M-I-C ...

... K-E-Y ... M-O-U-S-E!

We survived our first trip to Walt Disney World.

Wow! It was a week. Fun, Fun, Fun! I was a little stressed out prior to leaving because I hadn't "researched" our trip and I only had 1 character meal reservation planned. Apparently, the general public is no longer allowed to show up at "the happiest place on earth" and have a good time. You must have a guide book, meals planned and reserved and have an autograph book for all characters to sign while you are there. I think it is BS.

I have been to Disney a lot, but haven't been in the last 20 years. A lot has changed, but the basics are still the same. It is a place where everyone, regardless of their actual age, is acting somewhere in the 2-10 year old range. Almost everyone is happy and the kids (all zillion of them) are so excited, it is fun to just watch. I don't think there is a "right" or "wrong" way to do Disney and for us it was just best to let the boys take the lead. Sometimes we had to use bribery (i.e. if we go on the Haunted Mansion, you can have ice cream after), and other times we did the #2 dance (i.e. ride Dumbo, ride the Carousel, ride the Tea Cups and repeat). But over the course of the week we visited Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Magic Kingdom was the clear favorite and #2 would have stayed there all week if he had his say. #1 also liked Epcot, but only because he was tall enough to ride the really big kid rides. Hollywood Studios was a total bust for us. There is a cool Jedi training thing that kids can do next to the Star Wars ride, but since this family is all testosterone and no princesses there was little interest in Beauty and the Beast ... and the other shows were a little over their heads. The Indiana Jones stunt show was cool for seeing things blow up, but they didn't get that it wasn't real ... way more questions than just watching and enjoying. We were there for 5 days and did shorter trips each day ... next time if we are there for 5 days we will take day 3 OFF. Even "the happiest place on earth" can be WAY overstimulating and the kids were cross-eyed and wild and exhausted by the 3rd day.

Here are some of our highlights...