Spring Break - Disney Day - Alli's First Haircut, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom

It's a special day today at Disney's Magic Kingdom. Today is the day Alli gets her very first haircut ever!
Ever since Ian got his first haircut here 2 years ago, I knew that I wanted to get Alli's first haircut here too. I made sure to call ahead and make reservations weeks in advance.

By this point, Alli's hair is starting to get pretty long. It's naturally curly, but it's a little unruly trying to brush it, and she's not shy about letting you now you're pulling it when you try to run a comb through it.
We've been talking her haircut up quite a bit, and she's excited.

It's odd what happens to pop into your memory. I remembered this Sesame Street Song from what must have been 30 years since I heard it last, and we worked it into our nighttime songs.

The next morning, we were in no rush to get moving. Our reservation isn't until 11:40am and I have a feeling we'll be at the parks a little late today. One of the things I don't love about the Magic Kingdom is how long it takes to actually get to the park. First you wait in line to get through the parking toll booths, then to park, then for the tram to the ticket and transportation center. Once there, you go through security, wait for the monorail, then finally arrive at the park. Wait in line, and finally you're in. Phew.

And any one of those can get backed up. The lines for the monorail was pretty long, but thankfully they have lots of monorails running.

Once inside the Magic Kingdom, upon going under the berm, we were greeted by a popcorn cart. I've been gathering popcorn buckets for a friend, while I was able to get the Minnie and Steamboat Mickey ones back home, this Mickey bucket was exclusive to WDW (at least at the beginning).
The kids were excited that they would be starting their morning with popcorn.
I asked cast member Maddie I could get the popcorn on the side. She filled up a cardboard bucket for us. Knowing it would be easier on the kids, I asked if I could get another cardboard container to split it. Maddie said Sure! and then proceeded to grab another sleeve and fill it with popcorn for Ian. Aww. Thanks Maddie!

With just a little bit of time to kill before our appointment, we found ourselves wandering into the Emporium gift shop. The kids have saved their allowance for the past few weeks and were looking for a souvenir to take home. And while they've got plenty of stuffed animals back home, these were pretty adorable in that their arms "hug" whatever you put them on. Alli really likes Marie.

And Ian really liking Stitch.

So where is the rest of the family? Surely they wouldn't miss out on Alli's first haircut, would they?
Certainly not. I had told them how amazing the Avatar Flight of Passage ride was at the Animal Kingdom and they were there before park opening to try to ride it.
As soon as the park opened, they headed straight to Pandora and there they waited and waited. And waited some more. It was very slow going and after waiting for nearly 2 hours, it was clear they weren't going to make it on the ride before Alli's haircut. So, they hopped out of line, hustled back to the car, and got to the Magic Kingdom as fast as possible.

And with minutes to spare, they arrived! I checked in with the desk and a short time later they were back out to lead us inside.

Hop up in the chair Alli!

I remember back when Ian got his first haircut, he got to play with a spinner the whole time too.

Sitting very still.

There's only 3 barber chairs here. The first time we were all crowded around trying to watch. This time we got the one with the benches.

Just taking a little bit off the ends.

You look great Alli! The First Haircut package comes with a certificate and a pair of Mickey ears.

A sprinkling of pixie dust to top it all off.

She's was happy for all the attention.

Congratulations Alli!

I love our family.

Congratulations from her big brother.

Let's go explore the park now! First stop is...

Starbucks! It's starting to get warm and we need some frozen drinks.

And the best place to enjoy a frozen drink while you're also being entertained for me is Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room.

This was a favorite when they were babies and not big enough to go on exciting rides. And it's still a favorite even now that they're bigger.

And I'm sure we'll come to regret it, but they both really want to learn to whistle so they can "sing like the birdies sing." Practice practice practice.

Really enjoying her cousin time.

On days when the park is crowded, rides like the Carousel of Progress are a favorite. Ian insists on sitting up front.

Time to use some of our fastpasses. Gadget's Go Coaster is a favorite back home. Here they've got Goofy's Barnstormer.

Hands up. That's what I like to see.

Because Theresa and Rita didn't go the first time there were 2 extra fastpasses. Aubrey took Alli to go for another round. What's Ian going to do?

