Day 3: Downtown Disney

The Greatest Place on Earth

You know when you are around a bunch of kids too long (99% of which are not your own) and you just want to get away...what better way than to visit Downtown Disney! I loved Downtown Disney. There were no real rides there or anything, but they did have a couple things I like to do...EAT AND SHOP. Thats what it's all about!

So up to this point we pretty much used our meal credits for quick service meals. We somehow thought this is how we had to eat...until we checked into it and discovered we had now used all of our quick service credits and had to eat sit down meals for the rest of our trip (oh boo hoo!). Downtown Disney had it covered though, lots of great restaurants, most of which would accept our dining plan (except Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex Cafe).

So we explored a few shops, I bought a surprise bag from Mickey's Mart for $6 which had some pretty nice little souveniers (great value!). The stores here were just remarkable...they had everything!! As we were strolling, we found who else but SANTA!!! Mason went up and sat on his lap. The pictures are actually a little funny because in Canada you would never ever see Santa while wearing shorts!!

Then we had to pick somewhere to eat. We actually had a little trouble finding a place because we thought they would have restrictions on the more expensive restaurants with the dining plan. and it had to have openings I mean at this point we had already been turned away from The Rainforest Cafe and The T-Rex Cafe. We stopped at a little restaurant called...oh heck I can't remember now but pretty much the only thing on the menu was fish and chips. The smell of the restaurant and the sign that said "there may be bones in your fish" kind of turned me off right away. We did find a cute "little" pub next door called Raglan Road and decided to give them a try.

Ohh man the food was EXCELLENT. I had the 'Jus Chicken which was sooo yummy. I followed that up with a fruit plate with yogurt and honey dip. I figured after all this not-so-good-for-you desserts I got a little bit of a conscious and ate the fruits. I watched my aunt eat her yummy looking apple crumble and Mason go to town on his cookie/chocolate ice cream sundae and was a little bummed I didn't get something a little more...oh I don't know...chocolatey? The food was great and the atmosphere (Irish pub that played the Cranberries) was awesome. Plus this is on record, the first place I had ever seen automatic paper towel dispensers...ever! That's gotta mean something?

A quick stop at the Lego Store to pick up somethign my friend had asked me to find for her...unfortunately I couldn't find it...that place was packed. This my friends, is where Mason's Lego infatuation began. I can pinpoint it down to that faithful night (a night of firsts for us!).

It was getting late/cold so we went home after that. It was a great day!

Day 3: Epcot

Rain Rain Go Away...

The weather called for severe thunderstorms and rain that day, but that didn't stop the mounds of people from heading to Epcot. Epcot was crazy busy and it was about to crazy-rain...bad combination for sure.

Since we knew what was coming, we took in our first swim in the resort pool (well Mason did anyway, my aunt and I just hung around the side). I had my feet in while Mason pretended he was an alligator to some other family. They thought it was funny so I didn't bother to stop him.

Off to Epcot after that! A little off topic, but you know when you're like waiting for a bus and you see the same bus go by over and over...well that was every other day with the Epcot bus. It had started raining by this point, and every other bus came numerous times before the Epcot bus finally pulled up. Should have been an indication not to go that day!

Of all the parks, I think Epcot has the most amount of walking. The walk even from the shuttle bus stop is crazy-long! Luckily for us, it had stopped raining by the time we got there, and it was actually looking a little nice.

The first ride we came along to was Honey I Shrunk the Audience. As you all probably know, I (heart) Rick Moranis so this ride was way cool...I was excited. Unfortunately one member of our group was not (bet you can guess who!!). Mr. Grumpy decided he did not LIKE rides like this and threw a fit. I guess it did get a little scary for him later on in the ride, but it was fine...he was just acting like a baby.

We then went in to take a look at Nemo and his sea friends. There were some beautiful garden displays around this attraction featuring Nemo etc. so the tourist in me decided to make Mason stand beside some garden displays. We waited for another tourist family to leave and just as we were making our way up a group of people ran right in front of us - RUDE. Unfortnately the Rudersons did not speak a lick of English...I don't know what they were speaking. A nice American lady told them off with a little spice in her voice...it was great. They didn't understand anyway. So poo on you Rude family...I hope your pictures all came out blurry. We did manage to sneak in a side shot...really doesn't do the rest of the display justice though.

