The Josephsens: June 2010

Because it's a great idea to take a toddler to Disney World and an even better one to do so over a holiday weekend when the parks are guaranteed to be packed, we did just that.

Memorial Day weekend marked Anthony's first foray into the magical world of Disney, and our first stab at navigating a busy theme park with a child in tow. Look how fresh we appear in the ubiquitous "family-in-front-of-Cinderella's-castle" photo at the start of our journey...

...compared with four hours later in the ubiquitious "toddler-asleep-in-stroller-in-front-of-Cinderella's-castle" photo.

Actually, we had a lot of fun, and Anthony really seemed to enjoy the experience, even more than I thought he would. As Brandon accurately pointed out, the place is basically one big moving cartoon, and Anthony is nothing if not a fan of cartoons.

We started with Peter Pan's Flight, which Brandon deemed "lame" but was a nice, low-key way to kick things off. Anthony didn't seem altogether sure what was happening, but at least he didn't scream!

Later, he took it all in on everybody's favorite, It's a Small World. Yep, it's still in my head.

We even took a chance on the scarier Pirates of the Caribbean, and the oh-so-child-friendly themes of raping and pillaging and boozing seemed to go over just fine with Anthony. Not sure if that's a good thing.

By this time, Anthony was definitely warming up to the experience and enjoying the amazing sites all around him.

Brandon and I saw some amazing sites, too, not the least of which is this:

No, it's not amazing because our water-averse child - my ears are still ringing from the screams from last night's bath - is playing in the water.

It's amazing because....

THAT'S NOT OUR CHILD!

Yes, introducing Quinn, Anthony's 3-year-old doppelganger. Seriously, that's not Anthony. And somewhere out there there's a family not quite sure if they're OK with the fact that some crazy lady from Miami took a picture of their kid soaking wet in only his diaper.

Moving on, after Brandon and I got over the amazement of meeting Quinn, Anthony got to meet some new friends of his own.

He was pleased by this cat, whom I admit I don't recognize...although Brandon looks strangely giddy about the encounter...

...and more-or-less OK with this guy, who I think is from The Lion King?

However, the Stormtroopers on hand for Star Wars weekend? Not so much.

Fortunately, we quickly moved onto greener pastures in the form of The American Idol Experience. I may or may not LOVE American Idol (I do. I am woman enough to admit it.) so I was pretty excited about this one. I may have even told Brandon that if Anthony started getting antsy, he was going to have to take him outside while I finished watching the show...

As it turned out, Anthony was fine, and enjoyed clapping for the singers. One piece of advice, though: don't try to take your toddler's picture in front of a giant TV screen (that's Kris Allen as a baby, FYI). Said toddler will stare at TV screen, not dad with the camera.

OK, apparently the same is true about me when it's American Idol that's on the TV...

In any case, later on I managed to get this shot of the world's cutest Idol ever.

OK, second cutest Idol ever.

While Anthony seemed pretty into most of that stuff, there were a couple experiences that, for some reason, he was CRAZY about.

At Disney's Animal Kingdom, we decided to visit the petting zoo, and I braced myself for another 10 minutes of trying to get Anthony to show some interest in the animals while avoiding stepping in goat pee and simultaneously holding my nose. We've ventured to Miami Metro Zoo twice, and both times Anthony's response to the petting zoo has been to sit down (probably in goat pee) and read a book instead of interacting with the animals.

But, hey, drive four hours and shell out hundreds of dollars for tickets, and suddenly the petting zoo is the BEST THING EVER.

I guess we have a goat elitist on our hands; only Disney goats will do.