Disney World: The First Day

My daughter was very intrigued by the idea that real princesses lived at Disney world and had been asking us if we could go there for vacation.  My husband does not have a job that allows for much time off.  Don’t get me wrong, he has over 60 sick and/or vacation days that he has never used.  But inevitably if he tries to go somewhere, there will be a problem that only he can fix.  So, it was almost my son’s second birthday and I said that if we wanted to go to Disney, that we should go now while little man can fly free.  My husband agreed and said that he could take three days (two nights) for the trip.  I had a week and a half to plan our, last minute, trip to Disney World.

I looked online and finally chose the hotel with the safari animals that grazed right outside of your room.  I then called the Disney phone number to book the trip.  They tried hard to sell me on the food plans, but we were going to be there for two nights.  They did tell me about the princess dinner and makeover and I booked both for the second day.  Since we were booking so last minute the flights were expensive, but luckily my husband has a lot of air miles.  A week and a half later, we flew to Florida and our trip to Disney World began.

We flew in very early the first day and got to the hotel well before check-in.  They had one room available and we took it; it was smaller than the one I had booked, but it still had a good view of the animals and it was ready now.  We could go drop off our bags and head straight to the park.  After leaving the room, we went straight to Magic Kingdom.  My cousin said that they kept their daughter‘s stroller turned backward so that when they got up to the Cinderella’s famous castle, their little girl would be shocked.  I tried the same thing and my daughter said, “WOW” but then when we got up to it, she said, “Wait!  It’s too small!  Is there anything upstairs?  Where are all the rooms?  Where is the ballroom? Where do they dance? I want to see Cinderella’s bedroom!  You just walk through it!  Is this really her castle?”  I did not realize how much thought she had put into this!

We had just eaten lunch and were waiting to ride our first ride, when my daughter lost her shoe.  It was the weirdest thing ever!  We were in line for the “It’s a Small World” ride.  The ride was almost underground and lines were up above the ride.  Since you were up so high, they had pieces of aluminum between the top railing and the floor, but they left a few inches open at the bottom.  Well, my daughter’s favorite purple crystal flower flip flop came off her foot.  She scooted her foot forward (to inch her toes back in it) when suddenly it slid under the tiny opening in the wall and fell two stories below into the ride’s rushing water.  She burst into tears and I was shocked that such a freaky thing just happened.  After 35 minutes of waiting, we got on our very first Disney ride with our crying, one-shoed daughter.  My daughter looked sad during the ride, while my son looked very confused.   When the boat docked, my husband got the manager and asked if he could quickly look for the shoe.  He looked for a while, but no shoe.  We headed to the gift shop and bought her some very hard and uncomfortable princess shoes.

We then walked around and tried to find the shortest lines.  We got on the teacups very quickly, and then got in line for Dumbo.  We had finally made it to the very front, and were the next ones in line, when the ride shut down; the ride completely stopped working after we had waited for 25 minutes.    People were still sitting in the little elephants, waiting to be flown around, but the employees just could not get it working.  My husband whispered, “I bet it is a storm.  I’ll be there is a system that shuts down these outdoor rides if there is lightening.”  I said, “Wouldn’t the employees know that?”  He said “I doubt Disney can afford to leave safety decisions up to individual employees.”   He had a point.  I looked up at the sky, it was barely drizzling but, it was pitch black.  There definitely was a storm close by, so we decided to leave the ride.   The kids were devastated that they did not get to ride Dumbo, but it was probably for the best because I realized that my son had pooped his pants.  I headed for the bathroom to change his diaper and when we came out the rain had picked up.

We found another ride, which was indoors, and the line was protected from the rain. The peter pan ride was fun, but still scared my kids.  My daughter did not like that you were flying in the dark and could not see where you were going.  My son did not like Captain Hook or the alligator.   When we got off the peter pan ride it was storming.  It was not just raining, it was dumping water.   Everywhere you looked, people were scattering like bugs.  Everyone was running for cover.  I found a shop and spent $40 on ponchos, and we decided to make a run for it.  We ran back to the bus that went to our hotel.  We all looked like a family of wet rats as we walked through the hotel to our room.  My husband put the stroller out on the balcony to dry out and we put our bathing suits on and went down to the pool.  We were already wet and the worst of the storm seemed to be over.  We played in the pool for a while and then went in for dinner.

At dinner, my daughter spoke of her absolute devastation concerning the fact that she spent an entire day at Disney world and had not yet seen a princess.  We went back to our room, watched the zebras and giraffes from our balcony, took a bath and tried to get the kids to bed.  I brought an inflatable toddler bed for my little man.  I put a clean blanket on the floor and put his little bed beside me on the floor.  I lay beside my daughter, but he kids were too excited to sleep.  After two hours of them chatting, (around 10:00) they finally went to sleep.  I woke up around midnight because I heard banging on the wall, and it was my daughters head.  She had sleep apnea at the time and would thrash around in her sleep.  She had thrown herself against the wall – ouch.  I pulled her back on the bed, put my pillow against the wall and tried to go back to sleep.  No time later, I was up again because I heard mumbling.  I looked at my daughter and she was sleeping, but then looked down to check on my son.  I looked for him, but he was not in his bed.  I popped up and saw him standing at my husband’s bed.  He was talking to my husband, who was sound asleep and snoring up a storm.  My son would ask my husband a question and then my husband would give a loud snore (as a response) and for some reason my toddler found this hilarious!    I was like, “Seriously! Go back to bed!”

I got my little guy and laid him back down, but he just got up and went exploring again.  I   finally put him in the bed with me (and my daughter).  They were all over each other and kept pushing each other; it was a nightmare.  My daughter kept hitting the wall and trying to sleep sideways, while my son kept flipping upside down and almost falling off of the end of the bed.  We were all up by 5:30 because the kids were pushing and fighting over the pillows.  After about 5 hours of broken sleep, I got up and showered and while the kids watched the animals from the balcony.  I needed caffeine, and a lot of it, so we headed out for an early breakfast.  I thought about those stupid hats you see in magazines that hold cans (or drinks) on the top and have straws that come down and reach your mouth.  I wondered if I could find one and keep it filled with diet coke.  I was going to need a caffeine drip if we had to accomplish so much in one day.  I was pretty sure that margaritas were not allowed but, maybe, diet coke.  Besides, I was too tired to care about looking foolish today.  Today, we were on a mission; a mission to meet a “Real Princess” before our flight tomorrow morning.  Today I had to just put on my big girl panties and do what I had to do to make our first trip to Disney world a success – no pressure though!

Day two:  Now it gets interesting!!!!  Yikes!

 

 

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