Day at Disney

Today is Game Day in Ryan's kindergarten class. At home, one of Ryan and AJ's favourite games is the Pokemon Spinning Figures Game or "Pokemon Spinners" as they call it.

Ryan's
lunch:
green
beans;
blue-
berries;
straw-
berries;
baby
carrots;
a pickle;
Pikachu
peanut
butter
& grape
jelly
sandwich.



I had the opportunity to take just Ryan to Disney's Magic Kingdom while we were in Florida. We don't do lots of theme parks, usually just one day, and all the boys had been there before. Just Ryan wanted to go, so off we went, bright and early...

We didn't even have to use the parking shuttle we were parked so close to the entrance. We ran most of the way, LOL.













Ryan was fascinated by the topiary. We took the monorail around the lake (the boat wasn't even running yet), watched duck families waddling around, and headed to the castle to wait for the ropes to be removed at 9am. Entertainment included bubble blowers, meeting the Fairy Godmother, and eating a quick snack.

The tile mosaics inside the castle tunnel are really quite impressive!

Disney is funny this way...
you can become preoccupied
by the gaudy commercial
monstrosity, or you can
choose to admire the truly
talented artwork and gardens
that help transform the place
into the fairytale fantasyland.

A pic for my husband,
the mouse-lover.

Our promptness and
patience was rewarded
by being on the first
Dumbo ride of the day!
(This ride often has one
of the longest lines for
what is probably the briefest ride in the whole park.)






















It's A Small World hasn't changed at all since I first rode it when I was 10 years old. And surprisingly this was Ryan's first ride on a carousel!

The Winnie The Pooh ride
was cute--I actually hadn't
been on it before. Though I
do miss its predecessor: Mr.
Toad's Wild Ride.




I loved the haunted house
as a kid. When I was Ryan's
age I used to write haunted
house books...all of them
pretty much the same: "X
number of people go for a
walk in the woods and get
lost..." etc.

After I failed miserably
conveying the significance
of the term "Fast Pass" to
Ryan, we stood in line for
45 minutes at Big Thunder
Mountain Railroad.

A contraceptive tip to the
childless readers out there...
It was more enjoyable to stand in a winding claustrophobic 90F degree line with a whining 6 year old carrying a backpack and often said child, than it often is to spend an hour at home with all 4 kids on a good day...so consider your actions carefully. That torturously long line was rather enjoyable! Happily, he loved the ride.






















Pirates of the Carribean doesn't have Fast Pass, and Ryan had learned his lesson and understood why we wouldn't be riding it that day! Instead we cooled off with popsicles and spitting tiki masks and a walk through the Swiss Family Treehouse.

We frugally brought most of our own food, but vegetarian treats abound in the Magic Kingdom, even more than Vegetarian Walt Disney World indicates. There were even a few places where I spied vegetarian wraps on their brief menus, apparently recent additions since the latest Magic Kingdom map was printed. "Well-balanced" and "vegetarian" options are indicated on the map with a red apple...and most restaurants had that pretty red apple listed next to them! Certainly there is less available for vegans, but still it's not hard to buy your food there if that's what you want to do.
And they don't hose you on concession prices like movie theatres do...just on the admission price. Amazing, considering they grow some amazing exotic produce nearby just for Disney in their greenhouses (I first learned about them on a PBS show of all places).

























Next we went to Tomorrowland and Fast-Passed the Buzz Lightyear ride (Ryan & AJ's favourite). While we waited we went to meet Buzz, admired the local wildlife (!), and bought some cotton candy for Ryan to try (with plenty to bring home to share).

I was suckered (haha) into
buying a twirly lollipop
which Ryan enjoyed on the
boatride back to the parking
entrance. We also picked up
a bouquet of little Mickey
Mouse lollipops to share with
the brothers.

I hope next time we're here,
Dada can take Maia to the
Magic Kingdom and do the
father/daughter thing. Now that would be cute!