Magic Kingdom (Take 2)

Instead of going to Animal Kingdom, we decided to spend a second day at Magic Kingdom and let the boys go back and ride or do anything that they really liked the first day we went.  Fletcher really loved riding Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Luke loved the cars, Winnie the Pooh ride, Dumbo, It's A Small World and that People Mover in Tomorrow Land that is the slowest most boring ride on the planet.  But we rode it 3 or 4 times.  Fletcher and Luke both wanted to go back to Tom Sawyer's Island.  On the first day I thought we would skip it all together, but I remember reading that someone said it was a great place for kids to run around and blow off steam.  Plus, it usually wasn't very crowded.  So glad we did it.  Lots of dirt paths in wooded forest type area.  Cave with secret passageway.  Fort with rifle hideouts and an escape hatch that took you to the other side of the island.  Bouncy bridges and a small playset too.  We had to bribe them with food to leave. 

There was a parade in the middle of the day.  Several characters were there that we hadn't seen.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get their autographs because they were too busy dancing and performing, but it was fun to see them. 

Mr. Incredible

Frozone (from The Incredibles)

Donald Duck getting his groove on.

Those guys in stilts were amazing! 

Funny story.  I was headed to get Fast Passes for a ride and I saw Peter Pan, but the boys weren't with me.  I thought I would take his picture and show it to them later.  I wasn't really paying attention to the guy and girl in the picture with Peter Pan. 

When I was coming back from getting Fast Passes, I see a girl walk up to this really tall guy and ask if she can get her picture made with him. I thought I would discretely take a picture of him to see if Kevin knew who he was (he didn't).  Obviously, he is someone famous or at least semi-famous enough for someone to recognize him at Disney.  I thought about posting the pic on Facebook but then I thought that might be a little stalkerish.  Little did I know that I had already taken a picture of him with Peter Pan.  Great....I'm expecting a restraining order any day. So help me out.  Do you know who he is?  Athlete maybe? Rock star? I wish I knew.  

Our plan was to stay at Magic Kingdom and watch the Electric Light Parade at 7 pm and then the Wishes fireworks at 8 pm. 

That was the plan until both of the boys were crying at 5:30 pm.

Both of them.

At The Happiest Place On Earth. 

*sigh*

We commited a parenting error.  We told them they could pick out a souvenir now so we wouldn't be doing it with thousands of other people after the fireworks show.  We knew this was our last Disney day.  Luke picked out a GIANT pirate set that was going to be somewhat cumbersome to lug around for both the parade and the fireworks.  Fletcher couldn't find anything he really liked after numerous suggestions from mom and dad.  We told Luke the cashier would hold his set for him until after the shows.  He wanted it NOW, thank you very much and burst into tears.  Then Fletcher burst into tears because he was going to have to go home without a souvenir.  He said what he really wanted was a Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean) hat that he had seen at the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. 

All the way in the back of the park. 

Completely opposite of where we were. 

Of course that's where it would be.

At that point Kevin and I looked at each other and agreed there was no way we would survive a parade and fireworks with these two and their waterworks.  So we schlepped off to ride the Pirates ride one more time and purchase a ridiculously overpriced Captn Jack hat for Fletcher and a pirate set for Luke.  Sometimes you just have to change your plans and cut your losses.  There will be other years for fireworks and parades.