1st trip to Disney World

This past weekend marked a momentous milestone in the boys' lives...their first trip to Walt Disney World. I had sworn that I would not take them to Disney until they were at least 5 years old, but the opportunity and a good deal presented itself and Jesse and I decided to just go for it. We figured, they're both under 3 years old, so even if they hated it, we hadn't wasted our money on buying kid tickets!

We left on Thursday afternoon, a little excited and a lot nervous. I had very low expectations from the boys, mainly so I wouldn't be too disappointed through the meltdowns that I knew were inevitable. When we got to Orlando, we stopped off at Bass Pro Shops (a must for Jesse any time we're in the area). We then checked into our hotel and spent a little time at the pool, which, no big surprise, neither of the boys liked.

Friday morning we got up and caught the bus to Magic Kingdom. We had a really good time there, the boys rode on quite a few rides, which really surprised me. We did "It's a Small World," "The Magic Carpets of Aladdin," "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh," "Walt Disney World Railroad," "Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress" (a great place to cool off and rest, Wyatt fell asleep), and "Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin." We did meet Donald Duck in Frontierland, Wyatt was very excited to see him until we got up close, Waylon wouldn't even get out of the stroller!! (I'll post all the pictures at the end.)

We left and went back to the hotel for lunch and a little rest time, then it was off to Hollywood Studios for the rest of the afternoon. Hollywood Studios was pretty neat. We met Lightning McQueen and Mater (which surprisingly neither of the boys' were scared of...weird). The boys really enjoyed "Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage," where they got to be part of an interactive show. We also did "Muppet Vision 3-D" which was cool. I myself rode on "Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith" and that was one of the best roller coasters I've been on. It's completely in the dark so you have no idea what's coming next. The seats have speakers right next to your ears so you're rocking out to Aerosmith during the entire ride. I loved it!

This summed up Friday, we ended up going out to dinner and crashing that night!

Saturday morning we got up and headed off to Animal Kingdom. The boys enjoyed the "Kilimanjaro Safari." Wyatt finally got to see his giraffes that he'd been talking about all morning! We did about half of "Finding Nemo the Musical" until the boys got restless and we had to leave. We watched the 3D show "It's Tough to be a Bug." Wyatt got a little freaked out, but all in all they both did well. We rode "TriceraTop Spin" and I rode "Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain," which is another roller coaster that was really fun. By this time we were getting tired and hungry so we left the park and headed for Chick-fil-A for lunch.

We ended up back at the hotel with plans for a short nap then Epcot for the evening and back to Magic Kingdom for the "Spectromagic" parade and fireworks. We didn't wake up from our nap until 5:00pm so we hurried over to Epcot and did "The Seas with Nemo & Friends" and "Turtle Talk with Crush." That Turtle Talk was pretty cool. I think that even if you don't have kids, if you have the opportunity, you should go see it. It's interactive and Crush "talks" to the kids, calls them by name and answers questions. It's actually really funny and they put a lot of personality into him. In this same area there is a building that is mostly composed of fish tanks everywhere you look and the boys loved watching the fish. By the time we were done, Epcot was closing, so we hopped on the monorail back to Disney. We did a little shopping and strolled around for a bit, then it was time for the parade and fireworks. The fireworks were so pretty and where we were watching from was right below where Tinkerbell flew over. Wyatt loved the fireworks and said "Pirewoks, boom, boom, pow, pow!"

We caught the bus back to our hotel. It was a late night and we were all exhausted. All in all, despite a few meltdowns and the boys acting their ages, we all had a good time. We're already planning our next trip to Disney.....in about 4 years!

Here are some pics, I did find out that it's hard to take pictures when your kids are pretty much attached to you...and also if you forget to charge the camera battery and it dies on you.

Waylon and Jesse on the Aladdin ride

Wyatt & Waylon on "It's a Small World"

Wyatt really liked watching the characters....


...as long as they stayed on stage!

Wyatt meeting Donald Duck...

...and Handy Manny...

...and Lightning McQueen & Mater. Waylon actually got out of the stroller for them!

Stopping for a break...

...because all the excitement made us tired

On the ferryboat over to spend the evening at Magic Kingdom

Cinderella's castle at dusk...I thought it was really pretty

Disney is such hard work!!!