My 27th Birthday Celebration at the Magic Kingdom

Our trip to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom was a blast! It was not only Shaylee's first trip to Disney World but also her first night in a hotel (we stayed in a beach house when we went to the Keys) so the drive up to Orlando, we got her pumped about being able to sleep in "Mickey's room." We stayed at the Disney All Star Movies resort which is the less expensive of the various Disney resorts in the area. The themes for the hotel are that of 101 Dalmatians, Fantasia, The Mighty Ducks, Toy Story and our building which was The Love Bug. The room consist of two double beds which we were able to order bed guard rails for Shaylee's safety. When we first got to the hotel, Shaylee was already asleep but quickly was awaken and very much excited at the sight of the decorated buildings. Our long drive put our dinner time around 11:30 at night, way past Shaylee's bedtime. We ordered cheap delivery pizza and wings and it was TERRIBLE! I think between the indigestion from the horrible pizza, the excitement of the following day's events, and the unfamiliar feel of the hotel room beds, we finally feel asleep around 1 am.

Our next morning, (MY BIRTHDAY!) started off quite early. We woke around 6 am and were out the door and on our way to the Polynesian Resort outside the Magic Kingdom for our character breakfast reservations. Our breakfast started off with Nils and I getting lei and the three of us getting our photo taken by the photographer in front of their Polynesian themed backdrop. Let me just say that the Polynesian Resort's 'Ohana restaurant's passion fruit orange guava juice was AMAZING as were their famous Mickey Waffles. I think between Nils and I we drank about 6 glasses of the juice and downed about the same number of Mickey Waffles. Then the real excitement begun as the characters- Stitch, Lilo, Mickey and Pluto begun making their rounds, table side, to visit and get photos taken with each of the guest. Shaylee of course was excited, but it was the sight of Mickey that really got her worked up. With her little hands in fists, she shook with excitement as she squealed "Mickey! Mickey! I see Mickey! I so 'sighted!" (As in "I am so 'sighted!" for those who don't speak Shay-la-nese, LOL! Needless to say, she didn't eat much breakfast after the characters came around. What was really surprising was how she responded to Lilo. She has never seen the Disney movie "Lilo and Stitch" but she loved Lilo. She hugged on her, and kissed her, and hugged her some more. It was adorable! I was even given a cupcake with Mickey shaped sprinkles and a little umbrella in celebration of my special day.

After the characters came around, the 'Ohana restaurant had a family parade for the children and those celebrating something. Since it was my birthday, we were given maracas to shake while we followed Mickey, Pluto, Stitch, and Lilo in a conga line around the restaurant while the other guest waved. In case you were wondering, 'Ohana means "family" and this place really knew how to cater to families. The food was awesome even for the pickiest little taste buds (Mickey Waffles!) and they really made the whole experience worth every penny.

Since we were staying at a Disney resort, we were given the opportunity to take the free monorail to the Magic Kingdom rather than drive and pay for parking. So Shaylee got to ride her first monorail too.
Sorry it's taken so long to post! There was a lot to write about!

When we got to the Magic Kingdom, I was actually shaking with excitement myself! I could not wait to get thru the security and begin having fun with my family! When our backpack and snack tote where inspected, we headed into the park and Shaylee got to see first hand the famous Cinderella castle I had pointed out in every Disney movie we have watched for the past months while exclaiming "We are going there!" She recognized it! The park was very much how I remembered it on my last visit which was Grad Night my senior year of high school (the year 2000). This time they had bubble blowing machines on top of all the trashcans. Genius! Not only did they provide entertainment for the guest but probably kept the bees from buzzing around the trash to a minimum.

Our first ride was Dumbo the Flying Elephant of course. It turned out to be our longest line we had to wait in, but we didn't know that until the end of the day of course. Shaylee had a mini meltdown in the line which I think was due to over stimulation and excitement and inexperience of how the whole waiting-in-line-for-our-turn deal worked. She soon calmed down when it was finally time for us to board our flying elephant and I still have no idea how we squeezed our booties in that little elephant! But we did and Shaylee, never having been on any ride other than the boring little quarter horses in shopping malls, got to fly way up high on a real ride.

Shaylee has proven to be one brave girl. She rode Goofy's Barnstormer roller coaster, not once, but twice and LOVED it! It was not only her first real roller coaster but I think it was her favorite ride of all, although most conversation turns back to the "scary" rides she rode such as Snow White's Scary Adventures (formally know as Mr Toad's Wild Ride), The Haunted Mansion, and The Pirates of the Caribbean since they were all in the dark. When she got scared she would snuggle tighter into me so I would tell her to just cover her eyes, that it's just a ride- just decorations like at Halloween. So she would close her eyes, cover them with her hand, and turn her face into me. Then at the end she would exclaim "See? I told you I not scared!" Too cute!

Shaylee experienced a lot of "firsts" including her first lollipop. Normally when the bank or check cashing place offered her one, I would politely thank them then ditch it in the depths of my purse, always too fearful of her choking on it to give it to her. So after Shaylee fell asleep in the afternoon while riding the train around the park a few times (we tried to keep to her normal schedule as much as possible), Nils and I had some quite time to pick up a cup of coffee and do some shopping. And we both knew exactly what to get Shaylee- her first lollipop to enjoy during the parade. So we picked one that was as big as her head. LOL! Kinda hard to choke on something that is that big! I also was sung Happy Birthday by an entire shop which turned my face bright red. I was asking for it I guess since I was wearing a button that said it was my birthday that the hotel gave me upon check in. Nils got one that said he was celebrating and Shaylee got one that said it was her first visit so it was really cute.

Shaylee woke just in time for the parade, and we had AWESOME seats. We sat curbside about 45 minutes before the parade begun, just people watching and enjoying the breeze.
The parade was really cute. Shaylee waved to all the characters on the floats while slurping on her lollipop. I grimaced a couple times when I looked over at her- she has rainbow covered sticky stuff all over her mouth and cheeks and had some of her hair stuck to her cheeks. Mmm, that was gonna be fun to clean up, but she was having such a good time! I didn't really care how messy she got!

While we were there we rode lots of rides, snacked on crackers and cheese I brought from home lakeside with a fabulous view of the castle, and met up with a rep from Disney Vacation Club who offered us three $15 gift cards and free ice cream if we attended one of their tours (more on this later) and ended our night (again with perfect seats) for the ever famous fireworks display. This year they even had a woman dressed as Tinker Bell take flight from the castle to Tomorrowland (via cable of course). I teared up a little as we exited the park, on our way to a crowded monorail. The day had been so perfect and we all had so much fun. Our legs and feet were killing us from all the walking but it was SO worth it. I can't wait till we go again!