A couple weeks ago Jess and I were having the "we should have gone on that (Disney) vacation" talk. We started looking and we had earned a couple free flights and could get a pretty good deal at Disney the next week. In my style, we booked a vacation for the next week. I spent the next week with my nose in Disney guide books trying to plan how we were going to try to do it all in the few days we'd be there.
We had been asking Jack what we were going to do on Friday, and he started asking us what we were going to do on Friday. When Friday came, Jack didn't quite understand that we had meant that Friday. We were up early and headed to Omaha to get to Disney World!!
Everything was perfect getting to Disney (minus my flat tire the night before). We stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort at Disney World. It was a great hotel and even without requesting it, we got a room in what was supposed to be the best building according to the guide books. We headed to the pool for a quick swim before going to Magic Kingdom.
Jess and I took our honeymoon to Disney Wold, so we were there in October four years ago, but I do not remember the fall decorations. As fall is my FAVORITE season, I was delighted to see the Magic Kingdom dressed up for the occasion.
We made the most of being there in the evening and didn't hardly wait in line at all. We went to Pirates of the Caribbean early on in the evening. Jack was perplexed that the naughty pirates would be in jail and the dog had the keys. There were several questions and comments both to us and to those he talked to on the phone about the pirate prisoners.
The highlight of that evening for Jess and I was watching Jack meet Mickey and Minnie. We wanted to take Jack to Disney before he realized that everything wasn't real, it was just a financial perk to take him before he was three!
Jack really enjoyed meeting Mickey and Minnie, but he had two things on his list for that night, the second of which was "Goofy Cars." In one guidebook I had been looking at there was a picture of Goofy driving cars on the tomorrowland speedway, Jack immediately wanted to head to the Goofy Cars once we were done meeting Mickey and Minnie.Jack loved the Goofy Cars and was thrilled to ride the Buzz Lightyear ride twice. We headed back to our hotel because we had breakfast reservations for the next morning at the Yacht Club.
The next day we got up and took a bus to MGM (excuse me, Disney's Hollywood Studio's) to catch a boat to the Yacht Club. We had an awesome delicious breakfast at the Yacht Club then headed off to Epcot by boat. Jack really liked getting to take the boats and getting to play around the lighthouse while we waited.
On our way from the boat dock to Tomorrowland we came upon a Cinderella mouse (Pearl). He now tells everyone about meeting two mice at Disney, Mickey and Pearl. His teacher at school had to ask me who Pearl was. I explained that she is a Cinderella mouse and I would not have known her name had he not got her autograph.
We had a fun morning at Epcot and really enjoyed "The Seas." That pavilion is primarily Nemo themed, so we rode the Nemo ride twice (no lines again!) and sat in on Turtle Talk with Crush. Turtle Talk is really fun because there are improv actors doing the voices so the characters truly interact with the audience.
Jack wanted ice cream on Friday night but I told him he could maybe have it for breakfast the next day. He was disappointed to find that there was none at breakfast so that was his primary goal upon arriving at Epcot.
We shared a delicious ice cream before heading on through the rest of Tomorrowland... Spaceship Earth and Imagination!. I have a very punch drunk memory of the imagination ride from my trip to Disney with Steph so I do not hate it like so many others do.
At that point we bought Jack his mouse ears. He could care less about them, but we felt like he needed them.
To cap off our morning we took the boat half way across the world to Germany. In Norway, Jack loved the viking ride. It has always been one of my favorites so I was sad not to ride it. I sent the boys on it and I hung out. They came back and thought that it wasn't too rough so I could ride too. They were right and Jack loved showing me something that I hadn't seen. After the drop in the ride, he said, "Did you love the waterfall Mommy?" I did love it and enjoyed his delight in showing me something "new."
We made a quick trip through Mexico and did the boat ride (the closest thing we were going to see to It's a Small World as it was being refurbished. That was the ONLY downside to traveling during the slow season.) Jack was really interested in the monorail, so we took a ride to Magic Kindgom and back. Then we headed back to our hotel to nap before returning to Epcot for dinner at the Biergarten in Germany.
