Disney World - Day 1

Sunday, October 9, we headed off to Disney World.  We drove to Charlotte in the morning and ate lunch at the airport.  Thank goodness for the family security line as we had enough stuff to bog down the line :-)  It was smooth, though, and the children did terrific on the flight.  I sat with Ian and he enjoyed watching Toy Story the whole flight; Bonner and Gigi played paper dolls and colored.

We arrived in Orlando and since we were using the Magical Express transportation through Disney, we were loaded onto the resort bus without even having to get our bags.  I definitely recommend the Magical Express.  Ian and Bonner fell asleep on the bus so that was good; a little cat nap before we "hit the ground running".

We arrived at our beautiful hotel, the Grand Floridian, and were welcomed with open arms.  The staff was great and our room was terrific.

The resort is comprised of several buildings and this was the view out the front door of our building, the Boca Chico.

This was the view from our room - overlooking the lagoon.  So peaceful!

Bonner and Ian changed clothes and we got ready for our first adventure!

 Ian had to wear the button he got when checking in at the hotel - "1st Visit" button!

The monorail came right to our hotel and Magic Kingdom was the first stop so we were there in no time.  We actually got to Magic Kingdom about 5 p.m. or so and we tackled alot that first evening.  It had rained like 7 inches in past 48 hours in Orlando so we were glad that we missed the monsoon.  However, the skies were still very ominous; it did not keep us from getting out and about!  We walked through Cinderella's Castle, of course, first thing!

The first ride we took on was the carousel - kids loved it!

The look on his face is just too precious ... he wasn't quite sure what to think, but he warmed up to the experience pretty quickly :-)

Next, it was Dumbo!  I really had no idea if they would ride it or not, but they didn't even hesitate!  Ian wanted to "drive Dumbo up high!"

Next ride on our list was "It's a Small World"... at first the children had no idea what to think, but it didn't take them long to enjoy seeing all the children along the boatride!

I was very surprised when Bonner insisted that we ride on the Mad Hatter's teacups!  (Ignore my southern twang in the following video - ha!)

We left Fantasy Land and headed for Buzz Lightyear's ride in Tomorrowland!  There was an interactive Buzz in the waiting line that was cute; but we really didn't have to wait for very long so there was just enough time for a quick picture!

 I took this picture with my cell phone so sorry for the graininess ... basically, you used those guns on the cab of your vehicle to shoot at all the crazy things around you.  Ian was totally in awe and no idea what to expect - thus, the deer in headlights look :-)

The ride was good, but the trip was complete when, of course, we exited the ride and right there in front of us was a "big Buzz Likeyear!"  (The exit of the ride was right in the middle of a Toy Story toy)  You might remember that Gigi got Ian a big Woody and a big Jesse for his birthday.  He plays with them non-stop and has been begging me for a "big Buzz" ever since.  Well, they are $40 at Target so I just wouldn't do it ... when we found "big Buzz" at Disney, though, there was no telling him, "No!" And their price tag of $25 was much more doable.  As you can tell from this video, Ian was super excited!  He took Buzz, Woody, and Jesse everywhere for the rest of the trip :-)

By this point in the night, we had been going strong for a few hours and we were all hungry.  We headed back, by boat, to the Grand Floridian and grabbed dinner at the hotel grill about 10 p.m.  Needless to say, the children passed out pretty quick after dinner and slept well.