he's pulling a face here. 

Best part of happy hour is trying a slushie for the first time. Oh, kiddie heaven! There was a red and a blue slushie and boy did we have a good time changing our minds from wanting red to wanting blue. After we got it, of course. That bartender loved us. 

With our bellies full of sugar liquid and bagel chips, we went back to see this guy at night. 

The park was near deserted. Awesome. As we walked in, people were streaming out and for a second I worried the park would be closed due to rain. We quickly asked and were assured the park was open. Phew.


Kind of funny, but also not, is that Keith and Cole ran into the boys restroom here at the entrance to Main Street in Magic Kingdom. In one of the bathroom stalls someone had used a creative medium to write the word "pooh" on the wall. I'll let you figure out what they used as the medium. 


Dust or something on the lens here, sorry. Notice how Cole makes the rounds, and Grady stays in the stroller. One learns quickly not to rouse Grady is he's content.

Once we reported the poopy artist to a cast member, we strolled down Main Street and enjoyed the changing lights of the castle.

Another quick attempt to get a group shot.

Then off to have some adventures!

Some big tree house thing. Robinson Crusoe or something? I don't remember. 

We all liked the tree house. We only saw two other people for the 10 minutes it took us to walk through, and the boys liked the steps and rope and neat little windows and rooms.

One of the views we stopped to admire while traversing the tree.

One of the views Keith and I admired.

And then, all done with the tree. And what do we see here? No lines at the magic carpet ride? Why yes indeedy, let's do it. 

In action. I only wish these rides lasted longer.

Uh-oh. Natives are approaching sleepiness. Let's hope we last until fireworks. And until then, let's find something that will capture their attention.

Turns out that something was the Country Bear Jamboree. Or a name very close to that one. Our hosts on the wall greeted us.

We sat and eagerly waited for the bears...see how empty the place was?

And then it started! If you've been reading for a while, you know that Grady loves his Beah. And when this bear said that other bears would play music, Grady giggled. 

And then this bear came out of the ground and was playing piano, and Grady very seriously turned to me and said "my Beah plays the guitar". And of course he does, he's quite a well-traveled and educated bear.

Whoa. Then the bear version of a boy band.

And the three baby-temptress bears. Bonnie, somebody, and Beulah. During their song it was really obvious that like much of Disney, there were two levels to this show. The cute stuff the kids notice, and the very adult humor for the big kids. 

We rounded the night off with the fireworks show. At first we were all excited since there was fun music and bright colors. But then, as they do on so many rides and shows, things turned dark and there's a witch or a bad person featured with scary music and it all goes to hell for the little ones. 

So by the time we saw the first of this, Cole had decided that he needed to get away, and the next 10 minutes were spent walking towards the exit, then stopping for a minute so Grady could watch, then walking for another minute to put more distance between Cole and The Scawy, and on and on. 

Overall, a very good day. And we were all in bed and asleep by 9:15. 

Boys' Birthday Trip: Day 2, Magic Kingdom

People. I've come to realize that I've hit the age where you need a few days to recover from vacation. Sad. Really sad. And as I sit here typing, my back is telling me that it has not yet recovered, and that it will be pissed if I don't do some resting soon.

But don't feel too bad for me, an ailing and aging body is not the only reason I've not blogged. I got a new crafting toy, and it has kept me entertained. Whooo! I'll share more on that later, but first, back to vacation.

Day 2 we were up early and headed to Magic Kingdom. On a positive note, no one hit our car in the parking lot. On the negative note, I after you park your car, you then also have to ride the monorail to get to the actual park. I did not know this. And it's not easy keeping two active boys in the cattle-like link for the monorail. And maybe I had not gotten enough sleep, but this did not start the day right for me. I get grumpy like this from time to time. It's ok, it passes. So we waited, and the boys were excited for "the train". See it coming?

And a short 15 minutes later, we were there! See, Cinderewwa's castle! See how excited the boys were?

Hhm. Yeah, not sure I can call those expressions "excited", let's try again. Not much better in the second shot, but here Grady is throwing a fit because he wanted to turn and see the castle. Totally understandable. Did I mention yet that it had rained all morning and everything was wet with more rain possibly to come? I just remembered that.

So we walked and looked and were having a good time. And then we got to the fantasyland section, and the Dumbo ride was still too wet, so we saw another ride and since it had no lines, we thought we'd start there. At this point I wasn't even really sure what the ride was all about, but I did see "Snow White" on part of the sign, and I knew the boys knew who she was. Plus, there was no wait! We just hopped right into the little carriage things.

Awwww, how sweet. The ride starts off so nicely, with a happy scene with flowers.

But then that carriage turns the corner and it all goes to hell. Turns out the ride is "Snow White's Scary Adventure", and that name is accurate, 'cause that sh*t was scary. Especially to two little boys whose imaginations are just taking flight. So, there are no more pictures of this ride because both Keith and I were covering eyes, making soothing sounds, and hugging babies. Big parental fail here. Had we seen the whole title, we would have skipped this ride because it just did not set a good tone for the rest of the day. Even later, when we were on rides that were only moderately scary, the boys were still freaked out. Learn from my mistakes, other parents. Snow White is not to be trusted.

And seriously, Disney. Did you really need to include the scene with the hunter and his knife yelling at Snow White to run!RUN! C'mon. Happiest place on earth, remember?

I don't even think that carriage came to a complete stop before Keith and I had the boys out and we were moving on.

