Disney World, Part III -- The Magic Kingdom

Unfortunately, Scott and I chose not to bring the camera to the Magic Kingdom. We were on our way to the buses when we realized that it was locked in the van, and the key to the van was locked in the safe. We decided to go pictureless instead of lose all our forward momentum and miss some of the Magic Hour. Magic Hour is when they open, or keep the parks open an extra hour for people who are staying on Disney property. Magic Hours make a difference as the lines are significantly shorter.

Even though we went pictureless at the Magic Kingdom, we still had a great time. Yet, two things complicated the trip a bit -- Keira's interest in wandering and the heat. Last trip, when we went in February, Keira was not walking yet. She was quite happy to stay in the sling all day long, and it didn't matter whether we were in a long line or walking around the park. However, this trip, she was mobile. As I've said before she's in love with her new skill. Every time I tried to stand in a long line with her in her sling she'd start wriggling and gesturing that she wanted to get down. Obviously, that isn't possible in a long line, so after trying to wait in a 30 minute line for Dumbo with her, Scott and Eli, I thought better of it. Instead, Keira and I got out of the Dumbo line and waited in the short line for the carousel. She wasn't a fan of the carousel (I think again, at that point, all she wanted to do was walk), but the length of the line was much more tolerable.

While Eli and Scott rode rides, Keira and I spent a lot of our time walking around -- either with her in the sling, or with me following behind her. We also enjoyed playing at the playground in Toontown and on Donald's boat. Donald's boat is a water playground and Keira was transfixed with all the squirty water fountains and all the big kids who were frolicking in them. Donald's boat was Keira's second introduction to squirty water fountains and she was still fearless. She was completely unfazed by all the big kids or getting sprayed and splashed in the face. Altogether, I think we spent several hours on Donald's boat which was a welcome respite from the heat. Another huge hit for Keira was the marching band that we stood and watched on Main Street. They were professional musicians, employed by Disney, and they were excellent. Keira LOVES music, so she was happy to be held by me while we danced around to the music. It always seems like it's the little things, like finding the Main Street Marching Band that makes Disney so magical.

Despite the fact that Keira didn't tolerate lines well, we still went on our share of rides as a family. Buzz Lightyear is hands down Eli's favorite ride. As a family, we rode it three times, and I think Scott and Eli rode it at least another three times on their own. The key were the fastpasses. By getting fastpasses for the ride, we didn't have to wait in line for more than a few minutes. And once on the ride, Keira was mesmerized by all the lights, colors and motion. Another ride that we took advantage of the fastpasses was Winnie the Pooh. Winnie the Pooh is probably Eli's second favorite and I think it was Keira's favorite. The second time we rode the ride, Keira was grinning ear to ear, pointing and "talking" about all the characters. Probably a coincidence, but cute nonetheless, the only stuffed animal that Keira was interested in on our trip was Piglet. As a family, we also rode It's a Small World and the People Movers. Both rides were a little long for Keira. She loved It's a Small World at the beginning, but she was wiggling and trying to climb out of the boat (probably to splash in the water!) during the last few rooms. Besides Buzz Lightyear, Scottie and Eli went on a couple other rides by themselves. They rode Dumbo and The Big Train, too. After I quickly adjusted my expectations for Keira and lines, we had a great time taking our time and enjoying the park.

The other thing that we had to adjust to was the heat. As I've said before, it was in the 90's for our entire trip. I think I felt the heat the most on our Magic Kingdom day. Unlike our other days at the hotel or at the water park, there was nowhere to jump in the water. But, Scott and I felt like we did fine. In a lot of ways, it was much better to be there when it was a little too hot rather than too cold, like it was on our last trip. Disney is smart. They have misters and squirters in several locations around the park. They also sell personal water bottle fans which made a huge difference. And, Scott and I discovered that they give out free cups of ice that we used to refill our water bottles.

Speaking of water bottles and free cups of ice, I think I'll now launch into a little tangent about our food. On this trip we decided to once again bring all our food. Please excuse the excruciating detail I'm about to impart and feel free to skim or skip. I think this will be useful for me to detail, so that I can look back and pack accordingly next year. For breakfast, we packed Kix for Eli, yogurt and Kashi for me and oatmeal for Scott. Many mornings we ate down at the dining hall, so that we could spread out and refill our bottomless mug of coffee. The Disney resorts offer refillable mugs for sale, and they are always a good deal. This time we only bought one, since I've basically weaned myself off coffee. For lunch, we packed Lance whole wheat peanut butter crackers, baggies of Wheat Thins (Daddy crackers), granola bars, string cheese, prepackaged bags of apples and grapes, prepackaged baby carrots and dip (we're thinking about prepackaging both ourselves next time), and pints of milk for Eli. Then, for dinner, we brought batches of frozen casserole type dishes that I had made double batches of in the weeks leading up to our trip. We brought chicken alfredo, chicken chow mein (green noodles), creamy chicken and rice (zaza rice) and hamburger alfredo (Daddy's Special Noodles). All of the dishes were packed with veggies including pureed spinach and carrots. Overall, the food was an overwhelming success. Eli and I were not plagued with heartburn, like we were during our trip in February. We ate lighter and more healthfully and saved a ton of money. Since we've tried bringing our own food before, we've learned from our mistakes, and this time was great. The only things we plan to change next time are bringing our own desserts and prepackaging some of our own lunchtime fruits and veggies -- both changes would save us even more money next time.