Disney: Day 1

Our Disney trip was lots of fun.  Hopefully I won't forget a lot of the details since it's taken me so long to get it posted.  We headed down to St. Augustine the night before to do some outlet shopping and then got up and left early the next morning.  All three of us were so excited we could hardly stand it.

We stayed at the Disney All Star's Movie resort and it was so cool.  They had different areas of the resort dedicated to different movies.  We stayed in the Fantasia area and there was a HUGE sorcerer's hat by our stairwell.

The first thing we did after we checked in and got all of our stuff to our room was head to The Magic Kingdom.  We got on the bus and I was fighting back tears the whole time.  I loved Disney when I was a kid but taking my own kid is amazing.  I finally lost the battle and cried a little when they started playing the Mickey Mouse march as we turned into the gate....because like I said before, the Magic Kingdom really is magic.

When we walked in we headed straight for Cinderella's castle because Ivy wanted to see it.  There was show going on in front of it called "Dreams Come True" that was adorable.....and that song "Dreams Come True" was stuck in our head ALL WEEK LONG!  Chris can still sing it from heart.  Then we just started walking to see what we could find because we didn't really have any plans for the first day.  When we rounded a corner Ivy started screaming "I SEE PETER PAN! I SEE PETER PAN!"  We didn't see him so we thought it was a poster or something and then she took off running.  And sure enough Peter Pan himself was standing there and Ivy said she wanted to meet him.  So we stood in line to meet Peter Pan.

Now anyone with small kids knows that character meetings of any kind can go really good or really bad.  Ivy had never really been scared of anything and the last time we went to Disney she did really well with the characters.  So the thought that she might get a little scared never crossed my mind.  But as we got closer to Peter Pan I noticed her grip on my hand got tighter.  I looked down at her but she didn't look worried.  So we walked up to Peter and he said "Hey there little Pixie!"  And Ivy practically turned into a monkey and climbed up me.  She wouldn't even look at him.  She didn't cry or scream she just grabbed a hold of my neck and giggled.

This is the picture we got....I think it's quite funny.

My initial thought was "Oh good, we don't have to stand in line to meet characters this week."

So off we went.  The first ride that we got on was "The Haunted Mansion."  I remember this from when I was a kid and I remembered it being silly and not scary.  Chris didn't know what it was so he agreed to ride it.  BAD IDEA!  I'll admit that the first part of the ride when they put everyone in a dark room was a little spooky so I told Ivy that we could get off but she said "I just want to try and be brave."  So we rode it.  She was a champ through the whole thing but when we got back outside I was holding her and she put both her hands on my cheeks and locked eyes with me and said "I don't think I want to ride that again."

So then we rode the magic carpets.  And she loved it.

Then she wanted to meet the Fairies of Pixie Hollow. Now judging by her reaction to Peter Pan I really didn't want to waste my time with this but she begged to see Tinkerbell. So we went in and she was still a little shy at first with Rosetta but she warmed up to Tinkerbell.

Tink:  What's your name little pixie?
Ivy: Ivy
T:  I like your pretty shirt Ivy, what's on it?
I:  Ummm, Georgia
T:  Oh, you're from Georgia!  I bet you live in a Peach tree then and that's why you smell so good!
I:  No you silly Tinkerbell!  I live in a house!

And remember that thought I had about not having to stand in line to meet characters.....yeah that was out the window after she met Tinkerbell. After that Ivy pretty much wanted to meet every Disney character there was. And since she is still in that age range where it seems very magical and she thinks they are real we let her stand in line to meet as many as she could.

We stopped in an art store to look around and the workers had an area set up for kids to color while parents shopped. Ivy picked out a picture of Peter Pan and as you can see colored it as fast as she possible could so that she could hang it on the wall.  She was so proud that they let her put it up.

We got on several more rides and ate some dinner and left shortly after it got dark but not before we got to see the castle all lit up for Christmas.  I think the castle with all the lights on it is one of the coolest things I have ever. 

We headed back early because at the All Star's movie resort they put up a big screen by the pool and show a movie every night.  Ivy was pleasantly surprised that she got to watch Tangled outside.  :)

More to come!!!!