Our first full day at DisneyWorld, we went to the first park - Magic Kingdom. It is what you think of when you think "Disney". Mickey, princesses, castle, etc. The whole DisneyWorld consists of 4 parks - Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. We had 6 full days at Disney. We planned for one day at each park, at least 2 at Magic Kingdom and the last day would be a catch all or go back to anything we missed or whatever. There are also 2 waterparks at Disney, however, we skipped that. A water park is a water park I think and we were there more for Disney related stuff. Plus the girls are still a little young for most things the water parks offer.
Anyway, so, in my whole 2 weeks of planning (gasp!), I had planned which days to go where. Certain days have Magic hours and I've heard to stay away those days, unless you get to go early or stay late..because the crowds are worse those days. I knew almost every park did 4th of July fireworks (yes, we'd be there over the 4th), so then it was just going for which one we wanted to do. We picked Hollywood Studios for that. Since they normally don't do fireworks, we thought it would be neat to be there for that. Magic Kingdom always does fireworks so we'd catch those another night and same with Epcot (they have Illuminations, a water/fireworks show). Then I narrowed it down further by scheduling our character dinner, lunch or whatever. Since we had done DisneyLand in Sept, we decided to just do one character dinner of some sort and to stick with the princesses for that. We knew we'd still see the other guys and since princesses are actually able to talk back and interact, we thought the dinner would be better spent with them. So the only opening, with non-Magic hours for breakfast with the Princesses was the first day we would be there. There are several places to eat with characters. However, in our experience, it was best to do it right there in the park to not waste a lot of time travelling back and forth..because there is a lot of travel time involved. Even just WALKING back and forth to the entrances take time, not to mention having to ride the monorail to the parking or hotel or whatever. So we picked to have dinner at The Royal Table in Cinderella's castle. We also chose to do breakfast. A couple of reasons. It was all you can eat. And more 'normal' food...wasn't quite sure the girls would eat their lunch or dinner menu items when I was perusing their website menu. But the all you can eat was nice. Also, we made the reservations for the latest breakfast time and let that serve as our lunch. It worked out nicely. But more on that in a bit.
Basically this was the reasoning behind us going to Magic Kingdom on our first day. Going in with a bang!
So we got up and out the door by 8. We could've shuttled to the monorail but we weren't real sure about our stroller policies and what not. (We did take the stroller and that paid off big time too as you'll see later!) So Brad just decided he'd rather drive and park. Again, we were staying on the Disney property, but everything is still a couple miles away in different directions. (you have to imagine how BIG Disney property is) Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom...you can park right in front of and walk in. Magic Kingdom is the exception. It is the furthest from everything, first of all, and then you still have to park and ride either the ferry or monorail over the water to get to the gates. They really keep it separate.
We bought our 6-day passes at the gate and got our first visit buttons there too! (if you are celebrating anything, they have a button for it! So get one!)
This particular day, the monorail line was longer, so we chose to ride the ferry. Got on right away and we walked in the gates before 9am (they opened at 9).
So we got to see them actually "open" the park. There is this big to-do. The mayor of Main Street USA comes out and does a little song and dance with other people, the characters come riding in on the train, and fireworks go off ...all to announce the opening of the park. (the only park to do all this I might add) They really get you pumped up and excited!
We stayed behind after the initial crowd darted in to get our first PhotoPass picture taken. I highly recommend the Photo Pass CD. If you order in advance, you pay $50 less than if you order it when you get back from vacation! So we already bought and paid for it, so we snagged every opportunity to take a photo pass picture to get our money's worth! And, in case I forget to mention it, take lots of lots of pictures with these guys - they are usually in highly trafficked or photo op kinda spots. Take some as families, take some with just the kids. Ask for the special effect pictures (they will put Tinkerbell in the kids hands, etc...stuff like that). They do not mind and you want to get all you can. Your photo pass CD costs the same no matter the amount of pictures. Then once you get home, be sure to add all kinds of borders and such to it and save as a copy...again, it doesn't matter how many pictures are on your CD! (I'll be sharing those pictures as soon as we get our CD in I'm sure)
Our breakfast reservations were for 10:40 I think, so we took the opportunity in the cooler part of the morning (ha! It was NEVER "cool") to spend some time in FantasyLand before going to breakfast. We passed by the stepmother and stepsisters (from Cinderella) and these are the only characters throughout our whole trip that the girls wanted NOTHING to do with. But I had to get a picture of them anyway. :)
However, the Fairy Godmother was right up there alley!
And the girls tried to pull the sword from the stone...
Next, we let them ride Dumbo the Flying Elephant. This was a favorite in California and it didn't disappoint here either!
Then it was getting close to time for our breakfast, so we headed back to the castle.
Brenna wanted to be in outfit for this, so we quickly changed her into her Cinderella costume that we brought from home (you can do the Bippiti Boppiti Boutique and buy outfits and even have your little princesses made up, but well...its SUPER expensive, and yea, I'm not all up for that. Plus it doesn't look too comfortable to wear the remainder of the day! Lucky for me, our girls aren't that into getting their hair done, etc either so we just brought our own for breakfast). We got to go in right away (no waiting) and were first greeted by Cinderella herself. We got a picture (and autograph) with her before being taken to our table.
This picture was actually the one (that I later scanned) taken by the photographers there. With your paid breakfast (or lunch or dinner) you get a copy of this 8x10 picture in a nice frame/book with several smaller copies included too.
The girls each got a wishing star first thing and a wand. At one point in our breakfast, they did a whole 'make a wish' kinda deal throughout the whole restaurant that was fun for the girls...lights lighting up and such. All that magical jazz.
But first, we were served several delicious pastries, as an 'appetizer' and our choice of juice, milk, water..whatever.