We thought we were pretty smart going in to see Nemo. The wait was really short...barely a wait at all. Of course Grumpy didn't want to participate in this ride...but he also didn't want to stay all by himself so I won that fight! It's a pretty neat ride..you enter on one of those crazy-fast moving sidewalks that Disney uses for a lot of their rides. You ride in a little sea shell and go around to all these Nemo scenes. Then we ended up looking into a real aquarium with dolphins..it was great! I think my favourite part though was taking pictures of all the fish afterwards. They have a great sea exhibit down there...it's beautiful!

As we went to leave we came up to ground level to find the rain was pretty fierce. It was terrible! People's strollers and personal belongings were getting soaked. They had a rule that no strollers were allowed inside the buildings, but unfortunately the parking they had for the strollers was completely outdoors, no shelter at all. What's the best thing to do when it's raining...FOOD!

We went into The Land building and stopped in at Sunshine Seasons...which apparently everybody else and their brother decided to do. We used our food court credits and got some amazingly yummy food. I had chicken, potatoes and carrots..but they were super yummy...oh and of course I had to have carrot cake for dessert...it would be rude not to eat dessert! ;)

Then we made our way to Soarin to get a fast pass. Unfortunately fast passes were a very long wait wheras the actual line-up couldn't take more than 50 minutes (as the sign said). Unfortunate for us, there was a malfunction at Soarin and the line ended up being an hour and a half long. Well no turning back, we waited. They had some pretty neat games in the line-up...kind of like a Wii thingy so the time went by pretty quickly...well sort of. This was officially our longest line-up of our whole trip. Soarin was mighty cool though. Putty from Seinfeld (you all know how much I love Seinfeld!!) was the host of the ride so that made it even cooler. Basically you're in a parasail thing floating up in the sky over trees, the ocean, fields...uhhh I forget where else but it was pretty cool anyway.

Next we went on Living with the Land. This turned out to be a pretty cool little ride. It starts off like many other Disney boat rides with trips through scenarios etc but then you end up in a lab and see how they grow vegetables etc...which as it turns out, they use in many of the restaurants at Epcot. It was nice to see that Disney cared a little about the environment, seeing as I didn't see one recycle bin the whole time I was there. Hmmf.

Then we decided to take a walk "around the world". We started off in Canada which was a bit of a joke. We skipped out on the O Canada! attraction because...well we live in Canada...and well...we didn't really want to think about going home yet so we skipped Canada town pretty quickly (although I'm sure you could get through it pretty quickly without hurrying...there really was nothing to it!). In fact, see the picture below to see all of Canada...it consisted mostly of barrels and crates...Oh CANADA!! I can assure you the real Canada is nothing like that...throw in a moose and you're golden!

Next was United Kingdom which was very charming. The shops were adorable...and we stopped here to pick up one of those Epcot masks...unfortunately we didn't do much else with it after that point, but hey we got one! One neat thing about Epcot, the people who worked in each "country" were actually from that country. The guy in the UK toy shop had the cutest little accent. I'm a sucker for an accent though.

France was...forgetable. Seriously...did we even go there?

Morocco had the awesomest ice cream ever. Even though it started raining again by this point, we still stopped to enjoy the bestest-waffle-cone-that-only-cost-one-Disney-snack-point...ever!

Japan had the coolest buildings.

America was spectacular (of course...). They really put a lot of thought into America..plus they had a celebrity reading of Twas The Night Before Christmas that night (who else...but Mr. Peterman from Seinfeld!!). We skipped that little bit because apparently you had to have tickets? Who knew. Oh well.

Italy...food...droooooool. We weren't hungry though, but I bet they had some awesome food here.

Germany...Meh I kind of forget it. I think maybe this is where the little train village was...that was neat!

China...wait maybe it was China that had all the cool buildings??

Norway was pretty neat and a little bit scary. For the record, I am afraid of vikings. I did not really find this out until visiting "Norway". Vikings, I don't like you and your ride the Maelstrom was a little scary when it looked like we were going to go over that waterfall...not to mention the way you held us hostage at the end and tried to make us watch your movie...poo on you vikings.

Mexico had a really neat building...but it was getting really rainy by now...and Norway had worn us out.

That was it for Epcot. We had enough of the rain, the crowds and none of it really seemed too appealing for the grump. We stopped at one more ride though on the way out. REIMAGINED! Spaceship Earth which had a pretty cool idea with taking pictures of everyone on the ride and photoshopping their head on cartoon bodies....neat. I now also know what that big Epcot bubble is for....to hold Spaceship Earth of course!

