Disney World: Part 2

Finally, right?!

Before I get into part two of our day at the Magic Kingdom, I just want to say that EVERYONE agrees that the Carousel of Progress is a no-go. I'm pretty sure Jana is being paid by Disney to promote it. So if you're planning a trip to Disney and Jana insists you ride the Carousel of Progress, just say no.

Onwards and upwards! We STILL had lots of time to kill before our Fast Pass time to Space Mountain so we went by Mickey's house. Ari would be SO jealous of Pluto's big bone:
We waited in line for a LONG time to meet Mickey! He was out in his very own barn. We took random pictures as we waited in line:
I had to fight off the crazy foreign lady (no offense to foreigners) with her 19 kids who kept trying to cut in front of us! Note to you foreign lady: just because you have a billion kids doesn't mean you get to meet Mickey first. I am usually a pretty easy going person (I hate when people say that about themselves) but not when it comes to line jumpers.

Random family who ended up on my camera:

Mickey & Jamie = BFF: Ummm... Minnie was getting a little too friendly with Drew:
Mickey had to scold her in front of everyone for her overt flirting! After all the non-verbal giant rodent fighting, I have a new FaceBook picture:
Next up: Minnie's house! So, are they married and living separately... or are Mickey and Minnie still just boyfriend/girlfriend?

Anyways, Minnie and I have the same taste in furniture!!! Maybe she has a separate house because Mickey won't let her keep her pretty flowered couch in the front room? Maybe I need a separate house for my couch too. Just a little bit more time left until Space Mountain! We came upon It's A Small World and I remembered Katy saying this was the only ride she'd go on when she was here. I failed to remember that she was 5 when she came.
Not only was it totally slow, and pretty freaky... but Drew and I shared a boat with a couple of gay guys who taught me more about the gay community (via eavesdropping) than I ever cared to know. My world is now a bit smaller.
Penguins with sombreros? Okay...
It is a small world after all... and we all must fear the evil clowns attacking us from the skies:
All in all, It's a Small World bombed bigger than the Carousel of Progress... and with all the "daddy" talk it was far more traumatizing.

But that doesn't matter because it's 5:40! Time to head to Space Mountain!!!

But wait... what do you mean the ride broke down??? Worst. News. Ever.

We just walked around the park without much direction feeling sorry for ourselves. Drew feeling sorry for himself:

The castle changed colors as it got dark:
We stumbled through the 9 zillion gift shops. Drew found a trophy for me. It says "Best Girlfriend". I don't know what he's saying about my wifing skills.
A parade started at 9:00, so everyone started to line the streets. I caught sight of this fellow in Nascar Mickey ears:
The people at Disney are marketing geniuses. You get to the park and everyone is wearing Mickey shirts and ears and jewelry and anything else you can think of. So you feel totally left out if you don't have some. Then you ride these rides and get all pumped up on them and when you exit, you exit into a gift store that matches the ride. So you ride the Space Ranger ride and think its super cool, then you exit into a store that sells all kinds of Space Ranger Mickey Mouse gear. Go to the Presidents exhibit and you'll feel all patriotic and exit into a room full of red white & blue Disney wear to show off your new found love of country. Drew and I must have been the only people who didn't end up with a new wardrobe of mouse gear. And that is because we are extremely practical... and cheap.

Light parade:

Enjoying a lovely Disney night with my favorite person on Earth:After the parade we decided to make one more stop at Space Mountain to see if it was up and running. And... It works! And... the estimated wait is 60 minutes. Our Fast Pass expired hours ago, but we decided to try to sweet talk the ticket gal into letting us in since the ride was broken down during our pass time. She was super nice and let us through!!! We literally ran past hundreds of people waiting in line. We were SO EXCITED!!!

Waiting our turn, Drew was so excited: I was FREAKING OUT:
Did I mention I'm scared as hell of roller coasters??? Here we go:
OMG. It was so fun. I wish I'd taken a picture of the picture taken on the ride. I look hilarious. Hilarious. The guys in front of us were laughing so loud as I let some m-fers fly during the ride. It was scary. Scary. We would have gone again, but now the wait was 75 minutes and we had no fast pass.

We ended the night watching fireworks over the castle. Camera doesn't like to take pictures of fireworks, but it was just fabulous. I felt like I was on Full House: Very best vacation ever. I can't imagine going to Disney with small children... you'd have to have some serious patience. But it was totally fun and wonderful even without kiddos.

In related news, Drew is still in Orlando. After I left the temps sky rocketed to record highs. Awesome. Drew texted me pics of bare feet and palm trees at the hotel pool this weekend. I went outside to text him back pics of our snow covered yard and Ari gave me the perfect photo opp when he decided to take a poo in the snow. Drew says it will be on our Christmas card this year. You can all look forward to receiving that holiday cheer in the mail!