First evening at the Magic Kingdom
After our magical ride-packed morning, Matthew's 1st haircut and a stop at The Confectionary, we left the Magic Kingdom and returned to our rental house around 1:30pm for naps and a swim. Matthew and Madeleine fell asleep immediately.
Sam came out of his room about a half hour later (normal for his rest time these days) so Rick and I took him for a swim in the pool. We woke Madeleine up around 4pm so she could have some fun in the pool too.
We woke Matthew up around 4:45, fed all of the kids some mac-n-cheese, and were back in the Magic Kingdom around 5:30. (Our trips to the Magic Kingdom took about a half hour between the drive from our rental house, the walk from the parking lot to the monorail, the monorail ride over and the bag check at the gates. The other parks took no longer than 15 minutes.) We were parked in the Goofy lot this time, which was further away than our morning spot, so took the tram over instead of walking. We thought it was a real hassle to get our three kids, two strollers (folded up) and two bags on the tram so decided that in the future we would just walk the distance unless we were absolutely exhausted.
We had promised Sam and Madeleine a pair of Mickey Ears after Matthew had gotten his with the haircut that morning, and as soon as we entered the park we saw a stand and did that. Sam immediately decided on a traditional pair but Madeleine, in true princess style, had to try each version on two or three times before making her decision. While she was deciding, we heard the train approaching the Main Street station and since our plan was to ride it over to Frontierland to use our FP's on Big Thunder Mountain RR I pushed Matthew and his stroller up there while Rick waited with the other two to complete the transaction. Matthew and I waited and waited.....and waited for Rick and the kids to join us while people boarded the train. Just as Rick finally wheeled the other two up in the stroller the CM closed the gate and announced it would be another 7 minutes. When I asked Rick what had taken them so long he said that the CM at the hat stand was so friendly and chatty that he just didn't want to be rude and walk away, and then when he finally did get away he couldn't find the stroller entrance to the train station. While we were waiting we once again emptied our strollers, folded them up, and juggled all the kids and stuff. We had to lift the strollers over the turnstile gate as well, which wasn't easy. In retrospect, on future trips we will either leave the strollers at the train entrance and ride a complete circuit or not take the train at all. Don't get me wrong, we were really glad to have the strollers we did, but we found them to be a hassle on the tram and on the train. Otherwise they worked out great.
We rode the train to Big Thunder Mountain RR where I then took Madeleine and Matthew to a little playground underneath Splash Mountain (which was closed for refurbishment during our visit) while Sam and Rick rode. When they got done we swapped and while Sam and I were riding, Rick taught Matthew how to go down the slide. He loved it!
Of course, the other two had to try it out as well!
There was a very short line at Thunder Mtn., so since Matthew and Madeleine were having so much fun on the little playground, Rick and I each rode with Sam one more time. One of my all time favorite rides! Rick said that Sam had hid his face in Rick's chest and closed his eyes the entire first time around, but when he went with me he only wanted my arm around him. He loved the ride! I don't think I've ever ridden Thunder Mtn. at night and it was a really neat experience to ride it in the dark.
After Thunder Mtn., we headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean and were very dissapointed to find it still closed (we had checked on our way out that morning and it was closed then as well). The CM's said the problem was being worked on, but we had really hoped to ride it our first day. We moved on to Aladdin's Magic Carpets and rode that instead.
After Aladdin it was already almost time for the fireworks so we started making our way out to Main Street. I had forgotten the great viewing map from fellow DIS'er Robo and couldn't remember where the prime viewing was so when we got the bridge and saw that it was relatively empty we stopped there. Here's a picture I snapped of Rick and the kids on the bridge. The castle is in the background, but our camera takes terrible night time pictures so you can't see it at all.
We saw Tinkerbell's flight just fine (all the while Madeleine was yelling excitedly, "There's Tinkerbell, my favorite!"), but then the fireworks started and we could hardly see a thing! We would hear the "boom" and then see nothing. Sam started getting very upset, so we quickly loaded the kids up and headed out to Main Street. As soon as we got to the hub we could see perfectly so stopped there and watched the rest of the show. Even though we had barely encountered a line all day, it was shoulder to shoulder. I wondered where all the people had come from! The kids all loved the fireworks and Matthew clapped after each one.
