Disney Trip (May 23, 2013): "Again! Again!" Edition

We were at Disney on the Wednesday and Thursday before Memorial Day weekend. On Wednesday we didn't wait longer than 5 minutes to ride anything at Magic Kingdom. As soon as we got off the monorail on Thursday, we could tell that the crowd level was DRAMATICALLY higher. So we burned through Day 2 of the Unofficial Guide touring plan (Space Mountain was fun, but a little scary. Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor was incredible! They told Jefferson's joke!) and bailed for Hollywood Studios.












We hadn't initially planned to go to Hollywood Studios. We didn't think we'd have time. We were so glad we went! Since everyone was at Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios was deserted (by comparison).

We went to guest services to make dinner reservations at the Hollywood Brown Derby. The clerk offered us a time and I mentioned we might want to go later since we were planning to go stand in line at Toy Story Mania for 65 minutes (Fastpasses were gone by the time we got there). She said: "Well ... I want you guys to have a great day here today." She pulled a pad out of her desk and wrote us a Fastpass for Toy Story Mania, which was an extraordinary act of kindness! The ride was 100% all it was built up to be.

There's Toy Story stuff scattered all over this place!

Pizza Planet!












Ok. After we rode Toy Story Mania we decided to ride Tower of Terror. On the way to this monstrosity, Jefferson started psyching himself out. "Oh man. This is going to be terrible." That sort of thing. It was all very familiar. I started having 1979 Haunted Mansion flashbacks. Anyway, just before the elevator car went into the drop shaft, he started sobbing. During one of the drops he screamed: "I HATE THIS RIDE!!!!" I hated it too. The photo for sale at the end of the ride featured me and mom leaning over consoling our little buddy. The other riders were so kind, joining in to console him. Well, one frozen lemonade and one build-your-own-lightsaber later and we were back in business.

There was a ton of Star Wars stuff. 

Jefferson got back on the horse at Star Tours, which was absolutely incredible. We rode it three times in a row and the adventure scenes were different every time. Two of the three times the rebel spy shown on the screen was mom! After the third trip, Jefferson built his own droid.

The Star Wars stuff was the perfect antidote to the trauma inflicted by Tower of Terror. In its own way, it performed a "These aren't the droids you're looking for" Jedi mind trick on Jefferson. And his journey into Star Wars fandom is complete. PS: He said "I'm prisoner ... kick me dad!"

Muppet Vision 3D was excellent!

We ordered the world famous Cobb Salad at the Brown Derby and it was delicious. We posed for caricatures to be hung on the wall. They didn't go for it.

It was 91 degrees and these guys were incredible sports, playing with Jefferson and poking fun at him.

Dad gum! Hollywood Studios was great!

We wanted to say goodbye to Magic Kingdom and saved Dumbo and Mad Tea Party for just that purpose. Look at how sweaty and done with it all we are!

We had an absolutely wonderful time. The Mouse opened his mouth and we joyfully crammed our money in. And we're so glad we did! Bye Disney.

Disney Trip (May 22, 2013): "There it is! There it is!" Edition

Well, the big day finally arrived. Utilizing the touring plan from the (highly recommended) Unofficial Guide, we arrived at The Magic Kingdom an hour before they opened. We rode the ferry from the Heroes Lot.










We were the first in line, pressed up against the white rope. We. Were. Ready!

Iconic.









Our first ride! Peter Pan's Flight, easily my favorite ride among the non-thrill ride variety.










We had a BLAST. We've talked about this for a year and it lived up in every way.










Jefferson and Mom were randomly assigned to the front seat on Splash Mountain. As everyone knows, the right front seat is the drench seat. The Mom was soaked. Here they are being fake sad. 

Jefferson and his namesake at Hall of Presidents

Anyone who knows me well knows two things about my trip to The Magic Kingdom when I was 5. The first is that I came home with chicken pox. The second is that I psyched myself up before getting on Haunted Mansion and sort of freaked out on it. When I saw the ghost sitting on top of our Doom Buggy, I sobbed. Jefferson, on the other hand, was a champ on Haunted Mansion. Little did we know, he was saving up his freak out moment for the next day.

It's a Small World is total Disney nostalgia. That said, it's dull beyond belief, especially after riding  Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. At this point we didn't know we'd be stuck in the South Pacific room for 5 minutes. I almost jumped overboard.

About 1:30, we had finished day 1 of the Unofficial Guide touring plan so we bailed and headed to Epcot. That Epcot is the third most visited theme park in the US is a testament to the fact that it's a short monorail ride from the most visited theme park. We went when I was 12 or so and it did look like the future. Now it looks like what people in the 80s thought the future might look like.

We rode Soarin' (RAD) and Mission: Space (I had an anxiety attack). The department store in the Japan area was AWESOME. They had imported Pokemon stuff for Jefferson and Mobile Suit: Gundam accessories for me.












It poured rain most of the time we were there, so we don't have many photos of Epcot.

After Epcot we dragged an exhausted little boy to Downtown Disney in search of ice cream. Along the way , Jefferson teamed up with Lego Hulk to defeat me and mom. The prize was to eat all of the hot fudge out of an incredible Ghirardelli banana split.

Disney Trip, May 2013: Mom's Phone Addendum Edition

I smuggled these photos from Mom's phone. The trip begins.










We ate dinner at Corky's. Jefferson LOVES ribs. Ribs might be his favorite food. He's serious about his ribs.

Well, mostly serious.

Back to business.

Cute photo ... but look at that meaty paw!

Chili cheesburger, rings, frosted orange. A glorious meal.

This was our first (of four) trips to The Varsity on this trip. I have my bag of fried pies and a boy with a belly full of grease and happiness. One of the most delicious ways to shorten your life!

After we bailed on the very soggy Braves game, we headed straight for Mary Mac's Tea Room. Every morsel of food that was delivered to our table was perfect. However, our table-mate was a little kooked out.

The aforementioned Mojos. Perfect.

Just before g-forces pulled our cheeks back and rattled our internal organs.