Disney World . . . take two

We decided, last minute style, to go back to Disney over Jeff's spring break. It was wonderful! Jeff found a great deal that included a large condo with kitchen and free tickets to any park in Disney for a very reasonable price. Initially the website mentioned something about an optional tour of their facilities, but we didn't pay close attention to that little detail until the optional turned into mandatory. Okay, we thought, no worries we will go on the tour and be on our way, free tickets to Disney is at the finish line, we can do it. Well, I will not be sharing the discounted website that we booked through with you because a "quick tour and no pressure meeting" turned into a 2 hour one-on-one high pressure situation . . . with Johnathan along for the whole thing. That is 2 hours I never want to relive. We did not purchase anything, but I'm pretty sure the salesmen (there were THREE of them) would have sold off their first born for us to sign up for something. Thank goodness my husband knows how to deal with situations like this! :-)

Now for the fun stuff!

We drove up on a Wednesday and timed it up juuuuust right so that Johnathan would nap the whole way up. Genius right?!

I love the new way we drive up to Orlando, all the back roads . . . nothing but fields and cows and lovely homes that I dream of owning one day. I swear every time we pass by an old Victorian style home with a wrap around porch I ask Jeff "Can't we move up here and own a ranch or orchard or whatever, I want to live right there!" Jeff knows me so well, his response "Sure Toots, sounds like a plan . . . " We both know it would never happen, but it's nice to dream . . . Oh and we had to drive behind orange trucks too . . .

We got up there in one piece with no meltdowns in less than 3 1/2 hours only to find that our room wasn't ready. The hotel had a neat little arcade and we let John go to town!

After the arcade we watched "Cars" in the hotels private movie theater . . . too cool! We were the only ones there!

A trip to Chic-Fil-A to play on a jungle gym and a quick shop at Publix later and our room was ready. We love staying in places with a kitchen because we save so much on food. We are there for the fun not the food!!! :-) Next up was a trip to Downtown Disney to see Lego land and stretch our legs.

Then there was an open theater area where they were having a dance contest. Johnathan had no clue what was going on but he wanted to dance along too. This turned into John running in big circles around and around and around until he quite literally crashed into the stroller and was asleep before we got to the car.

The next day started early in the morning because Johnathan doesn't understand the concept of sleeping in. We had to bring along our nebulizer for John's breathing treatments. We are just hoping he doesn't have asthma problems in the future, so we are really trying to get this RSV out of his system for good!

Our view was really nice this morning and then I turned around and thought of that country song "my front porch looking in" cause seeing Johnathan happily eating his breakfast was by far the better view! :-)

We will just forget about the two hours in hell and fast forward to our afternoon at Sea World. Every time we are there we follow the same path and Johnathan seems to remember and gets really excited when we start to walk into an exhibit. He loves watching all the sea animals!

Then we watched our favorite show there, it's full of dolphins and birds and lots of action so John sits there mesmerized!

Next up were all the kiddy rides. Nothing but smiles and laughter, just the best!

Awwe, Daddy's favorite! Ice cold beer! :-)

I was so proud of Johnathan here. He wanted to play with the steel drums and there were a bunch of big kids there so instead of being shy and running the other direction, he ran right up and joined in, not scared at all!

How do you know when your child is ready to go?

Exhibit A - meltdown city!

Exhibit B - he is saying "bye-bye" to the ducks, he wanted to go home!

We spent the next day at Magic Kingdom. We love it there!

Here's the view of the castle on the ferry trip there.

Johnathan was getting very excited, I just love to see his smiling face!

I'm sure it will happen every time we go . . . I got the goose bumps and a little teary when we walked under the train station into Disney, Johnathan was yelling "yay yay yay" and clapping his hands and it was as if we were all sprinkled with fairy dust. It really is magical there!

Jeff and I pretty much ran to "Fantasy Land" to try and beat the crowds so that we could go on all of the long-line rides. We realized shortly after literally walking onto three rides in a row that we somehow won the Disney lottery and were there on a very slow day. It was great!

Barely able to snap photos because the lines were so short, here we are getting on the Pooh ride . . .

Peter Pan line . . .