Right next to the Casey Jr water splash pad.
Ian - Can I go play?!?
T brought a change of clothes just in case, so sure, why not.

And he got soaked.

He had a lot of fun in this play area.

Love it. The nearby restroom provided lots of paper towels to dry off.

The Winnie the Pooh fastpass queue bypasses all the fun stuff. But Ian goes backwards in the line so he can play with the honey walls. At the end, I lift him over the divider to join us in the main line.

I like the honey pots here at WDW.

Exiting through the gift shop, Alli found a few things she liked.

Next it was time for mini Space Mountain. I wish we had one of these back home. We love the People Mover.

Got the castle in the background.

Time for our last fastpass. Amy, Austin, and I hopped in the line for Space Mountain. When we got near the front, I saw the height limit was only 44". That's way lower than I thought it was. I texted T to have her check Ian's height and see how close he was.

Time for the ride!

Love this shot.

Once we got off, Ian ran up to me.
Ian - Daddy! I have amazing news!
What's that buddy?
Ian - I'm tall enough to ride!

Just so happened we had two additional fastpasses for it.

Space number 5 for the big 5 year old.

Before the ride he was excited.

And after the ride he was nothing but smiles. He really wanted to go again, but alas, we were out of fastpasses. That's okay buddy. I have some other ideas, now that I know you're 44" tall.

Before we go, we have to get that family photo in front of the castle. And now we've checked off the 4 Orlando parks.

On the way out the kids happened upon a couple character we never see back home. It's Robin Hood!

The kids wanted to show off their new toys, and Robin Hood was happy to play along. They do look like airplanes with their arms out like that.

Good to see you Robin Hood!

And there's Little John!

Stitch has got a good grip on him.

It's fun to see new characters.

Because they didn't have any luck at the Animal Kingdom this morning, we're all heading back there to finish our day.

But first, dinner. Mobile Ordering is great. I love skipping the long lines for food.

Now the rest of the family had waited for hours this morning and didn't have any luck boarding Flight of Passage. But every once in a while you happen to get really lucky with Fastpasses. Flight of Passage is obviously the hardest FP to get at the Animal Kingdom. But on the monorail/tram/car ride over, both me and Donald were able to get fastpasses for Flight of Passage! Talk about lucky!

And guess what else. The height limit for Flight of Passage happens to be... 44". Ian can ride! He was really excited!
The cast member wanted to check his height still. He told her, look, I have to bend my knees!

All queued up and ready to go.

And did Flight of Passage live up to the hype?

Totally! Combine the best parts of Soarin' and Star Tours and it really feels like you're flying.

To celebrate, Donald bought every a frozen Pandora Night Blossom, a lime/apple/pear drink with passion fruit boba on top.

While the rest of the group heads over to Kilimanjaro Safaris, Ian and I have just one more mountain to conquer. We're on an expedition to make it to the top of Everest and maybe even get a peek at that supposed Yeti. On the walk over Ian and I were talking about that Yeti and how he doesn't like people on his mountain. Ian suggested we should say sorry to him if we happened to see him.
We've got to be in the front row for this momentous occasion.

Hands up for the initial lift hill. Pretty brave for having never been on this ride and not knowing what to expect.

What's this? The Yeti has torn up the tracks!

Ian wasn't sure what to expect when we started going backwards. And then it got dark! The Yeti's shadow appeared again and ripped out the track in front of us.

With an 80 foot drop and a top speed of 50 mph, this is the tallest fastest coaster he's been on yet. And he loved it! His next big step will be once he hits 48" and can do his first inversions!

While we were on Everest, the rest of the family enjoyed their time on the safari. Since it was evening and the temperatures were cool, a lot more animals were out and about.

Once we all met back up, it was back to Pandora. We'd heard it looks beautiful at night when everything has that UV glow to it. And what we'd heard was true. It did look really nice.

The next couple days were spent at the house hanging out, enjoying the game room, and swimming in  the pool.
It was an awesome trip to Florida for Spring Break. I was happy Alli could get her first haircut at Disney World, and it's always great hanging out with family. Until next time!