A new tradition!

I woke up early on Monday morning and got my bags and my Owner's Locker.  I planned on checking into my flight and checking my bags with Magical Express nice and early.  There was rope drop to make it to!

Yup, I planned on making it to the Magic Kingdom for rope drop that morning.  I hadn't really spent a lot of time there during my trip and Monday was looking to be a lot warmer than the rest of the weekend.

I didn't have any trouble getting my luggage taken care of and I was quickly on my way to the park.  I made it there as the show was going on and I was caught behind a bunch of people.

It looks like I actually got through bag check and maybe even got to scan my ticket but then I hit a wall of people.  It was neat to see the show, but I wish I had seen it from the beginning.  That's something to shoot for on another day!

I do wish I was part of the family that got to be in the show!

I got to Town Square and decided to take a ride on a Main Street Vehicle.  That was a nice treat for the day.

Once I got to the hub I realized that I was there nice and early.  Early enough to go on a ride that I hadn't ever been on.  Ever.

Dumbo!!!

It wasn't too long a wait.  I think it went for maybe 3 rounds before it was my turn.

And it was what I expected.  I guess.  It did take me 33 years for my first ride on it.  I probably won't go out of my way to go on it again unless I am trying an Ultimate Touring Plan or I am with children.

After Dumbo, I made my way to It's a Small World.  I wanted to test out my camera on the ride (without a flash of course).  Here's one thing I would ask of all parents when boarding a boat ride.  Please look at the groups around you.  If every family is having their child board first, then every adult will be on the same side of the boat.  The boat will then be leaning to one side (significantly sometimes) during the whole ride.  Yup.  I sat on the side that all the kids were sitting on, but it wasn't enough to counter balance 6 adults.

After Small World, I headed to the Haunted Mansion with almost no wait.  Then Toontown was opening.  I thought it would be great to go see Tinkerbell and her friends since I hadn't met them yet.

The wait for Tinkerbell was only about 15 minutes.  They use Pixie Dust to shrink you down to pixie size and then you go into meet everyone.  Of course, they were all excited to see me and when they saw my medal, they were ever more excited and wanted to hear all about my race.  They asked me if I was ran really fast or if I was given Pixie Dust so that I could fly to the finish and win.  I told them I wasn't fast at that the medal was a reward for finish.  Tink ask me if it was a "slow and steady wins the race."  I had to laugh at that and tell her that was my approach.

Tink was full of energy and practically bouncing off the walls.  She came over to me when I was with Fawn and started talking my ear off.  We went to her are to take picture and then she walked me over to Terrance.

She had to tell Terrance about my medal and how far I had to run.  I think he was really impressed. 

He, of course, posed for a picture with me too.

After I headed back into Toontown and decided to hop onto Goofy's Barnstormer.  It was a day of firsts so, why not?  It wasn't a bad ride and the theming of queue is lots of fun with loads to look at.

I figured I had time for one more ride so I headed over to the Jungle Cruise.  I had never had a chance to ride it in the daytime.  I had a good skipper.  I also had an almost full memory card so I didn't get to take very many pictures.

I then started making my way out of the park when I saw that Princess Tiana was about to come out for a meet and greet.  Of course I had to get in line!  I got to meet her and Prince Navine!

After meeting the Princess and her Prince, I caught a few minutes of the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! parade/show and then headed back to my resort to get some lunch and take the sad Magical Express ride back to the airport.

Overall, this was a really good trip.  I've never been so cold in Florida before in my life.  Even when I went over Christmas during my senior year of high school, it wasn't this cold.  It was a great experience for me though and I'll be back there with Team in Training this January so I can do the full!