Wednesday, November 24, 2010

NaBloPoMo 23/30: WDW day 1

Today was our first full day, and we got up early to try to get to the Magic Kingdom when it opened. Unfortunately, we managed to get lost driving there, and didn't make it to the actual park (it's a multistep process) until about half an hour after opening.



Since we're here five days, we had a plan to focus on particular areas of the park before it got too crowded. This morning we went to ride Pirates of the Caribbean first.

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That ride can be a little scary, and he was definitely a lot more aware of everything going on in it than he was last year. He climbed into my lap at one point and held on tightly to my hands, but otherwise he seemed to like it. After that we went to ride the Jungle Cruise and then did the Haunted Mansion, which he didn't seem to find scary at all.

We had lunch and then planned to go let him play in the Toontown area, but the whole thing is closed for construction, it turns out. Even the Winnie the Pooh play area was gone, sadly. About that time Carter asked to go back to the hotel, so we decided it was a good time to go. Just as it was last year, riding the parking tram was a highlight:

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Here is a similar picture from last year's trip.

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I thought we'd go swimming back at the hotel, but Carter just wanted to hang out in the room and play with his cars. He ended up taking a three-hour nap, which he really needed. When he woke up, we decided to head to Epcott for the evening,

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We had dinner at the Oktoberfest restaurant in the German section of the park. This fountain is right outside.

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Carter enjoyed dinner, and we got there right before the band came out.

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We went out on the dance floor and had a lot of fun!



After dinner we walked all the way around the park and rode the Nemo ride, which goes down into the aquarium. He loves aquariums, so this was a highlight.

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We took the requisite shark picture.

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We did this last year as well:

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We managed to drag Carter out of the aquarium in time for the nightly fireworks show, which he LOVED. We need to try to see fireworks as often as we can this trip, because he squealed and laughed the entire time!

We got back to the hotel room, had a bath, and then Carter was all ready to snuggle up and go to sleep.



I think he had a great day! It was so much fun to spend a day together as a family, too -- we don't get to do it all that often, so I really appreciate it!

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