Disney World: November 3rd

"The royal daughter [is] all glorious within [the palace]; Her clothing [is] woven with gold."

Psalm 45:13

Tuesday morning we had to wake up early so we could catch a boat to the Magic Kingdom to eat with the princesses!  Before we left I wanted to get a picture of all of us with our matching Nemo shirts...

Left to right:  Aunt Amy, Lydia, Amanda, Uncle Greg, Alexis, Diana, Kimber, Grandpa, Eden, Grandma, Hannah, Seth, Steven, Caleb, Daddy; Mama, and Josiah

(that was very unorganized but I hope you could decipher)

A friend made these for Grandma.  On the shirts it says "Disney 2009" on the top with Nemo in the center and then "Wassenberg Family" on the bottom. 

After the picture was over, we set out for the bus stop once again (we rarely used our cars).

While we were waiting for the bus, the boys caught this unfortunate anole.  (Thanks, Mrs. Smith for telling us what these lizards are)

Then we hopped on the bus that went towards the Fort Marina Boats and Rentals. 

Lydia on the dock waiting for the boat. 

It was chilly and gloomy outside that morning (it was around 7:30 when we arrived at the dock) so Lydia was all wrapped up!

Grandpa and Uncle Greg pretending to throw Eden "overboard."

It was about a 20 to 30 minute wait until the boat showed up...

Here it comes!

Our captain was very kind and had a good sense of humor.  All of the Disney World staff (with one or two exceptions) were extremely kind and courteous the entire week.  We were quite shocked, truthfully.

Most of us (the grandkids) went to the front part of the boat.

Eden riding on the boat. 

The scenery was beautiful as we rode along.  We saw a few of the difrerent resorts as we went but trees and water predominantly.

Lexi.

This is the face she gave me when I called her name.

Once the boat scraped up against the dock in the Magic Kingdom we unloaded and headed for the opening ceremony.

Follow the blue shirts!

The opening ceremony had an announcer and some dancers.  Of course, they welcomed you to the "magical" Magic Kingdom and said that they couldn't open the park until the Mickey Mouse train came by.  After all the horn-tooting and cheers that accompanied Mickey's (and some other characters) appearance they opened the park and we surged through the gates.

Lexi in front of Cinderella's castle where we headed for breakfast with the princesses!

After certifying that our reservations were valid we went inside the castle!

Uncle Greg and Stephen by one of the knights outfits.

We got in line for pictures with Cinderella and after we traversed the red satin steps to the upstairs dining room we sat down at our tables.  (A friend of ours, Mrs. Hale, told us that the person who dressed up as Cinderella was actually from around Mechanicsville, VA!)

Diana

Our waitress came around and poured our drinks and asked what we would like for breakfast while we snacked on some of the sweet things they had on the table.  Some of the things on the menu were garden omelets and french toast.  I ended up getting the garden omelet and, of course, it was excellent!

While we were waiting for breakfast to arrive, another lady came around and passed out "wishing stars."

Lexi showing off her talents!

Eden with her wishing star.

Then another waitress came back around she passed out swords for the boys and "wishing wands" for the girls.

Stephen and his sword.

Okay, so Diana was supposed to get a wand but she asked for a sword instead.  :)

Eden waving her wand.

(The architecture in the palace was stunningly beautiful with all the stained glass and arching windows)

Twice while we were eating breakfast they would have a wishing time and you would have to wave your wand (or sword) and make a wish.  (My wish hasn't come true - yet - just going to show how valid wishes are! :)

As we ate breakfast the princesses made their rounds!

Snow White with some of the grandkids.

Aurora (a.k.a Sleeping Beauty) with Lydia.

Sleeping Beauty with Stephen, Caleb, Alexis, and I.

Jasmine and Eden.

Belle with Stephen, Lexi, and Caleb.

Eden and Belle.

After all the princesses had gone by Amanda asked where Prince Charming was.  The waitress smiled and then got what looked like the manager and he just came over to our table and stood there with a twinkle in his eye, as if we were supposed to believe that he was Prince Charming.  Another funny moment with our family!  (I did see Prince Charming in one of the parades that day - Amanda was disappointed when I told her that she had missed him)

Seth with the cake he got for his birthday.

Daddy and our waitress.

She has been working at Disney World for so long that she was the 2nd longest employee (by years, not age!) in all of  "Disneyworld."  She actually met Walt Disneys son, he took over after Walt died.

All of breakfast was yummy and we all enjoyed it greatly! 

Josiah trying out his skill while we waited for the bathroom after breakfast (they only had one downstairs).

After we left the palace we went on some rides.

15 of us in the ride "Stitch's Great Escape." 

I had to take Josiah out because he got scared before we even got on the ride.

Daddy caught Grandpa getting a smooch from Grandma! :)

After everyone finished that one we went on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor.  In the laugh floor Daddy had a light put on him a few times and tried to act the part of a monster.  (He did pretty good! :)  Uncle Greg sent a joke in and they used it during the show even though they called him "Gref" because he misspelled his name on his text to them. :)

Around the Magic Kingdom they had all these birds that were just walking around enjoying Florida.  They were obviously very comfortable around humans!

