Day two at Walt Disney World was so much fun! We got up early, and went to breakfast in the Kona Cafe. Daddy and I shared a Kona Coffee French Press. Oh.My.GAWD! it was soooo yummy. It’s definitely a must have when you have breakfast at the Polynesian! We ate and met our group downstairs in the lobby. We were going to be going out to the Magic Kingdom with our VIP Tour Guides, and the girls were very excited! They did nothing but talk about meeting the Princesses, and today was their day!

While waiting in the lobby, I had a little bit of fun with my Lensbaby lenses, taking photos of the beautiful flowers and the waterfall there. I think my favorite photo is this one with the Composer Lens. It was totally unplanned, mostly because I knew nothing about the settings I was trying out, but it looks really cool… totally artistic… well, at least I think so, and that’s what matters right? Yeah.. thought so.

Anyway, we soon got on the bus to the Magic Kingdom with our guides leading the way. We walked in a door, that honestly, if it was just me walking around the park, I never would’ve guessed it was a door. So, when we walked in, there just happened to be some performers singing and dancing in the street, with a little trolley car just waiting for them. One of the ladies must’ve thought the girls were cute, because she came on over and talked to them and let me take a photo of all 3 of them… Of course the girls weren’t all that into it. They were on a mission, and nothing was going to interfere. Sorry girlies… Rides come first! Well, at least anything outdoorsy came first. We were watching the skies just get darker and darker as the morning went on. We were expecting rain, and lots of it.

So, our awesome guide, Zane, took us to Tomorrowland first. We had a real mission at hand! Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin! That was just too fun. I wasn’t as excited about this one as Toy Story the day before… but it was a lot of fun. We got to kick some serious robot minion ass… can I say “ass” when referring to a ride at Disney??? Oh well, too late. We also kicked a little Evil Emperor Zurg ass too! LOL.. Yup, we were Junior Space Rangers, and we took that title very seriously!

Waiting to meet the Princesses!

Our next destination was going to be the girls’ most favorite! Hands down. We went into Mickey’s ToonTown Fair and  to the Hall of Fame, and the girls were just jumping with excitement. To be totally honest, I was too… Well, not exactly jumping, but I was excited! We got a private audience with Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora! My girls were just little chatterboxes! They pretty much talked the princesses’ ears off… and the princesses were amazing with them. They talked to them, and gave them hugs… I mean, I’m sure they’re used to kids hanging all over them, but they were very nice with the girls… We were lucky enough to also have the chance to meet with the Fairies, Tinkerbell, Rosetta and Silvermist! Oh the girls were in heaven!

After meeting the Princesses and the Fairies, we headed off to It’s A Small World… Yes, that ride is a MUST DO, anytime you’re in Disney… BUT… just heed my warning. You WILL have that darn song stuck in your head the rest of the day. It’s amazing how no matter how many years it’s been since you’ve been on that ride, you still remember all of the words. Yeah.. Kinda mysterious. We also made it on to the Haunted Mansion.. always a favorite! Our last stop was the Philhar-Magic show, which was an awesome 3-D show complete with splashed water, and smell-o-vision.

Goofy posin' for me!

Lunch was next, in yet another hidden building in the park. It was awesome. We even had a special visitor! Ok, maybe two. When we first got in there, a guy was making balloon animals for all of the kids. One of my girls got Ariel, and the other… she wanted a sword… go figure. Our other special visitor was Goofy!!! He posed for photos with everyone and even let me have a little bit of fun with my fisheye lens from LensBaby.com! What an awesome sport!

The rest of the day was pretty much a photo free day. It was raining so badly, I didn’t want to take the camera out of the bag! It was a warm rain, so staying out wasn’t too bad. Zane was really cool, and took us around to a few more rides despite the pelting drops! The rest of our group had bowed out and went back to the hotel to dry off, warm up, etc. We were just fine with staying out as long as he was willing to! We went on the Jungle Safari Boat, the Magic Carpet ride, and Big Thunder Mountain… That was the girls’ first big roller coaster.. and they got to do it twice! What was funny was that when we first got there, the girls were very definite on who wanted to go on roller coasters, and who didn’t. Well, after we got them both on that first one… They totally switched. I laughed. What else could I do? besides take them on more roller coasters??? Which we did… but not till the next day.

