Disney World 2021- Magic Kingdom

 Disney World!

A few months ago Chase and Alex invited us to join them at Disney world at the end of April. We had just bought our flights to Alaska, but we still had some money in our travel fund, so we figured, what the heck. How often will we get the chance to go to Disney World with cousins?

I found a cute house about 20 minutes from DW that would fit Chase and Alex and fam, and us. Split up, it cost us each about $300 for the whole week. It had a private pool, and a game room in the garage. We had it booked from April 24th- May 1st. We drove down to Jacksonville on April 23rd after James got off of work, and stayed with Grace Simpson. The next day the kids played together, and we went to the park and Buccees to get dippin dots. We played games in the afternoon while the kids had quiet play and movies. Love Grace so much.

We drove down to Orlando later that night, and got settled/ bought some groceries. Chase and Alex didn't make it until around 1AM because they'd had bad weather and all kinds of delays.

The next day being Sunday, we mostly just hung out around the house and the kids played. Benson didn't know we were going to DW or that his cousins would be there, so he was SO SO EXCITED when he found out. We watched the old cartoon Lion Witch and the Wardrobe. Super nostalgic. I love that series.

We had a birthday party for Felicity that evening because her birthday was the next day. Thats when we told the kids about going to Disney World. They were stoked.

Monday morning we woke up and got out the door by 6:30. The house we stayed at was about 25 mins from the parks, so we got there a few minutes before they started letting cars into the parks. We got a really great parking spot then had to go through temperature screening and bag checking, then take the monorail over to the park. We were IN the park by 7:40ish. Crazy that it took that long to get through everything. We headed straight to Seven Dwarves Mine Trail, but the line was INSANE. Like, wrapped around the entire ride. We left and went to Peter Pan, and just walked right on. Then we went to It's a Small World, which I honestly really enjoyed. It was so cute, and so detailed. Nathan just kept pointing at all the things. It was adorable. We did Haunted Mansion right after that, and I covered Bensons eyes the whole time because I don't think he would have enjoyed it at allllll and that I would be dealing with nightmares later. Not sure why I thought that would be a good ride for him. haha, I think I was just so excited for no line! After that we went to Aladdins Magic Carpet ride, and walked straight on. Benson really loves the rides like that. The goes up in the air, but just glides in circles ride. We headed to Pirates of the Carribean after that. There was maybe a 15 minute wait time, but it passed pretty quick. Benson cried just a smidge at first but then he calmed down and was fine. By this point it was like 9:30. Which is crazy how many more rides we were able to get on. I swear everyone in the park was waiting to get onto 7 Dwarves! We headed to Big Thunder Mountain Railway after that. I didn't get to ride that one last year, but I loved it! We did the stroller swap, and just walked right to the front for both of us. We went to Splash Mountain after that. The line for that one was HUGE. Like 80 minutes. But .... stroller swap to the front. Benson and I were on the front row, and when we went down the waterfall we got wet, and he cried. haha sweet little sensitive boy. I love him so much. When he went down it with James they were on the back row and didn't get wet. So he cried. haha. I'd never ridden Splash Mountain before, and it was so fun to hear all these songs that were on the Sing Along VHS tape that we had as kids. The Laughing Place song made me smile and feel all kinds of nostalgia. It was probably my favorite ride of the day.

By this point it was getting close to noon, so I called Chase and Alex and we decided to meet up at the Carousel. Nathan HATED the Carousel. Cried the whole time. I think maybe he was feeling a little tired and hangry. We went over to the Mickey Circus area and rode the Barnstormer a few times. Benson loved that one. They also had the Dumbo Elephants. Another favorite for sure. At this point I realized I had dropped my Disney card somewhere, as had Patsy (Alex's mom), so we had to go all the way to the front of the park to talk to somebody at the help desk, and they gave us a new one. It was about 1pm, and Jas called and said they had just gotten there. Which honestly was ... crazy to me. Park tickets are so expensive, so we wanted to squeeze out all the value! James and I stroller swapped Space Mountain real fast and Chase and Alex took Benson to do Pirates with Harrison. Apparently Benson cried the entire time. I think he was just tired at the point. After we finished Space mountain, which honestly isn't my favorite.. Too jerky with no indication which direction we needed to turn.. We met up with Jas and Tony at the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. We didn't do that one last year, so it was fun to walk through. I love that movie. After that Jas and Tony rode the Magic Carpet ride with Benson, (They'd just finished Pirates) and I stood in line to get Dole Whips. It was pretty dang hot by this point and we were all kind of exhausted, hot, and a little grumpy. We found some shade to eat our ice cream in and watched the cavelcades that came by every 30 minutes or so.

Chase and Alex had a dinner reservation, so they went to do one more ride while we chilled out. We went into the Country Bears Jamboree which is an indoor animatronic vaudeville type show. I laughed a lot, and totally enjoyed the show. It was also nice to be indoor and in a room with AC. After that, we moseyed over to the Peter Pan ride with Jas and Tony, and rode that again. James went to 7 Dwarves and got in line while we stood in line at Peter Pan. He got to the point where he needed us to be there for a stroller pass just in time for us to finish our ride. He and Tony and Benson all went through the rest of the ride. Jas and I hung out by the Whinny the Pooh ride (that was temporarily closed at the moment.) It opened up right as the boys finished their ride, and we jumped in line and got to the front pretty darn quick. Unfortunately as soon as we got tot he very front Benson informed me he was on the verge of wetting his pants. haha. So, we left the line, went to the potty, and they let us back into the fast pass line. It's crazy, by this point, like 10 mins after the ride re opened, the line was already like 30 minutes long. It was fun. I totally had forgotten about the Hefalumps and woozels though, so I was hoping it didn't scare Benson. :) Jas and I then took our turn on 7 Dwarves. I love how smoooooth of a roller coaster it is. So many of the rides in DW are so old, they're a little jolty. Benson really enjoyed it, so that made me happy. So fun to watch him enjoy all the rides.

We went to Tomorrowland for Dinner. We ate at the Starlight Cafe. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until that first bite of real food, and then all the sudden I felt RAVENOUS. It was a delicious burger. James got like 8 cups of water, and I downed like 5 of them immediately.

James took Benson to the bathroom, and as he was standing outside the stall, Benson told him he had to poop, and then very loudly started counting down. 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! POOOOOP!!! haha I love him so much.

After dinner we went and did the Buzz Lightyear ride. I think that one must have been closed earlier, because the line was really short, and moving really quick. I had some blisters on my feet by this point, it was about 7 pm, and we thought the park closed at 8. I just wanted to sit down somewhere because I was so tired. We went and did the Carousel of Progress..... interesting "ride"... probably wont do it again next time, but it was interesting to do once. At this point once we got out of it (it was 20 mins long), Benson told me he wanted to do the teacups, so we RAN over there to get in line before they closed at 8. There was no line, so we were done in just a few minutes. Enough time to get to the Astro Orbiter, so we RAN back into tomorrowland. Turns out, we had a whole extra hour haha. The rest of our group was doing Space Mountain again, but I just didn't feel like it again. We got on the people mover as our last ride, with Jasie and Tony. It was a nice way to end the night. We went back to the castle and took some pictures and headed home. I think my fitbit said I logged over 24,000 steps. Which is like 10.5 miles. Whew! Tired! But such a fun day. We got to ride so many more rides than last year. ,Didn't love having to wear a mask the whole day, but it wasn't terrible. I took it off at every opportunity (like eating, or in a dark ride.)