Saturday, September 18th

"Practically Perfect in Every Way."

That's just the way I'd have to describe today, one of which I will always remember. It started out beautifully, and only got better. We woke up this morning, and the three of us headed off to breakfast, which we made reservations for about five months ago: 1900 Park Fair. It was here that they serve the Supercalifragilistic Breakfast, which is really good in itself. But more importantly, there are Disney characters that join you at breakfast. This was huge for Madison - she was dressed up like Alice, from Wonderland, and many people were commenting on how cute she looked. This was a dress unlike the others that you could find at the Disney Stores. Mommy found this one online and has really gotten her money's worth out of it. Remember, we've used this for a tea party at our house, and of course the Wonderland series we did back in February.

We climbed aboard the monorail and went over to the Grand Floridian, making our way down to the first floor where the restaurant was. With hardly any wait at all, we were there. And what a great time everyone had. Madison met Alice and the Mad Hatter, and of course Mary Poppins herself. Finally, there was also Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too. It was a great breakfast with lots of smiles and laughter. Madison really enjoyed her time with the Mad Hatter, and was laughing the whole time. Daddy made the mistake of asking why a raven is like a writing desk, and soon Alice was approaching. It was funny: when Alice came around, Madison got a little more serious. You see, this was important to her, and Madison gets somewhat shy!

After breakfast, we explored the Grand Floridian a bit, getting on the monorail to go for a ride around Seven Seas Lagoon and back to the Polynesian. We had a couple hours to kill before nap time, so we decided to return to the pool for some more fun in the water. Madison and Daddy jumped right in and had a great time splashing about. Madison kept jumping in towards Daddy, over and over again. A little later, Daddy even got to go down the volcano water slide. But the surprise of the day was after the hula hoop contest and the dance party, there was a "Disney Music Trivia" contest there by the pool. Mommy convinced Daddy to try it out, so the three of us formed a team: The Ladybugs. We were up against about fifteen other teams in a game where the disc jockey would play about thirty seconds of a song. We had to identify what movie it came from. At first, it was fairly easy, with songs from "Snow White," "Cinderella," and "The Hannah Montana Movie." At least to us, it was easy. Occasionally, there were zingers - but Mommy and Daddy got nearly all of them. Like, how on earth did I remember "Streets of Gold" by Ruth Pointer was from "Oliver and Company" - seriously, how obscure is that? Mommy scored big with "Camp Rock," and the two of us kept getting one after the other right - I think we only missed four total. Yet the contest went on and on, and we had no idea it was as close as it was. Would we persevere? We sure did! And we beat out all the other teams, winning by only one point! It was a lot of fun playing, and it didn't hurt that we we actually won. You may ask: what did we win?

We won a free boat ride on the Sea Raycers! Daddy was wanting to ride on a boat out on the Seven Seas Lagoon, and now we got to do it for free. What a blessing! Every morning, Madison has been looking out the window of our room, and down onto the marina where these boats were resting. She kept on asking if she could do a boat ride, especially after we'd have to pass by the marina in order to get to the main lobby. Well, the answer is yes, Madison. Tomorrow you get your boat ride. Daddy too!

After our victory at the poolside, it was time for a nap. Tonight was going to be a longer one, and Madison was already pretty tired. Fortunately, the curtains in the hotel room close shut to a point that it gets really dark in the room. That made it easy for Madison to fall asleep - and get this: she slept for two hours!

And when she woke up, it was time for the Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party! We got dressed up - Mommy and Daddy wore pirate costumes. Madison, however, wanted to wear her hula outfit again, which was fine with us. We boarded the boat to the Magic Kingdom once again and took a ride across the lake once again.

The event at the Magic Kingdom was great. Lots of people were dressed up - in fact, there was this one couple that came as Mary Poppins and Bert the chimney sweep. They did a very good job with their costumes! Madison brought along her Mickey-shaped pumpkin container to fill with candy, and before the night was over, that thing would be filled with delicious candy for all of us.

But first things first: we were hungry. Rather than the usual stop at Cosmic Ray's, we went over to Pinocchio's Village Haus. We spotted a couple Hidden Mickeys on the wall there, and ate chicken parmigiana and pizza. The food and service was good, and the place was pretty quiet: a lot of people were exiting the park, and the new guests for the evening's event were just arriving.