As soon as the show was over we realized our mistake of being so far down Main Street in regards to leaving the park - bumper to bumper strollers and people moving at a snail's pace! We just took our time and moved with the crowd. Sam was starting to lose it at this point (started crying) and we kept telling him he would be in his bed soon. I didn't mention this earlier in the report, but Sam has a Sensory Processing Disorder and when his senses become overwhelmed (easy to happen at a place like Disney World with all of the stimulation and crowds) he does some odd things such as flapping his arms, rolling his eyes, biting his shirt and crying (when a 4 year old normally wouldn't). He's been getting occupational therapy for it since he was 2 and is much improved, however Disney World brought out some reactions we hadn't seen in a long time.
We saw that there was a boat docked as we exited the Magic Kingdom so decided to give that a try rather than proceed with the throngs of people heading to the monorail. Sam's crying had intensified and he was saying he was cold, hungry and wanted to go to bed. We were in the first group of people on so walked all the way to the other side of the boat and right up to the ropes so we would also be one of the first off. We parked our strollers here and I busied myself with getting Sam settled.
This is where I had my first big non-magical moment of the trip. Sam was crying and I was bent down beside the stroller getting him a blanket and a snack when I heard a very loud and rudely expressed, "Excuse me, you're in the way!" from behind. I turned around to see a man in a wheelchair. When I turned to look at him he very rudely said to me, "I'm trying to get up to the front so I can be one of the first people off and you and your stroller are blocking my way." Now at this point, the entire front of the boat where we were standing was completely filled, there was absolutely no room (people all around us), and I had no idea what this man was talking about as far as where he thought he was going to go. He was about two feet behind the absolute very front and was between my stroller and another family. Rick overheard this and said, "I'm sure that everyone here would like to get to the very front, but there's no where else we can move to now to let you through. When the boat docks we'll be happy to move aside and let you pass first." This man then responded to me in a very mean voice that my stroller was taking up all the room and I needed to move it. All this time I'm squatting by the stroller and Sam is screaming his head off. This time my response was not so nice, but still nicer than I felt it should have been! I looked him in the eye and told him I was helping my son and as soon as I was finished helping him I would be happy to stand up and try to move my stroller over so he could move up. ARGH!!! I was so upset! He could obviously see that I was dealing with my child who was crying loudly and not just squatting behind the stroller because I felt like it! I took my sweet ol' time helping Sam and when I was good and ready I stood up and moved my stroller over as much as I could. Without any sort of acknowlegement this man then wheeled up as close to the rope as he could get, practically running us over! If he had just asked me nicely in the first place I would have been more than happy to try to move after I had helped Sam, but he was just so rude! I can totally see that he would want to be near the front, but just because he was in a wheelchair didn't give him a license to be so rude.
Sorry to go on about that, but it really bothered me! As for the rest of our evening, while we were driving home I asked everyone to tell me what had been their favorite and least favorite parts of the day. Rick, Sam and I all loved Big Thunder Mountain RR (with Goofy's Barnstormer being a close second for Sam) while Madeleine said the Carrousel. Sam told us that Matthew liked It's A Small World best (which I believe he did!). As for least favorite parts of the day, Rick was dissapointed that Pirates was down for the day, I was upset about the man in the wheelchair, Madeleine said she didn't like the roller coaster (Goofy's Barnstormer) and Sam said he didn't like being cold on the boat when we left the Magic Kingdom. All in all though, we thought it had been a fantastic day.
We got the kids to bed as soon as we got back to the rental house and then Rick and I got into the hot tub with a bottle of wine and some brie and crackers. Mmmmm! A perfect ending to an almost perfect day!
Coming up next: Our first day at Epcot!
And your children are so adorable.
your kid's reaction to the opening show--I bet it was priceless! Gotta also love all the Disney magic this first day! 
she will be 3 in March and My DH 
and me, DM 
are thinking about when is a good time to go on a family trip to disney 
never heard of it before
about the camera!!!