To a carousel! A huge one, at that. We love these things. Grady rode a big horse he picked himself. He named it Elvis, like our beloved fat dog, who is currently chilling with Grampie in Florida till we can get him back.

Cole picked this horse. I think he liked the Aqua harness thing. He didn't know what Aqua was when the ride started, but he does now. He liked this ride.

I chose this fine looking horse so I could reach out and hold both babies. Probably isn't necessary anymore, they were strapped in and holding on like big boys, but you just never know when some form of scary will appear in this place.

See? Look how good this big boy is holding on.

When we finished the carousel ride, we walked over to this ride. You know this one, right? Grady picked a pink Dumbo for him and Dada.

He was sooo bexcited.

We sat and stared at the mouse and his feather.

And then we were up in the sky! See? There we are in the blue Dumbo Cole picked. Note that this time he went for a truer blue instead of Aqua. On this ride I started to notice what we are now calling PostSnowWhiteTrauma, or PSWT. I think that Cole would normally have loved this ride, but he was still a little freaked from that first ride, and for the rest of the day would claim "i no like dis", or "das scawy!" if you asked him if he wants to ride something. And once the ride started, he would continue saying the same. Until the ride ended, and then only a few minutes later, if you asked him, he would say that he liked it or that it was fun. The PSWT just made him a little hesitant and nervous. And boy did he chew his fingernails. I asked him to stop chewing his nails and he said "I no wanna stop, I no help it". He didn't seen to care when I explained that it would make his fingernails ugly.

So, back to us and bluer Dumbo. He was nervous and kept saying he was scared and wanted to get off. And I kept saying how fun it was, wheeeeee! We're flying! And finally at the end he got into it and giggled a little.

Next, Pinnie the Pooh's ride. To get there you go through that grumpy rabbit's house and garden. Good fun. Right after this picture was taken Cole started to let me know that he did not plan on doing this ride, it being scawy and all. I ignored.

Before you get to the ride, there's a little play area, and we had it all to ourselves. Genious to include a play area in the line. Kudos to the Disney folks. This thing spun and made bell-like sounds. We dug it.

Don't touch my vegetables!! Not sure what he's worried about, he's seen Grady's aversion to eating carrots.

And there was this thing that you touch to "clear away" the honey to see a picture behind it. Normally you'd be standing in line and entertaining yourself with this, but look. No people in line!

Look how good my big boy is walking between the lines. And yes, I'm behind him to block his ability to bolt away. He's still worried about the scariness.

Into the honeypots we go.

And right away we, the parents, start overcompensating for our earlier mistake by pointing out the fun and not-scariness of this ride. Look! Pinnie the Pooh is floating with a balloon. How fun!

And that worked for a few seconds, but again, the honeypot turned and things got dark.  NO! NO! Cole yelled. I no like dis. Poor kid. The darkness didn't last all that long, thankfully.

But then it got a little weird. What's up with the trippy animals at the end of this ride? Did Pinnie drop a 'shroom?

Neither Cole nor Grady cared for that ride. And the look I got from Keith said something like WTF was that?

Maybe the teacups ride would be better? We picked a pink cup.

Dada really got into this one.

The boys thought it was OK, which we were happy with, because "ok" is better than screaming. 

Next up was our first real line. We wanted to ride the cars. We being the parents, since the boys were not sure what that meant. Dont' we ride in cars all the time?, they were probably wondering.  

And we do, but not cool little racecars like these!

Ooh. This is not a flattering picture of me, but it's a great example of what we did a thousand times over. The boys get tired of walking/standing/whatever, and we have to pick them up. Have I mentioned that they are heavy? Lift with your legs!

A mere 20 minutes later we were in our cars. Cole and Dada got a yellow one. And yes, the boys drove.

They even got little driver's licenses. Cole was so very excited.
I think Grady was excited too, but he's such a cool cat. The entire time he was driving, he had one hand on the wheel, and the other where the window would be. Just like he's out for a ride looking for ladies, and he does this aaaaaall the time.

Snacktime! We all refuel.

Ah! And now my favorite. Keith remembered this ride from his last visit to Disney when he was a kid, and he wanted to ride. I had no idea what to expect, but I liked it. And the boys loooooved it.  

Loaded on our boat, ready to see the world.

Ooooh, wook! Da babies sing. oooh. Dat baby's dancing!

I dont know how anyone can not like that ride. It's cool, calm and happy at the same time. Loved it. And was genuinely sad to see the end approach.

Anyone noticed that we had not seen Mickey or Minnie this day yet? Time to fix that.

First we explored Mickey's house. The boys were looking around intently, and I think they were expecting to see Mickey in the house.

He wasn't in his bedroom...

And he wasn't in his garden...

Though he really should be in his garden, 'cause his pumpkins are ready to be picked.

And then we found him!

And her.

Grady doesn't look super excited here, but he was. A brotha's gotta play it cool, you know?

Switch. Hug the other mouse.

Then, sorry Minnie, but I've got other ladies to go see.

Across from Minnie and Mickey's house is the kiddie rollercoaster. Cole seemed a little unsure of this ride, but he liked to sounds of things being fast, so he agreed to go on the ride with me. Sadly this picture focused on the biggish lady behind me.

Once the ride was in action, Cole got into it. Look, no hands!

When the ride ended, he kept talking about fast he went. I go so sast, Momma.

Played in the boat and nearby little playground for a bit. Mostly ran around being goofy, while the parental unit planned for naps and activites for the rest of the day. And I wont lie, we did some good people watching.

This brings us only to 2pm or so on this wonderful day. Tomorrow, we talk about post-nap Disney.