Disney Day 2

Magic Kingdom, Halloween and O'hana

We decided that we'd spend our first day at the Magic Kingdom, of course! We had bought matching shirts back in January on our trip, just days after finding out Cole was a boy. It was very exciting to put on our cheesy matching shirts, love it!!

Cole was amazed from the get go with things to look out, a speedy tram and a monorail....all before we got in the park! We stopped at the ticket do hickey to get Andy's free 5 day hopper through the military appreciation and mine was $132 (would have been 99, but I added hopping....then we didn't hop....no biggie though) We could have got them at Shades or a base and saved on paying tax, but with buying just my ticket so cheap...we didn't bother.

-you'll notice Cole is using my burp clothes that I made and blanket just for the trip, I'm such a geek...had his name and a mickey embroidered on one so we can keep it and know where we were his first halloween-



We arrived and walked down Main Street with our very own little boy.....amazing!! We had our picture made, imagine that and headed off towards Fantasy Land. We got fast passes for Peter Pan although the line wasn't too long. Then we headed towards Small World which we are pretty sure was Cole's favorite. He sat wide eyed and mouth open through the whole thing. His head was going back and forth, back and forth!! Then we gave him a bottle while watching the Small World boats go through. It was time for Peter Pan which he also seemed to enjoy, though it was dark so he wasn't as comfortable in there.

for the record...i stick my big toes up like this and Cole does too.....

We walked through Liberty Square and then to Adventure Land where we saw one of my all time favorites, The Country Bear Jamboree. I love, love that show!!! We both know the entire thing pretty much by heart. Then we headed to the Tiki Room, but little man just couldn't hold his eyes open a minute longer. He slept right through. He slept in the stroller while his Momma and Daddy ate ice cream. (Dole Whip for Andy & then....well most of my Coke float for Andy too) Cole woke up and we went to Tomorrow Land and got on the People Mover (TTA, whatever they call it these days) It's always a favorite. They are working on refurbishing Space Mountain so it was all covered up in there. We thought Cole might have had enough for one day and decided to head back to rest.

Cole and Mommy on the people mover

After resting we had reservations at our all time favorite place in all "the world", O'hana at the Polynesian. Oh my stars! If you haven't eaten there, you MUST! They bring out all sorts of starters to share family style at your table. (Asian noodles, steamed veggies, BBQ chicken wings, the best salad ever (honey, lime dressing of some sort...could be my favorite part) and coconut bread..seems like I'm leaving something out)Then they come around to your table with meat on skewers right off the grill: pork, turkey, steak and then...grill shrimp. They are wonderful!! They brought us shrimp and more shrimp, finally giving a whole HUGE enormous skewer full to just us. It was crazy and yummy. Then for dessert they bring hot bread pudding with vanilla bean ice cream....banana foster caramel like sauce to pour over. Oh oh oh...it is so very yummy!!

People that hear me talk about our Disney eating obsession...but my kids wont like it, wont sit still, whatever. It's Disney folks!! They are there for entertaining your kiddos, never fear!! While Mom & Dad are chowing down, there is entertainment at O'Hana. There is a lady who teaches hula and you get a lei, she sings a song and kids slow dance with their parents, there's a kid parade and limbo and then coconut racing. The kids hit a coconut with a broom around the restraunt. Your kids will not be bored! The room overlooks Bay Lake, the other resorts on the monorail line and there is the castle in the background. Can you go wrong?? I told one family about it who ate there at night as Wishes (fireworks program) started at the Magic Kingdom and there little boy was asked to turn off the lights in the restaurant for the show, they pipe in the music and everything!

I had big plans of taking Cole somewhere for Halloween all dressed up. It was 90 degrees Halloween Day in Disney World...there was no way that he was wearing a fleece like Mickey outfit. People were dressed up all day though and we saw some fantastic costumes. People are So creative!! They were trick or treating at the resorts and everywhere else it seemed, pretty neat. We ended up going back and taking a few pictures of Toot dressed as Mickey and then pretty much called it a night.

Cole's First Disney Trip
Officially Day 1
We arrive

I've dreamed for so long of taking our own little one to our favorite place on Earth, Walt Disney World. Finally last week, that dream came true! I had a lot of people say to me "He's too young, he wont remember it, what can you DO with a baby?" We've been going and doing for 10 years now and taking Cole was something we couldn't wait a day longer to do! So off we went....