The Biergarten was a huge buffet with a fun show during dinner. Jess sampled four delicious German beers and we both enjoyed the pretzel rolls. Jess was a bit disappointed because the guide books told us there would be lots of (gross) meat, wurst, etc. but there was not a large enough variety for Jess. We were seated with a family who had a little girl just about about Jack's age. Jack hoped we might see the little girl the next day too. We called it an early night so we could get back to the hotel and swim but timed it so we could see some of the fireworks on the way back.
Sunday morning we went to Magic Kingdom. We stopped for breakfast at the bakery. I took a picture of my cinnamon roll because it was huge and delicious, but the picture looked like someone threw up on a brick. We headed to the Peter Pan ride right away and picked up fast passes. Jess and I thought it was very funny to see families posed for pictures with Cinderella's castle and crane in the back ground. We chose to defer our family photo op only to end up with a blurry picture anyway.
Jack liked wearing magic glasses in Mickey's Philharmagic before we headed back to Peter Pan. We stopped to meet Peter and Wendy outside the Philharmagic and were waiting behind eight or so middle aged Asian men (it doesn't really matter that they were Asian, but it helps explain the next part). As we neared Peter and Wendy, the Asian men all realized that they were waiting in line for Peter Pan, not the Peter Pan ride (language barrier). We thought it was really awesome and funny.
We met Peter Pan and Wendy. Jack was a bit shy even when Wendy suggested that Jess may be a pirate because of his tattoos. She said he did not smell like one though, that they smell like "100 year old coffee breath."
Jack's scary face.
We rode the big steamboat and headed to our lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern. It was delicious and we had a really great waitress.
After lunch we headed back to the hotel for a nap and swim. After our swim we returned to Magic Kingdom for the evening to enjoy the fireworks and the "extra magic hours." Jack was intent on riding the Goofy cars again too.
We walked into the park in time to catch the tail end of a fun parade. Jack loved waving to the characters trying to tell them hi.
We took our time getting back to the park so we enjoyed Adventureland before making our way to view the fireworks.
I prefer this "Captain Jack" to the Johnny Depp version (call me crazy, I know!).
We ended up finding a really great viewing spot for the fireworks in a little garden path near the castle. I was aware that the path was there, I think, but I'm sure I've never been on it before.
Jess really enjoyed playing around with the features on our new camera during the fireworks show.
This is perhaps my favorite of the fireworks pictures because it looks like the castle is on fire, fear not, the castle did not burn down.
After the fireworks, we headed to the teacups and the Goofy Cars. Jack said he spun as fast as Lightning McQueen. He enjoyed the teacups so much that he (and Jess, bless his heart) rode them twice.
There were lots of characters out and about so we got to meet Goofy as well as Chip and Dale. Some lucky kids even got to do the Dumbo ride with Mickey and Minnie, ugh, better luck next time.
It was getting late when we met Chip & Dale so Jack was a little funny. He decided he'd had enough and just wanted to sit down. C & D joined him. Unfortunately we don't have the interaction on video.
Our last day was spent a what I consider the two lesser parks. We had a character breakfast reservation at a restaurant in Animal Kingdom otherwise we might have skipped it. With the zoo in Omaha, the animal exhibits seem rather mundane and we (Jack and I) could not do the thrill rides so it left just a couple things for us to do. However, the breakfast was a lot of fun so it was worth it to spend our morning there.
We met Donald outside because he is the host. Jack has been telling us that "Donald was behind us at Disney World" lately.
Daisy came by to say hi.
Then we met Goofy again.
Finally Mickey came by too. It appears that Jack is trying to pick-pocket; I'm not really sure what was up there.We also were able to ride the triceratop spin (same as Dumbo and like 5 other rides at Disney) without waiting in line twice in a row. After that we decided to head to MGM because we wanted to get some things done there rather than wait for the Nemo show at Animal Kindgom.
At MGM we had a laundry list of things to do. 
Right away we met Handy Manny and headed to the Playhouse Disney show. Jack really enjoyed the show. It was a lot of fun for him to get to see the shows he likes to watch performed right before his eyes. He was amazed the whole time the show was going.
