Day 2 Vacation - Magic Kingdom

On the 2nd day of our vacation we drove from my friend's home to Orlando. We had to go to Hertz to exchange our car for a passenger van that would accommodate our family, my brother's family and my cousin's family. Thankful for Stephen's perks with Hertz! The GPS got us a little lost to the Hertz at the Orlando airport but we finally got there and got the van. Next stop was picking up my brother's family, they had already arrived in Orlando the night before. It was so wonderful to see David, Armilyn and my nephew Alex. It had been 22 months since the last time we saw them!

We then headed to the Magic Kingdom to spend half a day there until my cousins flew in. 

The day had finally arrived - we made it to DISNEY WORLD!!!

At the Magic Kingdom you have to park, then take the parking lot tram over to the Monorail or Ferryboat to then get over to the park. The kids opted for the Ferryboat. 

My brother told me Alex wanted to get his haircut in the Magic Kingdom at their barber shop on Main Street. The hairdresser was really sweet and took her time with Alex.

I had remembered reading an article about "freebies" in Disney World and this Barber Shop is where you can get free pixie dust (hairspray and glitter) for your hair. 

Madeline was happy about that.

After the barber shop we headed over to union station to catch the train to Frontierland. One request from Oma was a picture with her 3 grandkids. This was the first of many. :)

After riding Pirates of the Carribean, eating a quick lunch and visiting the Haunted Mansion and It's a Small World we walked by the big carousel and remembered a picture op we had to recreate! This was my brothers and I at the Magic Kingdom in 1982, I was four!

And here we are 31 years later! Minus my other brother Tason (once he gets married and has kids we will have to do this trip again so we can get all 3 of us!).

We also recreated the picture with the cousins: James age 6, Madeline age 9 and Alex age 11.

Maybe one day they will recreate this picture with their own children!

After riding the new Little Mermaid ride we were ready to leave and pick up my cousin's family at the airport. We wanted to take the train back to Main Street but it started thundering and they shut down all the outdoor rides. So we had to make our trek back to the front gates through Tomorrowland.

This giant ball of course caught the kid's attention.

Another picture op for Oma's request with the castle in the background.

Last stop before leaving was the hat shop where Madeline bought a new visor and Armilyn bought a custom hat for her niece in Spain who had her 4th birthday that day.

It started pouring when we got back to the van and drove to the airport.

We picked up Eric, Maureen and their kids Kiara and Nathan. We were so happy to see them! It had been about 15 months since we last saw them.

So our 3 families all checked into our 3 bedroom condo at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort. The kids were busy being silly together and the guys were watching game 7 and the Heat winning.

Lastly here is a video Stephen took of our condo at the resort...