Off to meet the Mouse- Make a wish trip part 3- Blooms take on Magic Kingdom

On Tuesday, we headed out to spend the day at Magic Kingdom with a break at David's favorite restaurant- Chef Mickey's, for a character lunch.  Chef Mickey was the one place David really wanted to go, so we set off for Magic Kingdom full of excitement.

We entered Magic Kingdom and I decided we would go to the quieter parts of the park first.  We started off in Adventureland and did a Jungle Cruise.  Jacob was excited that he was to see real animals, and was disappointed by the fake animals he saw, while David giggled and was entertained on this funny cruise!  David's teacher describes him as having an awesome sense of humor, and the cornier the jokes the cruise driver made, the more David smiled!

We also hit Pirates of the Caribbean, and then it was time for us to head off to Chef Mickeys for lunch.

Matthew is obsessed with monorails, and so for him not only were we heading to lunch, but we were also off on a monorail ride!

just in awe at the awesomeness

 The boys all loved the monorail especially because this monorail goes right through the Contemporary Hotel!


Now it was time for Chef Mickeys Restaurant!

Immediately upon a character coming over to meet David, he starts to panic.
It was hard to see him so nervous, knowing that he would soon meet Mickey.

You can see here that David is very unsure  After Minnie and Donald left, I had my mom, Jacob and Matthew go get food so I could talk to David.  He teared up, and was so nervous.  

He knew Mickey was in the same room as him, and it was too much!  Finally, we slowly went and peaked at Mickey, and then talked some more, and over time I was able to convince him to get some food,  Finally, after about 20 minutes......it was time for the big Mickey meet and greet!

This smile melts my heart.  I know it is a side view, but man, his eyes are twinkling and he is so excited!  His idol is close enough he can touch him!
It's funny, in that moment I truly remember feeling so disappoointed because the previous 20 minutes had been so hard to watch.  On so much of this trip David tore the finger off of his thumb as he dealt with anxiety.  The more we asked him to stop, the more he picked.  He was throwing things, and ripping things, and even ripped his autograph book that we had hoped to get Mickey's signature in, so I am so thankful to have this picture to look back on that captures that his "moment" did happen, because in that time, I felt it was lost.  Now to see his cheeks, and smile so happy and Mickey so engaged with him.....well, it is pure magic!

After lunch we headed back to Magic Kingdom.....we knew we had less than 7 hours to complete the entire Magic Kingdom park....this is a tall order, but the Bloom's were up for the challenge!

                         My mom and David had a blast shooting the targets during the Toy Story Ride

Matthew said his highlight from Magic Kingdom was meeting a monorail driver and getting monorail trading cards (yes, these really do exist) and driving the small cars in fantasy land.  Matthew also had the comment of the day when he announced before the parade, "I love all girls, I should date them all!"

For David, the highlight was definitely Mickey's Philharmagic.  He LOVED this show, and thought it was awesome to see Mickey Mouse in 3d.  He also thought the fireworks were incredible, and loved watching them by the castle.

For Jacob, Space Mountain wasa HUGE hit!  A rollercoaster in the dark.....does it get any better than that? He also loved the parade- I loved watching him oooh and ahhhh as the parade went by.  He also enjoyed the fireworks, but felt like they would be "much better without the boom!"

For my mom I think the highlight was seeing the boys on It's a Small World and just watching the boys faces as they took in the magic.

When it was time for the fireworks, I got to watch them with Jacob on my shoulders and David holding my hands.  In that moment, it was pure magic! Late at night......at Magic Kingdom......life was good.