Howe Two: Disneyworld: Part 3--Magic Kingdom

Monday was Magic Kingdom day. We began with a little breakfast in our room while Matt was at the conference. I had a few groceries and some water delivered from a local grocery store (another great suggestion from friends), so this made mornings much less stressful. I brought in the patio table, added a towel table cloth, and the princesses had breakfast in front of the TV like royalty.

We were just one monorail stop away from Magic Kingdom, so we arrived quickly after Matt was done with conference.

Walking in and getting the first glimpse

Trying to coordinate a picture in front of Rapunzel's tower.

First, we hit the It's a Small World Ride. Isn't that everyone's most nostalgic childhood ride? It certainly was for Matt, and he was excited to take the girls on it. They were both mesmerized by the music, lights, and dancing little puppet dolls. A nice, long, relaxing ride out of the madness.

Then we headed over to the Astro Orbiter, which is basically like a Dumbo ride that is crazy-high in the sky. You can also adjust your rockets to go higher or lower. It was on this ride that I first got a taste of what Adrienne really likes. She pushed us to the highest position, and then laughed the entire ride while I clutched her with my death grip and silently prayed we didn't tip out (because it sure felt like it)

More tame rocket riders...because Jillian was in charge.

Really high up. Not my thing.

So after the Astro Orbiter we grabbed lunch at a crazy busy crappy place (Pinocchio's Haus), where some kid vomited about 2 places in front of us in line. Bless his heart. The lunch experience wasn't quite the same after that. We ran over to catch our first Fast Pass ride--The Barnstormer--which is is very short, tame roller coaster. Matt and Adrienne were in the front car and Jillian and I were right behind them. It was on this ride that my eyes were opened to the riding styles/preferences of my kids. Jillian huddled into me with her eyes closed and covered the entire ride. And Adrienne? Well, she, without any prompting, threw her hands up in the air like a roller coaster riding pro and enjoyed the ride.

Next up: Teacups. I have post traumatic stress from this as a kid, so I told Matt to enjoy himself.

Spinning spinning spinning

Love Matt's face...told ya it's not pleasant!

Impossible to get a decent pic of these clowns

Especially after enjoying another Mickey-shaped ice cream treat.

Then it was time to head over to our next Fast Pass ride. A newer ride called "Under The Sea", which is basically just a peaceful ride down "under the sea" to experience the story of the Little Mermaid. J was excited (this is her kind of ride--and mine!) and Adrienne? Well....PTSD of the bug show from the previous day kicked in and she was terrified.

Looking up at Ariel

Here's what she saw

Mom, I'm trying to watch the ride. Stop taking selfies

Matt trying desperately to explain to Adrienne that this will be fun!

Very cool scenery

Trying to enjoy herself through her tears. But soon, things got really dark and we came upon Ursula....game over. I will never forget seeing Adrienne's little hands and feet sticking out of the car in front of me as she tried to claw her way out. Poor Matt.

Thankfully, Adrienne survived and we were on our way to meet Ariel herself. It took some convincing for A to believe that we were not headed down into another dark Under The Sea ride.

Then we waited in a painfully long line to meet Cinderella AND Rapunzel, despite having a Fast Pass time for this. It was worth it. The girls were just delighted.

We all declared that Rapunzel was the best princess we met--she was so sweet, animated, funny, and made over the girls' blonde hair, going off into a monologue about brushing hair in order for it to grow long.

Most of the next pictures are out of order....and it's just too much work to fix them. So, I'll give a rundown of the rest of the day and then you can just enjoy the pictures. After the princesses, I rode the carousel with the girls while Matt waited in line to get another Fast Pass time for a ride that night (Big Thunder Mountain Railroad--more on that later).

-We went to the Monster's Inc Laugh-In show, which we found to be totally stupid (but the girls loved, once we convinced Adrienne that there were absolutely no chance of bad guys).

-We hit dinner at Tony's Town Square Restaurant, which was Lady and The Tramp Themed. The food was just awful, which really annoyed me after the drama of the morning. I kept checking reservation openings for Magic Kingdom, and finally saw one. I grabbed it, but suddenly, my Disney Account froze up and refused to let me sign in. So I lost the reservation. This resulted in nearly an hour on the phone to fix my account, and then time on Guest Services line for them to make a 'recovery effort' and find me a reservation.

-After dinner we high-tailed it over to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was dark, and we were trying to play up the ride appropriately to convince each girl that they would like it. We told Jillian it wasn't that scary (I remembered riding it as a kid without any bad memories, so assumed it would be fine for her). We told Adrienne that even though it was dark, it would be a fun roller coaster. Her response? "Dat sounds weally danger-wuss". Oh, and it was. The ride was a legit coaster, it was dark, and super fast, and the ride took forever. Jillian closed her eyes the entire time. I screamed the entire time, while trying to keep a vice grip on Adrienne and obsessively check that our lap bar was locked, and Adrienne? Yep--arms up and whooping with glee the whole time. She and Matt have a future of riding super fun, fast, exhilarating rides together while Jillian and I go shopping or see a show. Glad to know everyone has found their best riding buddy.

-We scrambled to find a good spot for the electric parade, which was pretty cool. Then we each lugged a tired kid through ridiculous crowds to try and get a good view of the fireworks while also making our way out of the park. This was not my favorite hour. People use strollers as weapons, I think. Pure madness, lots of pushing, way too many people. Ugh. We finally made it back to Main Street and realized we hadn't let the girls get their designated souvenir (because J reminded us, and she never forgets anything). This took Adrienne 2 minutes, and Jillian? Well, we really learned another way she is exactly like me--super indecisive. She was in a veritable panic trying to make the best choice, frantically wandering around the store trying to choose something. Matt was so frustrated, as was I, and he found it quite hilarious that it annoyed me--since I have spent years annoying him with this trait. About an hour later, and after missing most of the fireworks, we finally had Jillian's choice. We fought our way out of the park and into the long line to the monorail. It was 9:30, we were exhausted, and honestly, us grown ups could use an adult beverage. But guess what? Magic Kingdom doesn't serve alcohol! I find that incredibly ironic because it is the park with the most stress. But, I suppose that if they served it, people would overindulge, lose it, and kill each other. Magic Kingdom is the Kingdom of Madness. We made it back to the hotel and I went to the lobby lounge to purchase some wine-to-go while Matt started the girls in the tub. We make a great team.