Friday, January 16th

Friday was our first full day of visiting the parks. We had an 8:05am reservation at Crystal Palace. Sounds like a reasonable time for breakfast, right? Well, you have to factor in travel time on the shuttle from the resort to the park. So we decided we would get to the shuttle stop at 7am. We got up at 6am and were almost ready at 6:43am when Kerri knocked on our door. We walked to the shuttle stop and waited and waited and waited in the cold. We got to Magic Kingdom early, but were able to get through security (bag search) and we were the first ones in line for entry into the park.

We heard that the gates would open at 7:50 and I think we were in line by 7:30 or so. The line started forming pretty quickly behind us. 2 men and a 3-year-old girl wearing a Cinderella dress came up and asked if they could get in line in front of us. They gave us some story about how their mother/grandmother was turning 60 and they were surprising her by showing up at the park with her granddaughter. They were having breakfast at Cinderella's castle and wanted to get inside before the parents arrived at the park. I was doubtful about the story, but we let them in line anyway. (I'm just kidding...their story really did seem real and it wasn't a big deal to let them in front of us anyway. But we enjoyed giving them a hard time about the validity of their story.)

Mitchell did not want his picture made, so he wouldn't pose for me in front of Cinderella's castle. But I like this picture of him on the porch of Crystal Palace looking at the castle.

Breakfast at Crystal Palace was really good. Mitchell enjoyed the donut holes and fruit. Some of us sipped on hot chocolate to get warm. I thought the grits were the best (especially compared to the bland grits at The Contemporary). Piglet came out first and was quickly followed by Tigger and Winnie the Pooh. Eeyore never made it to our table. I was a little surprised that Mitchell was willing to have his picture made.



Mitchell and Granddad planned out our strategy for hitting the most popular rides.



We went to Space Mountain first. I decided to ride it even though my memories of riding it before weren't so pleasant. I just remember screaming the whole time. Things haven't changed. I just don't like being in the dark and not knowing what is coming next. Mitchell, however, insisted on sitting in the first seat of our car and he loved every minute of the ride. Since it wasn't very busy yet, he, Dave and Kerri decided to ride it again. Then we got a few Fast Passes for later.

Next we decided to head to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. This was similar to the Toy Story ride at Hollywood Studios. It involved shooting a laser at targets. Of course Mitchell won again.

Mitchell saw the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway and wanted to drive the cars. Even though the line looked long, it went by pretty quickly. It was funny when an older couple passed us and Mitchell couldn't believe that they were driving faster than we were. But he did a pretty good job steering while I was the one to keep us going.

After lunch at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe, we headed to Fantasyland for Peter Pan's Flight and Mickey's PhillharMagic. Once again, Mitchell loved the 3-D show and kept reaching out for the characters.

We got on the train in Mickey's Toontown Fair and rode for a little while so we could rest. We got Fast Passes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

I might have the order of rides wrong...I'm sure my family will correct me if I'm wrong though. I think it was at this point that we went to the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor show. And at some point, Kerri, Mitchell, Granddad and Dave rode Space Mountain again.

We also rode the monorail at some point. And Mitchell and I were lucky enough to get to ride in the front car with the driver. Of course he wouldn't pose for a picture for me.

The last ride was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I didn't ride this roller coaster, but Granddad said Mitchell had his hands in the air for the entire ride. We decided to head back to the resort in hopes that Mitchell would take a nap. Surely he had to be as tired as we were, right? Wrong. He didn't nap at all.

We headed back to Magic Kingdom for dinner. We had reservations at The Plaza Restaurant, but we ended up eating at Tony's Town Square Restaurant instead. While we were waiting, I took Mitchell into the gift shop to find some postcards for his friends. However, he was quickly and easily distracted by a Matchbox bus with the 2009 Disney logo on it. So we went back to find Aunt Kerri to buy it for him since she had a Disney gift card. At least the bus distracted him while we waited for our table.

We finished dinner right as the fireworks were starting. But Mitchell was cold and tired so we headed to the shuttle stop to catch the shuttle back to our resort. At least we could still see the fireworks and we missed the crowd that would be leaving the park once the fireworks were over.