Live from the World - Sept. 30th - Oct. 5th **UPDATED 10-03-09 -More Pictures Added**

[twelveone]

Our family left yesterday morning from the Florida Panhandle for a 5 night birthday trip at the World. We stopped in Ocala on our way down to give the kids a break from the car ride. Right now we are getting ready to leave the Ocala hotel and check in at the All Star Movies. Today we are planning to visit the Magic Kingdom. We have Lunch reservations at the Plaza Restaurant and reservations for the Wishes Dessert Party. Our party consist of the following.

Me - 30
wife - 30
daughter - 6
daughter - 4
son - 7 weeks olds

Also on the trip are
Mother-in-Law & Father-in-law

If anyone has questions while I am at the World, I will try to answer them.

I am also planning on updating my twitter account with wait times and other stuff. My twitter name is williamrushing

 

[peekinglemer]

Hi Will -

We leave tomorrow so here is hoping for light crowds and nice weather. Can't wait to hear how things go with your three little ones. This is our first trip with ds who will be 4 in December and we are a little nervous. You are a brave man doing it with three. Congrats on your new addition.

Can't wait to read your updates.

 

[twelveone]

We had a great day at the Magic Kingdom yesterday. While the crowds were larger than expected, they were still manageable. The longest wait I saw for Peter Pan's Flight was 30 mins. For some reason, the Magic Kingdom Monorail was not running today. This helped add to the crowd problems. Everyone had to ride the Ferry from the TTC to the MK. They added an extra hour to the closing time which may have helped a little. There was still a mad rush to leave after Wishes. Since we have a 7 week old infant, we are taking a much more relaxed approach to the parks. We enjoyed our lunch at the Plaza Restaurant. I had the cheeseburger and my wife had the Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich. The Wishes Dessert Party was nice. I must say that I don't believe that it is worth the price just for the food. To me, the real benefit came from not have to keep an infant in crowds on Main Street. We enjoyed to desserts. (I mainly ate Donut Holes.) But we really enjoyed not having to fight the crowds on Main Street. I am not sure I would do the Dessert Party again.

Today we are headed to the Hollywood Studios. We have lunch reservations for the 50's Prime Time Cafe. I am ready for the Pot Roast!!!! I will continue to keep updating my Twitter account. You can find it here.

 

[twelveone]

We spent all day yesterday at the Hollywood Studios. The crowds were once again; more than expected, but manageable. The longest wait time I saw posted for Toy Story Midway Mania was 60 minutes. All the FastPasses were gone by noon. Our lunch at the 50's PrimeTime Cafe was enjoyable, though the dessert was the best part. Our 7 week old is sleeping his way through Disney. He has really been an angel on this trip. My wife keeps him in a Sleepy Wrap, which in just a long piece of fabric that you tie around your body. We watched the 8:00 p.m. showing of Fantasmic and it was standing room only. This has always been our favorite night time show at the World.

Today we will watch the opening ceremony at the Magic Kingdom and try to get on some rides early in Fantasy Land. Then we are off to EPCOT in order to have lunch at the Coral Reef. I will still be posting updates on Twitter.

 

[twelveone]

Came back from the parks early today. Our kids need a night where they are in bed before 11pm.

We started off this morning with the Welcome Ceremony at the Magic Kingdom. This is a favorite of my daughters. We were able to get into Fantasy Land early and meet characters like Ariel, Fairy Godmother, and Lady Tremaine & the step sisters. We waited in line to meet Tinkerbell, Iridessa, and Rosetta. My daughters have met these characters many different times, but it is still a must do for them on every trip to the World. It took an hour to see the fairies. We were able to walk on to Splash Mountain. We then made our way to EPCOT to make our lunch reservations at the Coral Reef. We have eaten at the Coral Reef a couple of other times, but this time I just was not impressed. I order every adult ordered the New York Strip with French Fries. When they brought it out, the portion of fries was minuscule. I will have to post a picture later. The total meal took two hours and the service was about as good as the fries. The steak was good, but I think it will be a while before I head back there. The crowds in EPCOT were not very bad, at 3:00 p.m. the wait for Soar'n was 40 mins.

Tomorrow we will be headed to the Animal Kingdom. We probably won't stay long there. My daughters want to ride Everest and the Kali River Rapids. We will then head back to the Magic Kingdom to get more character autographs. We made custom autograph books for this trip and the girls want to get every page filled. We have dinner reservations for Chef Mickey's at 7:00 p.m. It is a tradition for every trip. We have also arranged for a Cake to be brought to the table by the characters. It will be my wife's 30th birthday.

 

[twelveone]

Here are a couple of photos from our trip:

Here is a picture of Main Street taken from Cinderella Castle on 09-30-09. The crowds were gathering for the SpectroMagic Parade.

Here is our family with the Incredibles. My son really enjoyed looking at Mr. Incredible. I guess he reminded him of his dad...

My New York Strip from the Coral Reef. I was underwhelmed by the amount of French Fries. This picture is before I had eaten any of them. Notice my daughters kids meal had twice as many. The steak was very good and that was what was most important.

 

[twelveone]

We began our day yesterday at the Animal Kingdom. We spent time visiting with characters and rode our two favorite rides. The whole family got soaked on the Kali River Rapids. We took advantage of the Baby swap to make sure the girls got a chance to ride the ride with both parents. My 4 year old daughter was just a hair too short to ride Expedition Everest. My 6 year old rode for her second time. She says she loved it, although the finger nail marks in my arms might suggest otherwise. We went to Magic Kingdom for an hour before heading to our dinner at Chef Mickey's. We arranged for the cake to be brought to the table to surprise my wife for her 30th birthday. The cake was nice looking but not all that tasty. That didn't bother us much since we were full from the dinner buffet anyway. We concluded the evening by watching Wishes from the Balcony at the Contemporary Resort.

Here are a few photos from the day...

What better way to celebrate a first trip than with Mickey ears and Trading Pins.

This is how he has spent most of his first visit to the World. Wrapped up tight with his mom. He sleeps really well in the wrap.

The kids visit with Minnie Mouse during our dinner.

This is the cake they brought my wife for her birthday. For those looking to do the same, the cost was about $30.00.