We were on a mission, our 9
month old son's hair was growing way too fast and it was getting harder to
style it in a way that kept it out of his eyes. It was driving the poor little guy nuts.He was born with a full head of hair...the ultrasound tech could
see his hair swaying in the amniotic fluid(and no Mom did not have
heartburn!) We discovered that there was
a Harmony Barber Shop at the Magic Kingdom that had a wonderful First Haircut
package so on a whim we decided to try and see if we could make Baby's first
haircut memorable(for us anyway...but he'll have pictures). There were several
constraints, we only had a weekend, we'd really only have time to hit one
park...but we rationalized that would be okay. After all we grew up in Los
Angeles and throughout our childhood Disneyland was a one day thing.
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| Dueling Haircuts |
Cast of Characters:
Dad & Mom., Big Brother(11
yrs old at the time), Little Brother("The Baby" he was 9 months old)
We live in Charlotte, NC but "Home" is Southern California
Thursday-
Big Brother was in rehearsals
for our town's children's theater production of "Disney's Jungle Book
Kids" and he only had the long weekend free. We picked him up from
rehearsal, had a quick dinner at McDonald's and were on the road by 10 PM. We
drove all night stopping for gas as needed, luckily The Baby pretty much slept
the bulk of the trip, and when he was awake we had Zootopia and Mickey Mouse
Clubhouse on the DVD for entertainment. Split driving duties with Mom so no one
had to drive more than about 4 hours each. Thought that was pretty good.
Friday-
We arrived in Orlando around
9AM, our plan was to spend the morning/afternoon at Disney Springs, and then
head over to our offsite hotel.
Disney Springs-
We got to Disney Springs soon
enough that there was plenty of parking but by the time we left later that day
the lots were near capacity. We
swore we'd never come back to Florida in the summer(our first trip was In June
2015) but what can we say...we were on a mission! World of Disney right at
opening was our first taste of Disney Magic on this trip and it was the shot of
adrenaline we needed after that long trip. It also was a much needed air
conditioned environment, We can not stress how hot and uncomfortable summer in
Florida is, something that doesn't come across in photos...after all it's
supposed to be Disneyland on the east coast, right? California gets hot but
there is no significant humidity and that is a big difference. We lived in
Washington, DC, now Charlotte, NC so we thought we knew what humidity was until
we experienced Florida. Oh well...it's Disney World...it's worth it!
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| Dad modeling his Retro Fantasyland T-Shirt while we visit Roy & Minnie |
We love retro stuff so Dad picked up 2 T-Shirts at World of Disney a red Fantasyland shirt and a blue Tomorrowland shirt. They had vintage artwork and "Walt Disney Productions" on them. Dad loves them. We had lunch at the "Bongos Cuban Cafe" takeout window, We love Cuban food...Mom Had the Picadillo plate(seasoned ground beef), Dad had the Ropa Vieja(Shreded Beef) and Big Brother had the Cuban sandwich(Ham Sandwich). It was a fun but exhausting morning; we parked at the Lime Garage...walked to the West Side, then to the Village Marketplace, them back to the West Side! Crossed the Town Center 4 times! that place is enormous!
Offsite Hotel-
Checked into our hotel late
afternoon, it was a villa type place with a studio over near Sea World. It did
the job but we definitely were missing the Disney bubble. We were able to get
our tickets Friday at our hotel and we were planning to go to Magic Kingdom the
next day. Linked our tickets to our
magic bands and we were ready to arrange what we were sure would be awful fast
passes. To our surprise and delight we were able to arrange Seven Dwarfs Mine
Train, Peter Pan's Flight, and Space Mountain! We thought that was a pretty
good line up to set up the day before. We rested in the room and then went to
dinner. It turns out Orlando has Del Taco, a Southern California based fast
food place…sort of like Taco Bell but with fresher ingredients. It's one of our
favorites and not very common in the east coast so we were happy to eat there.
It was over near Universal. We tried to get an advance reservation for Baby’s
First Haircut, after many tries to get through Dad finally reached an agent who
informed us that there were no further reservations available, so we went into
the trip not knowing for sure If we could get a slot at the barber shop.
Hopefully tomorrow would work out.
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| Highway In The Sky |
At the time we weren’t really rope droppers, we think we had successfully pulled it off once previously and only because we were staying at the Disneyland Hotel and we could walk there. This trip would be no exception…it seemed like we always ended up walking through the Magic Kingdom arches at 12 noon. But what a way to arrive! We still find the whole procession from Orlando via World Drive to the TTC and then across the Seven Seas Lagoon to be an enchanting experience. Those first glimpses of the Castle looming over the lagoon gets to Dad every time, there really is no approach quite like it in his opinion. This time we took the local monorail to the park as it had the shortest line. The stretch of track that elevates above the canal feels like you are flying, it really is a highway in the sky. We have no complaints with the Magic Band system, love being able to walk right through the gates without passing through turnstiles or having to insert tickets. This made it super easy to get in after passing through security of course.
It was “Talk Like a Whale Day”
in honor of the release of Finding Dory but in order to receive a souvenir
button you had to exit the park...so we did, got our buttons and then came back
in! We then briskly walked over to the Harmony Barber Shop…would they be able
to accommodate our little guy? We were afraid they would be all booked up, but
as it turned out they did indeed have an opening!
Big Brother wanted a Disney
World Haircut too so we arranged for a double haircut at 3:00, which worked out
perfectly with our fast passes. We did not realize it but a 3:00 appointment
meant we would also have a great view of the Festival of Fantasy Parade.
The barbers were fantastic,
they kept baby entertained with a Lightening McQueen toy and lots and lots of
Mickey stickers. The first haircut package includes Mickey Ears, a Certificate
and a souvenir bag for a lock of hair. There also was a splash of pixie dust
(glitter confetti) should it be desired. We were very happy with the haircuts
(Big Brother looked good too!) and when we were done we walked outside and
watched the parade! We did not know going into it whether it would work out but as it turned out our mission was a success and we enjoyed a parade in celebration!
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