Disney World Trip 2012

We had a great time at Disney World last week. It was exhausting but fun. I’m not sure I would ever go with a two year old again but we survived. Ethan had so much fun and loved every single ride. He was up for anything. He just wasn’t into waiting in lines or riding in the stroller to get to places or sitting on the bus. He was so cute with all of the characters.  He just wanted to love on all of them. He gave them kisses and hugs and high fives. He just couldn’t get enough of them. We ended up resorting to the monkey leash because he wouldn’t ride in the stroller and wouldn’t hold our hands. So, that was our last option. I honestly don’t see why those are so frowned upon. The people that judge parents that use them must have either 1)never had kids or 2) had really compliant children.

Luke had a wonderful time. He was brave and tried everything we asked him to ride. He rode Splash Mountain but did not like it and he rode the Goofy Barnstormer (kid’s roller coaster that he rode at least 5 times when he was 2) and he did not like that either. But I was proud of him for at least trying stuff. Everything else he loved. He LOVED Star Tours and he rode that at least 7 times. He even got to be a Jedi and fight Darth Vader. He took it very seriously. He might have been most excited about getting his face painted like Darth Maul. He spotted the booth on the first day we were there and asked about it every day and finally on Wednesday, I let him do it.  He really reminds me of Shauna with stuff like that. She would have been all over face painting when we were younger. I, on the other hand, probably couldn’t have cared less about getting my face painted.

We did 4 character meals. The first one was a disaster because Ethan screamed until the characters came to our table (which took a long time). The rest of the meals went better because we were able to see characters early on in our meal.
If I had one of those husbands that just expected me to do all of the work with the kids, we would have been on the first plane back home. Mark did his fair share and probably more. He seems to have more patience for Ethan and I have more for Luke, so we are a pretty decent team.

My favorites: Taking breaks in the afternoon at the pool, watching Luke be a Jedi and Ethan saying “Wow!” with great emotion on the rides
My least favorite: When Ethan head butted me on the monorail and busted my lip open and I sat there with tears streaming down my face and blood in my mouth waiting for us to get off. It really hurt and I am surprised I don’t have a dead tooth now. I had to deal with a busted lip the rest of the trip and am still dealing with it.
Ethan’s favorite: riding rides, swimming, eating ice cream, hugging the characters
Ethan’s least favorites: waiting in line and riding in the stroller
Luke’s favorites: seeing Mickey, riding Star Tours, being a Jedi, going down the water slide at the hotel
Luke’s least favorite: stopping at any point to eat a meal and anytime a ride was over
Mark’s favorites: letting Luke do Star Tours over and over and letting him fight Darth Vader
Mark’s least favorites: having to deal with Ethan when he didn’t understand he had to wait for the characters to come to our table and he couldn’t just run to them and sitting next to two people making out on the flight home.