Magic Kingdom

One of the most exciting parts of any vacation is the first visit/experience/meeting. Besides my mom, this was the first visit to DW for all of us. The kids had watched the promotional dvd and had seen pictures of other people's trips so their excitement was certainly high. And, of course, Disney delivers.

Our obligatory picture with Walt in front of the castle. We got there on a Sunday afternoon and it was not too crowded.

The kids were excited and ready for their adventure. Notice that Kiki is fully dressed in princess attire - even her jeans have a princess on it!

This was one of the shows they put on throughout the day. I think we saw bits and pieces of it three times one day. Many of the characters - princesses, Mickey, Minne, Donald, Goofy, villains - were in the show.


We didn't think Josh would get too into the Disney spirit, but he learned that it was better not to fight the happiness. He surprised us when he asked for a Mickey Mouse ear hat. He wore it throughout the trip. Josh liked to stop and stare at his shadow.

Duc and the kids on the Aladdin magic carpet ride. All three kids had fun at MK. At first, Jacob didn't want to get in line for this ride. But after he saw it in motion a few times, he decided he wanted to ride. He wanted to ride all the flying kiddie rides. He was a good passenger - he didn't cry or want to climb out of the seat while it was in flight.

Jacob saw the Dumbo ride and declared, "I want to ride Dumbo!" He climbed into the stationary sample Dumbo and waited for it to take off.


We all got FastPasses to the Buzz Lightyear ride. Thank goodness for FastPass. We got it around noon and came back after 3 p.m. for the ride. Duc and Josh shared a car; Jacob and I got one and Kiki and my mom got in the other one. Jacob had a hard time pressing the button to shoot the characters so he spent most of the ride playing with the joystick that made the car turn around. That was a fun and dizzying ride for me.

Not everything at Disney is cartoon marketing. We were surprised when Josh wanted to see the displays in the Hall of Presidents. Josh had learned about the presidents in February for President's Day. He was eager to watch the show and learn tidbits about many of our leaders.


Our hotel was on the lake adjacent to MK. Besides the bus shuttle, we could take a boat ride to MK, the Contemporary hotel and the nearby Ft. Wilderness lodging area. This is the boat ride to MK.