First Disney trip of the New Year

Sean had been badgering us for weeks about going back to Disney World but we were thinking of waiting until the Flower and Garden show starts in March. However, a weird combination of events led us to decide at the very last second to just take off to see Mickey Mouse. Jonathan was on leave and supposed to cover a fight in Las Vegas and the boys were in school. Suddenly, the bad weather cancelled Jonathan's Wednesday flights and kept him from all his scheduled pre-fight Thursday interviews, and there was a bizarre school bus hijacking/murder/kidnapping in our county that kept the boys out of school. Weird, unpredictable circumstances that left us with a four-day weekend so we hit the road.

We had a pretty good trip overall. Sean was very disappointed that it was too cold to swim and never fully got over his disappointment. Hopefully, next trip it will be warmer and we have passes to the Disney water parks this year. After begging for the Magic Kingdom every time we got in the car, Sean surprised us at the last second by asking to go to "Big Ball" first. That's Epcot, of course. So we had a nice evening at Epcot and a tasty fish n' chips meal for dinner with school bread for dessert.

We hit the Magic Kingdom the next morning and followed Sean's preferred itinerary. We ran into a lot of closed and broken rides, so it was a bit frustrating. We came back to the Magic Kingdom in the evening and filled in the rides we had missed in the morning.

We started Saturday morning with breakfast at The Wave. That is still one of my favorite Disney meals. I crave their cheese and bacon grits. We were there for rope drop and had an absolutely perfect morning. Sean wanted to skip the Peoplemover and Buzz Lightyear and go straight to "Goofy Coaster" (The Barnstormer). That is an unusual deviation from his normally strict itinerary. We road the ride seven times with no waiting. I am not sure he would have ever stopped.

Then we rode the "elephants" (Dumbo) and went back to ride the Peoplemover and Buzz. I think there was a carousel ride in there, too. We rode "Pirate Ship" (Pirates of the Caribbean) and climbed the Swiss Family Tree House. We also got on Aladdin's Carpets. All with no waiting at all.

As we ascended in the magic carpets, Eli got a terrible nose bleed. By the time, the ride was done he had soaked his shirt with blood. A cast member approached us to help and gave us a gift certificate for any shirt in the park for Eli. I was in the process of putting a clean sweatshirt on him but she insisted. I do love Disney hospitality.

All of this was done by 11 am so were leaving around lunchtime. We had tried to make reservations at Tony's Town Square with no luck, but we managed to walk right in. The food was the worst we have had at Disney. Just really bland and poorly prepared. But we sat right on the Town Square looking out at everything and everyone so that was a nice experience.

We went to Animal Kingdom for the evening because that park was going to be open until 8 pm. Turns out that Animal Kingdom being open late means that Dinosaur and Everest are open late and that is about it. No Kilimanjaro Safari, no shows, no animal trails, no train, and most of the restaurants are closed, too. We were very disappointed that we couldn't take a Safari ride and were starting to regret coming to the park. We had one more thing on our Animal Kingdom agenda and that was to ride Dinosaur.

Jonathan and I made a huge list of things we want to do with our annual passes this year and one of the big things is to ride all the rides that we have skipped because Eli wasn't tall enough. The first one we came to was Dinosaur. Sean rode this once with Jonathan on our very first trip. It terrified him and he never wanted to ride it again.

I was fully expecting Sean to freak out like he did the last time I tried to get him to ride Dinosaur with me and that Jonathan and I would have to ride it in shifts with Eli. I was completely wrong. Sean loved it. I thought it was absolutely terrifying, but Sean loved it. He got off the ride and immediately asked to ride again. And again. And again. It riles up my stomach a bit so I told him we needed to take a quick break.

We had dinner at Flame Tree BBQ, still a family favorite for quick service, and rode Dinosaur one last time before calling it a night.

We had a plan for our last half day. Of all the parks, Hollywood Studios is the one we have explored the least and therefore, there are lots of things on our to-do this year list in that park. First and foremost was riding the Toy Story ride. Jonathan and Sean rode that on our very first trip but Eli was likely sleeping or nursing at the time so I didn't get to ride.

You pretty much have to be at the park at rope drop or you're screwed. We made it into the park a little before the official opening and went straight for a FastPass. It was already for 2 1/2 hours later. We then waited in line for about 25 minutes to ride. I thought it was interesting and fun, but because the games you play are on a screen and have 3-D elements, it was a bit nauseating for me. It is a very cool idea, though. The boys weren't super impressed and I couldn't get them interested in playing the games.

Next on the agenda, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. I must admit I was legitimately scared to ride this. I very nearly psyched myself out during the half hour wait and took the chicken exit. I am glad I didn't. It is a very well done ride and I think it is one of my favorites, ever. I think Jonathan and I will have to ride it in shifts with Eli, though, because Sean was scared to death and I do not think he will be willingly riding it again any time soon. But like I always say, you never know until you try.


Here are the pictures from our very first ride on Dinosaur and our ride on the Tower of Terror. I like to buy the pictures from our first ride on everything because I think they really capture our truest reactions. Note the supreme terror on Sean's face on the Tower.