Disney: Day 2

We had reservations for Donald's Safari Breakfast at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom, so we were up and ready pretty early. This was no problem for any of us because we were all pretty excited!I would highly recommend the character meals. We did 2 breakfasts and a lunch. We much preferred the breakfast ones-Will was fresh and in a better mood, the food was better, and it gets you into the park early!!
With this being the first time Will would encounter characters, we had no idea how he would respond. Donald greeted us at the door and Will was super shy. He talked all about him before we actually got to him, and then couldn't take his eyes off of him after, but the whole time Donald was looking at him/trying to give him a high five/etc Will acted like he wanted no part. The character meals are buffet style....so basically they get you seated and take your drink orders and then it is up to you to fix your plate and eat while the characters mingle around the room. It was a very easy set up. All characters made their rounds fairly quickly and we were in and out in a little less than an hour.
Mickey was the first character to head over to our table. Will acted exactly like he did when he sat on Santa's lap when he was almost 2. He didn't move a muscle. He looked straight ahead and would occasionally let his eyes glance in Mickey's direction, but for the most part stayed very stoic.
Seeing them from afar was much different. He lighted up when Goofy entered the room. Goofy is his favorite!It wasn't like he was scared of them. I think he was just a little star struck. I mean when you think about it, Disney characters are his form of movie stars :)He warmed up a little bit...but he wasn't going to get down and hug them or anything. He much preferred me or John to hold him.Because our breakfast reservation was for 8:05 and the park didn't open until 9:00 we were right outside of the Kilamanjaro Safari ride before the park opened and were one of the firsts on the ride! This ride generally has a long wait time, so we were so excited to get to ride it first thing in the morning (the animals are at their best in the morning, too) and then fast passed it so we could ride it once more later in the day with no wait!
After the Safari, we headed to Dinoland which Will loved. We rode the Triceratop Spin and since there was no wait, they let us just stay on and we probably did it 6 times in a row. This was all great until later in the day at Magic Kingdom when the crowds were at their peak and we got off a fun ride when it was over....Will pitched a fit because he wanted to do it again and didn't understand why we had to get back in line!
Within Dinoland is a huge playground type area. Will seemed so big to me in there! He was doing everything by himself. He loved the "spider web" and sliding down the big slides!

Another favorite was the Lion King show. He loved seeing all the characters. The performers do
an amazing job. It is very entertaining to watch all the acrobats!!

He didn't love "It's Tough to be a Bug!" We wondered if we should do this since it was 3-D, dealt with bugs, and he has never seen the movie "A Bug's Life." We decided to try it. He was super excited about the glasses until the show started. Right off the bat there is a huge spider and Will was not a fan. About 20 seconds after that a giant insect came out of the wall directly to the left and above where we were sitting. Well, that did it. We got up and left, not wanting to scar Will for life or make him scared to do other things.Right after lunch Will passed out in the stroller. I couldn't believe that he slept so hard, but was so thankful he was able to sleep even if for only an hour. We weren't sure how we would handle naps while on the trip. We figured unless it was absolutely necessary, we wouldn't go back to the room to nap. We would just try to muscle through and if he needed sleep bad enough, we knew he would doze in the stroller.While Will napped, we treated ourselves to ice cream. John loves the Mickey Ears. I have a picture of him (in this exact same shirt, actually) from our trip 2 years ago enjoying his treat. He was not too excited about taking this picture, but humored me so I could document his first Mickey Ears of this trip!

Once Will was up from his nap, we treated him to his first Mickey ice cream too! He chose an ice cream sandwich and ate every single bite of it!
It was here in Animal Kingdom that we made the goofy hat purchase. We were killing some time in an air conditioned little store and Will started trying on hats. He thought it was hilarious that he could be Pluto or Goofy. He kept putting the Goofy hat back on and then asked if he could take it home. Can you really say no to that? I think it is like a rite of passage or something to buy some sort of character hat on your first trip to Disney. My parents still have my Daisy hat. John's parents have his Donald Duck hat. I know we also both had a Goofy one at some point. I joked that we should have just brought one of ours and then Will could have sported a Vintage Goofy hat :)

The parade was by far the highlight of the day. In Animal Kingdom it is called Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. It started at 3:45. Will had woken up from a nap in the stroller about an hour before. It was hot. John was ready to get out of there and change the scenery/pace a bit, but I convinced him to stay. We sure were glad we did!! Will got the biggest kick out of seeing all the characters. All of the "floats/cars" were decorated super cute. It was the perfect end to our time in Animal Kingdom.

After the parade, we got on the bus and headed to Magic Kingdom!Each time we watch a Disney movie and Will sees the castle, he says "There's Mickey's house!!!" He was in complete awe when saw it for the first time!After walking around for a bit, we figured we only had time to ride a few rides, eat some dinner, and head back to the hotel so we could get some rest before Hollywood Studios in the morning. We fast passed Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and went to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. This is John's favorite ride, so we were hoping Will would like it too. He ended up loving it. The first time through he was very cautious and didn't say much, was just taking it all in. He was a little unsure at the beginning when it was very dark and we went down the little waterfall. It turned out to be one of his favorite rides and most of his souvenirs were pirate related. After the ride, he picked out an eye patch and pirate telescope. Buzz Lightyear was definitely a favorite for Will. He still talks about shooting the laser guns!!