I’m in the homestretch with these recaps! We’ve been home for 4 weeks already; how is that possible? I’ve been obsessing about all the wheres and whens and hows of our next vacation (not a Disney trip). I think I have a disease…Obsessive Vacation Disorder. As soon as one trip is over, I’m thinking about the next. I just love spending that time with my family, making memories, having something fun to plan look forward to, and let’s face it – a good reason to be off work for a week. Now, on to a very special day, Dexter’s 4th BIRTHDAY!!
In case you missed it:
Click HERE to see the photos we shared on Instagram from our trip.
Click Here if you missed Day 1.
Click Here if you missed Day 2.
And my most recent recap, Day 7.
Day 8: May 13th, 2015
As I mentioned on Day 7, we had early morning reservations again as part of our celebration of Dexter’s big day. This time we went to the Polynesian Village Resort for breakfast at ‘Ohana with pals Lilo & Stitch as well as Pluto and Mickey Mouse.
We took the bus from our resort to Magic Kingdom and then the ferry boat over to the Poly. 
Recently renovated lobby. 
The food at ‘Ohana was reeeeally good! We loved the pineapple bread.
Served family style – Mickey pancakes, hash browns, sausage, bacon, biscuits, all the fresh melon and berries we could eat, that POG juice, and more, more, more food. 
The kids loved participating in the mid-meal parade. 
And meeting the characters of course.
We all have on our buttons – Dexter’s is a birthday button and the rest of ours’ say “I’m Celebrating.” A good way for a birthday boy to get lots of attention throughout the day! 
After a delicious, entertaining, busy breakfast, we rode the monorail back over to Magic Kingdom to continue our fun day.
I have a picture of Ryan here with Goofy from trips past and he asked me to take another. A nice bystander offered to take a family photo so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity. 
By this point in our trip, we’d promised and missed about 3 opportunities to meet Buzz. We knew on Dexter’s birthday, this was a non-negotiable. That was one happy little birthday boy. I didn’t think about the fact that I was WEARING my Buzz Lightyear shirt until after we walked away. I bet he would have given me a big thumbs up.
The goal was to hit a bunch of stuff we hadn’t had a chance to do yet this trip – one of these things being the Astro Orbiter. 
A special treat for me on Dexter’s big day – my friend Rachel moved from Indiana to Florida in December of last year. She’s as much a Disney lover as I am. So much that she and her family have annual passes. She drove an hour to meet up with us for the biggest part of the morning. It was GREAT catching up! 
Ryan’s obsession with slushies continued as we made our way back to Gaston’s Tavern for another Lefou’s Brew. 
Rachel had to get back to Realityland so she left us in Fantasyland. I hugged her so tight!
One of the boys’ favorite rides for sure – Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. 
All he talked about, leading up to our trip, was getting a cupcake on his birthday. We get him in Big Top Treats of Storybook Circus and what does he choose? A marshmallow/cake pop thingy! Because….it’s blue. He loved it, that’s all that matters. We sung Happy Birthday to him right there and I got a little choked up. What a special boy. What a special day. 
Penny pressing fun. 
And when the sugar rush turns into a sugar crash…ha. Dexter slept for about 2 hours. I know Ryan and Theo rode Carousel of Progress and I remember walking around the gift shop at Space Mountain’s exit. I believe this was the only mid-day nap either of them took the entire trip. He was so out of it during this nap that Ryan and I both voiced worry that he would wake up not feeling well. We actually woke him up after two hours and he bounced right back to his happy, excited self.
One of the birthday boy’s favorite things to do at Magic Kingdom is the Tomorrowland Speedway. 
If I’m being totally honest, he’s a terrible driver. 
Ryan decided to skip this puke-maker.
Catching this show was on our to-do list. Check. 
Jungle Cruise!
MORE PENNIES!
Playing in the souvenir shop after riding Pirates of the Caribbean.
Country Bear Jamboree – done. Now I don’t ever need to do this again. Unless I need a nap.
We love Voyage of the Little Mermaid.
And seeing Cinderella Castle all lit up at night. 
We also made time for once to watch the fireworks (I didn’t bother taking pictures during, but I took this one below right beforehand). A magical ending to a magical day. I can’t imagine a better way to spend Dexter’s birthday. 
Throughout this day, Ryan and I discussed several times where we would spend our last park day the next day. We had done the majority of what we wanted to do in each park by this point. It was kind of depressing leaving Magic Kingdom, not knowing if we’d be back this trip. Even though the last-day-blues were starting to creep in, I went to bad happy knowing that Dexter could not have had a better day.
Up next – our last day!
xo,
~C~