This will be called the day when my family could have ganged up on me, strangled me, and strung me up by my toes to dangle from the highest point of Cinderella’s Castle!
We are awake at about 5 AM, hoping to be on the road no later than 6:15 so we can get to the Magic Kingdom in time for the Christmas parade taping. We end up on the road at about 6:30, and we are just arriving at the entrance to the Kingdom at about 7:05. They are letting in groups of about 50 at a time, but we are pretty much the end of the group, so I think our group may be the last one let in.
They have us standing on Main Street for a while, and then after a good hour, they tell us that we will be moving down towards the castle foreground. We are ushered down Main Street, packed in like sardines in a tin can, uncomfortable from standing so long, and now it is beginning to get hot and the kids are starting to get crabby.
After another hour, and seeing nothing but the warm up act telling us how much we will all love the show, we will enjoy being on TV, and reading us the rules (no strollers, no kids on shoulders, no logo shirts, etc), my kids are completely done with the whole parade thing. Granuaile refuses to stand, sit or be held – she’s just completely done, and tired to boot. I tell Jim I have to make my way out of the pack with the baby – there is no way she can wait for anything to go on, and we are hearing rumors that this could go on until 3 o’clock or later. I make my way out of the crowd, and hear several cast members making comments about this being way too hard for people with kids to do. I find our stroller, with Jim tagging behind, and we head over to Tomorrowland, where the rope is still up as the park hasn’t officially opened yet. Pretty soon, the whole clan has made their escape, and we head right over to Buzz Lightyear. Most everything is pretty much a walk on at this stage of the game, and that’s good. This is the first day without rain, and it’s warming up already.
Eilis is really, really enjoying Aunt Mary and Uncle Ted. She has taken right to them and is excited about spending time with them. Jim convinces Brighid and I that we should ride Space Mountain, and like idiots, we all get in line, only to have him step out of line to take a phone call. He never comes back 🙁
I am amazed that I can fit on Space Mountain, but I still am not a fan of roller coasters – especially the ones in the dark. But, I’m glad I rode it 🙂
We do a few other things, and about lunch time, Ann and I take a now sleeping Granuaile over to a restaurant to get something to eat while the rest of the gang goes to Big Thunder Mountain. We have a nice lunch, and the rest of the gang meets us in the restaurant, where they finish up all of the leftovers. We then decide to head over to Pirates of the Caribbean, which does have a bit of a wait. The baby is still sleeping, so I sit out with her, and I get to enjoy the Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Tutorial show.
By the time the gang is done on POTC, we decide it’s time to head out of the park. We have a long drive ahead of us, so we want to get on the road and get as far as we can before stopping for the night.
We end up pulling in to South Carolina at about 8 o’clock, and decide not to put in a wake up call, but try to get up and out early. We are back on the road by about 6 AM and home by 8.
This was a good trip. Nothing felt rushed, nothing felt like something we had to do. We got to enjoy some of all of the parks, and we had some very nice meals.
The best part of a trip to Disney is knowing we’ll be back again. And we look forward to our January trip.