Gavin & Daddy at Disney

Today was literally the perfect father-son day. I really like our Thursday routine...it's great to have a dedicated day for Gavin and I to do stuff uninterrupted by work. I've been wanting to take Gavin to Magic Kingdom on a slow weekday for awhile - and today was ideal. I'm proud of how much we got done in a matter of 5 hours, so here's a detail of what we did.

I could tell right when we pulled into the parking lot that the park was going to be slow enough for Gavin and I to hit some of the attractions that we usually bypass. Upon walking into the park we grabbed a fastpass for Buzz Lightyear and made our way to the Tomorrowland Speedway. The line was only about 10 minutes long, so Gavin drove his first racecar - a "blue racecar". The guy who walked us into the car gave Gavin an official Speedway Driver's License to boot. The Speedway was quite a bumpy ride - after all, there was a 2 year-old behind the wheel. After the ride we still had about 20 minutes to kill before our Buzz fastpass was available so we took a leisurely ride on the PeopleMover (or, the train, as Gavin calls it). Our final stop of course was Buzz, where Gavin scored his first points. Usually he just watches the scenery go by - which is what he did mostly this time too. After Buzz, we grabbed a seat and enjoyed a PB&J sandwich, an ice water, and some dried pineapple. BTW, I swear everyone loves Gavin when we go to Disney. It seems like every employee we walked past gave Gavin either a sticker or a high five.

Upon leaving Tomorrowland, Gavin and I made our way to our next fastpass location - Peter Pan. Gavin really couldn't care less about Peter Pan, but he really seems to like Captain Hook (I sense the dark side in this one...). But, I'm happy to say that he loved the Peter Pan ride. Most of the time you wisp around the scenery in a suspended pirate ship, so I think Gavin had a sense that he was flying. Anyway, we'll definitely do that one again. Next, we had to take a bit of a detour - daddy needed some adult food. So, we grabbed some Nachos at the new Tortuga restaurant near Pirates (we were hoping to do Pirates of the Caribbean, but it was closed). Anyway, the food wasn't bad...they had a nice nacho topping bar. Of course, Gavin enjoyed some "chips and sauce" (salsa).

We made our way back to Fantasyland and hit up It's a Small World - a consistent favorite of Gavin's. Honestly, we only did what Gavin wanted to do today (with the exception of the PeopleMover). The line for Small World is great for Gavin. There are shapes everywhere on the walls and he points them out constantly as we make our way to the line. He enjoyed pointing stuff out all throughout the ride - there's so much to look at that he probably notices different stuff each time we ride it. After Small World we picked up a fastpass for Winnie the Pooh and checked out Mickey's Philharmagic (a 3-D movie) Gavin really enjoyed this. It's the first time he actually wore his 3-D glasses (most of the time, anyway), so he got a chance to see why the glasses are needed. As we walked out of Philharmagic Gavin's eyes fixed on Cinderella's Carousel. Now, anyone who knows me well understands that I hate going in circles. But, I tucked my issues away and we hit the Carousel. He loved riding his horse. I just stood off to the side of the horse with my hand on his side. I think he enjoyed how the horse took him about two feet over my head - he was a real big boy for a few minutes.

After the Carousel we hit our final stop - Winnie the Pooh. We got there a few minutes before our fastpass was valid so Gavin played in the little Pooh playground for about 15 minutes...beating some drums, jumping around, playing with a ball popper, and interacting with a pop-up Gopher. Finally, we hopped onto the Pooh ride (which Gavin really likes) and made our way back to Main Street. I grabbed a Coke for me and some "potatoes" for Gavin (french fries). I like to give him a little treat when we go to one of the parks. He snacked on those as we made our way through the stores on our way back to the entrance. The air conditioning was glorious since it was 90 degrees with a blazing sun today. We were done...exhausted. Gavin fought his nap all day, so we needed to head home.

We got back around 6pm, cleaned up, ate some dinner, did some puzzles, and watched some Little Einsteins. This kid seriously loves musical instruments. I forgot to mention that when we were in Mickey's Philharmagic he was naming all of the instruments he saw on the a walls and in the movie. It's amazing what he's picked up from Little Einsteins. Inside Philharmagic he called out and correctly identified: trumpet, violin, guitar, flute, drum, piano, tuba, and trombone (that I remember). I love this little guy...