Downtown Disney

We kept it a secret. We weren't sure when we were going to tell Connor and Lex. We thought that maybe we could wait until the morning when we entered the Magic Kingdom, but it became apparent that they were going to figure it out as soon as we turned into the gates for Downtown Disney. So, at the stop light, while waiting to turn left to go through the gates that had a huge Mickey on one side, and a huge Minnie on the other, we told them the news.

We were going to visit Mickey Mouse!

Actually, we asked Connor if he saw the giant Mickey statue on the gate, and asked him if he knew who we were going to visit. He said that he could see the statues, but that he couldn't tell us who we were going to see, because it was "a surprise." We left it at that, so I don't think Lex had any idea what he was in store for, but we could tell that Connor was getting very excited.

First on our agenda was dinner at T-Rex Cafe.


While Daddy was taking care of getting our table, I had to take the boys to the bathroom. I thought that we had adequately explained to Connor that the dinosaurs were not real, but as we walked through the entire restaurant to the restroom in the back, I was dragging Connor along behind me. He had dug his heels into the ground and was complaining that the dinosaurs wanted to eat him. Lex just clung to my neck and looked around wildly.

While in the bathroom, I had a nice chat with the boys and explained that the dinosaurs were not real and that the noises and lights were just special effects. ("Mommy, what are special effects?") After that, they were ready for fun, and really enjoyed seeing all the dinos and watching them move. Only when the lights went out and the dinosaurs all roared at the same time and it got pretty scary every 10 minutes or so did Lex complain and want to be held again. But, he got over it pretty quick as soon as he was safely out of his highchair, and he wanted to pet all the dinos before we left.

We ate in the ice cave, which kept changing colors while we were eating.


Oh yeah, and the boys drank chocolate milk out of strobe light cups. Which tipped over quite easily. And spilled. Twice. Once on me and my diaper bag.


I almost forgot to mention dessert! We ordered the Chocolate Extinction, even though we knew it was going to be too much for the four of us to finish. It came out with tons of ice cream, chocolate fudge cake, chocolate fudge topping and whipped cream, with a smoking volcano of dry ice in the middle. The boys loved it!

After dinner, we walked around a bit. One of our favorite stores was the Lego store. Connor really liked looking at all the giant Lego statues. He also enjoyed building Lego cars to race on their big track.

Woody and Buzz (and RC) made of Legos!

While in the giant World of Disney store, Connor walked around and assembled quite the birthday wish list! His favorite things were the Star-Wars-and-Mickey-Mouse toys, by far. I think I'm going to be ordering him some of that stuff come June.

Yes, that is a Goofy dressed as Darth Vader.
No, we didn't buy it for him. (Yet.)
Yes, we did get Connor a personalized set of R2-D2 ears.
No, Lex didn't get that set of ears. He ended up with a Mickey set.

We ran into Buzz Lightyear!


We also took a ride on a small train just as the sun was beginning to set.


Connor got to ride in the engine car, all by himself.