The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind and so I’m just getting around to writing about our trip to Disney World!
Was it magical? Yes. However, that “yes” comes from a very biased, warm and fuzzy blanket of Disney World childhood memories.
I really wanted to take Ash to Disney World before now. Mainly because I was scared that his obsession of “Toy Story” and “Cars” would be short lived and he wouldn’t be as thrilled to see it all in the splendor of Disney magic. But I didn’t want to take him so early that he had absolutely no recollection of any of it. So, I planned the trip for his third birthday.
As this year paddled by, I could see hints that his interest in Buzz, Woody, and McQueen were starting to very leisurely dwindle. So of course knowing that I was planning an expensive trip to headquarters, I did my part in keeping excitement with everything Disney.
When we made our first stop to Hollywood Studios and he saw a life sized Cruz Ramirez parked outside of Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy, it all came back. “It’s Cruz,” he kept saying. And then we went inside and McQueen came out, shiny and impressive, looking exactly like his big screen depiction, talking (literally moving his mouth) and all. Ash was amazed! Shoot, I was amazed! When the McQueen show was over and we walked back outside, Ash scurried over to Cruz again. He didn’t want to leave. There it was, lighting its match for Ash, the magic of Disney.
We went over to Toy Story Land and as we entered, Ash immediately pointed out the enormous Woody standing at the entrance. The thing that caught and held his eye though was the Slinky Dog Dash roller coaster springing around high above everything. We tried to distract him from it (thinking he wouldn’t be tall enough to ride it) but he kept earnestly pointing to it. So after seeing the green Toy Story army men give us a drum-line show and a (not so kiddy) spin on the alien swirling saucers, we headed toward Slinky just to see if Ash would, by chance, inch close enough to the top of the ruler to pass. And he did! Just by the hair on his little head.
Let me tell you, that Slinky Dog Dash is a for real roller coaster! Ash did great. If it were not for his brief anxiety from the unfamiliarity of the extremely secure safety bar pressing down on his little belly (which seemed to have gotten even more snug halfway through the ride) he probably would have been all smiles. Ash hates feeling restricted. When he was a baby he could only stand being buckled down in his car seat for so long.
Anyway when that safety bar released, he was all smiles! On the way out of Toy Story Land he saw the Slinky Dog toy for sale at the Slinky Dog toy booth. Why would you set us parents up like that Walt? Of course Ash wanted to visit the booth. I had tried to buy Ash the Slinky Dog before at Target for about ten dollars earlier this summer (after seeing Toy Story 4) but he didn’t want it. He had opted for a miniature Forky instead. Now, he was persistent about having it. Slinky was significant. His first roller coaster!
So, I scanned my magic band to pay for it (sigh, another cruel, albeit convenient, ingenious tactic Walt) and watched Ash play with Slinky, imitating the motions of the roller coaster as we headed to see the Incredibles. Side note: I tried to convince myself that the extra ten dollars I had paid for this “magical” Slinky was because this Slinky’s coils had the ability to light up with three different settings. Brian laughed and shook his head at me.
And then we saw Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Frozone, and my personal favorite, the witty, short, fashion designer, Edna Mode. I couldn’t help but love how one of Edna Modes quotes was etched in stone at eye level in big letters, on the wall of the Incredibles Museum as you exited, “I don’t look back darling, it distracts from the now.”
If you aren’t following me on Instagram, you missed all of the shenanigans of Frozone who kept finding his way over to engage with my parents, sitting on my mom’s lap, repeatedly honking the horn of my dad’s scooter. He was the best! I posted my fave snippets in my IG stories (check my travel highlights). Just as we were about to leave, one of the cast members from the cookie stand we were sitting across from walked over and graciously asked if she could give Ash one of Jack Jack’s thick, warm, chocolate chip, Num Num cookies which he seemed to love! My sister had already bought one earlier because they smelled so heavenly.
We stayed at the Bay Lake Towers at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, which is literally in walking distance to Magic Kingdom. I know this because me, Brian, my sister, and Ash walked over Saturday night. Well Ash was in his stroller… Space Mountain was right in our backyard. Would I stay here again? Yes. I was a little under impressed with the food we ordered from room service our first night but other than that, Bay Lake was perfect.
