2016 Trip Report: Day 4 - Water and Food (What's Better?)

Tuesday, July 26
On what was probably the most relaxing day of our trip, we headed down to the Shipwreck Island again, but this time, we decided to stay on the bottom deck where there was a zero entry pool with spraying palm trees and slides for the kids. The deepest the water got was like four feet.

Jackson wasn't interested in going in, but I put his life jacket on, picked him up and took him in with me to force the issue. I knew he liked to splash around and that he would love it after he actually loosened up a little. Well, I was right because I could not get him off those slides. He said he wanted to go down them a million times. He only got out to eat lunch and by the end of our time there, he was jumping in to TK off the side. He was even doggy paddling by himself. Addison was also having a great time in the shallow end and then swimming from one of us to the other.

The bottom deck also had a quick service restaurant and a bar. We had lunch there and the portions were huge, and our order was also huge. I had a giant cheeseburger and got myself a refillable mug of beer from the bar. I was able to refill my cup anywhere in the resort for $6. Addison was napping while we ate.

Back at the room, we got ready and Jackson and TK took a nap so they both could be in a good mood. I took a walk with my parents and Uncle George with Addison in her carrier on me. We saw the market, the bar and the ice cream/coffee shop. They sold Hershey's Ice Cream and Starbucks Coffee. Addison ended up falling asleep when we sat down to drink the beverages we bought.

When we got back to the room, we waited for everyone to get ready and I went out to the balcony to read my book, Inferno by Dan Brown. I think I ended up closing my eyes and dozing off.

For dinner, we headed out to Texas Roadhouse because we heard it was good and a lot of fun. We heard right. The wait staff was line dancing and they played country music the whole time. They had peanuts on the table and they served warm rolls with cinnamon butter. I had a 6 oz. steak, rice, shrimp and two $4 margaritas. It was a lot of fun.

When we got back to the room, we went down to my aunt and uncle's room because we had desserts left over from two nights before. I was able to see the fireworks again from the balcony. At that point, my dad and uncle left to go get my brother at the airport. The rest of us went to bed.

Trip Report Day 3: 11/24/13

Today, we woke up and headed right over to our breakfast reservation at Ohana. Unfortunately, it took a while for a bus to arrive so we took a cab over to the Polynesian. When we arrived, I went into the store on the second floor and found one of the Cars die cast cars that Jackson did not have yet. We've been on the hunt for characters from both movies since October. I think we have almost 70 of them for Christmas for him now.

When we checked in to Ohana, we took our family picture out front with our t-shirts on that said "Jackson's First Trip to Disney" and "I'm Jackson." We headed in to our table and the food was family-style, so we had big plates of food in front of us within minutes. The characters paraded through the restaurant and I was able to get a bunch of autographs on the mat board I bought for a Disney picture of Jackson. He didn't love all of the action while he was trying to eat breakfast, so we didn't get too much character/Jax interaction, but that's OK.

Entrance to the Magic Kingdom

After breakfast, we took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom and started our day. The first place we hit was the Starbucks at the Main Street Bakery for coffees and I had a Dark Chocolate Cherry Mocha. Jackson had a haircut appointment at Harmony Barber Shop at 11:30 a.m. The stylist, Margaret, was amazing. Jackson screamed like we were torturing him for both of the haircuts he had at home, but this time, he was like a different child altogether. He actually enjoyed himself and didn't cry once. It was a pleasant surprise and Margaret was able to entertain him with toys and stickers. With his haircut, he got a certificate, Mickey ears and Mickey stickers. Margaret also gave me a lock of his hair and some confetti for my scrapbook. It was a great experience and we were all very happy.

After that, we headed over to New Fantasyland, but all of the lines were way too long, so we rode the Walt Disney World Railroad over to Frontierland where we walked to Adventureland and rode Aladdin's Magic Carpets, but Jax wasn't sold on it. Nonna bought Jax an orange bird sippy, but they could only put soda in the cup, which made zero sense to me because my kid and many little kids do not drink soda. We were able to use our Fastpass+ for the Jingle Cruise and it was a total waste of time. I thought there would be some holiday decor on it, like a hippo with some lights around its neck or an elephant with a Santa hat, but nope! It was the same lame ride that I rode in the late 80s and I was annoyed that Disney tried to pawn it off as a holiday special. If I want to see animals, I prefer real ones. Anyway, we went to go eat lunch at Pecos Bill Cafe after that debacle and then to see the Country Bear Jamboree, and it was empty. Everyone was busy watching the parade outside, so we basically had the theater to ourselves. Jax danced in the aisles and pointed at the bears as they sang.

Cinderella Castle

Following that, we headed over to Tomorrowland to catch our Fastpass+ for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. We went right in and I achieved my best score to date with a 135,800. I don't know what I hit, but it was a good move. Afterward, Aunt Rosie bought Georgie and Garrett Buzz Lightyear sweatshirts. While Buzz was doing his character greeting, they stood in front of him and he ran over and photobombed them. It was pretty funny. Georgie, Paige and Garrett left the park so Paige could leave to go home because she had to work the next few days. The rest of us rode the People Mover and Jax fell asleep immediately after. We had a Fastpass+ for the Tomorrowland Speedway but decided not to use it because Jax wouldn't be able to enjoy it. So, we headed back to the resort after shopping a little bit. I got Jax the Cars bath toys.

While at the resort, we decided we needed a few things, so Tom, Georgie and Uncle George took a trip to Walmart and the rest of us just hung out in the room. Tom and Georgie ended up going back to Magic Kingdom that night because it was open until 3 a.m., but they weren't able to really ride anything because the park was still packed. Tom texted me around 12:30 a.m. to tell me that he beat my score on Buzz Lightyear. Figures!