We finally had to call it a day since dinner time was fast approaching, and considering that despite our best efforts to stay dry (by sporting the ever so sexy WDW clear plastic ponchos) we had to get back to our room to freshen up for our super spectacular dinner at the Contemporary Resort, it was probably a good idea. Rather than hoofing it in the rain, our guide, Zane, offered us a train ride! Yeah.. it was pretty cool. We took the train around the Magic Kingdom to the Main Entrance, where we caught the monorail (say it again, monorail) to the Polynesian. It was sad to say goodbye to him, especially since we knew we wouldn’t be able to get in the back way to any more rides… Plus.. he was pretty full of cool Disney Knowledge! Ahhh what a day in the Magic Kingdom!

Cinderella's Castle

Dinner came too fast. We got up to our room, dried off, changed and headed down to the lobby. We went over to the Contemporary and were just amazed by our dinner location.  We were high above everything, and could see the park from the windows. I was able to take some amazing photos of the Castle from the walkway outside. I only wished that I had thought to lug around a tripod. I could’ve gotten some amazing photos of the castle all lit up at night. It’s ok though. I did get to enjoy the awesome fireworks show with my family… which the girls definitely loved. Dinner itself was amazing. It started off with an appetizer, goat cheese ravioli… Some flat bread pizzas that were deee lish.. Then a salad, and later the main courses… yes.. plural. They started off with some Salmon and cous cous, then brought out some grilled chicken and a beef tenderloin. Oh.My.Gawd. They were all so good. I know I’m not supposed to eat absolutely everything that is put in front of me… but I couldn’t help it. I had to taste a little bit of all of them. I did good though. I just took a taste

After dinner and dessert, we went outside for the fireworks. It had started to rain, but we waited it out just a little bit and it moved on. It was perfect.

When that was finished, we gathered up our things and hopped on the monorail back to the Polynesian. The girls were so tired that they almost fell asleep on the way over… and it wasn’t a very long ride! All in all, it was a wonderful day.. despite the rain. I think I said it best when I said “We’re not gonna let a little rain ruin the Magic”… and we didn’t!

To see the full photo gallery for Day 2 in Walt Disney World, check out my gallery.

** Thank you to Hanes who paid for our trip to Walt Disney World (my airfare, my family’s hotel, park tickets and most meals). I covered Airfare for my husband and girls and some incidentals (souvenirs) while on our trip. I was sent to WDW as part of the Hanes Comfort Crew**

So I’ve debated which blog I’m going to write all about our first trip to Walt Disney World on, and I think I have it all figured out… I’m going to do it on both… but in two very different ways. This blog is all fun and jabber, where the other one is all about business… so here goes..

When I got the email from Hanes, asking if I’d like to be a part of the Hanes Comfort Crew, and join them in Walt Disney World, (most) expenses paid… for a week.. with my family… I couldn’t say no. We figured out a way to buy airfare for Hubby and the girls, and went from there. We didn’t tell the girls anything… except that we were going on vacation, and we got to take airplanes to get there. I wanted to tell them so badly… but didn’t want our night before to be anything like this one:

I mean really.. it was bad enough that Daddy and I were up till 2 am the night before… barely tired, packing, and really “too excited to sleep”. We did get everything packed and together before we finally went to sleep that night… Thank goodness because the next morning was a crazy blur!

Monday morning, Daddy and I woke up, got ready, packed up the last of our toiletries, got the girls up and dressed, packed up the van, and were off to the airport. I couldn’t help but think I had forgotten some things, but it was too late… There was no turning back now! We turned in our luggage, made it through security and waited to board our first flight out of Jacksonville, NC… The girls were beyond excited, and so were we.

