Wish Trip Day 3: Magic Kingdom

We started late today, and only planned to stay in Magic Kingdom for 2 to 3 hours. After our experience with the trick-or-treaters in SeaWorld last night: big crowd, driving and maneuvering Joseph's power chair and running over toes and nearly destroying a stroller, Brady and I figured that we would stay 3 hours tops to save our sanity and marriage ;o) But, the 2 hours stretched to 5 hours and we all had a great time.

We started off by taking the monorail to the Kingdom,

Joseph's first monorail ride.

Because we didn't get to Magic Kingdom until 1pm

(after the drive, monorail ride and waiting for the passes) we were hungry.

Add the warm weather and the humidity, the day was not looking good.

We decided to eat first and thankfully, good food AND the air-conditioning

at the Plaza Restaurant made us all happy.

We explored the place and before we knew it, people were lining up to see the parade.

We found the special spot for individuals in wheelchairs and got

front-seat view of the parade. The characters in the parade made sure

to stop in front of Joseph and acknowledge him.

Brady told me that he was so touched by the special attention given to Joseph

that he teared up. I, on the other hand, was too busy trying to take pictures

and steadily complaining about the heat.

Woody (at least a part of him) saying Hi to Joseph.

And there was Mickey! Even in my middle age, I still got excited to see him!

Mickey Mouse pointing to Joseph
This is the back of Joseph's head. See his left hand?


.Then we headed to Mickey's Toontown to look for him.

We found him and Minnie, too.

We could not get on any rides because of the wheelchair situation.

So we went on our way to the Jungle Cruise to see if it could accommodate

Joseph and his power chair. On the way there, Brady took this picture.

Yes, my stepson is much taller than me now.

Not that I am very tall to begin with.


We found the Jungle Cruise. And yes, Joseph could get in it!

Out of all the rides in the Magic Kingdom, this was the ONLY one

that could accommodate a power wheelchair.

When we were just checking out Disney World online, and all its attractions and rides last year,

Jungle Cruise was the main thing that got Joseph's attention.

And so Brady and I were so happy that he got to experience it.

Almost time to leave the Magic Kingdom

While the three guys waited for me to check out the shops,

they got to see two more parades.

As we were leaving, Joseph stated that he loved Disney World.

He liked the parades most of all, especially the very first one

when the characters came up to him.

It was close to 7pm when we got back in the van, and we were hungry. The KidsWish Network had arranged for us to have dinner at Friendly's. (We missed the one at the Cheesecake Factory last night because Joseph was trick-or-treating in SeaWorld and then we couldn't find where the restaurant was. The GPS kept saying that we had arrived at our destination and yet we couldn't see any sign of it. It turned out it was in the Mall and we just felt so tired, and being that it was close to 8pm already we just went back to the hotel and ate there.) Tonight, though, we made it to the restaurant. We were not sure about what food they serve because it looked like an ice cream place. It IS an ice cream place, and their food was really good. We all had a great time. And Joseph was particularly proud of his "creation", in which you decide the size, the flavor and topping of your ice cream. Tonight/today was great.