That's why we were able to get on Peter Pan and Dumbo so quickly. These rides are notoriously popular, but we made it on these quickly. Daddy rode on Dumbo with Madison this time. Over two years ago in Hong Kong, we rode Dumbo with her for the first time. Dumbo always brings back happy memories!

Of course, there were trick-or-treating stations there in Fantasyland, where Madison began to load up on candy. She knew exactly what to do. In fact, she was double-dipping from time to time, counting on her good looks to get a second portion of candy. She's a real pro!

Next, we rode Cinderella's Carousel, where we ran into Mary Poppins again. Madison really enjoys the carousel - next, we tried "Snow White's Scary Adventure." I have no idea why we did this. I suppose I was thinking, "Hey, it's a not-so-scary party. Why not ride on a not-so-scary ride?" But it was a little much for Madison. Basically, Snow White makes a cameo on this ride, but the entire thing is pretty much about the witch wanting to do everybody in. She keeps popping in over and over and over and over again! Note to self: skip this one next time!

We quickly redeemed ourselves by heading over to Mickey's Toon Town next. Here, we did a lot of trick-or-treating. Madison went through Minnie Mouse's home, and stopped at several places where they gave us all free candy. Alice and Mad Hatter's Treat Trail was a major hit, as we got three or four stops along the way that gave us enough candy to go home happy.

By the way, you can really see all the construction for the new Fantasyland expansion. In fact, I snapped a photo or two while riding Dumbo. There's a big crane back there - so big, it dwarfs the castle! That's huge!

By now, it was time to get ready for the big "Boo-To-You" parade, so we found a place right in front of the castle and waited. And waited. While there, we saw the Disney Villains Mix and Mingle in front of the castle, which was a musical starring all the naughty characters from the movies. Madison waved her finger and said "Naughty, naughty!"

A lot of people gathered, so you have to get there early for their parades - but we're glad we did. This was the best parade they've ever done. It all started with the Headless Horseman, riding the parade route to herald the beginning of the event.

Yes, it had a Halloween theme, and it was amazing. Madison loved it. All the characters were carrying masks as if they were dressing up, but that's just the beginning. A huge pirate ship loaded with pirates, and Captain Hook of course, made its way down Main Street. Jack Sparrow was there too, closely followed by the Haunted Mansion delegation: the Grave Diggers! In front was the shaky groundskeeper with his hound dog, followed by a choreographed team of spooky butlers carrying shovels. Following them were the dancing ghosts, and behind them were the famous hitchhikers on their own float.

While Daddy enjoyed that part of the parade, Madison was thrilled to see the Country Bears and a Western section pass by. And, of course, the guys giving out more free candy!

After the parade, we decided to head back to Fantasyland before watching the fireworks later on. We just had to ride the tea cups. Madison loves to get dizzy, and get Daddy dizzy too. But a wonderful surprise awaited us there: the Queen of Hearts! Madison actually curtseyed to her highness, to the delight of everyone there. Then she gave the Queen a big hug, and a kiss on the cheek. The Queen signed her autograph in Madison's book, and waved us goodbye as it was time to hop on the teacups.

Daddy was the martyr tonight. Neither Mommy or Daddy are big fans of getting dizzy, but anything for our little girl!

We hopped on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin next. Daddy did pretty awful this time around, but it didn't matter: everyone enjoyed the ride, and of course we saw Buzz Lightyear there too.

Afterwards, we found a place right on Main Street for the big fireworks show. In fact, the "Happy Hallowishes" fireworks event is probably the biggest and best fireworks show I've ever seen at Disney. This thing was huge! Of course, it was themed along with the villains and Halloween, which made it really different. But the fireworks were everywhere, filling the sky. It is so difficult to describe something so huge in scale. It was amazing!

After the fireworks, we went to Adventureland, where we spotted Puumba's Hakuna Ma-treat-a (where there was even more candy). We rode on Aladdin's Magic Carpets twice, ran into Captain Hook on the street - and Mr. Smee too. Then we walked by the Haunted Mansion (Madison is a bit too young for that one still). Finally, it was time to get going. The next parade was about to start, but we had kept Madison up late enough. She was still awake and had done really well tonight, but we wanted to make sure she got enough sleep!

Actually, we all wanted to get enough sleep. We rode quite a bit, met characters, saw the parade and fireworks and shows - it was a ton of fun. Oh yeah, and then there's the candy. Lots of trick-or-treating all over the place.

We got on the boat for a quiet ride back to the resort. It was a very full day, wasn't it? But it was a very good day, practically perfect in every way.