The Magic Kingdom

When we booked this vacation several months ago, Bret looked at me and said, "I'm super busy, so I want you to plan this entire thing, from top to bottom, and I want it to be a surprise." And, I'll tell you something: I'm a darn good researcher. A darn, darn good researcher. So, it should have come as no surprise to Bret that--when we made our way to the Magic Kingdom this morning--I had a typed out list of the order of events.

Now, before you go all organic on me, swearing that the "mood should lead" or "let the little one decide," let me plead my case.

First of all, tickets are no cheap order. And, when you consider that we are spending one day at the Magic Kingdom and one at Disney's Hollywood Studios (former MGM for you non-Disney-aholics), I wanted to ensure that our time at each park was loads of fun.

In addition, there are people (hoards of people) who study the traffic patterns of the Magic Kingdom. No really. They have algorithms. I'm not a mathy person, but they swear by their predictions, and when my friend handed me a book with a "touring plan for young children" created by the founders of this algorhithm, I decided to try it out. The founder swears that it can save you up to 4.5 hours of line standing.

And, here's the thing: it worked like a champ. We did some criss-crossing and some compromising, but we didn't stand in a line for over 15 minutes all day (on a very, very busy day). I expected to finish half the touring plan by lunch, but we were done with 6 major rides (and a Space Mountain stint for Daddy) by 10:30. We spent the rest of the time finishing the afternoon portion of the touring plan, and we left early and EXHAUSTED.

Poor little Grant was such a trooper! He never complained, never cried, and he never said a word. Not a word. He was so engrossed, so mesmorized, that it took about two hours to make sure he still had a voice. Bret and I tried our hardest to get him to talk, but all we could conjure were a few head nods. He was in heaven. Finally, he would tell us, "another ride."

Grant tried everything: from Pirates to his first rollercoaster (and it was no little coaster). He loved the speedway and Dumbo, and he now has a special place in his heart for Peter Pan. He loved the trains (we went on a few), but by the end, I think he was done processing, and to be honest, I was too.

And sadly (though not surprising), he was bummed beyond measure as he realized our van was in sight, and there were no more rides for the day.

I have been to DisneyLand (that's the original, thank you very much Hoosiers) many, many a time (I did grow up in LA, after all). But I must admit that never has a day with Mickey been so magical for me. Touring plan or not, it was a great day, an easier than expected day, and a day that I'll remember for a long, long time. We don't have many pictures of the day (as we didn't stop for the characters -- we're doing two character breakfasts, so lay off), and as we started taking photos, I realized we could only have so many "here's Grant sitting about to take off on..." kind of photos), so no complaining grandparents!