A MAGICAL experience

The boys' first trip to Walt Disney World was simply magical!

The trip started with their first time on an airplane! They both did great and stayed awake the whole flight. They got so excited when they caught their first glimpse of the Walt Disney World signs from the Magical Express bus. We spent the remainder of Sunday taking it easy, enjoying the pool and getting in a nap.

Epcot was our first stop on Monday. Figment was our very first ride and a good speed to introduce Andrew to a week full of rides! We played at several other attractions, watched the fish at the Seas, took in a few street entertainers and then hopped over to Animal Kingdom for a little character greeting and a parade.

There was a rainbow at Animal Kingdom, making an interesting scene with the Everest ride.

Tuesday was our Magic Kingdom day! We enjoyed many of the traditional rides, including an "extended stay" in the It's a Small World ride when it broke down. We sat for about 10 minutes, partly with the song still playing. Jeremiah was insistent that we went to the Enchanted Tiki room. This will likely be a family joke for a while. Andrew rode the Liberty Bell boat with Papa, Aunt Leisa and Aunt Sheila, while Jeremiah, Mom and Dad went on Big Thunder Mountain. As Jeremiah said, "Now THAT'S a RIDE!" Our day concluded with dinner with Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger. Andrew was not too keen on the characters getting close to him.

Our maid left us special surprises each day!

Wednesday was spent at Animal Kingdom and Epcot. We had a GREAT safari, seeing many animals out and active. The boys liked the Lion King show. At Epcot, we enjoyed talking to Crush, riding the Nemo ride and taking a second trip in Spaceship Earth. We headed back to the hotel for an afternoon nap to be prepared for the lighted parade and fireworks at Magic Kingdom. What a special experience to get to see Tinkerbell fly. Andrew picked out a stuffed Mickey, held him tight during the fireworks and then fell asleep with him in his hand while daddy was holding him on the bus.

Thanksgiving day started with breakfast with the Playhouse Disney characters. Andrew was a little more interactive with the characters. Luckily, Aunt Leisa was able to get fast passes for the Toy Story Mania ride because it was a 145 minute wait later in the day! We watched the Little Mermaid show and the Muppets. Andrew's highlight of the whole trip was the Playhouse Disney show. He was so excited. It's a good thing there were no seats in that show because he would have jumped right out of it! We also met some pretty special characters at Hollywood Studios.

We finished up our day with the whole family attending Fantasmic together. We had a down moment on Thursday night when Jeremiah had some yuckies! Housekeeping was great and daddy is a superb laundry guy! However, we lost Jeremiah's Mickey in the process. Disney was nice enough to let us replace it when we figured out it went with the laundry.

Chef Mickey's Restaurant was our first stop on Friday with the whole Schnitzler clan! Then, we headed back to Magic Kingdom to do a few things in Tomorrowland and ride the train. Our last activity was the Pixar parade. That evening, the boys played at the hotel arcade, had dinner and swam with G&G Schnitzler.

We woke up very early to get on our plane on Saturday. We were sad to leave Disney World but look forward to heading back again. Jeremiah is likely to remind us that there were things we are "saving" for the next trip!