Tuesday was Magic Kingdom Day, and it was awesome!  We did have a bit of a panic before we left, however, because Arthur had brought a Mickey ring his teacher gave to him, and he had been planning for weeks to wear it on the day we went to the Magic Kingdom (along with his Mickey shirt).  Well, the night before and the morning of, we could not find the ring anywhere.  Poor Arthur was a wreck, but we told him that we would try and find a replacement at the park, which finally calmed him down.  In spite of the rough start, it was a fabulous day.

When we arrived at the castle and waited for the rope drop, Lily had so many memories come back to her of the last time we were there, when she was six.  I loved listening to her remember things.  And I loved listen to her and Derek laugh at the silly jokes the cast member at the rope kept telling them.

Our first stop was Space Mountain, which is one of my favorite rides.  I even got to sit in the very front car, and Arthur got to ride it and he loved it.  Actually, he got to ride every ride, because he was tall enough for them.  We also had to get in a run at Buzz Light Year while we were right next door.

As we were walking through Fantasy Land, we saw the sword in the stone, so we had to get pictures.  I mean, King Arthur is Arthur’s name sake ;).  And Derek had to recreate a picture we took of him when he was three.  Good times.

After going on Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, and Pirates of the Caribbean, we found ourselves at the Dole Whip stand.  Wahoo!!  They are so good!  They even had a raspberry pineapple swirl version that was to die for.  And the best part, was that Arthur was the only one of our kids who likes pineapple, and so we didn’t have to share with Lily and Derek – ha ha! We even had them try it, and they are both crazy.  Oh well, more for us.

Throughout the rest of the day, we made our way through lots of other great rides and activities, the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, Mickey’s Philharmagic, Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train, the Haunted Mansion, Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor (where Arthur got to talk to the monsters and where Lily’s joke got told during the performance), etc.

One super fun thing was a cute street performance of “The Muppets: Great Moments in History.” It almost got rained out by a crazy cloudburst, but it cleared just in time.  It was so funny and we loved it.

And no trip to Magic Kingdom would be complete without a trip to Small World.  Lily got a kick out of Don Quixote, since she read the book in Spanish. I was amazed at how much Arthur loved it.  In fact, as soon as we finished it, he turned to me and asked if we could ride it again.  Ha ha!

The crowds were light enough that we were able to go on a lot of rides just because, like Cinderella’s Carousel.  Derek even found Cinderella’s horse and rode it.  Good times!

There was a whole new area in the park from the last time we were there, although it had been ten years, so that was understandable.  The new part had castles from some of the princesses, like Ariel, and there was a cute ride inside.  I rode it with my boys, and Lily rode it with her daddy.

The coolest thing, was Story Time with Belle.  Any of the kids that wanted to participate could play a part, and Derek got chosen to be the Beast.  Once everyone had their parts, we moved to the library, where Belle came in and joined us.  Then everyone, along with Belle, acted out the story.  It was so cute!

And Derek did and awesome job as the Beast, and he got to dance with Belle.  It was the sweetest thing, and totally reminded me of when Derek was three and kissed Cinderella at our character dinner.

After the show was over, each kid in the room got to pose for a picture with Belle.  It was such a cool experience!

And since it was Arthur’s first time at Disney World, we had to go on Dumbo.  Arthur wanted to ride it with Derek, and they were all settled in the Dumbo behind us, but once we were in the air, I turned around and saw that Derek was alone!  Then I noticed that he was with Kevin. I guess that right before take-off, the cast member decided that Derek was too young to be with Arthur, and had him move to Kevin’s Dumbo.  Nice.  

After Dumbo, we rode on Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train again.  Then we finally got to ride some of our classic favorites – Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh – so sweet and simple, but so fun.

And of course, we had to get some special treats.  We all got to pick out something special, and I picked a Mickey cake pop, because how can you go to Disney and not eat something Mickey shaped?  And it was delicious.

It was such a great day!

Just as we were finishing up for the day, hoards of people were arriving.  They were coming for the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, all in costume and flooding the park.  Thank goodness we were heading out and not in.  We decided to ride the ferry back to the parking lot, and after watching a full load of people get off the boat, we were pleasantly surprised to have the ferry to ourselves.

We had dinner at our condo, but I was so tired I could barely move.  And my feet hurt so badly.  I crawled into bed and hung out there for a while.  Meanwhile, Kevin was out getting his oil changed and Lily was on the balcony doing her homework.

Since Lily and Kevin were busy, and the boys still miraculously had energy, I put on my swim suit and took the boys down to the other pool.  This pool had a pirate ship and a bunch of little water slides.  They ran around, had a blast, and I got to sit on a chaise lounge and relax in the warm Florida night. It was a perfect way to end the day.