Just like last year, we drove up the day before our visit. Our plan was to spend the night so that we could be at the park first thing in the morning before the crowds got really bad. We met up with our wonderful friend Jane, her family, and some other friends to help celebrate Jane's birthday. Our hotel was right across the street from the park, so we got to see the fireworks right before bed.
The next morning, we got to the park bright and early. It was kind of a cold and cloudy day, but that didn't dampen our spirits. We rode on many of the same rides that we had seen last year: Dumbo, the carousel, It's a Small World, the cars, the train, the jungle cruise, and of course the Winnie the Pooh ride.
It's so fun to see what a difference a year makes. Last year, Jack was so freaked out by the flying carpets in the Small World ride. This year, he was just fascinated by them. Of course, it cuts both ways, though. Last year, he liked - or at least was indifferent to - the jungle cruise. This time he started protesting getting on the boat right as we were about to board. We insisted that he get on the boat since we had just stood in the line, and he complained and sulked the entire ride.
We also checked out some different attractions from last year, including the Buzz Lightyear ride, the Tarzan and the Chip and Dale treehouses, the Casey Junior railroad, and the monorail. Jack also insisted that we go on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, which I was concerned would be too scary for him. There is a part of the ride where they go to hell(!), and I thought that definitely would be too intense for him. Violet and I went in one car, and Jack and Tom went in another. I basically spent the entire time covering Violet's ears. Those rides are LOUD. Tom said that Jack was a little scared during the ride, but overall he did great.
One ride that definitely was too scary for him was Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin in Mickey's Toon Town. I sort of assumed that it was just going to be like bumper cars, and the line looked pretty short, so we decided to try it out. Turns out that, first of all, the line is deceptively long. It zigs and zags all around in the back where you can't see it from the outside. At 30 minutes, this was by far the longest line of the day. Secondly, it was really scary for Jack. Apparently, it was also really bumpy and twisty. I say "apparently" because I wasn't actually able to go on it, because they have this rule that they don't allow sleeping babies on the ride. They have to be awake and sitting on the seat. Violet was asleep, and there was no way I was going to wake her up for a ride that she wasn't going to be able to appreciate anyway. They were going to let me take advantage of the passenger swap, which says that two people accompanying a small child can wait in line together and take turns on the rides so that one adult can stay with the little one. This would have allowed Jack to go on the ride twice. (We were able to take advantage of this rule on the cars.) But Tom said that as he was going through it, he started wailing, "I don't want to go on this again!" And "Where's Mommy?!?" Needless to say, we forewent the second ride.
Speaking of Violet, she slept almost the entire time we were there. She fell asleep as we were walking into the park at 9:00 AM and didn't really wake up until about 3:30 in the afternoon. She would wake a little to nurse and then go right back to sleep. The only problem was that she really didn't want to be in the stroller or in the infant carrier for very long. She wanted me to hold her in my arms. Thankfully, she's not that heavy, but it was still quite a workout to walk around all day carrying a nine-pound baby. My back and arms are still sore. She only woke up once we stopped moving to get something to eat and things were relatively quiet. I've said that she's going to be able to sleep through a hurricane, but there's a part of me that thinks that she needs a hurricane to sleep. I think she's so used to all the noise of having a rambunctious big brother that it startles her when things are quiet.
Unfortunately, Jack wasn't on his best behavior that day. We had borrowed a double stroller from a friend, and there was a little too much time spent discussing proper stroller behavior. He wouldn't get in when we wanted him to, wouldn't get out when we wanted him to, would want to get in when we didn't want him to, and always insisted on sitting the wrong way so that he could poke and yell at his sister. There were also a few too many tantrums when big boy words in a big boy tone of voice would have done quite nicely. We ended up having to make good on a threat to not buy him "something fun" because he was being so naughty. I'm sure he doesn't understand that it's as much of a bummer for us as it is for him when we have to punish him. Sometimes it's even worse for us, because we know what he and we are missing when we have to deny him fun things - and we're going to remember it for longer.
The highlight of the day, for me at least, was meeting Winnie the Pooh and his friends. We were the first ones in line to meet them, and Jack just stood there and hugged Pooh for several minutes. He had the biggest, sweetest smile on his face the entire time. It was so sweet to see. We also met Eeyore and Tigger. Then later in the afternoon, Jack said that he wanted to see Pooh again. So we waited in line again, and this time Rabbit was also there. Jack loves Rabbit, and I got several great pictures of him being just enveloped in his arms. By this time, Violet had woken up, so we got a few cute shots of her too. She was wearing a little Pooh beanie, and Jack was wearing his Pooh shirt. I think they could tell that we are fans.
We ended the day with a parade, and Jack had fun dancing along and participating in a little conga line. Then we headed out for some bread pudding that Tom had been craving since he saw it the night before. Jack and Violet both fell asleep at the restaurant, and we headed home after a long but fun day.
1 comment:
Super cute pictures!
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