Then it was back to the hotel where we had to find something to do that night...which actually turned out to be pretty awesome because we discovered the best thing ever....

Lego is hell...

I spent the last hour working on this for Mason... ..and somehow I ended up with this left over...HUH?

I love the holidays!

Aunt: Do you want to ride my snowmobile today?

Mason: There is too much snow for the batmobile!

Merry Christmas!!

...enjoy!

Best Christmas memory..

I was just thinking of the best Christmas I have ever had. Warning: It's kind of corny!

I mean, I could think of some pretty decent Christmases. I remember when I was a little kid getting a rock with googly eyes glued on it in my stocking and thinking "wow...Santa really is real because this rock is home made!". That was a good Christmas.

Then the time when we had a Christmas Eve party at our house...complete with the "barfing bunny" gravy boat. I loved that thing! I remember all the people, everyone was happy and us kids got to open one gift. I remember opening a Beauty and the Beast board game...I also remember being so excited and not being able to sleep that night so I stayed up and played Beauty and the Beast all night! I think that was also the year that I got my "Nitendo" (aka Nintendo). There is this really funny video of me screaming at the top of my lungs I GOT NITENDO...sooo embarassing...especially because I wasn't little...I was like 10 or something!

I think the best Christmas though was just a few years ago. It was a good/bad year for us...we found out we were having a baby that year (and he was due not even a month after Christmas!), R. went back to his chemo treatments and eventually went under a complete bone marrow transplant. The transplant had him in the hospital for 6 weeks...and guess when? Yep...just around Christmas. He was not suposed to be out in public because apparently you can catch just about anything when you are going through that treatment. For weeks I was alone. Most of the time I would waddle my big butt (8 months pregnant..hello!) to the hospital to visit because I really didn't have much else to do...and I missed having R. around so much.

Unfortunately, he was not due to be released from the hospital until New Years Day so we were told he was to stay there all day. Unfortuantely I had already arranged for his family to come and have Christmas at our house so I had a lot of arrangements to make and I couldn't go back on my word, although I'm sure they would understand, it was just a big hassle to change everything at the last minute. I was not going to be able to see R. at all on Christmas because I was to go to my family's Christmas out of town that day.

The party was going great, the kids opened all their presents and everybody was having a great time. I got a little sad so I went to the washroom (which was all the way at the end of a really long hallway) to have a little feel-sorry-for-myself-bawl-fest. After that was over with I started walking down the hallway and I saw someone walking towards me...stupid me, didn't recognize at all but it was R. He got permission from his doctor to come home (but just for a few hours). I didn't recognize him because he had shaved his head overnight (his hair was starting to all fall out). It was the best Christmas gift ever...and I'm not a sappy person or anything like that, but it was exactly what I had hoped for.

You'll shoot your eye out!

Okay so you know how badly Ralphie wanted an official Red Ryder carbine-action-200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and that thing that tells time?? Well this year I found a "Red Ryder BB Gun" I want to ask Santa for!




Of course I don't want a BB Gun! I would most definitely shoot my eye out. Not to mention I may injure some squirrels in the process..it's just my luck...but I did come across a little piece of beauty tonight at the mall...

I drooled all over the display case until I caught a sales person's attention. I excitedly asked how much thinking a price in my head of how much I would ever spend on such beauty. When she told me the price I just about died!! It was double how much I would ever spend on myself...double that...but it was just so cute...I love Hello Kitty...LOVE. I wear a necklace just like this one right now (completely fake!!). I am just drawn to this...I want it SOOO bad.

Alas, there are more important things I should be spending $999.99 on...oh you know...like food and rent...and bills. Unless the hydro company wants to buy me this as a present for being such a good customer...I would have to say I'm out.

"Oh just spoil yourself" said the clerk after I had stood there thinking about it for way too long.

Oh I totally would, but I don't think my family would appreciate being evicted or not having any food....but at least I would have some nice bling!

...I am working on my entire Christmas list to share with you all...it's a little bit of a short notice, but you never know...the big guy may be able to squeeze something out just in time (right dad??) haha I kid!! ;)

We baked!!

...and the fire department didn't even have to be called!

Ohhh I'm in sooo much troubleeeeee....

