Mardi Gras in POFQ/Travel with a Toddler/Magical Moments UPDATED Mar 26

[jessidoll]

LOVE THE TR SO FAR!!!!!!! Hope to read more!

 

[Punchy]

Kona Café at 10:00 am! We had a bit of a scramble that morning but managed to get it together and to the bus stop. Where, of coure, no Magic Kingdom buses came by.

J and I often get into arguments over buses; he is impatient and likes to take alternate routes, while I think waiting for the direct bus is the best way to go. I gave in this time, so we hopped on a bus to EPCOT instead, with a plan to take the monorail to the Polynesian.

Henry's first monorail ride! You can tell this is one of J's silly iPhone photos:

It worked out well - we got to ride the monorail at last, and we had some time to kill when we arrived at MK, so we hopped on the ferry boat across Seven Seas Lagoon.

It was a beautiful morning to be on the water.

Henry loved it but had a hard time staying seated in his excitement. We may or may not have been lectured about this...

At the Poly we stopped at the beach first so we could dig our toes into the sand. I also wanted to get some photos of the beautiful scenery to show J's sister, who bailed on the trip at the last minute because "she'd prefer to visit a resort destination on the beach".

This trip was supposed to be a big family trip with my in-laws. About a year ago we mentioned that we wanted to take Henry and they were all keen to join us. We explained that it is much more expensive than their usual package trips to Mexico, but they all wanted to come. So we spent months organizing the best possible discounts, researching places to stay, trying to arrange every detail to everyone's liking.

In the fall we got together and J and I showed them a slide show from our last trip. We had crunched the numbers and created a budget for each person, with different options. My one SIL bailed right there, claiming she wanted to go to a beach resort. The other waffled a few days later. His parents didn't back out until a month later. The parents informed us that they planned to go on a vacation to Mexico with the two SILs instead. THANKS A LOT!

This had a huge impact on our trip. We would not be able to ride any thrill rides together, we would not get any parenting breaks. But we decided not to be apprehensive. Instead, we called up our reservation and extended it another 5 days! We estimated everything would take twice as long, and we were right.

Anyhow, I took lots of beautiful photos of the Poly with a secret agenda.

We got a table at Kona right away. J ordered the Tonga Toast (of course) and Henry had eggs, fruit and cinnamon toast. I didn't realize it was cinnamon toast - normally he is not allowed to have sugar - and he licked every speck of sugar on that little piece of bread, then gobbled it in about three bites!

I had eggs and bacon, which I regretted. I should have ordered the macadamia nut pancakes, but I was thinking about getting something sweet at the Main Street Bakery later and didn't want to overdue it. Bad decision: there's no overdoing it in WDW!

We jumped back on the monorail and headed to the MK. We stopped inside the gates for a generous sunblock application while Henry and J putzed around.

We were in the Magic Kingdom! I felt like we were truly, officially, in Disney World!

We walked right into a show by the Residents of Main Street. In all of my trips I have never seen a single one of these characters as we were always running to get fastpasses. This is one of the many discoveries we made as we were forced to move at Henry's pace.

They were hilarious!

First ride - the People Mover! This ride was closed last time and it's a favourite. It's still awesome, but I am sad that they replaced the narrator - it has lost a bit of its original campy charm.

First Ride:

Second Ride:

Third Ride!

Then we went on Buzz's Space Ranger Spin. Henry enjoyed the spinning and the black lights but really couldn't see much over the car. J beat my score by a lot, but I was more concerned with what Henry was doing than keeping score.

Usually we buy the ride photo but only the top of H's head was visible. This was the case with many rides we went on.

By this point Henry was way past his usual nap time, so we went over to the Baby Care Centre to change him and feed him. I didn't care for the Baby Care Centre itself as it was a bit loud and distracting, however the sitting area outside of it is very charming. Henry and I sat and watched the birds in the fountain while J went to get us Splash fastpasses.

Yes, we're losers and took a photo of the Baby Care. Ignore the serious malfunction with my hair.

Just as we were finishing up, the Main Street Philharmonic (marching band) came out from behind a castmembers area and marched by. They weren't playing yet, but as each gentleman passed Henry he played a note on his instrument, and the tuba player at the end bellowed "HELLLOOO" through the tuba. Both Henry and I were in stitches. Our first magical moment!

We wandered back over toward Tomorrowland in hopes that Henry would sleep in his stroller. No such luck. As we approached the Coca Cola Cool Zone he went nuts, squealing and trying to escape. So we let him out and figured he could burn off some energy there. BIG MISTAKE.

 

[Punchy]

Thanks guys! I promise to finish it now, even if you all ditch me.

Stasieki, that's cool! Do you have any photos posted? I would guess you must have seen us on the bus or in one of the bus lines. That's neat!

 

[Luv Donald Duck]

Bumping for an update!!!!

 

[lbuzz52]

Sorry your company bailed on you. But, even though you had to alter your rides I can speak from experience that there are negatives to going with extended family too!
I feel you with the not sitting still. My ds is definitely in the run and laugh stage. So thankful for strollers!
You definitely should finish. For one thing, it makes a great souvineer. Besides, I'm sure you have more lurkers than you know!