Again, we chose breakfast because it was all you can eat, but the food was WONDERFUL. We ordered from a selection. We chose the basics of bacon and eggs and such for the girls (Served on Mickey Mouse shaped plates, of course)...
And also the bacon, eggs, sausage and potatos for each of us.
Then we also ordered a plate of the stuffed french toast (stuffed with cream cheese! Does it get any better?!?!) for us to share. You can see that in the above picture just behind my plate if you look carefully.
Brad, later, after his first helping, ordered this huge bowl of yogurt concoction (yogurt, granola, and fruit) that he claimed was the best thing ever. (sorry I didn't get a pic of that!)
All the while, we were continuously visited by the princesses... Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Little Mermaid, and Belle.
And Brenna had to stop and visit with the knight before leaving the castle.
As we walked out, we quickly saw Mary Poppins (who the girls didn't even know...gasp! the horror!....but I still made them take a picture)...
The girls wanted to ride the carousel next...
And on our walk from FantasyLand to Adventureland, we caught the tail end of the show they do on the castle porch. No worries - we had another day here and planned to see the full show next time.
Next up, was the Magic Carpets from Alladin. This was a soon-to-be favorite. The girls thought it was hilarious that the camel spit water at them...we thought it was nice and refreshing. ;)
Then we quickly found Woody and Jessie from Toy Story and waited in line for that. That wasn't a fun line. It wasn't in the shade and we were in the afternoon heat now, so yea. But anything for my girls...and they LOVE Toy Story!
Right after that, I told Brad I would stay with Brenna while he and Brooke rode Splash Mountain. I was so proud of her for doing it. She didn't mind the big drop, fall... however she said the story inside the 'mountain' was the scary part. And, lucky for them, they just made it on the ride and got to ride it, before they shut it down for maintenance. So as they were getting off, they were sending everyone else away (everyone else that had been waiting 45 min!) and were giving everyone free FastPasses to any ride. So they were set! And they got to ride! Win-win.
This isn't a picture of them, but just the ride to get perspective - I missed their boat. :(
Then, upon leaving there, we caught the tail end of this parade (again, no worries...we would catch the whole thing another day)...
We decided then we were hot and needed to rest and cool off, so we rode the train around the park for a breather.
We were still hot after that (haha!) and getting hungry - we hadn't eaten since our 'breakfast' and it was nearly 6pm - so we stopped in this restaurant themed for Lady and the Tramp. It was really good food! The girls each had spaghetti...
I had chicken parmigan with a "side" of spaghetti - haha! - ....
And Brad had some sort of seafood pasta that he claimed was really good too!
Supposedly Lady and the Tramp were eating out back in the alley and when Brooke heard the waitress say that, she kept wanting to go look for them. ;) The girls had an included dessert, ice cream, complete with Mickey Mouse shaped sprinkles.
We filled up our water and feeling refreshed, we headed out again. This time we found the lady who does the scissor cut profile pictures so we had to stop and do this. We had it done in DisneyLand and were so impressed, we had to get it done at DisneyWorld too!
However, I think the ones at DisneyLand were done a little better. I actually had to ask....Brenna is in front, Brooke is in the back. And I was also a little disappointed that, again, it doesn't even say DisneyWorld on the framing (and the frame from DLand was nicer too). If you'd like to go back in time and look at the DisneyLand one, you can see that post here. But anyway, it was still neat!
Another photo op...
From there, we went in to TomorrowLand and rode the Buzz LightYear Space Ranger Spin. Another favorite from California and it still impressed the girls. Lots of fun! And most of these rides only had, at most, a 20-25 minute wait. The only LONG waits were the big ones...like Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, etc...and those you could get Fast Passes for. So it wasn't too bad!
Here's a picture of a picture from Brad and Brenna's ride (you couldn't see Brooke on ours so I didn't share that one, but you can almost make out the top of Brenna's head here! :P)
As we were walking towards Space Mountain, we came across Pluto and Stitch dancing in the streets. Brooke quickly started right up with them! And so began her love of Stitch!
We went over to Space Mountain. The line was long, but remember, Brad and Brooke had their free Fast Passes from earlier so they skipped right to the front!
She was hesitant. She BARELY met the height restriction. Brad had never ridden it. I had and didn't remember it being too bad - it was fast. But it was in the dark, so I think that helped me actually...cuz you couldn't see what was next. But he said he was terrified the entire time - too much to actually enjoy the ride. He thought she was going to fly out. Since she had to ride by herself (you sit one in front of the other) and he could barely even reach her, if at all, he just kept seeing her bob out of the seat and was scared the whole time for her safety.
She did make it out alive, but when she got off, she wasn't happy. She said she didn't like it at all. But I was SOOO proud of her for doing it and being brave. Not like her typically, so I was SUPER proud. Enough that we bought her a Space Mountain Tshirt. ;)
Next we all rode the cars - Brad with Brenna (she seemed to develop a "I need to be near my Daddy at all times" kinda attitude, so he rode with her on most things), and me with Brooke. Anyway, this is another must-do and a kid favorite!
Then, for our last ride of the night, walking back to the front, we stopped at the Teacups and rode those, with no wait, because everyone else was lining up for the soon-to-be-starting fireworks. If you are not watching fireworks (and maybe doing it another night or something?) this is a GREAT time to catch all the rides with no waits!
A night view of the castle (and yes, that's pretty much what it looks like with all the people too! Getting ready for the fireworks..haha!)...
It was after that that we decided to head to our hotel. The park wasn't closing, but we didn't want to wear them out the first day. It was close to 9 when we left and Brenna fell asleep on the walk to the gates/monorail.
Here's Brooke riding the monorail on the way to the hotel.
Next up, ....Epcot!
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