Anyhoo, Monday was our second Magic Kingdom day, and it was a good bit different from the first, primarily due to the crowd size. Apparently the crowds on Sundays are notoriously small since it's a travel day, so we had been spoiled without realizing it. Well, Monday was insane. Even the crappy rides (e.g., Peter Pan) that we walked right onto on Sunday had long waits.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. The day started fine, with us sleeping in a little bit and having breakfast in the room. I'm telling you, getting the villa with the kitchen is key - we can do breakfast and snacks in the room with no problems.
By the time we got to the Magic Kingdom, it was probably 10:30 or so, and we had plans to meet family (Kati & Chris; Justin, Mindy, and Landon; and Chrissy) for lunch at Tony's, an Italian restaurant on Main Street at 11:45. That left us just enough time to ride one ride in the crowded park, and we did the Aladdin magic carpet ride, which was just like Dumbo. The girls really liked that, especially Reagan.
By the time we had our nice lunch, the lines for everything were insane. We ended up doing Pirates of the Caribbean, which took close to an hour. Reagan was scared by the darkness and the cannons, and so was Amanda. The little drop in the ride scared Amanda a little, but she later said that was her favorite part. Right after we left Pirates, Amanda said, "I don't want to ride any more boy rides!"
So off to the Tomorrowland Speedway we went to race cars! Amanda and I did the speedway while Susan and Reagan rode the Peoplemover. I let Amanda steer, which was hilarious. Right after we left the loading area, she takes her hands off the wheel looks up, points to another ride and squeals, "Daddy, look at THAT ride!" The result was that the car slammed into the little guide rail, throwing us both hard to the side. The rest of the little track was much of the same, but Amanda liked it. Even though it was arguably a "boy ride." [insert obligatory women drivers joke here]
After the speedway, we headed back to the hotel for a rest break, since we wanted to come back that night for the Main Street Electrical Parade and fireworks. When we got back to the Magic Kingdom, we wanted to have dinner, but the park had gotten even MORE crowded in anticipation of the parade. Robert and I waited forever to get hot dogs and fries, then we fought the giant crowds to get to where the wives and kids were. We were all pretty frazzled, and the meal was less than satisfying. Oh, well. The electrical parade was just fantastic, and we ended up watching at a really good spot. Amanda was mesmerized. The fireworks were also impressive, but I was actually more impressed with the effects they projected onto Cinderella's Castle. It's hard to explain, but whatever they did with the lights and the colors made the castle look like it was alive. Well worth seeing, in my opinion.
Okay, so after a good night's sleep, we got up Tuesday expecting it to be raining. It wasn't, so we headed to the Animal Kingdom as planned. I wasn't sure what to expect, but like most other Disney projects, it was really well done. We started with the African safari, and it was great. Unlike at a zoo, there was really nothing between us and the animals. Our truck even had to wait for a couple of rhinos who were butting heads to get out of the way before we could move forward. Amanda seemed to enjoy it. Reagan looked and pointed at the animals, so I guess she did too!
The walking tour through Asia's animals was also really cool, especially the tigers. I feel like at every zoo I've ever been to, the tigers are either hiding or sleeping or both. These tigers were walking around, jumping on things, scratching a log, etc. it was great. Reagan really liked them!
Susan wanted to ride the Kali River Rapids, but neither Amanda nor I did, so I watched the girls for a few minutes while she did that. Then, when we met back up with the Luskins, Amanda suddenly wanted to ride the rapids since Jackson wanted to. While Christi and I kept the babies, the others rode the ride and got absolutely drenched. But I'm impressed that Amanda was willing to do that. She's getting braver and braver, which is great to see.
Christi and Robert were then kind enough to watch the girls so Susan and I could ride Expedition Everest, the big roller coaster in the Animal Kingdom. Apparently the girls never even knew we were gone. The coaster was really good. I had forgotten how fun real roller coasters could be.
After some face paint and carnival games (I beat Amanda at whac-a-mole 150 to 30) it was time to head back to the hotel since Amanda and Jackson had to get ready for Mickey's Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom. Susan took her to that, so I don't Know much about that, except it rained. Also, the parade was good, Jafar got in Amanda's face and said "boo!", they got some candy, yadda yadda yadda.
The real action was back in the hotel room, where I was struggling with Reagan. After two-plus days of doing great despite the weird (or non-existent) schedules, she melted down for me right after Susan and Amanda left for the Halloween party. Nothing would console her - not food, not a bath, not toys, not hugs. It was a rough 45 minutes, but I finally decided to just put her to bed. That did the trick, and she slept for about 14 hours.
Wednesday was EPCOT day, but you'll have to read about that tomorrow. Or maybe Friday.
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