Small World (still my favorite, still Johnathan's favorite, never ever want that to change)

On the Carousel . . . big moment for me, Johnathan sat on his own horse like a very big boy! He did really well and loved the whole ride!

So then we ran across the park to no line for Pirates, literally they were sending half full boats out because there wasn't enough people. Crazy! And then we went on the Jungle Cruise. I have to admit, I don't think I will ever be able to enjoy this ride again, after what happened last time. I was a bunch of nerves the whole time thinking we were going to get soaked, Jeff's face says it all . . .

Not to worry, we arrived at the end dry and happy!

Next up we literally stumbled upon one of Disney's mini-parades in progress. This day really was picture perfect!

Standing waiting for all the floats to go by . . .

Pointing out characters that he knows . . .

We danced and clapped and enjoyed the parade. Then we went on the People Mover (nope, not gonna call it by it's new name, it will always be the People Mover, sorry Mickey!) and then Buzz Lightyears ride. Jeff was very proud of his high score of something ridiculous like 360,000 . . . it couldn't have had anything to do with the fact that the ride "stalled" out for three minutes right in front of huge bulls-eye, ha!

Then we pulled over to a shady bench and ate our pre-packaged (in our own cooler) sandwiches. Johnathan had his favorite yogurt and asked for his binky and blankey and fell asleep for his nap. Great timing for everything. While he slept we found a nice little shady area along the parade route where we could sit. We figured John could sleep until the parade started (or through it if he wanted to) and then we could go on with our day. Well, somehow we found the loudest speaker in the park and were sitting right on it. As soon as the parade started Johnathan was jolted awake and watched the parade in a funk and cranky mood. After the parade we went to Tom Sawyer's island to run around and have fun.

I never remember going here as a kid, but I can see why. It's definitely a little boy's playground and since I was a girly girl into princesses and characters I can see why my mother would have detoured this little area.

Johnathan loved it! But insisted that we carry him everywhere!

Until we found a boat/playground and he wanted to explore. What a cutie! He even shot some guns!

And then out of no where he was DONE. As in arched back, screaming, unhappy and DONE. After about 30 minutes of really trying to calm him down we realized we needed a little break. The parade had cut short his nap and my little boy needs his sleep. We went back to the hotel where Johnathan slept for a full two hours. Jeff and I had an early dinner thanks to digornio pizza and then we went back for more fun.

Straight to the People Mover again . . . it's funny, my favorite rides have always been Small World and People Mover, and it seems the same for Johnathan. Makes my heart happy! And to see his smiley happy face . . . . it's better than anything.

Here's another thing that has never happened to me before at Disney (getting hosed down by the elephants was the first). We rode through Space Mountain with all the lights on. Apparently they were having some technical difficulties and had to figure it out. Well the People Mover rides through Space Mountain and we got a view of the crazy roller coaster. Too cool!

Only to be followed by a full-on paparazzi moment by yours truly. We saw a guy getting some VIP treatment while on line for the tea-cups so I asked Jeff if he knew who the guy was. Turns out, it was the one and only Michael Vick. If you don't know who he is, email me, but please do NOT google him! (really horrible photos if you do, don't say I didn't warn you!) He's a bad, bad man and I'm kinda upset I didn't yell something awful at him. But I did manage to get some good photos.

Then it was our turn. Johnathan loves this ride and Jeff did a really good job at getting us very dizzy! Fun stuff!

Before we knew it, the sun was setting. We ran around and went on a few more rides, again with no lines at all, and then we found a cozy little spot for my favorite thing all day. Watching Johnathan watching the night parade. He is absolutely amazed by this parade and I found myself again all goose bumpy with tears in my eyes as I watched John.

We stopped for a very quick photo in front of the castle at night and then were on our way home.

It was one of the most perfect days I've ever had at Disney. My fun cup was overflowing!

Up early the next day for our trip home. We timed it just right again for a nap on the way home. Genius again! Seriously, John has US trained very well!

As we unpacked, started laundry and got back into our normal routine, I couldn't help but think I love that we do this. I love that we, just the three of us, have these awesome memories. Priceless and perfect and I can't wait for more!