When you wish upon a star....

So here it is, a little recap of our Disney Day. Tom and I went back and forth quite a bit before our trip to FL deciding if Disney was right for us. We both have been a few times and know that it is something we would like our kids to experience, but we just didn't know if 3 years old was the right age. We were very torn. Jack loves The Disney Channel and knows almost all of the Pixar movies by heart. He is constantly turning episodes and scenes from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, The Octonauts and most of the Pixar movies into adventures of his own. I recently saw that a friend of mine, with a daughter that is 2, made a day trip to Disney while on a similar type vacation in FL. I contacted her and got the details-Did it work? Did you have fun? Was it enough time? Did she have fun and like it? Was it worth it? The answers to all of these were-YES! We started some preliminary planning. This is what we decided.

1. Will would stay back in Port St. Lucie for the day with my parents. No need to torture a now constantly moving boy with being strapped into a car seat and stroller. This turned into the best decision of the day!

2. We would get up early, drive up to Disney and head back around dinner time. Jack is not into fireworks, so there was no need to stay to see them.

3. We would see what we could and not get stressed or try to pack too much into the day. Low expectations!

"I'm SO excited!"

Once we arrived in FL, we looked at the forecast for the week and juggled it with the golf schedules. Wednesday would be our day. We decided to get up at our regular time and head out after breakfast. Our GPS made our ride up to Disney a little longer than expected by dropping us off at the Kissimee Airport, claiming that it was Walt Disney World. OOOOoops! We were only slightly off course and made it to the park in about 2 hours instead of 1 1/2. As we drove under the first signs stating we had arrived in at Walt Disney World, Jack started yelling- "I'M SO EXCITED." Tom and I both chuckled, knowing he hadn't even seen anything 'cool' yet. We started getting more and more excited for his interpretation of the day and to see him take in all the wonder that accompanies a trip like this. We parked in the heroes lot: Peter Pan, row 60, boarded the tram and started off towards the park. Under advisement from my friend Julie, we bought our tickets at a vending machine and avoided standing in line.

Riding the monorail into the park.

This is how Jack 'rode' around the park most of the day.

We decided that our first "ride" of the day would be the monorail (one of Tom's favorite parts of Disney as a child). Jack loved it! We zoomed off towards the castle. After standing in a couple more lines (one to have my bag of goodies checked and one to process our tickets and attach a fingerprint to each one) we were INSIDE. It turned out to be VERY hot-at least 88 degrees, if not 90 and VERY crowded. March is a very busy month with the Florida school vacations, college spring breaks and other state's school vacations. We were greeted by a massive sea of people. Jack held tight to Tom's hand and was very quiet. My sensitive, inquisitive boy, taking it all in. We headed up Main Street and stopped to have our picture taken with Cinderella's Castle in the background. As we navigated the park, we remarked over and over, how glad we were that Will was at home. It was too hot and the stroller would have just gotten aggravating to maneuver in the crowds. We started in Fantasyland.

Our first ride was The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh. The best part was that while you wait there is a lot for the kids to do to pass the time. While in line we got the low down on how to work a Fast Pass and headed straight to the Buzz Lightyear ride to acquire one.

Hiding in Rabbit's Cabbage crates. 

Waiting in line for Winnie-the-Pooh

We ended up spending a majority of our time in Tomorrowland riding on the Speedway, The People Mover, seeing the Carousel of Progress and then returning to The Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (Jack's favorite ride). We missed getting to have our picture taken with Buzz Lightyear, but decided that since we were only there for the day, our time was better spent on rides and seeing more of the park.

Jack telling me-"GO FASTER, so we can beat Daddy"

The People Mover

The best part of the day-"Shooting lasers at Zurg"

We headed to Adventureland where Tom and Jack rode on the Aladdin Magic Carpet ride while I got an ice cream. We had planned to take our time, not rush and have a nice lunch for a break while we were in the park. I think we both got caught up in the fact that there were so many people there and we really wanted to make the most of our time so we just kept moving. I packed lots of snacks and fruit and drinks for Jack, so we kept feeding him while we were in line waiting. Tom and I drank the water I brought but really didn't eat anything. By three o'clock, we could see Jack fading. The heat was getting to him, he was overwhelmed by the masses of people and generally sick of standing in line. He never complained, but was asking to be held a lot. (Looking back-maybe his ears were starting to bother him since he started with the ear infection the next day). We decided to start to wrap things up. We sat down inside for Mickey's Philharmonic show in 3D. A nice, cool break inside and then made our way to the Walt Disney Railroad for a train ride back to the entrance of the park.

Waiting our turn for the train

"Let me just see that map for a second"

A long and wonderful day!

Jack's little souvenir

The day went by so fast. We saw a lot, but certainly didn't see everything. Most of you will be disappointed to hear that we never made it on Pirates of the Caribbean (but Jack doesn't know that). We kept to our plan of seeing what we could and not getting stressed or worried if we didn't see everything. We pushed Jack as far as he could go, but saw when he had reached our limit and headed to the car. We took the ferry boat back to the parking area (another ride in my book). Tom and I both thought that Jack would pass out as soon as his head hit the car seat back-but the opposite happened. He started talking and talking. The "wow" moment we had been waiting for while we were at the park had happened, just on the inside. He started telling us all about the rides we went on and what his favorite part was. He stayed awake the whole ride home. As we pulled onto Greenbrier Circle, we spotted Kay Kay and Bampa taking Will on a walk. Jack was so excited to see them. He ran up to the stroller and gave Will a big hug. He then started talking a mile a minute to update Kay Kay and Bampa on what we saw and the rides we went on.

SUCCESS! 

Overall, I think we had a great day. Jack saw a little piece of the magic of Disney, but we left a lot to see for next time. Tom and I had the chance to relive a part of our childhood through Jack. My camera's battery started dying at the mid point in our day, so I stopped taking pictures to be sure to save it for the rest of the day and the rest of our trip (I forgot the charger).