A Scrap of Life

There is just something about the Magic Kingdom that is more magical than anywhere else in Disneyworld. So I always expect something a little more. Today was exactly that. First off, I want to say that today was the most stress free day thus far. That’s because last night we sat down with the map and decided what we still wanted to see. Then I made an agenda and we stuck with it. I must say, that made all the difference in the world … We woke up the usual time and made our way to Magic Kingdom. We arrived just in time to see Mickey and friends arrive on the train and open Magic Kingdom. We tried to make our way quickly back to Fantasyland, but that’s hard to do when there is a horde of people with strollers and children everywhere. By the time we got back to Fantasyland our scheduled first ride, Dumbo, was packed. As much as I wanted to ride Dumbo this trip, I also didn’t want to spend an hour in line waiting to do so. The kids saw the nearby carousel, which was empty, so we decided to...

This morning I woke up before the clock even rang. I guess I must be getting used to the time change finally. The rest of the family must be too because they all got up much easier this morning. We had breakfast and headed out for Animal Kingdom. We arrived just as the rope dropped and joined the horde on the way to Expedition Everest. Now, I had seen shows on this ride and thought I really had an idea of what it was about, but it was much better than I even anticipated. I think this could have something to do with the fact that Tristan and I were in the front car and had a clear, unobstructed view of the entire ride. Wow, that just makes it awesome!!! We loaded very quickly and started on our way. The first section was wonderful, but what I really loved was the view from way up there on top of Everest. AMAZING!!! Probably the best view of any in the whole of Walt Disney World. While we knew we would be going backwards, we didn’t know that it would be so quickly into the ride. I must g...

Today was our trip to the newly named Disney Hollywood Studios. While the kids still didn’t want to get up this morning, they did finally get motivated and we made it into the studios before rope drop. As soon as the rope dropped we made a beeline for Rockin Rollercoater, staring Aerosmith. None of us had ever ridden this before. They don’t have it in Disneyland and the kids were all too young to ride when we visited WDW in 2001. So it was all a surprise to us. We walked right into the preshow room and then in a short line to get into our super strech limo. While in line we were finally able to catch a glimpse of the ride in motion. Oh my goodness. You sit at a dead stop and than rocket off into the darkness. We were all so excited to go! I must say that this ride didn’t disappoint us. The takeoff was fast but smooth and you went right into a loop that had us screaming our heads off. A few more twist and turns in the darkness and then you get to the corkscrew … so awesome! The kids al...

I'm really trying to get the trip reports added but I think I took too many pictures! (OK, there is no such thing, just in case you think I'm serious.) The pics are taking me forever to edit since there are so many. Of course, this is just compounded by working two jobs, all the kids activities and just life in general. Oh, and Brian has worked every day for the last 14 so that doesn't help either. Anyways, the trip report will continue soon. For now, here is one of my favorite pictures I've edited so far. (This was taken by a Disney Photopass photographer.)

We went to bed early last night, but we still weren’t ready to get up at 6:30am. However, today was Carissa’s birthday and that required some extra special treatment! After a quick breakfast we made our way to the Magic Kingdom for Princess Carissa’s reservation at the Bibbidi Boppity Boutique. Now, the wonderful thing about having an early BBB reservation is that you get into the park before opening, before the general public, before it gets loud and busy. When else would we be able to get a family photo in front of Cinderella Castle with no one in the background. And Princess Carissa was able to quietly lead us up the castle walk with no one in her way. That almost made getting up early worth it. It was very neat to experience the Magic Kingdom while calm. We made our way inside to the BBB, where Carissa's fairy-godmothers-in-training spoiled her with all sorts of lavish attention. She got her nails painted, her makeup done and a very special princess hairdo, complete with glitt...