Today was truly "Mardi Gras" for us even though it's a little early and we aren't staying at the French Quarter at all this trip: We had two character meals planned, largely because today was our friend's day at Magic Kingdom and our favorite character meals seem to be over in that neighborhood.
It was misty this morning, which, of course, made for some amazing photo opportunities:
My family started the day with breakfast at Crystal Palace at 8:05am. Our friends had a slightly later breakfast at Ohanna. Ours was delicious and the kids had a good time and ate pretty well. We decided to split up and I took the 3 year (Henceforth Mr. Little) old to do his stuff and my husband and 8 year old (Henceforth Mr. Tall) went off to ride BTMRR twice and Haunted mansion and I actually forget if they did anything else. The little guy and I rode Dumbo, Tomorrowland Slow-way (including a stalled out vehicle ahead of us), Got fastpasses for Space Mountain, rode Peter Pan, and played in the Pooh play area. Then we went over for the opening of Toontown at 10am. We rode the barnstormer a couple of times and the kids played in the Donald's boat area. I have taken to dressing them in swim trunks with either a regular shirt or a water shirt, and a change of dry clothes in the backpack. Oh, and
crocs, so if they want to get wet in these water play areas, I can totally let them. (I decided this after Mr. Tlal wore a poncho on Kali River Rapids and was nice and dry, and then got fully drenched in the little fountain play area just afterwards.)
Anyhow, after that, we took the train around to Frontier Land, where I rode BTMRR with the tall-enough-child, and DH took the little guy on a mission to get Jungle Cruise Fastpasses before playing in the little play area under Splash Mountain. My nervous little boy is getting into the mild thrills, apparently, and it is so nice to see his confidence growing.
Then we flouted the familial curse of Tom Sawyer Island! It is a family joke that whenever you go to Tom Sawyer Island, something goes very wrong. When I went with my mom in 1987, my 10 year old sister had a total meltdown on Tom Sawyer Island. It is the stuff of legend - almost as much as the time my brother tried to get killed by changing seats with my sister on World of Motion after we were already in our cars or the time he stopped in the middle of the pathway in World Showcase, China, I think it was, stooped down and refused to budge from that spot. Our only trip, 3 days, I think it was. Anyhow, last January, I took both boys to Tom Sawyer Island without my DH. It was a hot, sticky day, Mr Little was asleep in the sling and Mr Tall and I couldn't find eachother for a few minutes there, and I felt totally miserable and helpless. Luckily, he turned up fairly quickly and was fine, but the "find a cast member" plan doesn't work so great on TSA because they just aren't so plentiful over there. It is the lack of shops, I think. I think that the cursse is actually that if you go over to Tom Sawyer Island with fewer adults than kids, you WILL be sorry.
We went today with both adults and both kids, and my older son took great care that we all stayed together and he was on his best behavior. We were so happy when we stepped onto the dock back at Frontier Land with nothing terrible having happened!
After that, we went and rode that Jungle Cruise - our friends had called us about the time that we left Toontown, but they had arrived later and were wanting to do the rides in Fantasyland.
We rode the Jungle cruise and I wish I had a picture of our captain (silly me!) but I did get his autograph. Skipper Ryan was cute and funny and we all had a great time.
We went over to Tomorrowland in hopes of meeting up with our friends. I took Mr. Little on TTA while DH took Mr. Tall on Space Mountain - I was surprised that Mr. Tall wanted to go, but he had been considering it ever since he decided he loved BTMRR. And he rode it and LOVED it. Meanwhile, I called our friends to tell them that there was a 5 minute wait for Buzz posted, so they came down and rode that (We didn't really want to, for some reason) and then we all had some icecream together before my family left the park for a nice break. The kids all got Itsakadoozies, and BOY, was it a Kadoozie! And also a mess, because of the steamy weather, they were melting all over the place.
We had a LOVELY rest and then trucked off to 1900 Park Fair, and I wished we had left 20 minutes earlier. I won't go into the transportation, but I didn't actually allow quite enough time and we were 5 or 10 minutes late. Our friends talked to the people at the podium, though, and it seems to have been fine.
This was our second big-all-together meal this trip. The problem came when they wanted all the kids on the outside for the characters. My two kids can barely keep their hands off eachother when seated next to eachother, but there was no way to arrange things so that the two younger kids were near an adult and the two older kids weren't seated by eachother (They have been winding eachother up pretty badly on this trip), and finally, I took a seat between my two boys and made Mr. Tall get up and walk around to the characters when they came by. We LOVED that meal - the buffet was a good choice for vegetarians as there were many good selections. The Soups were probably the highlight - the Strawberry soup and Cream of Mushroom were like liquid heaven.
The characters at this meal were amazing, as well. Perla, one of the mice, came over and was playing with our friends - smelling their food and "getting drinks" from their little girl's cup. Then Cinderella and Prince Charming came over to talk with us. Mr. Little is really into the princesses at the moment - when he sees Cinderella or Little Mermaid, he always gets really excited and comments "Oh! That Cinderella! I like her!!!" But the fact is, he usually clams up around characters, and when he's really into something in the theme parks, he gets all quiet and takes EVERYTHING in. During the Voyage of the Little Mermaid show yesterday, he spotted the costume-change compromise they had to make and quietly asked me: "Why she is wearing a SHIRT!?!" Well, it's so she could be transformed from a mermaid into a girl wearing a blue dress, but I was amazed he noticed her costume incongruity.
Anyway, he was actually smiling and pleased as could be with Cinderella. He didn't say anything much to her besides his name, but be was smiling and captivated the entire time she was visiting us.
We all went back to the Magic Kingdom to ride a couple last rides and see wishes. It was not epecially remarkable, though we were all going to ride POTC together and a little way into the line, Mr. Tall says he has to go to the bathroom. Now he had gone when we left the Grand Floridian, but he insisted, so DH took him, which I promptly felt guilty about, but it really is easier for him to take him than for me, given his age and all. Well, there will always be another time for them to ride it. They ducked out an exit, that apparently led backstage.
and went through a door that said "No Smoking" and it led to...the park!
After that, we trucked over to a truly mediocre spot near Liberty Square for Wishes. It was off to the side and largely blocked by foliage. Mr. Tall was really distressed about not being able to see well, so I grabbed his hand and I led him over into the edge of the masses (what would TGM say???) - there were people, but he was much happier with the view and gave me a big kiss on the cheek afterward. We rejoined the group and exited the park in a liesurely fashion. I ticked off Mr. Little on the way out of the MK because I took him into the bathroom. Ah, three year olds. Later I gave away "his" seat on the bus to a man holding a toddler, but he didn't melt down over that, thank goodness. We passed by a car accident on the way back to the resort - a white van or SUV on its roof - the police and ambulences were there. I hope everyone involved is OK.
Tomorow - break day for us and Epcot in the morning for our friends. My husband and I hope to make it over to the Adventurer's Club for the first time, but it is going to depend on a lot of factors. I always want to go there, and it seems like it just never happens.
I am now going to post a few non-obvious things that I have decided I really like about Saratoga Springs.
, I am sick 
of winter!!! 
I am officially over the edge.....
And just maybe I will! 
It is interesting to hear that that is something you actually regretted enough about your lasts trip to plan another trip (not that one needs regrets to plan another trip!
