Warm Feelings

Sunday morning, all I had to do was say, "Gingerbread House!" and the kids practically leapt into their clothes and skipped down the village for breakfast. Waffles with strawberries and whipped cream? Ok, this isn't much healthier than the ice cream for breakfast I have already promised myself later in the week.


We stopped by the snoring tree again. Eve still cannot wake Ol' Elmer up. She is mildly perplexed but mostly scared of this wooden snoring behemoth.

To the Castle of Miracles!
Eve received a gold star from the Star Fairy that she could write her name on and then leave in the magic box in the castle. The Star Fairy comes every night and empties the box and then hangs the star up on the ceiling where they will stay forever. The tooth fairy could never pull something like that off. That'd just be gross.
Here is Eve coloring everything BUT the star. With a Sharpie.
Afterward, we boarded the shuttle and I was more than a little pumped that Harry Potter was on. Because I totally have plans to take the kids to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal. And I also don't believe in writing in just one tense. Anyway, Harry Potter is nice but what's even nicer is pulling up to Magic Kingdom at Disney World with a three-, four-, and five-year-old.
As soon as we entered, we showed Eve's magic button from Give Kids the World and got our free stroller. Although I would have gladly paid whatever they were asking. I love pushing strollers through crowds of people. If they ever decide to close down the Indiana Jones Stunt Show at Hollywood Studios, I'm so going to start a single mommy-double stroller stunt spectacular.
And when I say crowds of people, I mean like two hundred...thousand. Apparently the day after New Years is pretty high in attendance. But, that's no matter for the Griffith family. We come wearing the magic pass with the green stamp. Yes, if you were at Magic Kingdom on January 2nd and saw five perfectly able bodied people come in through the wheelchair entrance to cut ahead of you to the very front of the line, you know, that line that hasn't moved two feet in the past ninety minutes, well...our kid had cancer and you can suck it. Stop looking at us like that. We had the green stamp!
The first thing we did was stop and watch a show that was perfectly timed to our arrival. All the princesses came out dancing and singing their own theme songs. And I think the backup dancers could have easily been dancing to Copacabana. There was some definite early 80s cheesy going on in the music and costume departments. But it's cool, because I like feeling like I'm on a Carnival cruise ship when I'm not on an actual Carnival cruise ship.
Have you ever seen anyone so excited to ride a carousel?
This is a special carousel. Matt and I do not get sick. Disney is magic.

Daniel thinks this one might be one step up from the carousel at the shopping mall.

Dumbo is next to the carousel, so guess where we went next? You got it- Snow White's Scary Adventures. Which multiple guidebooks have warned that the ride is too scary for the audience it was designed for. Which only makes me want to take my kids on it all the more.

Daniel was most disappointed he had to get out of the car and couldn't ride it again over and over for the rest of the day. My kids find Corpse Bride charming; it's going to be a challenge to find something that is going to scare them.

Dumbo was up next. We again broke up into boys and girls. I am happy to report that I survived the catfight that ensued over which girl was going to fly the elephant.

I love the Peter Pan ride. I last rode it in high school when I was probably much too big to ride, but somehow felt just the right size when accompanied by three kids. And try as she might, Natalie could not fall out of the flying boat no matter how many body parts she offered to the wind.

Right across from Peter Pan is It's a Small World. You have to really like that song to wait in line for two hours for all the creepy dolls to sing it to you in many different languages. And I mean creepy in a really nice way. Like, if Chucky had a heart.

We walked right in and realized we were on the ride longer than we had spent in line on all of the rides combined so far. There's no way we can ever go back to Disney after this trip.

The green stamp also lets you get in and sit down at a restaurant without buying food, which apparently was a big deal according to the girl working at Pinocchio's Haus [of awesome chicken tenders]. So many magical wonders, this green stamp. I wonder if it gets you into the bathroom faster, too?

