Day 2: Animal Kingdom

Day 2 we headed to Animal Kingdom.  We got there soon after the park opened.

We head straight for the safari ride because Aunt Meg had it figured out as to the order we needed to ride things.  It was perfect because we didn't have a long wait at all.  This was one of Mary Hyatt's favorite things that we did.  She was totally mesmerized by all the animals. She pointed and made all kinds of noises trying to imitate the animals.  It was cute!

 We saw all kinds of animals and many of them were really close to us.. like this giraffe who just decided to walk along the side of us.

 After that we headed to Dinoland.  We rode a few rides but I didn't get any pictures because we were all on them.  A few of them actually went up pretty high and around and around.  Mary Hyatt liked them but I don't think she really grasped what was going on.  After about a minute, she lost interest and sometimes tried to stand up and stuff which made this mama a tad bit nervous. We then headed to an area within Dinoland that was like a huge jungle gym with tons of slides and things for Mary Hyatt to climb on.  This was a big hit to her too.  She was entertained for over an hour! Meg and I stayed here with her while Lovie and Sally went to ride a few big kid rides in the park.

 She loved exploring and running through all the "caves" and "tunnels."

 She really loved riding down all the slides as you can tell by the pure look of joy on her face below.

We started off by riding many of these with her but by the end of the time she was going down them by herself.  Such a big girl!

 We also got to go dig for fossils.

 And Mary Hyatt climbed this big net slope all by herself...with Aunt Meg right there spotting her just in case!

After that we were pretty worn out.  I actually found a grassy area that was meant for strollers to be parked that nobody was using.  I originally just laid Mary Hyatt down on my jacket and planned to change her diaper.  She rolled over on her own and went to sleep so I just went with it.  She napped for a little over an hour.  The rest of the gang went to ride another big kid ride and then brought lunch back for us to have a picnic.  Apparently I started a trend because before long, there were people sitting and lying on the ground all around us. 

 After Mary Hyatt woke up we went and watched an interactive show called "It's Tough to Be a Bug."  It was so neat. During the movie little bits of water would squirt at you, or the wind would blow your hair, or you felt a bump in the bottom of your seat that was suppose to be roaches crawling underneath you. We were surprised often and laughed a lot.

We finished our day by going to watch The Lion King show.  It was fabulous!  We were near the end of the line and it filled up quickly so  we all had to actually split up.  Mary Hyatt and I were near the front.  I wished that the rest of the gang was near me just to see Mary Hyatt's reactions.  She LOVED it.  She danced, clapped, pointed and made all kinds of noises.  It was a great way to end the day.

That night we drove back to Jacksonville and stayed one more night at Meg and Kris' house before driving back home.  It was a quick trip but so worth it and so much fun.  I am so glad that we were able to do it!  I think Mary Hyatt had a great time too.  Overall, I think Animal Kingdom was her favorite.  Surprisingly enough, it seemed to be geared more towards the little ones than Magic Kingdom did and there seemed to be a lot more stuff that she could really get in to and enjoy.  Don't get me wrong, Magic Kingdom was great and she liked it too, but I think she would appreciate it more if she were a little older and really knew all the characters etc.   Guess we'll just have to go again in a few years! :)   

First Trip to Magic Kingdom

The day after Christmas Mary Hyatt and I joined Lovie and Aunt Sassy on a trip to visit Aunt Meg and Disneyworld.  We got up super early and hit the road.  I was so worried about how Mary Hyatt would do being stuck in her car seat for 10+ hours.  Surprisingly to us all, she was absolutely perfect.  I never imagined it would go as smoothly as it did.  She slept a good bit of the way and when she wasn't asleep, she was content and didn't really cry.  We did stop and eat lunch about halfway there and let her burn off some energy by playing in the Chick-Fil-A play place.  We planned to stop in Jacksonville that night to spend the night at Meg and Kris' house.  Meg cooked us a a delicious dinner when we got there and we got to visit with one of Meg's old college friends.   The next morning, we were up and at it early again to drive 3 more hours to Orlando.  When we finally got there, Mary Hyatt's reaction as we were walking up to the park made every mile driven totally worth while...

I'm not sure who was more excited; me or her!

As soon as we entered Magic Kingdom, we were welcomed with a parade of dancing/singing.

And we of course couldn't resist a picture in front of Cinderella's castle.

Our first ride of course had to be on the gigantic carousel.  Mary Hyatt love's carousels and definitlt loved this one.  Even us "big kids" were able to ride!  

We were able to ride several rides with Mary Hyatt and see a few interactive shows.  I was glad that we were with a Disneyworld veteran, Meg, who knew exactly how we should arrange our day so that we could ride all of the good rides and have limited wait times in line.

Of course we couldn't resist getting our own mickey mouse shaped ice cream while we were there!

Ice cream was a perfect treat while we waited in line to see some of our favorite characters to get their autograph...

We laughed because the characters made us all feel like little kids again.  We were so giddy about talking to them and getting their signature. haha We just used Mary Hyatt as our excuse to meet them! :)

It was a long day and Mary Hyatt never really got a good nap.  She did sleep on me some while we walked around, but she was a trooper!

As we were leaving the park, I snagged one more picture in front of the castle.  You can tell we were both pretty exhausted!

We planned to go back to the hotel, take a quick nap, and then head back to the park to try to catch the fireworks show.  Unfortunately, as soon as we made it to our room, someone set off the fire alarm in the building and we had to evacuate.  We didn't get much of a nap, and I honestly knew Mary Hyatt would not last all night and then through another full day unless she got a good nights sleep, so I opted to stay in and go to sleep.  At one point, I looked up and saw Mary Hyatt holding her Lovie's camera like this..

smart girl! haha I don't know why she would know what to do with a camera.  I obviously don't take any pictures! ;) 

We changed in to our pj's and MH enjoyed loving on her new Minnie Mouse.  We were in the bed within an hour after everyone else left.  Magic Kingdom wore us out!

Meg, Sally, and Lovie did get to meet the princesses when they went back and got their autograph in our autograph book.  They said the fireworks were awesome.  I'm hoping we can go back sometime when Mary Hyatt is a tad bit older.

Overall, day 1 was lots of fun.  I loved every minute of it! Stay tuned for day 2:  Animal Kingdom!