We decided to leave Thursday evening about 7:30 after a day of work for both of us. Andy gets up about 5AM and I knew he wouldn't be able to drive as far as we both wished. Still, we knew any further down the road we could go, would make life easier on Friday. Cole had his last bottle, was in his jammies and we were off.

We made it to Valdosta around midnight and found a room at a Comfort Inn & Suites. I have to say it was one of the most comfortable beds ever. It had a feather topper and was queen size, the softest sheets. Ooo La La.... They didn't have cribs or pack n plays, so Daddy was lucky enough to spend the night in the bed with Wild Man! I hear it was quite the night of wild kicking and flinging himself around. When I woke up Andy was on the opposite side of the bed from where he started. Seems a little bitty guy takes up a big ton of room.

Cole in Valdosta in his jammies

We woke up about 7, had our free breakfast and were off again by about 8:30. Cole went back to sleep and woke up a few hours into our journey, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel to give him a bottle and change his diaper. (Just like our mountains trip that I didn't blog about) You can't beat a Cracker Barrell for their comfy rocking chairs and clean restrooms. We got a cheese & cracker plate, extra pickles and sweet teas to go. Cole had to have a little entertainment for about an hour so Mommy crawled between the seats and wedged herself between the mountain of stuff to entertain the doodle bug. Crawling through was quite the sight I'm sure....



We arrived, checked in within a few minutes (people, pre-check in online for Disney...takes you one minute to grab your resort room keys while everyone else waits in line) and unpacked. Our room was fantastic. It was right beside the parking lot, a pool (there are a bunch at Port Orleans Riverside) and laundry area. (Which we used every other day!) Perfect, perfect location!! It was our second time there and it has become our favorite I think.

Cole finds a "not so" hidden Mickey in our room!

----Side note here to say Riverside is awesome! Check out the January blog for pictures around the resort. It is located along the river and very pretty. You can rent boats, ride the "river cruise" to Downtown Disney or just enjoy the boat traffic. The table service restaurant "Boatwrights" is very good and the quickie service place has a ton of selections. The bar area, which is entirely family friendly and not your typical "bar area" at all, is so much fun. More about the wonderful night with Mr. Piano man later. There is a store, of course. There's an acrade and a big ole lobby. You can take a carriage ride from right there or just visit the pretty big ole horses. The walkway to Port Orleans French Quarter is a wonderful easy walk. You can use the pool and all over there as well. The "main" pool at Riverside is cute with the slide and all, a kiddie pool and the area is really neat. There's a fishing hole where you can cane pole fish, a huge play ground and they have story telling by a camp fire at night. There are 5 or 6 pools located between the other buildings and they are pretty big as well, with laundry facilities at each of those areas. There is the "mansions" section, where we've stayed both times. "Think Gone with the Wind and Tara" Then there is "alligator bayou" which is more... cabin like. It's the only resort that "techincally" holds 5 people, there's a trundle slide out bed. It's a beautiful resort with tons to do right there"------





Anyway.... we had supper at the quickie resort location. I had yummy turkey, mashed taters and veggies. Chocolate cake for dessert, gotta love the dining plan. Andy had a chicken caesar salad and oatmeal raisin cookie. Yummy~

Then we hopped on the boat (another reason Riverside is so neat) and headed downtown. It was the first time we've been by the Tree House Villas since they have reopened, sure would be fun to stay there. Our friends, Amber & Jonathan, stayed and said they are super neat. The 10ish minute boat ride is a nice way to get from place to place for sure!!

Downtown Disney was PACKED and there were kids in costumes everywhere. It was still the night before Halloween, but they had trick or treating at tons of locations and boy the kids were out in droves. We met my wonderful friend Terry and hung out awhile. We walked around the World of Disney, lines were way too crazy to shop though. We took some pictures, visited a bit and got scared to death by a magician. (He came out of nowhere and talked into a microphone, making poor Cole cry like crazy. The only real time he cried all week and it was because of the surprise factor, the man came out of nowhere)

By then the crowds were crazy, Cole was tired and we called it a night.

Terry, Cole and Me

Andy, Cole & Me