After lunch, we went to the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh but the short line for the green stamp people was still a ten minute wait and for some reason we felt we couldn't wait that long, so we headed to Mickey's Toon Town to ride Goofy's Barnstormer.

Eve rode it the first time. Not the biggest fan. She jumped off as soon as it ended but Nat and Dan stayed on for a second ride and would have happily riden it for the remainder of the day. Me, on the other hand, more than happy to ride it just the once, as I was happy to eat my chicken tenders just the once.

Nat loved it so much, she told us she needed to use the restroom afterward. "It was so awesome and scary that I almost peed myself!" That's kinda how I feel about Alice Cooper.

The kids were disappointed to find everything in Mickey's Country House was secured down, like a hotel room. Why doesn't anything move? One guess, kids. And I'll give you a hint: the answer is you.

The kids had been dying to go to the Haunted Mansion ever since they saw the pic of a ghost in the guidebook. Nat even moved over to make space between us, so the hitchhiking ghost would have a place to sit. No wonder Dan thought they should rename Snow White's Scary Adventures to Snow White's Kind-of Spooky Adventures.

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin proved to have some rather rude camels who would spit at you while you were innocently trying to avoid getting injured in a catfight over who was going to fly the carpet.

Next was the Pirates of the Caribbean. I have to say that this ride is more awesomer now that Jack Sparrow is in it. Johnny Depp rocks my pirate ship. But it is pure evil on Disney's behalf to make you walk through a big-ass souvenir shop to exit the ride.

It wasn't until we were on the Jungle Cruise that I realized we had taken Natalie and Daniel to the bathroom multiple times but had completely forgotten to change Eve's pull-up. (Eh, I'm taking a break from potty-training.) After we passed under Schweizter Falls (named for the famous Dr. Albert...Falls), I felt my lap get warm and progressively wetter. Damn, the green stamp does not stop your kid from peeing on you. Luckily for Eve, I brought the children a change of clothes. Unluckily for me, I did not have the foresight to bring any for myself.

We ventured back over to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and decided to ride since we could now walk on. (How entitled we became over the course of a few hours! "10 minute wait?? This is bull.") Again, another ride to exit through a gift shop. I tried telling Eve that you can't touch the stuffed Tiggers just like you can't touch Mart Brent, or else they lose their magic.

Philharmagic was probably my favorite attraction of the day. Not that I like things flying at my face normally, but when done with the right soundtrack, it's pretty cool. Eve watched more than half of it without her 3D glasses, because she's not down with things flying at her face no matter which princess is singing to her.

Our last ride of the day was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. This was the first ride that I got to sit with Daniel and Matt got the girls. This was Daniel's favorite ride, but I'm not sure if it's because it was really his favorite ride or because it was the last thing in his memory. I do know that he was disappointed that "everyone" got a "goody bag" as they left the ride (through the damn gift shop!). But Daniel, not everyone got one; I didn't get one. "Mommy, I mean cool people and people who AREN'T in my family!"

When Dan says I'm not cool enough, it means he's tired and needs to go home. There is no other explanation for why I'm not cool enough.

Eve spots a nice sight on our way out.

I bet Cinderella thinks I'm cool. I know I'm cool.

Ooh, I also know I'm tired. Check out the bags and bloodshot eyes.

And against Matt's protests, we make it through the day without Eve taking an afternoon nap. There's always my shoulder, which was going numb by the minute, to rest on at night on the way home.

Back at our villa, the Gift Fairy had left us three Mayor Clayton dolls and a Give Kids the World Candy Land game. Luckily I didn't actually pack twenty bags, so I will have room to haul back all this booty without going over the limit.

We walked to Katie's Kitchen, which serves Boston Market, to order dinner. It would be delivered in about twenty minutes, so we had plenty of time to walk to the ice cream palace to pick up milkshakes to go with the meatloaf. (Some people resolve to lose weight in the new year. I am resolving to find it.) Wait, why is my arm getting warm?

Dammit. Gotta stop forgetting about those pull-ups.