So this week I discovered something new (new to me anyway) and awesome…truffles. OMG these need to get out of my sight…like yesterday! I can’t believe in all my 27 years of life, this was my first taste of chocolate heaven

Day 2 (pt. 3): Magic Kingdom

So after the whole Stitch ordeal, we had to convince Mason to go on some more rides. We ended up at the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor. This is still a pretty new ride at Disney and we weren't really sure what to expect when Mason asked over and over if this was a scary ride or not.

He calmed down a little when the monsters started telling jokes. If you haven't been on this ride, it is pretty funny...but not really a ride actually. More like a theatre show. It was pretty awesome though! Mason got put up on the big screen with the caption "likes to make scary faces"...unfortunately I didn't have my camera out so we missed catching this moment on camera. It was really cute! The monsters must have loved him because later on in the show they decided to interview him (which was probably a poor decision made by them...)

Monster: What is your name?

Mason: MasonHann (he says it all in one word...)

Monster: Where do you live?

Mason: A house.

Monster: Where is your house?

Mason: I don't know....

Monster: *blink* Okayyyy.... I've never been there before.

It was so cute! I wish I had video taped it. We liked that "ride" so much that I actually went and bought Mason a new t-shirt afterwards...all green with one big eye on the front and a back that says "I've got my eye on you!". Cute!

*drumroll please* It was then time to ride BUZZ LIGHTYEAR. Mason almost pooped his pants with excitement...okay figuratively, but still! He did have some residual fear from Stitch, but once he saw there were shooting guns..he was was all over this ride and it quickly became his favourite ride. The kid beat me by over 100,000 points?? How did he do that?! It was incredible...but I'm still wondering if perhaps my gun was broken?

We then went on the Carousel of Progress (or as Mason would probably call it...Carousel of snooze because that is what he did for the entire show). I don't know about you, but I am a huge fan of these rotating show-type rides. I mean Walt Disney was a genus to think of such a thing... I wish I had thought of it first...Not that high tech, but a classic still.

Commotion going on when we left the Carousel of Progress...who should it be?? BUZZ LIGHTYEAR. Mason was so excited. He told us that he was going to go right up to him and ask him if he could push his buttons. I had no problem with this, I thought he may be a little disappointed when he found out they didn't do anything...but hey, you gotta figure that kind of stuff out for yourself I guess...but guess what?? He chickened out!! There was no button pushing of any kind going on there. He just went up, got his autograph (which he didn't even sign by hand...he used a stamp!) and ran away after a high-five and a couple pictures. I think he was still suffering from the fear of stitch.

Another commotion (this is dumb, since when is there not a commotion at Disney??) and we came to find out that there was a stage show about to start...soooo we went. It turned out to be Mickey's Twas the Night Before Christmas. It seemed so odd to be sitting there in 23 degree weather watching a Christmas stage show. Listening to people sing carols and see Goofy dressed up as Santa while we wore our T-shirts and complained of the blaring sun in our eyes. Very cute show though! I especially loved Minnie Mouse singing Santa Baby. Now whenever I hear that song I think of Minnie...oh Minnie...how I would love to be you!

We had reservations at The Plaza Restaurant for 7:20 and we had some time to kill so we did a little shopping on Main Street USA...and then it happened. After about 10 hours of walking around, Mason complained that his feet hurt. So we ended up sitting on a bench for about an hour while he complained of his feet (you have to admit, we did do a lot of walking). We went for our reservations shortly after that. I ordered the chicken strawberry salad. I had never heard of such a thing, and to tell the truth it looked like the only appetizing thing on the menu to me (the menu consisted mostly of sandwiches and salads). It was sooooooooooo good! I especially loved the feta cheese they snuck in there...who would have thought that salad, strawberries, chicken and feta cheese would make such a lovely combination! Of course I had to have the banana split after that (how could I resist!?), which was in fact, the best banana split I can ever remember...but then again, I had probably eaten 2 banana splits in my whole life before that (this was my third!).

Mason got this totally awesome Mickey ice cream that he didn't stop talking about for the rest of the trip...not even kidding! I think he mentioned it the other day too...wanting me to make him one or something for dinner...yeah right!

After dinner, we waddled our big growing butts down Main Street to find our perch for SpectroMagic. We found a pretty decent spot right at the mouth of Main Street and we were pretty pleased...until the farting man came and sat down beside us...that was a real treat!

We noticed Pluto over signing autographs so we ran over for a quick visit. Mason got a few pictures with him and had him sign his book (since when can a dog sign an autograph book with a marker and Buzz Lightyear has to use a stamp??).

