We started off our first full day in DisneyWorld by eating a quick breakfast of pop-tarts and breakfast bars in our room, and then got dressed and ready to head off to MGM Studios.

While we were aiming to get there when the park opened, our objective this trip was not to kill ourselves trying to do everything or cram everything into one day. Last time we went to DisneyWorld, it was a 4 day trip, and it’s just about impossible to do everything in 4 days. It’s impossible to do everything in 2 weeks, but if your objective is to do most of the major attractions and have a somewhat leisurely pace about doing it, give yourself a week. The Magic Kingdom will be two days easy (especially if you have kids under 10). EPCOT is like two parks in one, so two days there. The Disney-MGM Studios can be done in a day, and Animal kingdom can pretty much be done in a day. By the time you throw in other things like a swim or two at the resort pool, a trip over to Disney Marketplace or Disney Quest, or any of the other many attractions, you’re at a week. We were there for 9 days this go-around, and that worked really well.

We took the bus from the Grand Floridian over to MGM studios, and landed at the park around 10:00. After navigating the entry gates and bag search (and a quick restroom break), we were on our way down Sunset Boulevard. Madison found a pony in front of one of the gift shops and we had to stop for a quick “ride.”

(don’t forget to click on the thumbnails for larger versions of the pictures)

We took a right at the end of Sunset and wound up at the entrance to the Rockin Roller Coaster. Having ridden this ride before, I was fairly certain that Madison wouldn’t be interested, but I thought the boys might. So we decided to try out “Parent Swap”.

Parent swap is where everyone waits in the line for an attraction, and then when you get up to the front you tell the Disney Cast Member that you want to swap parents on this ride. One parent rides with the kids that want to ride the attraction, while the other parent waits for them with the child that isn’t big enough or doesn’t want to ride. Then, when the first group gets back they “swap” and the second parent rides while the first waits with the child that didn’t want to ride. Pretty cool system.

Well, it turned out that Matthew had second thoughts once we got into the queue, and decided not to ride when we got up to the ride. So I went with Michael, and Madison and Matthew exited with Cynthia.

Michael and I had a blast (zero to 60 in less than 3 seconds — woo!). After we exited and looked at the silly photos that they took of us on the ride, Michael decided to ride it again, this time with mom. So Matthew and Madison and I went looking around while they took their turn (the line was really short, less than 5 minutes wait). We found a popsicle stand and got a couple of ice-creams.

As we headed back across the center plaza towards Muppetvision 3-D, we ran into Chip -n- Dale, and Minnie Mouse and Goofy. Autograph books in hand, the kids got signatures from all and I snapped the pictures.

I also had a chance to find out about a new service at WDW, Disney’s Photo Pass. This is a much better way of handling pictures than the usual, obtrusive park photographers that stop you as you’re walking into the park and try to up-sell you into some ridiculously priced package.

The way it works is the first photographer you run into gives you a small card (your Photo Pass) that is barcoded. Then they take your pictures (several shots each) and scan your card. As you run into other photographers, you have them take your picture and scan your card. There are photographers in several places, usually near landmark “picture spots” and wherever characters are signing autographs.

The trick here is there’s no high-pressure sales going on. They simply shoot and scan your card. Then, when you get back home you can log into disneyphotopass.com and type in your ID from your card. Up pop all of the pictures that have been taken over the course of your trip, for you to browse and edit. You can add titles, character signatures (they’ve already been pre-categorized with the right signatures for the characters in the shot), make greeting cards, etc. Then you can pick the best and order packages to be printed and sent to you. Pretty neat.

Muppetvision 3-D was very cool, we all got a little wet when Fozzy Bear sprayed the audience with his flower boutonniere. After that, we were dumped out on a back street near Al’s Toy Barn, where Buzz Lightyear and the Green Army Men were taking pictures and signing autographs. Yes, the Green Army Man signs his name — wait for it — “Green Army Man.”

We stopped in Al’s Toy Barn (the gift shop) and the kids used some of their Mickey Dollars to buy a souvenir or two. Mickey Dollars is a great idea I got off the Internet back when we were planning our trip. Here’s how it works: Cynthia and I made up a currency-looking Dollar bill (with Mickey Mouse on it) on the computer that we called a Mickey Dollar, and then printed out several. In the weeks leading up to our trip, whenever the kids did their chores or special things around the house, they got Mickey Dollars instead of real cash (therefore, they’d save it for the trip, not try to spend it beforehand). By the time we got on the plane to go, each boy had about 37 Mickey Dollars, and Madison had about 30. Over the course of the trip we didn’t have to negotiate or deal with “I want this, I want that” at all the toy shops; the kids were in charge of their own budget. This ended up working really well. Anyway, the boys bought Buzz Lightyear cell phones and Madison bought a Ballerina Minnie Mouse.

We made our way over to the Star Tours ride and took a short interplanetary hop, Star Wars-style (and the requisite trip through the Star Wars themed shop afterwards), and then noticed that it was probably a good time to head back to the hotel for a little rest before making our dinner reservations at Cinderella’s Castle.

We caught the bus back and decided to have a dip in the pool. There are two pools at the Grand Floridian, one calm large pool in the middle of the resort, and another slightly smaller pool on the South side that has a huge waterfall, a slide (a long water park-type slide, not the little backyard kind), and a zero depth entry (that’s where one end of the pool gradually goes to zero depth and you just walk out, instead of the normal 3 foot with a ladder or steps). The boys and I played in the pool, waterfall and slide for a while, and Cynthia and Madison went and found the hot tub at the other pool. Fortunately, all the pools are heated, so even though it was in the high sixties, it was still very nice for swimming.

After about an hour of that we met back in the room, got dressed and caught a monorail back over to the Magic Kingdom. This time after clearing “customs” we went directly to Cinderella’s castle for our dinner reservations. We got pictures with the princess herself, then were seated in the main banquet room for a very nice dinner (rotisserie chicken, pork tenderloin, hot dogs, ice cream), complete with a short show featuring the Fairy Godmother and the mice from Cinderella.

We walked around a bit and explored the castle after dinner, then made our way over to Fantasyland where first on the agenda this night was the Dumbo ride. I sat that one out and took pictures while Madison flew with Cynthia, and the boys rode together.

Afterwards we rode the Winnie the Pooh ride, which consisted of a ride through the storybook in a honey pot that spun, bucked and wiggled. I managed to snap a picture of the whole crew, one of the few that has me in it. Madison had to have a Pooh Lollypop after that. Next was a little playtime in the 100 Acre Wood playground, and then another spin on the Teacups.

As we wondered out of Fantasyland back through Tomorrowland on our way to the exit, we ran across the Indy Speedway, and took a ride in the cars. Matthew actually drove one solo, and did a pretty good, if not overly careful, job of driving!

We decided not to stay for the crowds, er, fireworks this evening, and opted instead to go ahead and catch a monorail back to the hotel. Turns out we had a pretty good view of the whole show from the monorail as it made its way around the Seven Seas Lagoon. Once back at our hotel we grabbed a couple bottles of milk for breakfast the next morning (utilizing that fridge in the room) and headed back to our room. About 30 minutes of the endless-Disney-cartoon channel and it was lights out.