Disney 2009

We went to Disney on John’s birthday. We got up early, got everyone ready, and headed out the door for our 1 hour and 20 minute drive to “the World.”

The drive was gorgeous…the sun was out and it was a beautiful temperature. When we got into Orlando it was so exciting seeing all the billboards for the nearby attractions…we knew we were getting close! We then started seeing the signs for Disney World and drove through to the Magic Kingdom to park.

Once at the front gates we bought our tickets…which had to be done a little differently since there were extra steps to get John’s free ticket. The lady also gave him a button to wear that said “It’s My Birthday” that I told him he had to wear for at least ½ hour! She also gave each of us a button that said “I’m celebrating Daddy’s Birthday,” which the kids loved.

After we got the tickets we headed onto the monorail. It was so neat seeing the castle get closer and closer! Once we were there we went into Main Street and were in awe…the weather was perfect and it was just like it had been the previous year. The same show was even being performed in front of the castle as a year ago when we first entered!

We decided that I would take Ryan and go and get the Fast Passes for Splash Mountain while John and the kids watched the show at the castle. Afterwards we met up and the kids met Donald Duck and then we headed over to Fantasy Land so that the kids could ride some rides while we waited for our Fast Pass time. Ryan decided he was hungry, so John stayed and rode rides with the kids while I took Ryan to the baby care center.


I just want to say I love Disney…really…everything from how stinking nice the employees are, to the fact that the parks are so clean, to the silly rules they have in place that make it an overall great experience. The baby care center was no exception. Inside I found 4 rocking chairs in a dimly lit room where I could peacefully feed Ryan (I was the only one in there for a while). I know there was a changing room somewhere, but I just changed him in the rocking chair room, which was nice. I just loved not having to worry about whether Ryan was going to pull the blanket down out in public, or whether I was exposing too much skin, or just being comfortable!

After that we headed over to Splash Mountain and Kylie and John went to ride while Ryan, Josh and I went down to the little play area below. Josh had so much fun playing there and I had fun trying to make Ryan smile :) Unfortunately Kylie didn’t have as much fun on the ride this time because she got wet right away :(

After that we decided to get some lunch. It was hot dogs and McDonald’s fries! Then the kids went on Dumbo with John and Ryan and I hung out. After that ride we went over to the Peter Pan ride – the kids had loved that so much last year! And it was so nice because I could take Ryan on it, so we got to all go!



We then headed to the front of the park to look for Kylie’s Minnie ears. She had been wanting them the whole time and she knew she wanted the ones that had a veil. So we found them and as we were going to leave, Joshie saw the “make your own” ears and you know what he said? “Hockey helmets!” The base part (the hat with no ears) looks a lot like a hockey helmet, and since we know he’s obsessed with hockey, he loved it!



After that we headed over to Mickey and Minnie’s house. The kids love playing in their houses because they get to touch everything! I had to feed Ryan again and this time it was not such a lovely experience, but we survived :) John and Josh went to ride Goofy’s roller coaster and then we got to do the parent swap so Kylie and I could go and ride (another wonderful thing I love about Disney). After that we headed to the barn and shopped around while Kylie and John participated in the parade :) Then Kylie spent the rest of her money on a baby Minnie doll (it’s so hard being a parent and trying to teach kids what are good things to spend money on and what aren’t).

Joshie was getting tired at this point so I carried Ryan in the sling and put Joshie in the stroller to nap. He fell asleep and John and Kylie decided to drive the race cars. They were in line for about 45 minutes, so I got an ice cream bar and planted myself in the shade. I gave Ryan some licks of the chocolate, which he loved, and just enjoyed watching all the people. After John and Kylie were done, we parent swapped and Kylie and I went on the race cars.


After that Joshie woke up and we spent more time in Tomorrowland (which was nice because we didn’t get here at all last year). We went to the Monster’s Inc. show and at the end when the little monster says “you want to know what’s cute?” they flashed a shot of me holding Ryan on the big screen and the monster says “a baby! And that one’s fresh out of the oven!” It was fun!

We took the tram thing around tomorrowland and got to see a lot of neat things (including the inside of Space Mountain with all the lights on because there was some sort of problem – it was neat seeing all the tracks!) Then we headed over to the Buzz Lightyear ride…it was so nice because I could take Ryan on it, so we all got to go as a family! It was a very cool ride…we got more Fast Passes to ride it again!

By this time it was starting to get dark, and cold. We forgot to bring in the kids’ jackets, so we were planning on leaving soon. We rode the astro-ship-ride-thing (parent-swap again!) and then I told John to take the kids back on the Buzz Lightyear ride while I went to feed Ryan one last time before leaving. Unfortunately I got up to the front just as the light parade was starting. I couldn’t cross the street! Luckily, Ryan had fallen asleep in his sling, so I wrapped him up in the blanket and watched the parade. When it was over I started to make my way up to the front, wondering how I was going to find John and the kids, and I happened to run into them! What are the chances of that? We also saw a guy wearing a Blue Jackets shirt (our hockey team) and Joshie yelled “go Jackets” and the guy yelled “go Jackets” back! We made our way back to the monorail and the kids got to ride in the front car which was a really nice treat for them! Back at the car we had two very sleeping kids and little man that wanted to eat! So I fed Ryan while John talked to his parents on the phone (since it was his birthday and all). The kids informed us that they were too tired to stop for dinner :) So we headed out and were back at the condo by 10:30.

It was a long day, but so very much fun. It was nice because the kids really didn’t have any interest in seeing any characters (we saw a line for some princesses and Kylie didn’t want to see them) so we didn’t waste any time doing that. We just rode the rides and relaxed!