Now before I continue on, I should probably use this opportunity to explain our camera situation here....

Camera 1 - Digital Rebel XTi - Heavy, bulky, but takes beautiful pictures.

Camera 2 - Kodak point and shoot - Small, compact, takes crappy pictures (especially at night) but so simple to use for all those "need a camera...NOW" pictures.

Camera 3 - iPhone - Terrible pictures, but very reliable, always with me.

Camera 4 - Aunt's throwaway film camera....enough said!

So at this point, Camera 1 had lost power earlier in the afternoon when we were watching a show outside Cinderella's castle (I knew I should have charged it!!). Camera 2 was dying fast and Camera 3 was not the best choice for night shots...by any means! Camera 2 crapped out after about 2 floats into SpectroMagic and camera 3 was a very poor competitor for these pictures...but I did manage to scrape a few in...so here we go (and I apologize for the crappiness of these!!)

This parade was so...magical. The lights, the characters...it was incredible!! I enjoyed every minute of it, and so did the people around us...or so I thought. As we were getting up to leave, I heard a woman who was sitting near us say "Well that was awful". The funny thing is...she was dead serious!!! I would just like to know what she sees in her everyday life that was more incredible than that...I mean awful??? Come on!!! Why did she even come to Disney then because obviously everything there by her standards would be awful!

Then after some crowd surfing and mosh-pitting to get out of there...we went back to the hotel for some much-needed rest!

Shot on Spot!

Kel over at Girl in the Glasses tagged me in this lovely game.

The Instructions:

1) Take a picture of yourself right NOW!.

2) DON'T change your clothes, DON'T fix your hair... Just take a picture.

3) Post that picture with NO editing.

4) Post these instruction with your picture.

5)Tag 10 people to do this..

A little background...I've been at work all day, came home and shovelled a double driveway (including steps and pathway), then I did laundry AND THEN battled the crowds at the mall for 2 hours (and it was rough)...so we end up with this....

Just Kidding!!!

(and you wonder where he gets his weird hat fetish from?)

So now I get the fun task of tagging whoever I think should join in on the fun...
1. Carol VR
2. Craft Junkie
3. Fidget

Ohh I can't think of anybody else just yet...if I forgot you, don't worry I will get you ;)

Day 2 (pt. 2): Magic Kingdom

Get ready for a splash!

After our Pooh ride, it was time for a snack. We used our meal plan to get a cookie and got in line for Dumbo. Unfortunately Dumbo was at a 30 minute wait...and as much as that ride is a classic, it is hardly worth a 30 minute wait, so I shoved Mason into one of the display Dumbos and took a quick picture. At least that way we could pretend we rode it...just in case we didn't get back to it.

Yeah....we rode Dumbo...really??

We then made our way over to Mickey's Toontown Fair and Mason and I RODE ON The Barnstormer of Goofy's Wiseacre Farm. What a cute little rollercoaster and it looked so little and cute...and then the ride operator said "make sure you hold on to him really well" as we were about to take off. Hmm...maybe this wasn't such a cute ride...actually I was a little scared...why would she say that?? Needless to say nobody fell out...but I did hold on to him pretty well so who knows, maybe that warning was needed?

Waiting in line for Goofy's ride...right before I thought it was possible we may be thrown from the ride.

We then hopped on the "smelly train" for a short trip to Frontierland. Our mission was to ride Splash Mountain! We got ourselves some fast passes for a return later on (or when we got the urge to get wet as we were under the impression we would get soaked). While we were waiting for our fast pass time, we took a ride on Big Thunder Railroad. I really didn't know how Mason would feel about this as the ride was big, fast and loud but it was a train...a train!!! Once he found out it was a train he was all over that! The best way to describe this ride...YEEEHAW! I think the best part about it though was the entertainment in the line-up. They were playing some pretty rockin old Western music and Mason was gettin down and boogeying in line. I don't think he realized the crowd he attracted with his pretty awesome dancing, if he would have he would have been embarassed...that's just like him but he dances like a fool when he thinks no one is watching. Go figure!

We explored Frontierland a little more with all the cute little Davey Crockett hats and toy guns...and Woody toys...oh the Woody toys were everywhere...but no slinky dog yet. I was so sure we would find one though! So after our Frontierland exploration, it was time to go back to Splash Mountain.

