Let the Magic begin...

Oh wow!  It's been about 40 hours since we left home and I've barely had any sleep but what an exhilarating time.  The 17 hour flight was a really long way and all that time spent in airports between the 3 flights was hectic.  We've spent a huge amount of time in queues.  But it's been adventure all the way and the kids have loved it.  Lots of new things to observe and experience - it's all been good.

When we got to Jo'burg, I got into a Delta queue that seemed to be right and I told the kids, "Don't move - I'm just going to check that we're in the right place and I'll be right back."  When I came back 2 mins later, they were standing there like statues - they hadn't blinked since I left them and the queue had moved forward a few meters and they hadn't shuffled up.  It was really funny.

Ali's been doing cartwheels and walking on her hands in all the free spaces she can find - lots of wide open spaces in airports!

They love the walkalators and have endless fun bouncing on them and walking the wrong way.  When we got to Atlanta, we had to get a rather nifty train between terminals and they loved that.

We finally landed in Orlando at about 11 am local time and got to a shuttle to the hotel.  We were very lucky to get upgraded for free to a much larger room where Ali's got space enough to do handstands.

I insisted on having a shower and unpacking before we FINALLY headed off to Disney's Magic Kingdom.  Oh my - it's AMAZING!  The sheer size of this place is impressive.  The gardens are beautiful and everything is so clean. 

We started off at "Stitch's Great Escape" because there wasn't a queue and it was really entertaining.  Also went to Monsters Inc Laugh Fiesto which was hysterical - quite amazing how they use animation projected onto a stage but moved by real people.  It must be similar to the WII concept - very intriguing and clever. 

Then we had monster ice creams and completely wrecked our appetites!

Space Mountain (roller coaster ride in the dark) was a definite highlight for Luke.  He screamed and loved it.  Ali's on her way with roller coasters - if she can do that, she can do anything!  And she loved it too!

Ali drove a racing car (with me on the seat next to her).  Luke went solo!

The highlight of the day was meeting Push:

The Americans have been super friendly and everything works here like a Swiss clock.  I've challenged the kids to find inefficiencies.  Even though we've spent a lot of time in queues, the queues move and we've been able to use Fast Passes and be wise about bookings etc and it's been fine.  So I just need to do a bit of planning to avoid the really long queues and it should all be good.

I can't wait to go to sleep.  Luke and Ali fell asleep on the bus ride back to the hotel this eve and they were too tired to stay for the fireworks.  We'll do it another night.  Oh yay - sleep in a BED!