Day 3: Magic Kingdom

We had a bit of trouble arriving to Magic Kingdom. We left early enough, but a very helpful, but very misinformed, Disney worker told us we were on the wrong monorail and that ours didn't stop at Magic Kingdom. He explained all this while we were at the Magic Kingdom stop. Everyone else got off the train. When he realized his mistake, he was really embarrassed. I think he won't make that mistake again! We made it there eventually, and we decided to go to Space Mountain first of all.

Space Mountain is unique because everyone can go inside the attraction together in the queue. The line splits near the end so that those who don't want to ride can exit to where the ride unloads. As it turns out, everyone decided they wanted to ride, except for Josie who wasn't quite tall enough. This was definitely the biggest roller coaster Luke attempted. Here Luke and Steven check out the roller coaster loading area. It doesn't look that bad, does it?

This is what the boys were looking at. It was not crowded when we were there, so they were only running one track. On Space Mountain there is only one person across, so you really can feel like you are out in space "on your own".

This picture was taken at the end of the ride. Steven and Luke loved it! So did Mac.

After Space Mountain, we decided to go on the favorite from the Great Disney Trip of 2007: The Tomorrowland Speedway. Steven was tall enough to drive his very own car. It was pretty exciting.

Luke took Dad for a ride around the track. He was just tall enough to see over the steering wheel!

Isabel drove Katie around. A good time was had by all. Josie and I cheered from the stands. Josie was too short to ride, of course! From our vantage point we were fully able to appreciate the diesel smell of the engines, and the radiating heat from the exhaust, so we were duly entertained.

While in Tomorrowland, we went to the Buzz Lightyear ride, which is like an interactive video game. Mac and I took Josie on this one. Even though Mac was holding Josie during the ride, he still was able to shoot more Zurgs than I did... But notice that he has 2 hands on the laser gun- and his focus is almost entirely on the Zurgs...

Eventually we made it out of Tomorrowland and headed over to meet Grandma and Grandpa for lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern. Since the Crystal Palace character meal venue was being refurbished, Disney brought the characters back to the Liberty Tree Tavern to help appease the masses of Disney Fans who Must Have Character Meals Every Day. (That would be us.) Anyway, for a six week limited engagement, Minnie and friends were at the Liberty Tree Tavern in full Colonial costumes, and WE were able to meet them.

But first, the kids had to play around in the stockades outside the restaurant. Very in line with the Happiest Place on Earth, right? Here we are inside the restaurant waiting to be seated. Do you see a family resemblance?

And in the restaurant, Luke seemed to have completely overcome his fear of the characters. Chip and Dale were his favorites- he started a pin collection of Chip and Dales. Now they decorate his bulletin board in his room.

Who says the characters are just for kids? Clearly Grandma and Grandpa are living out their childhood dreams of meeting a giant chipmunk. This one is Dale. I think.

Pluto is always a big hit. Josie was a little bit confused by the characters at first, but she got the hang of it. By the end of our Disney time, she knew that the characters were her buddies.

It looks like Izzy is checking to make sure Minnie Mouse signs her name correctly. Or maybe she's just trying to figure out how one signs one's name at all with such enormous fingers...

After we left our rather long lunch, we headed towards Frontierland. We ended up in the Tiki Room, of course. Josie was beyond exhausted, and the Tiki Room is always so loud that I wasn't worried she'd disturb anything if she had a breakdown in there... Incredibly, as soon as we sat down in the cool room with the flashing lights and obnoxious squawking bird noises, she fell asleep. Now we have to find a sound machine with that magical noise to soothe her to sleep at home. Or maybe not.

In the tikitikitikitiki tiki room...

Here she is, completely out...

Due to excellent planning, we were able to leave the Tiki Room to catch the afternoon parade without having to wait... much. Josie stayed asleep through the entire parade too. Doesn't she look comfie?

During the parade, Captain Hook took a liking to Steven's Pirates of the Caribbean shirt. The old skull and crossbones. Too funny!

And Jafar walked all the way across the street to sneer at Izzy and Steven. Did you know he's about 9 feet tall? Impressive, really.

After the parade, we hopped on the Jungle Cruise (we lucked out- people were still lined up watching the parade so we were able to pretty much walk on without a wait!) Steven was able to "skipper" the ship for a little bit- the most treacherous part of the ride, actually. He maneuvered us through a dark cave with amazing skill. It was almost like the boat steered itself...

We saw some other sites in Frontierland, and then made our way back to Fantasyland. Everyone was very eager to go on the It's a Small World ride.

This ride is always so much fun... I don't know who liked it more: Mac or Josie. I think probably Mac, although Josie was quite enthusiastic on this ride, waving at all the little 2 ft tall people and monkeys and butterflies...

Josie lasted the whole day... We had time to go on all the rides we wanted to. And we even stayed for the fireworks show- Wishes. It was a very busy day!

Here are Grandma and Steven on their Peter Pan boat- which flew of course. This ride scared Luke during the Great Disney trip of 2007. Not this time, though! He loved it.

And here are some pictures from the fireworks. The real fun was trying to leave the park along with everyone else... It took a very long time to get back to the hotel! But at the time, we thought that would be our only day at Magic Kingdom, so we felt it was worth it to stay to the bitter end...