Caleb and Stephen around a floating marble ball that was inside the park.

Josiah trying to turn the wet ball.

While we were over by it a talking trash can went by and started singing "Happy Birthday" to Seth.  It was really neat!  After it finished its song it went and talked to some more people, observing what they were wearing, talking to itself, etc.

The trash can went over to the lady in the picture (left in white shirt) and started singing a song about boots because she was wearing some! 

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Once again, we split up into 2 groups:  the older groups who wanted to do the rides and the younger ones who couldn't go on those rides.  Daddy had the camera and was in the group with the little guys:

Lydia, Eden, Mama, Josiah, and Grandpa before the sign.

Eden and Josiah on the flying Dumbo.

The older group went on It's A Small World, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and more!  We then met up with everyone else for lunch at a restuarant nearby.  The restuarant was hardly crowded and we got most of the upstairs to ourselves!  They had chicken nuggets and french fries, sandwhiches, chocolate cake, yogurt, and more for lunch.  As normal, everything was delicious!

As soon as everyone was back together, we went back towards Thunder Mountain Railroad to ride it again with the rest of the family who hadn't.    

Amanda and Aunt Amy examining each others pins (Grandma had put Disney Trading Pins on our lanyards so that we could trade with the staff around the park).

Hannah and Lydia.

Josiah.

After the Railroad roller coaster some of us went on Splash Mountain which was so much fun! We all got wet to some degree but definitely not soaked as we were expecting! When you emerged at the top of the highest (and steepest) waterfall and saw the brier patch seemingly right below you, it was scary - I closed my eyes! :) But that part was soon over along with the ride.  (After the ride I caught up with Mama who was watching the parade and that's when I saw Prince Charming)

We went on some more rides after the parade had cleared and stopped by Jack Sparrow's little show before heading off to dinner.

For those of you who watch Pirates of the Caribbean...there you go.

After watching some little boys try to "sword-fight" they picked out some more children and Josiah was one of the picked.

Josiah was very intrigued by "Jack Sparrow" though he had never heard of any such person.  He was given a scroll certifying his "pirateship apprentice" and then we were allowed to go.

One of the last stops before dinner was the Jungle Cruise.

Lexi and a hibiscus she found along the steps to the Jungle Cruise.

After waiting in line, we got in a boat (our family took up at least half if not two-thirds of the entire thing! :) and started on our journey.

Listening to the "captain."

The captain referred to us as the "Nemos" - she had some corny, yet funny jokes to share that kept the trip fun! :)

One of the waterfalls we went under with the Jungle Cruise.

The Swiss Family Robinson Tree House was our 2nd or 3rd-to-last stop.

I just saw the word "God" on something in Disney World so I thought it would be something I might need to take a picture of before it gets replaced with something else to be "politically correct".

Lexi climbing!

The "tree" was huge and the designing of all the different rooms of the house on different branches was so neat!  If only you could do that on a real tree...I might consider living in such comfy conditions! :)

One of the flowers by the tree house.

The last stop (I remember) before dinner was Mickey's PhilharMagic - a 3D show.  All of the 3D shows in Disney World were really neat and had flying objects coming straight for you which can be a little uncomfortable at times!

After that was over we went to the Crystal Palace for dinner! 

The Palace was a beautiful restuarant mostly composed of glass windows.  While we waited for our buzzer to light up, I took some pictures of Cinderella's Castle:

(It would change colors every so often)

Once we were inside and seated we went to get some food (buffet-style).  The Crystal Palace was probably one of my favorite restuarants of the entire week.  Well, the dessert was the best...soft serve ice cream (my favorite!)!!  They had chocolate, vanilla, and dreamsicle flavors that you could swirl or just eat plain.  They also had sprinkles to put on your sundae if you would like.  Of course, they had other wonderful tasting desserts too but I only had the ice cream! :-D  [Oh, dinner was really good too!]

A view of the inside (except that it was prettier).

Some of the characters that came around during dinner were Tigger, Pooh, Eyore, and Piglet.  (Go to a Snapfish slideshow of them here)

Tigger was the funniest character!  He came over, motioned for Amanda to get out of her seat and proceeded to sit down and put a napkin (hers) around his neck. 

Amanda and Hannah literally died from laughing.

Then he pretended to be Aunt Amy's friend.

Finally, after we had all laughed ourselves silly, he got back up, motioned for Amanda to sit back down and  gave her the napkin back...

After dinner they had fireworks by Cinderella's castle that began while we were finishing up dinner.

After the fireworks we browsed in some shops on our way out the park.

Magic Kingdom at night.

We thought that we had lost Diana and Caleb at one point but they ended up being with Grandma and Grandpa.

Josiah with one of the the glow-sticks that Grandma passed out to everyone while we headed to the dock.

After our safe transfer from one dock to another we hopped on another bus and (once we were at the station) walked the rest of the way home and said goodnight to each other, tired after another wonderful day at Disney World.

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All for Jesus,
Kimber