Day 4 : Magic Kingdom

In the guidebooks and helpful website information it says that if you can avoid going to Magic Kingdom on a Monday you should. We didn't, and it worked out just fine for us. We didn't get out the door as early as we (read: I) wanted, but it was fine. I was so caught up in the worries of getting all that was planned done, but we kind of wandered around just taking it all in and had some very special experiences. I'm not sure if this can be done during all seasons, but we took advantage of the September crowd.

One of the things we just happened upon was the Mickey's Magic Show which was not a show, but turned out to be pretty magical. I love this picture.  Mere, in the past, has been terrified of characters. She adores Rosie Red yet she has wanted nothing to do with her. She went straight up to Mickey with open arms and he reciprocated. The whole experience was awesome. He interacted with the kids, "talking" about baseball. He signed an autograph and we took multiple pictures with him. What a great way to start of a day!

(The boys were pumped to find another Hidden Mickey.)

In the "Countdown to Disney" included facts about the different parks. One was that this oak tree in Liberty Square has over 500 offspring trees through its acorns. We thought that was pretty cool so we took a picture. 

B.K. (before kids), Kevin and I had the camera turned on ourselves when we took trips, so I thought I'd include one for old time's sake. Don't mind the drowned rat look we have going on. After lunch today it started raining. And. Did. Not. Stop. Ever. By 7pm it was spritzing, but it never stopped. We missed the Electrical Parade because of it (canceled) and it definitely made the day more soggy, but amazingly, it didn't put a damper on our spirits. In fact, the kids kept singing "Zip-i-di-doo-da" through the downpour. The already smaller crowds were shrunk even smaller and we were able to get on everything in the part of the park we wanted to see in 10 minutes or less. We went on Splash Mountain twice in a row just walking on and I had to say no to a third because I was quite water-logged. Our slow start to the day ended up not being so bad since we were able to make up for it all with the lack of crowds. 

This is a specialty photo Kevin took showcasing our favorite restaurant of the day, Casey's Corner. Not surprising that we'd like a baseball-themed restaurant (the decor was awesome!), but the food was really good and by the time we left the monsoon was downgraded to a trickle. I didn't include our lunch restaurant, but that was pretty good, too.  We ate at the Liberty Square Tavern and had some traditional American fare. It was neat to be called by our hostess as "The Hesses from Ohio,"  like the classy family we are. It was kind of crazy that the family next to us didn't speak English and asked the server for someone who spoke Portuguese and he was able to bring out an employee who did! The staff at Disney World has been amazing, needless to say. 

Someone has been visiting our cabin and leaving towel animals and gifts. Tonight when we returned we found this elephant along with T-shirts that the kids will be wearing tomorrow to Epcot! It's funny hearing the kids discuss who this "mystery"person is. And it was great that Charlie's unhappiness (wet, tired, fell twice on the way home) turned to giddiness when he found his gift. 

Tomorrow is a very early morning as we get an extra "magic hour" at Epcot. Wish us luck in getting out the door!