Right away we met Handy Manny and headed to the Playhouse Disney show. Jack really enjoyed the show. It was a lot of fun for him to get to see the shows he likes to watch performed right before his eyes. He was amazed the whole time the show was going.
We then walked by the character greeting area for Toy Story to check the line. There was about a 2o minute wait to meet the character. Woody was greeting when we checked the time and the greeters thought we might be upset to meet Buzzlightyear rather than Woody as the characters were supposed to switch. Just like in the movie, this little boy would rather meet Buzz anyway!
The lines must get pretty long because much of the waiting area is themed to provide photo ops from the movie.
(Check out the girl's face, she was not amused.)
Jack was thrilled when it was his turn to meet Buzz.
He really wanted to get Buzz's wings out and kept pushing that button when we first met him. He thought he might fly, but didn't. 
Jack was really curious about just how Buzz worked and I think he could have spent the whole day inspecting him. I think he spent at least a minute trying to figure out Buzz's knee joint. We then headed to the Muppets. When you leave the Muppets you walk right out to the meeting area for Cars. Jack was really excited to meet Lightning McQueen and Mater (that's like tuh-mater without the tuh). When Jack talks about this part of the trip he always comments that he thought they were going to move. 
After our stop in Radiator Springs, we headed to Pizza Planet. It was a really fun theme, and Jack enjoyed getting to see it, but he wanted to play lots of games and I figured that we could go to an arcade anytime so we headed to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set.
I fondly remembered playing here when I was a kid; I was a bit older than Jack when I first visited, so I did not require assistance. It is not a cool place to take a two year old! You can't let him go on his own because you'd never find him again, and it really is not fun to crawl around after him. Luckily we were on a time limit to try and get to the parade.
We wanted to hit the parade on our way out because it was Pixar characters. I should have read up on how the parade actually goes because the Toy Story characters lead the parade, and then the parade stops for a "pep rally" type thing with singing and dancing. We were at the end of the route, but first out of the park when it was over to head back to the hotel.
Once again, Jack really thought he could tell the characters "hi" and enjoyed seeing all of them.
I think the highlight of the parade for Jess and I was watching Jack devour an ice cream bar. It was nice to have a cool treat because the parade route was sunny and stuffy.
For our last evening we headed to Downtown Disney to do a little shopping and have supper. While I shopped around, Jess took Jack to the Lego store. It has changed a bit since I was there last, but for the better. Instead of lots of giant things built with legos (which were awesome for a non-parent), they changed the outdoor area into a duplo play area.
Jack loved getting to build towers, etc. while Jess and I took turns shopping.
I did some last minute shopping for post cards I had every intention of mailing from Disney World. Jess and Jack went outside to play. There was a DJ outside and Jack apparently entertained passers by with his moves. Jess must have taught him these, because I certainly don't dance like that.
We took the boat back to our hotel to finish packing and get ready to get up at an unreasonable time to get to the airport.
We really took advantage of staying at the Disney Resort and did the Magical Express shuttle service to the airport. I'm sure we would have got up very early in an abundance of caution if we were driving to the airport, but it is really hard to swallow when they tell you to be ready at 4:30 am (3:30 central). I think our return flight time was the only downside to booking the vacation the week before we left. A week and a half early, and we could have a few hours later for the same price; lesson learned.
Once again, we thought that Jack would be so impressed by the movie on the ipod that we'd both get to take it easy on the flights. We were wrong, but Jack did eventually nap which was necessary.
We were glad to get to Omaha and Jack was happy to help pull his suitcase. He pulled it all the way through the airport and seemed to be the highlight to the other traveler's wait at Eppley. We had a wonderful time and would not hesitate to book a major vacation on short notice, or to return to Disney World in the fall (again), or to take Jack on a longer flight. It is a trip so full of memories for Jess and I, one that we will love recounting to Jack when he no longer remembers it for himself.For now, he still talks about the trip as if we just got back. He also says, "maybe some Friday we should..." as if it was the leaving on a Friday that made the trip special. Hopefully we can continue to have really special Fridays, at least every once in a while.
Link to the whole photo album (like 400 pictures, lots of repeats).
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