The Most Magical Place on Earth?

In front of Cinderella's Castle

Watching Mickey go by at the parade

Caden taking in the sights and sounds of, "It's a small world after all."


Here is Jason terrified of the robotic children on the, "It's a small world after all" ride. This photo cracks me up.

Grandma, Jason and Caden on the carousel. Caden had this look on his face the whole time...as though he rides giant horses everyday and was completely bored with idea of doing it again. It was pretty funny.

Here's Jay and Caden with some Cow...she had a short line up so we picked her over Chip and Dale.

Bored while waiting 2 hours for Splash Mountain.

Tuckered out after a long day

We are back from the Wonderful World of Disney.
On Monday we packed up and headed down to Orlando. After getting a little lost and being rained on, we made it to our hotel and then met up with Jay's parents. We had a great dinner, hung out for a bit and then headed back to our hotel to rest up for the following day. Caden slept pretty well from 10:00-7:00. I was stressed out for nothing. I tend to imagine the worst case scenerio and end up relieved when things go well.
We got up and made the trek to the Magic Kingdom. We parked, walked, got on the monorail, walked some more and were finally inside the gates 30 minutes after arriving. Tackling the magic kingdom with a stroller is much more challenging than going it with your own two feet, but Caden was a trooper and behaved like a perfect gentleman the entire time. We took in the carousel, the PhilHarmonic 3-D movie (where Caden actually kept his 3-D glasses on for the show!) and the "It's a small world afterall" boat ride. If you've never done this particular ride, it is a boat ride through a tunnel that is adorned with robotic children from around the world singing in different languages. It was adorable, however Jason (not being a big kid person) was terrified of the robotic children which is what inspired the hilarious photo above. Probably one of the funniest pictures I've ever taken.
We then ate lunch and Jay's parents graciously gave us 2.5 hours of baby free fun. They took Caden to The Country Bears Jamboree, shopping and icecream eating. Meanwhile, Jason and I spent our entire 2.5 hours lined up for Splash Mountain. The man behind us in line was from Toronto and was telling us that it took him less time to fly from Canada to Florida than it took to ride Splash Mountain. Pretty funny.
During this time we took in the sights and sounds and came to the conclusion that as neat as Disney is, it's probably not the most magical place on earth. In fact, if you look around and study the faces, people look pretty disgruntled, hot and aggitated. We saw more children crying than laughing out loud and one woman was in her child's face sternly saying through gritted teeth, "You're going to ride this ride and you're going to have fun!"
Whoever does the marketing for Disney ought to spend a day there. We had a great time, but if it's the most magical place on earth then that doesn't say much for the planet! :)
In the end Splash Mountain was awesome because we got the front seat.
We then met up with grandparents and the boy just in time for the 3pm parade and then we washed our hands of Disney and went back to the hotel for some swimming. The cool water felt so good after the long sweaty day at the park.
We proceeded to dinner. Caden saved up all his restless, crazy rebellious energy for this lag in the journey so we all took turns walking around the resteraunt with him to keep him from screaming. I think he was just so tired he couldn't handle it anymore. Luckily Outback had a kid corner with toys and he hung out over there where each of us took a shift supervising his play.
We went back to the hotel, put the baby down, took a nice soak in the jacuzzi tub and slept like babies....all 3 of us!
It was a great time had by all. It was especially nice just hanging out with Jay's parents and watching them love on Caden. We miss everyone up north so much. Luckily my Mom is coming in 3 weeks and Jay's parents will be back in October so the time should fly by.
As for Disney, it was a different but fun experience with a baby...and maybe in a decade when we attempt it again it will be just as magical!