Magic Kingdom

Thursday, December 20th

Walt Disney World

 Mary Grace, Miller and I headed over to the Magic Kingdom bright and early. I was scared to death hesitant to take both kids by myself, but there was no way we could tell Mary Grace that we weren't going and Brent was way too sick to consider it.

 Miller's 1st Visit

 LOVED seeing Main Street all decorated for Christmas!

 So we arrived early, but not THAT early (over an hour behind schedule.) Look how empty the park is!!! It was A.MA.ZING!

 We headed straight for the new section of Fantasyland and the Under The Sea ride. It was so cool and probably my new favorite ride!

 Mary Grace and Miller both loved it!

My biggest struggle of the day was taking pictures. It was hard to hold onto Miller and aim the camera!

 We were able to walk on to pretty much every ride in Fantasyland. I don't think I've ever been there when the park was that empty!

 Mary Grace has always said her favorite ride is Dumbo. Since it had been a while since we'd been to Magic Kingdom, I wondered if it would live up to her expectations. It did! Both kids really enjoyed it and we ended up riding this a lot.

Ever the competitor, we rode with our elephant at max height the whole time. Mary Grace kept looking around saying 'do you think we're the highest?' and 'I think ours is going the fastest!'

It was literally all she was worried about the WHOLE time- EVERY time we rode!

 Since meeting Mickey didn't go so well on the cruise, I wanted to attempt it again. I'm not sure why I was so surprised with the result. This was really the only picture that really mattered to me. I'm not sure why I get my expectations up so high- it NEVER works out the way I plan!

 Mary Grace kept trying to talk to Mickey. I think because the princesses talk she was really confused when Mickey stayed silent. I had to pretty much drag her away from him!

 Train Ride

 Miller fell asleep so we just circled the park a few times!

 Still sleeping!

 I finally woke Miller up so we could do all of the rides in Adventureland.

 After a couple rides in Adventureland we took a snack break. At this point I had to force Mary Grace to change out of her long sleeve shirt. She LOVED the shirt- she probably got a million compliments on it and was eating up all of the attention. She easily could have started the day sleeveless (I did), but I had to get at least a few pictures in the shirts I'd had made. Who knew it would be 85 degrees in December!

 Brent decided he felt up to coming over to the park. He really wanted to be a part of the day, plus we were struggling a tiny bit with the ride situation. Mary Grace's favorite rides (other than Dumbo) are 2 roller coasters- Thunder Mountain and the Barnstormer. She wasn't old enough to ride alone- although she said she would, and Miller wasn't big enough to go.

Mary Grace had a major meltdown early in the day which led to several Disney employees trying to figure out how to help her ride. They called the main Disney office to request special permission to let her ride with a Disney employee. Unfortunately (but completely understandably), they couldn't do it. It was SO nice of them to try. Brent solved our problem! He came and sat with Miller while I rode the roller coasters with Mary Grace.

So we started over back at the beginning-

 Documenting that we're actually a family of 4!

(since Brent and I ended up in separate rooms he had no idea what I wore- unlike past years, I didn't actually plan the adult outfits because I wasn't sure about weather. Anyway, I about died when he showed up wearing an exact matching outfit to me!)

 Someone was SO happy to have her Daddy!

 Beautifully decorated for Christmas!

I was dreading taking the kids to the park by myself.

Just getting there was almost enough to make me want to turn around- I had to get all our stuff out of the stroller, get Miller out, and fold up the stroller. Then somehow carry all our stuff, Miller, the stroller and keep a hand on Mary Grace while boarding a bus. Hold all of that throughout the ride, and then exit the same way. And set it all back up. It was exhausting and we weren't even in the park. I prayed- A LOT- that I could handle it and not ruin the kid's day.

But I have to say- people were AMAZING! I have never had so many people offer to help me! They carried my stuff, held my stroller, set the stroller up for me, offered to take pictures, etc. It was truly a blessing! I even had a Disney employee take off their name badge and hold Miller for me (apparently that is a big no-no) so I could go to the bathroom!

And the kids were on their best behavior too. Mary Grace was probably better than she's ever been in her life. And Miller was very chill too. It really helped that there were no lines- Miller is hard to hold for hours on end and I would have struggled to do it by myself!

It wasn't a perfect day...but it was pretty close!