2 Dogs, a Baby Make Five: Florida Birthday Trip Part 2

After our fun time in The Villages we headed to Orlando. We stayed in a very nice time share that Kevin's parents allowed us to use - woo hoo. It was located very close to Disney. Kevin, his parents and Nathaniel went to the really nice pool when we got there while I went to the outlet mall. After some fun in the sun we headed for a quick bite where Nate became a cranky handful. He is usually pretty good during dinners (really!), but he was having none of it that night. We hoped he got his crankies out then and not the next day at The Magic Kingdom.

We woke up bright and early to make sure we got to the park before it opened. We are up anyway so why not beat the crowds. This is one of those strategies from all of those websites anyway. You rush around to some of the crowded rides in that first hour and there is almost no wait. We did just that. Actually, let me back up, we saw the opening celebration of the park. I had never seen that before (not that I remember). It set the mood nicely.

We rushed to fantasyland to get the kid rides in before lines started. We talked Kevin's parents into coming with us, which worked out perfectly. The extra pair of hands is always useful. It was especially nice when grandma Hahm watched Nate while he was napping while we went on a few roller coasters. Woo Hoo. It will be such a nice memory for Nate to know his grandparents goofed around with him at Disney.

Ok, back to Fantasyland. We weren't sure if Nate would like rides, hate rides, be scared to death... who knew? He was always a little stunned looking, but never scared. Success!! And to top it off, there were no lines almost anywhere all day. We did everything we wanted and then some (I practically made everyone sprint to the mermaid ride since the websites said GO FAST, it seems a little silly now since there were no lines haha... sorry family). There wasn't a wait at the roller coasters even. It was ideal for having an impatient toddler.

His favorite ride was It's a small world. He loved pointing things out and listening to all of the songs. We went on it twice. I think he was the most scared on the Aladdin magic carpet ride. If you haven't been on that ride it is a lot like Dumbo but tilts and goes up and down, which I think was a little too much for him.

He really liked the street celebration too. It is some floats with characters singing and dancing right by the castle. Nate was jamming. He wasn't cranky all day, ate well and generally loved watching everything around him. We stayed from open to close - CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!? I was worried he wouldn't nap, but he did and was just fine.

I think two other highlights of the day were when he saw Mickey Mouse for the first time. He was so excited. He was even more excited afterwords. Seeing Mickey pumped him up, he was a hyper spaz after seeing him. It was adorable. I also enjoyed watching him snuggle his dad as they watched fireworks over the castle at the end of the day. There is a neat castle show they put on along with the fireworks and Nate watched pretty much every minute of it. I think the only negative the whole day was that I was a little hot at times, but it wasn't even too bad (and if I'm saying that it must not have been because I'm cranky in the heat haha)

Maybe another highlight was the cool Disney Starbucks cup they had. Just the regular starbucks cup, but all Disney'd. It was cool. I won a bet so Kevin's dad had to buy me one HaHa... it was right before the afternoon parade so I welcomed the cold drink.

Overall, I really couldn't have asked for a more perfect day for Nathaniel's first trip to Disney. Things just seemed to go pretty smooth (mostly because there were no crowds YAY!) I have such fond memories of Disney and my childhood so it was a very special moment for me to take Nathaniel there (granted it was DisneyWorld and not DisneyLand, but the magic kingdom is so much like DisneyLand it felt similar). I'm pretty sure I got a tiny bit teary eyed during 'If you wish upon a star' at the end of the day... maybe I was just tired, or maybe it just felt awesome :) Yes, apparently I turn into one of those sappy mom's at times. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if my family could have been there to enjoy it too. Maybe next time :) I can still remember sneaking into my sister's bedroom and laying in bed with her before our Disney trips and talking about what we were going to do. She might not remember that because she was younger, but I do, I loved getting her all excited to go.

Because the first day went so well we decided to go to The Animal Kingdom the next day. Kevin's parents had to go home so we were on our own. The crowds were still pretty light. The day went almost as smooth, but we were all definitely feeling the exhaustion from the day before. Nathaniel enjoyed the safari ride (the ride we rushed to first to avoid any line), but it went on just a tad to long for a 2 year old. There were a ton (a ton!!) of cool animals out and he was pretty bored with them towards the end haha. Kevin and I still enjoyed it :) We had a whole row to ourselves too, which was nice because we could swing Nate to whatever side was more interesting. But, I think Nate enjoyed the shows the most there. We went to a Nemo show and a Lion King show. He could not (and would not) sit during the Lion King. He was dancing and moving around in the aisle the whole time. Luckily there were very few people around us so I think we kept our *annoying* to acceptable levels. The park closes at 5pm so the day was a lot shorter. We were ready to take it easy that night. We got take out and just hung around the resort. Great family time.

We headed to Destin, FL - the beach - the next day. ... stay tuned for Part 3