Brandon's Puppy

Disney Days

(WARNING: Very long post!!)
We're back from our mini-vacation to Disney World. We are beyond exhausted, but had an incredible time (except for one incident yesterday, more on that later).
Our first destination point was Epcot. We arrived around 1 PM, a couple of hours later than expected. This was our first time traveling with an infant, so we underestimated our stop time. Usually we can be in and out of a service plaza in half an hour, 45 minutes at most. Not this time. Between eating, potty-ing (can you tell I'm the mother of a preschooler?!) and Matt's feeding and diaper changing, we were at the service plaza for about an hour and a half. I knew that we had to be flexible with the baby, but my hubby apparently did not realize this and was irritated by our lengthy travel time. I, of course, did the smart thing and ignored him.
We arrived at Epcot and immediately rode Spaceship Earth, Matt's first ever theme park ride (everybody say, "Awwwwwww!!"), followed by "The Seas with Nemo and Friends". We adults then took turns watching the kids in order to ride Mission:Space and Test Track, followed by lunch. The entire park was beautifully decorated with blooming flowers and intricate topiaries for the Flower and Garden Festival. Here are a few of my favorites. Around 3 we began our tour around the world. Our international adventures included meeting Winnie the Pooh and Tigger in the United Kingdom and saying hello to Aladdin in Morocco. Even Matthew had some wordly fun getting in touch with his French roots and trying a Napoleon pastry. Before leaving the park, we all (except for Matty) went for another international tour on Soarin'.
Next stop: Animal Kingdom! Hubby and his brother rushed to Everest to get fast passes, and as we waited for our designated time, we went over to Camp Minnie-Mickey to say hi to some characters. I love this picture of Brandon entertaining Matty while we waited to meet Mickey, and a little while later, Goofy was up to some silliness as well.
After our turns on Everest, and some fun in Dino-land, hubby, Brandon and I went on the Kali River Rapids. Here's a quiz for you--10 people share a raft, one of these is a 4 year old boy. What is the probability that the boy will get drenched? If you guessed, extremely likely, you are right. Brandon and I were the only two people to get completely soaked on the ride! I loved it, but he did not. his words immediately following: "That was not fun at all". Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of him afterwards, I was too busy trying to dry off in the women's bathroom while my mother-in-law fed Matt and Eric consoled Brandon. Poor kid was traumatized between this ride and his experience on Dinosaur a bit earlier.
It was time to relax a bit and try to dry off with the sun, so we headed to Africa and the Kilimanjaro Safari. We had a very successful safari adventure with glimpses of Nile crocodiles basking in the sun, a young giraffe grazing, a rhino and her baby, an ostrich hanging out on the side of the road, and a gorilla trying unsuccessfully to take a nap. The park was just about closing by the time we finished our safari, so off we went to meet up with writersblock and sherlock for dinner. I would post pictures of our little bloggers' meet, but *someone* (ahem, ahem. cough, cough.) was supposed to send me pictures she took as I didn't take any with my camera, and has yet to do so. I guess you'll just have to go here for the visuals. ;-)
Our itinerary originally consisted of Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and MGM, but a certain little boy kept ranting and raving about his favorites rides, so our plans changed and we headed to "the castle". We asked Brandon what he wanted to see first, Pirates or Buzz, and he chose Buzz, so we headed towards Tomorrowland. Our first stop was the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, followed by Buzz's Space Ranger Spin, and then a visit with the Space Ranger himself. After a couple of turns on Space Mountain, Brandon, hubby, hubby's brother and I went to the Indy Speedway, where Brandon (with a little help from mommy) sped around like racing champ.
We then headed to Pinocchio's Village Haus for lunch, followed by Libert Square, then Frontierland, where Brandon had the most fun. He rode both Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain for the first time, and he loved them both! He's declared them his favorites. A quick tour on the Jungle Cruise, and a visit to those popular Pirates, and we were done for the day, walking out of the park as the Wishes fireworks spectacular was happening. We were at the parking lot in less than 20 minutes. I don't think we've ever gotten back to the car so fast!
It was time to head home on Wednesday, but not before strolling around Downtown Disney. This was an eventful day, with some highs and a couple of lows. First, the good news. As we were packing up our things in the hotel, Matthew discovered one of his hands! He stared at his little fist, then lifted his arm all the way up to this head, staring at his hand the whole time, until he bumped himself on the head. He lowered his arm, and put his fist in his mouth. It was soooo cute!! He also realized he can use the tray on his stroller as a foot rest, and was doing this for most of the day. Aren't those some yummy toes?! Now, for the bad: Brandon bumped his head on one of the World of Disney store fixtures, and a little while later got lost. First, the bump: we were walking from one end of the store to the other, holding hands. He got distracted for a second, and walked clear into the fixture, right into one of those decorative scrolly things. We went and got him some ice at the ice cream shop, and managed to decrease the swelling. There is now a little bruise directly below his right eye. As for the getting lost part, I almost don't want to think about it and write about it, it was so scary. My heart stopped for the eternity (actually about five minutes) that we couldn't find him. For those of you familiar with Downtown Disney, this occured inside the "Once Upon a Toy" store, towards the most Eastern side (inside the princess room, near the JoJo's circus stuffed animal train) of the store. I was on my way to pay for a purchase while my mother-in-law was holding the baby and my hubby was near her, with Brandon at their feet sitting on the floor browsing through a book, and Matt's stroller next to him. During my transaction, my mother-in-law and Eric had wandered over towards the register, and when I was done, I walked back to get Matt's stroller. No Brandon. I called his name, thinking he had simply walked over to the other side of this part of the store to find another book. No Brandon. I ran towards the register, looking around and even stepped outside. No Brandon. I ran to the front of the store, near the Mr. Potato Head dolls and the board games. No Brandon. I ran back to the other side, checked the bathrooms and around the other fixtures throughout the middle of the store. No Brandon. While I was running around the store and describing him to a cast member, Eric had gone outside to the marketplace side, and found him walking westbound ever so nonchalantly, near the little concert area in front of the main entrance to the World of Disney store. He hollered his name, and Brandon turned around and said, "daddy" as if nothing had happened. As we say in Spanish, le leyó la cartilla, and brought him back into the store. I have never hugged my son so tight in my life!! I asked him why he walked away and out of the store, and he said, "because I didn't find you". Besides the obvious scare, two things irk me: the doors in and out of the store and quite heavy, so an adult had to have opened the doors in order for him to have gotten out (unless he was sneaky and simply followed someone). I know we are at fault for losing sight of him for all of two minutes, but no one noticed a four year old boy walking out of a store by himself? Not the parents there with their children? Not the store employees? Also, earlier in the day we were at the rainforest cafe, and he got really scared during one of those simulated rainstorms where it thunders and the lights flash. Eric and I both told him, "you were scared of the restaurant and the pretend thunder, but you weren't scared to get lost, walking around by yourself?" He was quiet for most of the trip home, and I was relieved that nothing happened to him.
Overall it was a great trip, but I think I'm going to have to regress and put that walking harness back on my big boy till he's, oh I don't know, 30!!