Our first flight was quick and smooth… We landed in Charlotte without any crazy deals with the girls. They watched a movie on our iPhones, and that was good… They used their new MyPhones, and loved them! We grabbed some Jamba Juice in the airport… a small treat since we don’t have one of those anywhere near us in Jacksonville… and went on to our next gate. Ahhh Jamba…

The flight from Charlotte to Orlando was a nice one too. The girls had some fun coloring and working on their workbooks. The flight went by so fast… not including the anticipation of our Magical ride to our Magical resort! When we landed, we didn’t have to worry about our luggage. We had a trip aboard Disney’s Magical Express, thanks to Hanes… We made our way to the shuttle, and let them take care of everything! One of my fellow Walmart Moms, and author of ChicShopperChick.com,  Erika Lehmann arrived at about the same time as us, and joined us on our shuttle ride over to the Polynesian!

This greeted us in our room

We got checked in, walked the beach out our back door… (yes, I said beach!) relaxed for a little bit, and grabbed a quick bite to eat before meeting our group in the lobby for our first trip out to the park! We met our awesomely cool VIP Tour Guide, Zane… More on him later… and our girls made instant friends with another girl in our group. Her parents are lots of fun…and from North Carolina too!!! LOL.. too cool! We all got on the bus, and rode into Disney’s Hollywood Studios through the back lot. It was really cool walking into the park through “secret” doorways, and just appearing in front of the coolest ride evah! Oh yes… Aerosmith’s Rockin’ Rollercoaster.

Hanes Kids' Spot

Daddy and I took turns sitting with the girls as Zane took groups in to ride the Rockin’ Rollercoaster.. Ok, Space Mountain used to be my favorite coaster… but this one totally took the cake! I only wish it had an encore! Oh, and the kids… they were too small for this ride, so instead, they got to hang out at the craft area out front… which happened to be sponsored by Hanes!

From there, we headed on to Toy Story, and a couple of other very cool things… The Little Mermaid, and more that I just can’t remember right now.. We did get to be part of the audience at the American Idol Experience. I almost felt like I was at the real show. We were at the last show of the day, so we were able to listen to all of the finalists from the whole day’s performances, and vote for who we thought should get the “Golden Ticket”. The “Golden Ticket” was basically a Fast Pass to the front of the line at the real American Idol auditions. We heard 5 very talented singers, but at the end of the night, we had to vote for the only male singer in the group.

The winner for 2/8/2010

He was AMAZING! He sang one of my favorite Tim McGraw songs “I Like It, I Love It”, and he got the audience cheering. Everyone was pretty amazed at how close he sounded to the actual song…  We all voted  with our little dial pads on our chair arm rests, and he won! It was so exciting!

At the end of the day, we were taken back to the Animation Studios where an amazing dinner awaited us. They turned the studio into a little restaurant and it was delicious! We walked in and were handed our very own set of Mickey Mouse ears… with our names embroidered on the back! I thought it was so cool that even the grown ups got a pair!! I never had any Mickey Mouse ears with my name on them, so this was super special! While we ate Mr & Mrs Incredible came by to visit, and a little later on, Mickey came to visit! The girls even got autographed Mickey Mouse gloves!!! They were in heaven! After dinner, we went back to our rooms and were surprised by a special gift bag from Hanes full of goodies for us! Our first Pins for our lanyards with a Rockin Rollercoaster Guitar Pick, some sunglasses, lip balm, a Comfort Crew Tee for me, and some other goodies. It was awesome. Needless to say, we pretty much crashed after this day of travel, rides and tons of excitement. We couldn’t believe we still had 4 more days to go! Phew..

For more photos from Day 1 of our trip to Walt Disney World with the Hanes Comfort Crew, check out my Gallery!

** Thank you to Hanes who paid for our trip to Walt Disney World (my airfare, my family’s hotel, park tickets and most meals). I covered Airfare for my husband and girls and some incidentals (souvenirs) while on our trip. I was sent to WDW as part of the Hanes Comfort Crew**