We had a two-bedroom lake view villa. Me and the boys took the king suite, my parents took the second bedroom (which had two queen beds so technically could sleep four), and my sister opted for sleeping between the queen pull out sofa bed and the twin pull out chair in the living room. There were three bathrooms, which was nice, a full kitchen, and a laundry room. Both bedrooms had its own patio.
My mom made breakfast every morning, grits, eggs, sausage, bacon, and toast. The hotel had a little grocery store (Fantasia Market) where you could buy all of the basics, not disturbingly so much higher than you would pay at your local grocery store. Like I said, perfect.
We went to Magic Kingdom Saturday night, and Sunday morning. Saturday night Asher’s eyes were locked on the life-sized Buzz Lightyear talking to him as he walked through the line of the Space Ranger Spin in Tomorrowland.
Ok, so I can’t even begin to tell you the unending laughs that ensued as we saw the photo’s pop up of ourselves after the ride. Brian and Ash had a very cute father son photo of them trying to help Buzz stop Zurg. The laughs came in with me and my sister’s photo. My sister was extremely competitively focused, gripped laser canon, and eye on target. Me, on the other hand, was showing my age. Hands barely on the laser canon, eye’s squinty, and face totally perplexed as to why the camera’s flashes were so doggone bright. All the laughs were on me and I will never share that photo with the public!
Anyway, we hopped on Dumbo the flying elephant and then took Ash to the Tomorrowland Speedway which pleasantly brought on nostalgia of me driving the same loud, hard to maneuver cars with my dad a million years ago. We watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks and then navigated through the thick departing crowd toward the exit, back to our villa.
The next morning, we were back at the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, which was totally cute (and funny). After that, Space Mountain! My sister rode it twice!
Mid way through the day we headed to Animal Kingdom and saw a phenomenal Broadway musical production of Finding Nemo which ended in a theater full of bubbles (which Ash absolutely loves) cascading down from the ceiling. We then strolled through Dinoland, rode the Triceratop Spin, ate some yummy pulled pork sandwiches from Flame Tree Barbecue (while fighting with some obnoxious birds trying to steal our food), and then, as the heat simmered down, we all headed back past the Tree of Life, over to Africa for a safari ride where we saw enormous white rhinos up close and personal, some hyena’s and giraffes getting it on, and Mufasa and Sarabi asleep at the top of pride rock. It was basically the best.
The weather was almost unbearably hot. I was so worried about Hurricane Dorian threatening a trip cancellation but Dorian had moved on toward the Carolina’s well before we headed that way and there was not a drop of rain or clouds in sight. The sun didn’t stop shining! I thought going to Florida in September would offer a more tolerable climate but I was wrong. It was hot. We were hot! The late afternoon and evenings brought relief.
We didn’t visit Epcot which was fine. Epcot has always been the park that I’ve been the least enthusiastic about. Brian and I went to Epcot on our last Disney voyage in 2016 and so I felt okay with putting that park in my back packet. To its merit, Epcot has a lot of promising transformation plans over the next year in the making with the addition of a Mary Poppins inspired attraction, and Remy’sRatatouilleAdventure, where you’ll shrink to the size of Chef Remy and race through Gusteau’s restaurant on a wild adventure. So we’ll see you next time Epcot.
So many things that I could add to this story like those lemon slushy thingies that I love to get every time I am at Disney. I probably had about 10 of them! Watching fireworks from the rooftop of our hotel, Brian and Ash (with his little PJ Masks swim trunks on) playing in the hotel’s pool at night, it was great. And the absolute highlight of it all was Ash deciding to use the potty for the very first time (after months of failed attempts) and then jumping naked on the bed, pumping his little sweet toddler arms up and down, fist balled, totally stoked, saying, “I did it! I did it! I pee-peed!” as we all cheered. The magic of Disney!
When we made it back home, over the next few days Ash watched Finding Nemo, Toy Story (one, two, and three) and Cars (one, two, and three) with so much more excitement. In fact, the excitement is still going.
Quoting Edna Mode again, because she is genius dahling, “Done properly, parenting is a heroic act… done properly.” Hopefully, I’m doing this thing properly and creating a nourishing childhood for Ash, one that he will proudly and lovingly remember. Again, my heart to my parents and my sister for coming along and making it all super special. To my Ash, I hope you had an absolutely wonderful third birthday! Disney, thanks for all of the magic, past, present, and future. Xo
