DISNEYWORLD!

We decided to go to the Magic Kingdom yesterday. We told Lucy on Tuesday night that we had a huge surprise for her in the morning, but she had to go to sleep to find out what it was. She couldn't wait to go to bed. It seems so backwards to me, most kids can't sleep when there's a huge surprise on the horizon, but not our little girl who races to bed. We told her yesterday morning and she was beyond thrilled. She ran in to tell Gus, "Weuh (we're) going to DISNEYWOOD!" He yelled "YEAH!" He had no idea why he was excited, but he wanted to share in Lucy's excitement.

We got into the Magic Kingdom somewhere around 10. We watched the end of the show in front of the castle, the kids were in awe, Gus especially. The lines were relatively short. We went on Haunted Mansion, Pooh Pots, Dumbo, the Carousel, Peter Pan, it's a small world, and Pirates of the Caribbean all before lunch at 1. We got stuck for 10 minutes on the boat in the middle of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Dave and I have not had good luck with boats this week! The kids were really patient. I just kept giving them Altoids and they kept quiet.

We had lunch at the Crystal Palace with Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, and Tigger. In the middle of lunch my camera went nuts and started shaking uncontrollably. Dave took some pictures with his phone. Of course, right after lunch it was fine. Anyway, Lucy loved the characters, as expected. Gus was a bit apprehensive. He loved them from a distance, but went they got close he panicked. Tigger was amazing and was super patient with Gus, and by the end of the visit Gus wasn't afraid to touch him. After lunch we planned to go back to the van so the kids could take naps. By the time we got off the monorail both kids were asleep in the stroller, so we walked the rest of the way to the car instead of taking the tram.

We went back to the park around 5, after naps. We took the ferry over from the transportation center. We've never done that before, it was kind of neat. I got to get my hot dog and fries from Casey's. I don't typically like hot dogs, but there's something about the hot dogs from Casey's that I love. I really think it's all the condiments and the cheese sauce for the fries. We got sucked into watching the show in front of the castle, AGAIN. No joke, it was probably the fourth time we went past it, but this time, we passed by right when it was starting.

Gus LOVES Donald Duck. Throughout the entire day, he would spot Donald, bounce up in his stroller, and point saying "Don Duh! Don Duh!" We went through Minnie's House and then Dave and Lucy went on Goofy's Barnstormer (the kiddie roller coaster). Meanwhile, Gus and I walked around. He saw hats and went nuts and kept saying, "HAT! HAT! HAT!" The two of us looked around for a hat with Donald Duck that would fit him and couldn't find a single one. I told him he needed to ask his Daddy for a hat when he got back. So as soon as Dave and Lucy came down the ramp from the ride, Gus yelled, "Daddy! HAT!" and all the while he was patting the top of his head as hard as could! Hilarious. So we started searching for a hat for Gus. We went into every gift shop from Toon Town to Main Street looking for a hat. Neither of us wanted to get him a tacky hat that would would look completely out of place anywhere other than Disney. We couldn't find a hat. After the last store, Gus started crying as we pushed him out without a hat, screaming, "HAT!" over and over again. Then he put his pacifier on his head while he was screaming about a hat. So pathetic.

After the hat debacle we went on the Jungle Cruise and then to the Laugh Floor and the Buzz Lightyear ride. So much fun! We all had such a great time. We didn't get back to Daytona until midnight. It was a long, amazing day.