Day 1 of Disney World Trip

I know it has been forever since I posted, but bear with me while I update day to day of our amazing trip to Walt Disney World.  For Spring Break, my parents took the kids & I to Disney World.  Randy stayed home to work. :( This was actually Riley's 4th trip & Alex's first visit.  Alex is a huge fan of the Disney Princesses, particularly Belle from the Beauty & The Beast, so I had huge expectations for the trip.  We left early Saturday morning and drove to Pensacola, FL where we stayed with my awesome inlaws and feasted on delicious boiled shrimp.  Then we got up Sunday morning (after the time change) and drove the rest of the way to Orlando.  Here is the sign that greets you at every Disney entrance and really gets my heart pumping.  To me it signals entering the happiest place on Earth!  Sadly around this time, we also realized that Alex was now running fever.  Time to start the tylenol....

 Here are the kids our first morning outside at the hotel.  We stayed on Disney property at the All Star Music hotel, in the broadway section (Beauty & the Beast on Broadway!!!).  This is also the first of 7 days of outfits that my mom made for Alex.  Yes, I did say 7 outfits for 5 days....

 Here is the entrance at the Magic Kingdom.  Alex doesn't really know what to expect, but she is also still running fever.

 As we enter the gates, we found our first character to greet & take pictures with.  Alex wasn't too sure of Snow White, but I figured we were doing ok because at least she wasn't screaming.

 I had carefully plotted out the order of importance for the first few rides.  You really have to plan out your immediate rides & what to get a fast pass on.  Knowing this was a favorite of Riley's and everyone could ride we decided to ride it first & get a fast pass for later.  You can only get one fast pass at a time, so you better make sure it is what you really want.  It was!  This ride is Buzz Lightyear and you shoot lasers to score points.  I think in total we rode this ride 4 times by the end of the trip.  

After I won the first round we headed over to drive the cars in the Indy Speedway.  I think everything was still a little big overwhelming for Alex, but she was going with the flow.  After Riley sped off in the car and left me in the dust, we went back to ride Buzz with our fast passes.  Along the way, we met up with Buzz Lightyear to pose.

 Then we saw my favorites Pooh & Tigger.  Alex was definitely not too sure of that gigantic Pooh Bear.

 Next ride was the Winnie the Pooh ride.  Disney has an amazing way of making the lines so interactive and interesting that you almost forget you are standing in a line. Riley & Alex had lots of fun playing the vegetable drums.

 Just a shot of the castle from Fantasyland.  If you look closely, you will see the bottom half is a facade covering up all the construction.  Disney has huge plans to redo Fantasyland to open in 2012. 

As the park began to get really crowded, the kids were showing signs of wear.  So we decided to head for the hotel.  In typical fashion, you never leave on time.  We realized it was time for the afternoon parade.  We figured it wouldn't hurt to stop and see some more characters.

Then it was time to catch some shut eye.  My sweet kiddos were already exhausted and Alex's fever had now spiked to 102. 6.  I was beginning to get really worried.  This is where things took a definite turn for the worst.  I was hoping Alex just had an ear infection and some antibiotics would solve everything, so we headed to closest Minuteclinic.  $130 later, she told me it was just a cold and it would take 4-5 days to wear off!!

After that huge waste of time, we went back to the park just in time to catch the Electrical Light Parade at dark.  Of course it was amazing as always, although our standing spot was not quite as good as usual due to our late arrival.

The Star of the Show!

 After the parade, I felt it was important to make good on a promise from earlier in the day.  I had promised to let Riley ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  This was his first ever rollar coaster(2 years ago) and he was so excited to ride it again.  I felt it was important to remind him of how much he loved rollar coasters so that he wouldn't be scared on the others.

Excitement is building...

 As we were walking out of the park, we stopped to admire the beautiful colors that the castle can turn at night.  I am so glad we did, because we caught a show I had never seen.  I really can't remember the name, but it was something about memories.  Then they show all these pictures on the castle like it is a blank screen.  Truly amazing!

 This picture doesn't really do it justice, but I will just say only at Disney! 

All in all the first day was well the first day.  We didn't get to see & do but about 1/4 of the park.  Thank goodness we planned to come back to the Magic Kingdom on Friday or I would have been crushed.