Flew home Saturday from a Magical week in Disney World in Florida. Ahead of time, I was really stressing about the flights, with a 5-year old daughter and 2-year old son in tow. Especially since US Airways split us up... when we purchased the tickets, all four of us were together, and it was a necessity, mainly to keep our son occupied, and thus behaving. He's not a bad kid at all, but it's just the fact of him sitting in one seat somewhere around three hours made my head hurt.
Well I'll leave the flights and that horrible airline for another post, I'll just talk about the good stuff of the vacation here.
We flew down Saturday morning, and were staying at the Disney Resort itself (Boardwalk). They have it down pat, I have to say. The flight arrived, we then checked in for the Magical Express (a bus service that takes you directly to your resort), boarded the bus, and arrived at the resort about 30 minutes later. Along the way, the very funny driver amused us with his ramblings, plus pointed out two alligators! Cool stuff for a lifelong Jersey guy. We met my parents right away, who had driven down days earlier... Dad hates flying. Our luggage arrived from the airport, when our room was ready... nice.
Our son was an angel, and is usually obsessed with trucks and planes anyway. At one point, he actually exclaimed, "I'm flying Daddy!" Talk about a moment that will stay with me forever... that was definitively one huge one. He watched his DVD and munched on some pretzels, and our daughter played on her Leapster, drew pictures, and looked out the window.
We hit all four parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and MGM. Our daughter was all about the characters this time around, and we stood in line (usually with other New Jersey folks) a bunch of times to see too many characters to list here. Our daughter's the more leery one in terms of rides, but our son is the adventure-seeker, but still just a tad too short for the roller coasters. She definitely went on more things than she did the last time we were down, and we let her dictate where to go next, for the most part. Maureen and I traded off with my parents to watch the kids when we all wanted to go on the other rides like Haunted Mansion or Pirates of the Caribbean... it worked out really well.
We only split up once, and that was when Dad and I walked over to Epcot Tuesday morning to ride the Segways, while Mom, Maureen, and kids went over to a Princess Breakfast in Germany in Epcot. My daughter had her princess dress on, and I heard my son had a thing for Jasmine. As for the Segways, I have GOT to get me one of them! This was the second time riding it, and this was an updated model. It's amazing how natural it is... me want.
We hit the Magic Kingdom three of our days there, and caught the Main Street Light Parade (or whatever it's called) and the fireworks twice. Didn't plan on seeing them at all, but the first night we gave it a shot after a later dinner, and the kids absolutely loved them both. My daughter was on my shoulders for the fireworks, and it was her first time seeing them... she was actually shivering at times. The second time we watched them, she yelled out, "THAT'S AWESOME!!!" repeatedly. Our third time in the Magic Kingdom was our last full day in Disney, and we planned on getting out of there around 4:00... well after the mandatory shopping, photo ops, snack runs, etc. it was definitely later. I was standing in line, I think for my daughter to see Jiminy Cricket, and Dad was standing off to the side with my son, who was saying something I couldn't hear. I went over, and he was saying, "Fireworks?" I had to break it to him, "No fireworks today buddy... all done," kissed him and went back in line. I looked back over, and he was looking at me with a boo-boo face and Dad was laughing... he was trying to play me, and at two years old!
But seriously, how awesome is that? Something like the fireworks made an impression on someone so small. Our daughter cried leaving on the bus because she didn't want to leave, and she would miss Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop (who were staying longer, now that they're both retired)... and has cried at home once since, because she wants to go back. What an impression, and what great memories we've been able to give them already... it's worth every penny, and I was able to see both of our kids grow in that week.
