On our first morning in Orlando, we awoke to a crisp blue, sunny sky. It allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief. The bad weather that had plagued Florida the previous few days happily departed upon our arrival. High temperature for the day was slated to be about 70 degrees with sunny skies. Perfect weather. After a travel day that was more frustrating than rewarding, I was thankful to be getting off to a strong start. Tony and I carefully packed our day bag together: money, tickets, snacks, camera, camcorder. Checked and double checked, we were ready to make our drive to the parks.
First up, princess breakfast at Cinderella's castle. Leading up to our vacation, if you were to ask Elise if she was excited about our trip, she would probably give you a vague shrug of the shoulders and answer "I guess". Rather than stemming from over-indulgence and being spoiled, her answer comes from blissful ignorance. Even though Adam and I had gone to Six Flags a dozen times in the last 5 years, Elise had never been to an amusement park. Call me cheap or lazy, but with prices being what they are, my kids generally do not don the doors of our local Six Flags until they are about 6 years old. When we tried to explain she would be riding rides and seeing shows, she really had no concept of what that actually meant. In our attempt to encourage excitement and enthusiasm we switched emphasis and told her we would have breakfast with Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, etc. on our first morning---and meet up with Mickey and Minnie and other Disney characters throughout the day. That helped create the buzz of excitement for her. Having said that, Elise is definitely not as into the Disney princesses as some girls her own age. She likes them and all, but she does not spend her day wanting to play dress up and having tea parties. But having taken this trip 11 years ago with Tony's two older boys the princess breakfast was one experience we didn't have before, so we thought it a perfect opportunity. We were hopeful that it would be a highlight of her Magic Kingdom rememberances. At $149 for two adults and two children to eat breakfast, we sure hoped so, at least!
We make our way into the parking lot and ready to board the tram promptly at 9 a.m. when Tony grabbed our backpack and said "Got the video camera?", to which mine was a resounding "No, I do not. We must have left it at the condo." Lovely. Since the still camera was with it, we had no choice but for Tony to drive back to the condo to get it. There was no way I would spend our first day without it. But make no mistake, I was mad. Not at myself or Tony. It was not necessarily anyone's fault and nothing was going to be made right by placing blame. But I was thinking "Not only will Tony miss our first big event, but I won't even have a camera to capture the moment." Honestly, it just sucked.
Still, we had to make our way forward. I plod forward with the kids, riding the monorail across the parking lot to the park gates. My initial reaction? Recession. What recession? A sea of people have flooded the entrance. From my perspective, Orlando is still the most magical place on earth. Consider the economy stimulated. Sheesh. It was enough to make your head swim.
Arriving at breakfast, I explain that not everyone was there and Tony is at least 30 minutes or maybe even an hour behind us. There was good news and bad news. The good news is that they will hold your reservation but you must wait until your whole party has arrived to be seated. The bad news is that I had both cell phones (yeah, I know!) and I had no idea how long we would be waiting. I knew in the end I would be happier for him not to miss it and to have the cameras to capture it. Still, waiting with the kids was maddening. We wandered along the general area of main street, even allowing the staff photographer to photograph us in front of the castle and enjoyed the mosaic piece inside the castle. But having to stay in plain sight of Tony definitely limited my ability to entertain the kids. They were understandably hungry and anxious.
We really did enjoy breakfast. In addition to the princesses listed above, we also had Aurora and Jasmine come by our table for photos. We wondered if they would add the Princess and the Frog, which they did not. And, Ariel. She was missing. Because she is a mermaid, they keep her in her grotto in Fantasyland. You have to stand in a line to meet her. (The line to see Ariel was always incredibly long, and in the end, we never did see her, which was alright by Elise. I think she was so dazzled by everything going on around her, she really did not notice her absence.) Honestly, the breakfast was so well done that even Adam really enjoyed himself. For the boys, they handed out swords, and for the girls they had magic wands. And "wishing stars" for both. (Jasmine was my favorite. Her abs were amazing and she was dazzling in her costume. I would think Tony would be in agreement with me!) Plus they give you an 8x10 of your kids with Cinderella and an 8x10 of the castle as part of the package, tip included. It was money well spent.
