yesterday's report

Yesterday started with rain. Tom wanted to stay home and wait for it to blow over. I did not. I wanted to put on some ponchoes and head to Disney. I won and I'm glad I did. The crowds were way less than any other day at Disney. Apparently most people didn't want to get out in the rain. And then when it cleared up around noon, no one wanted to use their ticket to Magic Kingdom for only half of a day. So it worked out beautifully for us.

First thing we did yesterday was head straight for the princess meeting spot. You can meet Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Belle all in one stop. Drew was not intersted in even greeting the priceness, but Lily and Julianna were excited. All of the characters do a splendid job of carrying on one way coversations with children. They were all so sweet and made Lily feel special. In the end, Lily said that she liked Sleeping Beauty's dress the best (interestingly enough, Tom and I had discussed that hers was the worst costume) but that she like Belle the best. I agree with Lily. Belle was the most real and down to earth princess of the bunch. She managed to get Lily, Drew and Julianna to speak to her. Ouite lovely, I'm sure.

We hit all the major rides after the princess visit. And because the crowds were so small, we hit one of our favorites more than once. If you have only one day to spend at Disney World, it should be the Magic Kingdom. Everywhere you look is magical and it just feels special. I am having trouble remembering how we spent the rest of our morning yesterday. I know that Tom and Lily rode Splash Mountain. Lily had a good time but wasn't aware that she was going to get wet on the water ride. I'm not sure why that was a problem anyway, as she was wearing a poncho and the rain had stopped...but what can I say?

We did manage to make it back to the hotel at about one o'clock. We really wanted to rest in the afternoon so that we could stay late for the night time parade and fireworks show. I'm so glad that Drew, Julianna and Tom all had naps. They were so tired that we managed to get naps and get back to the park before 5 o'clock.

We had dinner at a fancy storybook castle type pizza joint. There was a wish book to write your wishes in. Lily wished that her hair would be long...I wish that I could make that happen for her overnight...but alas, I don't have such well connected Disney friends to make that happen.

After dinner we caught another dance party with Goofy and Pluto. Lily danced with and hugged Pluto and Julianna played peek-a-boo with him. It was so cute!!

For the record, I am not a parade person. I can barely force myself to attend local parades for my children. Miles of classic cars, a firetruck and the Shriner's don't do it for me. However, Disney knows how to do parades. It was breathtaking. The night time parade was floats and characters covered in lights. The kids were mesmerized. I got some excellent pictures and videos of them enjoying the parade. It was packed (even with the lighter crowd). We were smashed, but had a great time.

After the parade were the world famous fireworks behind Cinderella's castle. Drew and Julianna did not enjoy them too much. I think they were too tired after a long day and the fireworks were too loud. Lily was pretty impressed and amazed at the show. I think part of it was because the fireworks are put to music and song. The song talked about making wishes and having them come true. All you have to do is wish for what your want, etc. Jiminy Cricket didn't mention anything about hard work and perseverance to making your wishes come true..but I suppose that lesson comes later.

I hope that my brain is still functioning tomorrow when we get home. Our bus will come pick us up to go to the airport at 3:30 AM. We don't get to pick our departure time to the airport, obviously. Anyway, since I  should be sleeping now, I will wrap this up for tonight. I will do my final wrap-up and assessment of vacation, traveling with young children and Disney World sometime this weekend. If my brain is still inside my skull, that is.