The Dis

Since my parents live only about 2 hours from Orlando, I knew we'd get to Disney World eventually. It's expensive -- $95 for a one-day adult ticket to Magic Kingdom -- so I thought we'd probably wait until Molly was older. But she's so into princesses now and there are so many rides designed for preschoolers, we decided to go ahead and go this Christmas when Cinderella's castle would have maximum impact.

I think my family went to Disney World when I was about 8 years old. We went to all the parks over the course of 4 or 5 days and I remember it being an overwhelming experience. It was fun, but there was definitely some fighting. A lost car. Long lines and lots of waiting.

When I told people we were planning to go to Disney World, I tended to get one of two reactions. Either, "Oh, goodness....really? Well, good luck with that. I hear it's totally packed around Christmas." OR, "Oh my gosh! It's so much fun! You're going to love it!" My guess is that people with the first type of response went to Disney World years ago and have memories similar to mine (or they're just grumpy) and that people with the second type of response went more recently because the Disney World of today is awesome.

What probably changed the game and made a day at Disney so much easier is the Fast Pass (introduced in 1999, according to Wikipedia). It basically allows you to jump right to the front of the line and go on rides without waiting. Heaven. You have to plan ahead a little bit. You can only get one Fast Pass at a time and the window for the ride you want is usually about an hour away. But there's plenty of other stuff to see and do while you're waiting and nothing is more satisfying than walking up to the front of a line that is 75 minutes long.

Molly had so much fun, as you can see in the pictures below, and was a really good kid all day. She was a little overwhelmed at first -- it's a lot to take in -- but after an hour or so, she was hamming it up with Minnie Mouse and brave enough to go on a roller coaster.

We spent about 10 hours at Magic Kingdom, from about 8:30 am to 6:30 pm. We could have stayed even longer -- the park is open until 1:00 am -- but Jason and I felt like we'd seen and done enough :) Molly was still full of energy, of course, and dancing around in her new princess dress, but after the Fairy Godmother lit up the castle with her magic wand, we told Molly it was over and everyone was leaving. She believed us.

The food left a little to be desired, and I wish they wouldn't torture young children with SO many gift shops, but all in all, it was a pretty magical experience. When can we go again?

The happy family

Journey of the Little Mermaid -- the only ride we went on twice :)

A little nervous to meet her first princess

Comparing braids with Rapunzel

Goofing off with Minnie Mouse

Checking out Mickey's Christmas Parade

The spinning tea cups

Enjoying Disney's best junk food

First roller coaster -- The Barnstormer

End of the day -- finally a princess

Lights!