Vacay- Day 2

This morning, we got up early, ate a big breakfast at the condo, packed up our backpacks, our cooler with lunch, water bottles, lathered on the sunblock... and we were off to the Magic Kingdom!

Seeing the sign- oh, the excitement!

Once you arrive and park your car, you have to take a ferry over to the main park entrance.

To get from the parking lot to the main entrance takes a little while.

We made it!

We met up with our friend, Tracy, who works at Disney in their VIP tour section.  She was incredible- she took us all around the park, knowing exactly where she was going and what she was doing.  It was nice to learn the ropes of the park.  We got to do lots of rides, we met Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck, we saw a couple of shows, etc.  Tracy left us around 3 PM, and we kept going until our dinner reservations at 7:30.

Ariel ride!

Tracy and her "best ride buddy", Taylor.

Riding the train.

Trading out some pins!

Haunted mansion!  I was scared.

Mid-day ice cream snack.

Splash Mountain- probably my favorite!

We dined at the Crystal Palace, where we got to dine with the Winning the Pooh characters.  It was a (very over-priced) buffet dinner, all-you-can-eat (good for Taylor, who only ate oyster crackers and lemons), and we got to meet some of the characters.

After dinner, the fireworks were about to start, and everyone and their brother were finding a spot on the lawn.  However, it was starting to rain.  (We were checking the weather all day long- FL weather seems a lot less predictable than Georgia weather!  As many times as it was supposed to rain, it didn't.  And, of course, when it wasn't supposed to rain... it did.)

The looming clouds...

It wasn't just raining.  It was monsooning.  And there was continuous lightning and thunder!  The kids were terrified.  (I must admit, I was a bit, too).  We were stuck outside, trying to get shelter where we could.  We couldn't decide- should we wait it out some more, maybe it'll stop?  Or should we make a (long) run for it, with all the lightning going on?  We debated and finally decided to make a run for it.  The monorail and ferry lines were soooo long.  People were a little panicked trying to get onto the boat.  Luckily, we got on the 2nd ferry that came, made it safely back to the car and back to the condo.

It was a pretty stressful ending to an otherwise really fun day!