Today I found out what it is like to bring two kids the Disney by myself. Last night as I pondered it, I wondered - would it be fun? Stressful? Tiring? I guess I had the expectation that it would be a bit stressful - having the responsibility for 2 kids all by myself in a place where there are a lot of other people, lines for food, lines for the bathroom, etc.
But - it went great!
Dan worked from the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, which is on the monorail route. So we drove there together - and I took the Monorail over to the Magic Kingdom with the girls. Easy. It was about 10AM when we got there - sunny and beautiful. We got fast passes right away to see Micky Mouse at the Town Square theatre - and when we did, we got a "surprise bonus" fast pass for Dumbo! Yeah!
Next we did a whole bunch of things:
1) saw the trolly show on main street (Sara liked the dance costumes "are they wearing costumes Mama?")
2) saw the dream show on the castle steps (Sara loved the characters, but was scared of the fireworks!)
3) met Mickey Mouse! in the theatre (Sara was first, and she was adorable when she saw him, she just looked at him and slowly walked towards him, he knelt down and gave her a high 5 - it was fun. I just had Julia in my arms for that.)
4) found some sparkle mickey mouses on the ground (Sara loved carrying them around all day)
5) Saw the celebrate parade
6) Rode Dumbo (using the fast pass - that was interesting, I had Julia in the Bjorn carrier and Sara on the seat next to me)
7) Sara announced she was "hot and my belly is empty" so we had our picnic lunch at a little iron white table by the Christmas shop near Liberty Square - that is the best spot ever if you ask me. Julia was asleep when we got there, but when she woke up I fed her too.
8) Went to Adventure Land and ended up back in Liberty Square where Sara scored some popcorn, and told me "do not gobble up all my popcorn Mama" - she was eating the popcorn with both hands. Left, right, left, right - one hand right after the other. She often gave me a few kernels, but I never held the popcorn box, she had that under tight control.
9) We played in the "flag park" by the Liberty Bell. She could point out the flags of New York, New Jersey, PA, Maryland, Mass, Delaware, RI, etc. Passerby people thought she was very smart, whereas I know she just loves the US and all things about it.
10) Around 3 we were in "flag park" when they blocked it off for the parade and we found our selves with front row parade viewing with out even trying. Many characters came up to Sara during the parade! Amazing! I had Julia dancing near my lap for the parade and she loved it. Julia was perfect all day. Never fussy, never was anything but very easy and happy. That was great! (She is nearly always like that - she is just a happy baby - and she sleeps well in the Bob-baby-jogger.)
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I suppose we kept the day fun and easy by just enjoying the moment. That sounds cliche, but like we didn't stress over moving fast or what to do next. (Kids don't think that way anyway.) We just moved from thing to think however we felt like. Never rushing or worrying about things. It was fun. Sara loved dancing to the piano player on main street - and he did music box dancer upon our request. She also danced a lot before the parade. I loved that. And as we were leaving she bought herself a red ballon (and she remembered that the last time she had a green one!) and I loved watching her walk up to the ballon man to buy it - she was so cute - and the smile when she walked away with her ballon was priceless! Like, "cool! I have a ballon - I'm so happy" was her expression.
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So going to Disney with Sara and Julia was a delight - even by myself with out Dan to help. The toughest part was figuring out how to go to the bathroom while watching two kids, and also figuring out how to eat - it is one thing to feed them, but hard to figure out how to get myself food, and eat it, while having them wait - I ended up finding a baked potato, fruit salad, and fruit drink in Liberty Square, and then we ate it back at the little white table by the Christmas shop. It is a little gated area with only one table and with a view of the castle, it worked great since Sara had a little freedom and I could eat. Sara scored a monorail toy, and the ballon. She wanted a pair of mickey mouse ears earlier in the day, but I thought she should wear her sun hat. She was okay that I said, "some other time" to the mickey mouse ears.
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I used the baby care center to feed Julia (nurse/food) and it gave Sara a break too. She "read" a book (Cinderella) and Julia got to have a nice chance to fill her belly.
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Around 4:30 we left the park on the monorail, met up with Dan at the Grand Floridian (he was waiting for us by the door which was nice) and we enjoyed the piano player in there for a while before heading to the pizza place by the condo and getting the kids to bed.
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"That was a great day Mama." Sara said. And I think so too.