My aunt and I did not want to get wet...at all. We had read in our guide that people on the left side get wet while the people on the right side...wait maybe it was people on the right...no wait it was left..but it could have been right? Yeah, we forgot the book!! We had no idea what side people get wet on. My aunt was riding behind us so she decided that staying in the middle was the trick to staying dry...until she got a partner. A little guy who didn't speak english very well but I'm very sure he was wondering why this lady was snuggling up so close to him when they had just met a minute before! She really didn't want to give up that spot. I was sure it was the left side that got wet so I made Mason sit there!! Now before you all boo me and throw tomatoes or something, just know this...my child loves to get wet..just not on his face...and I was wearing jeans...JEANS. Do you know how long it takes to dry a pair of jeans??

Splash Mountain was of course awesome...Mason hated every minute of it. At this point he wasn't much of a fan of characters that have fangs or big teeth...foxes, bears, crocodiles...he just wasn't enjoying them at all. He doesn't like hills either...going down hills in a log doesn't do it for him...but he didn't cry and not a single one of us got wet...strange!

After that we were all pretty hungry so we had lunch at Pecos Bill Cafe. I ate the yummiest double cheeseburger (which I turned into just a cheeseburger since double just wasn't happening), fries and carrot cake. I think Mason had a salad...he's weird like that sometimes! Boy didn't know what he was missing though...I think that was the best cheeseburger and fries I had ate in a long time.

After lunch we met our first character...GOOFY!!!! I was surprised to hear that Mason actually knew who he was! I thought Mason would know more about Mickey and Buzz and Woody. In fact, I can't even recall a time that he actually saw Goofy in a movie or on TV.

Goofy and Nikki sittin' in a tree...

We then went on to Tomorrowland to test my driving skills at the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway. I was a little nervous because it really was just go-karts...but on a track...but still you could possibly hit people and things in front of you...I was especially worried about the poor people who stop you at the end. I had never driven a car at that point...and from the looks of the kids all around me, neither had they! I am pleased to report though that we did all survive and no feet were ran over....and no other cars were hit.

I think Tomorrowland is just the coolest place ever. They have the awesomest things, the awesomest rides, awesomest t-shirts and awesomest characters...it's just the awesomy awesomest....for real! Once there we grabbed us up some fast passes for Buzz Lightyear right away. This is a very popular ride and the line-up was about 50 minutes long so we did have a bit of a wait at this point...luckily our fast passes let us explore a bit more before we got to Buzz Lightyear.

There are a few rides grouped together in this little area: Buzz Lightyear, Stitch and Monster's Inc Laugh Floor. We decided to give Stitch a try while we waited for our Buzz Lightyear fast pass time...bad idea!! My aunt and I had both heard that the Stitch ride was just terrible...but how bad could it be really? There was nobody in the line-up...still I was optimistic. Then once we got into the ride and we were strapped down I realized exactly what was going on...it was about to be freak-out city all up in this place! As soon as the lights went out, Mason screamed bloody murder..and it didn't stop. Unfortunate for him, I was strapped into the seat by my shoulders and there was no way out...in fact, he was strapped in the same way...none of us could escape. It was so sad to hear him wailing in the dark...and you could just feel him shaking like crazy....bad bad experience.

The ride is suposed to simulate what it would be like if Stitch escaped and messed with you. They spray you with water and say he is spitting on you, the shoulder straps push down to simulate him jumping on you and a smelly gas smell and warm air comes out of your seat to simulate him burping on you. So as I'm trying to calm Mason down, my head is turned completely towards him...where my nostril fell right in front of the gas smell releaser thingy...and stitch burped right up my nose *gag*. Mason insists that he burped on his leg. I don't know how he remembers that though, he was completely hysterical. Actually, I had never seen him that scared in his whole life. It was a bad experience. Not only did it totally ruin him when it came to going on rides (he turned into a huge wimp) but his mood went from tolerable to downright nasty. Not to mention everytime he saw stitch he ran away screaming (which he still does at home). I think he might even need some therapy for this!

A little after we left the ride we came across Stitch! I don't know what I was thinking, but I tried to make him get his autographfor his book. At first he was willing to do so...then when it was his turn he ran away screaming. I was left to deal with Stitch..at least we got his autograph...although Mason hates thatpage with a passion and I am pretty sure he even scowls at it when he looks through his autograph book.

Mama giving Stitch crap for scaring her little boy!

The hat...