First up, princess breakfast at Cinderella's castle. Leading up to our vacation, if you were to ask Elise if she was excited about our trip, she would probably give you a vague shrug of the shoulders and answer "I guess". Rather than stemming from over-indulgence and being spoiled, her answer comes from blissful ignorance. Even though Adam and I had gone to Six Flags a dozen times in the last 5 years, Elise had never been to an amusement park. Call me cheap or lazy, but with prices being what they are, my kids generally do not don the doors of our local Six Flags until they are about 6 years old. When we tried to explain she would be riding rides and seeing shows, she really had no concept of what that actually meant. In our attempt to encourage excitement and enthusiasm we switched emphasis and told her we would have breakfast with Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, etc. on our first morning---and meet up with Mickey and Minnie and other Disney characters throughout the day. That helped create the buzz of excitement for her. Having said that, Elise is definitely not as into the Disney princesses as some girls her own age. She likes them and all, but she does not spend her day wanting to play dress up and having tea parties. But having taken this trip 11 years ago with Tony's two older boys the princess breakfast was one experience we didn't have before, so we thought it a perfect opportunity. We were hopeful that it would be a highlight of her Magic Kingdom rememberances. At $149 for two adults and two children to eat breakfast, we sure hoped so, at least!
We make our way into the parking lot and ready to board the tram promptly at 9 a.m. when Tony grabbed our backpack and said "Got the video camera?", to which mine was a resounding "No, I do not. We must have left it at the condo." Lovely. Since the still camera was with it, we had no choice but for Tony to drive back to the condo to get it. There was no way I would spend our first day without it. But make no mistake, I was mad. Not at myself or Tony. It was not necessarily anyone's fault and nothing was going to be made right by placing blame. But I was thinking "Not only will Tony miss our first big event, but I won't even have a camera to capture the moment." Honestly, it just sucked.
Still, we had to make our way forward. I plod forward with the kids, riding the monorail across the parking lot to the park gates. My initial reaction? Recession. What recession? A sea of people have flooded the entrance. From my perspective, Orlando is still the most magical place on earth. Consider the economy stimulated. Sheesh. It was enough to make your head swim.
We had lost a solid hour but since we would have two days in this park, we definitely felt like we could pace ourselves. My personal goal was to make sure Elise was not overwhelmed as we began the rides. While we were waiting for Tony, Elise had her eye on the carrousel. I like carrousels as much as the next guy, but really? At Disney World, THAT is what she wants to ride? It's named Cinderella's Golden Carrousel but it is like any other one you would find elsewhere. Certainly nothing spectacular about it. Still, she was hell bent on riding it, so we went there first. We stayed in the Fantasyland portion of the park for the better part of our first day, much to Adam's chagrin. On our plane ride, he and I had mapped out the rides he was looking forward to at each park. Adam was looking forward to the big rides, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Pirates of the Caribbean. Somehow riding Dumbo and Winnie the Pooh wasn't necessarily his first choice. Still, watching Elise's excitement and joy riding these rides was infectious. I promised him that we would get to all his favorite rides, too. We did briefly make our way to Tomorrowland to ride Speedway. We also rode Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, which is much like our Scooby Doo ride at Six Flags. Being spring break we certainly encountered some waiting in line for each ride, but this was by far the longest wait at an hour. I'd have to say that it was the one ride that I didn't feel like was worth the wait. :(
The kids enjoyed their first 3-D show experience, which was Philhar-Magic. I probably watched Elise reaching out in front of her to grab the image as much as I watched the show. Tony and I discovered early on that Elise was fearless. When other kids were cautious or downright scared, she was all smiles.
For me, character sighting was a huge part of what I was looking forward to. I knew that this would be the one trip to Disney that both kids would probably agree to be photographed with them. I had memories of having a lot more character sightings 11 years ago. Perhaps they employ less, or keep them contained to certain areas of the park, but when we managed to get to the end of the day without a glimpse of Mickey and Minnie, I was shocked. Despite some disappointments from an adult perspective, at the end of our very tiring day, we certainly counted it a success.
As a big fan of the most magical place on earth I really enjoyed reading your post. Once I went with Wesley to Disney and gave him the four day hopper passes to hold when we got off the bus and by the time we got to the place where we have to give the tickets he had lost them. After retracing our steps and being in a panic that three days would be lost, I approached the ticket person and told them what happened, she asked us our names and said that someone had turned in our tickets. What a way to start the day, but soon all is forgotten when you remember that you really are in a magical place.
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