This is the hat my mom bought him. This is the hat he would not take off this morning. This is the hat that had me praying that PETA didn't come along and throw red paint on his head because that totally would have ruined his day.

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

Day 2 (pt. 1): Magic Kingdom

The Magic Kingdom is Magical

Did I mention how much I loved Animal Kingdom (even though I was stinky and grumpy) well times that by 3 and that is how much I loved the Magic Kingdom. I swear I just belong there...they could build me a little house there *ahem* castle *cough* and I would be as happy as a clam...just waltzing down Main Street USA with a little parasol and saying hello to all the shop keepers and balloon people (Seriously, how do those people not float away??).

The castle is absolutelybeautiful and I would probably live there if I were allowed to....although I may have a problem with everybody walking through my doors all day, everyday and those shows...oh and the fireworks they blow out the side of the castle..those could get a little bit much to handle, but take all that stuff out of the picture and the castle is my dream home. As we were walking up to the castle in all its glory, they had a show on so we speed walked a bit to see what was going on. Just as we reached the show, they made an announcement that they were unable to continue and there would be a show later on that day. I figured Donald got diarrhea or something...no biggie.


We were following a book (Birnbaum's Guides) mentioned that we should get a fast pass for Peter Pan's Flight as soon as we arrived. Well by the time we got to Peter Pan, the wait time was advertised to be only 10 minutes so we decided to wait it out (such rebels!). I was expecting some exciting ride where they strap you in and you fly over the world....meh not so much. It was a little boat that floats over scenes from the movie. Really cute...not so much excitement though. Mr. Scaredy-Pants (or Mr. SP) decided he was afraid of the crocodile (fair enough, he is a bit of a creeper) but it turned out to put a little bit of a scare into Mr. SP and Mr. SP from that point on was a little reluctant to ride any rides. Each ride began with the question "Is it scary?". Gahh...how am I suposed to know? I hadn't been there sinc e I was 12 or 13...half of these rides were never even there. How did I end up with such a chicken baby?


So Mr. SP needed a calmer ride to get him back into the riding spirit. What is more calming than It's a Small World? Right? Quick question...can you resist singing that song when you go on that ride? I certainly can't. It's so darn catchy...and my child learned a new song from that ride...which turns out for some pretty awesome entertainment since he inherited his mom's singing skills but not so much her shyness. The ride was a ghost town...seriously we walked down the ridiculously long line area and straight onto the ride. Something tells me the line would never even get close to the end of that line area. I could say how great this ride is...but you probably already know...believe me not much has changed...and the fact that I took 5 billion pictures on this ride makes me think I will never forget it.


One more thing about this ride...have you ever really looked at the "people". They are the creepiest!! Their mouths actually move to the words. I didn't notice until we got close to the end of the ride...it was like one of those moments where you notice something is creepy and then you look around and all of a sudden there are a million creepy little singing "people" around you...at that point I wanted out. I had enough of the song and the creepy singing "people".


So now that Mr. SP had calmed down and actually went on a ride that he liked, we decided to scare the pants off him and take him on Snow White's Scary Adventure. Okay we didn't really decide to scare him, that title is deceiving....how can a Snow White ride be scary...really? It really wasn't scary...just another one of those get in the little bumper car thingy and look at the scenes we recreated. I actually love these kinds of rides...but not so much when Mr. SP is whining the whole time because it's called Snow White's SCARY Adventure. It wasn't scary...honest!
(Honest...it wasn't that scary!!)

(Not scary...and strange story but my aunt took the exact same picture when she went to Disney. I didn't know this until I got home and showed her the pics...my family must have a thing for witches with poisonous apples??)


Next ride we went to was The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh. Loved it! It was totally another one of those sit in the car thingy while we drive you through scenes...but Winnie the Pooh scenes are the best...just loved it! The ride did stop while we were getting on and they had "Tigger" announce that he likes "hoppin' not stoppin'" over and over...but we escaped the hunny pot and went on our merry old way into the Pooh souvenier shop which is where the ride drops you off.


Now I should probably mention here that we did not partake in the teacup ride. So if you are coming to this blog and reading this post in anticipation that I will mention the teacup ride...I am sorry. You see, Mason is a puker on spinny rides. When I thought of the teacups I just recalled the time we went to the fair and he yelled out "I'M GOING TO GO PUKE" on the spinny ride...we didn't want to do that today.


Up next....

Day 2, Part 2