Thursday, June 19- Magic Kingdom
Our second day at Magic Kingdom was here! We got up that morning with the same game plan that we had on Monday and it worked wonderfully.
I snapped this as we were walking to our first ride!
Which made me remember our 2011 visit to Magic Kingdom with Adalyn
(& Landon! ;)
We even rode the carrousel then, too!
Now look at her!
Ok, done going down memory lane.
:)
We arrived around the same time (9:15) and went straight to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin ride. We had a Fastpass for that between 9:20-10:20. By the way, when it comes to your time to use your Fastpass, you can go anytime during the 1 hour time slot you selected. So if you happen to be at one end of the park and just getting off a ride, you have plenty of time to make it to your fastpass ride (or character meeting) that you selected.(even if it's at a different area within the park. You will do lots of walking!) Also, if you stay on Disney property, you each will have a bracelet that serves as your room key, entrance into the parks, and it also serves as your Fastpass entrance. Since we were not on property, you are given a lime green card with a character on it for each person in your group. You must keep up with this green card b/c that is the only way the "computers" register your fastpass selections and the only way you can get back into the park. Landon did not need a card due to his age. That meant I did not have to reserve a Fastpass for him, either. He was automatically allowed in with us when we used Fastpasses.
Ok, back to the Buzz Lightyear ride... I knew both kids would love this ride, esp. Landon. We all love Toy Story in our house and most of Landon's underwear are Toy Story themed lol
You know how they take pictures of you during your ride and you have the opportunity to buy them afterwards? Well, we definitely did not buy them, but I snapped a picture of what they got of us. lol
We rode this ride probably around 9:25 ish or so (remember the park opens at 9) and the standby line was already a 30 minute wait. If you really want to ride Buzz, I would get a Fastpass to do so!
After Buzz, Stitch was also in Tomorrowland greeting people! I didn't know this, we just accidentally spotted him. So be on the look out for him throughout your day in Tomorrowland.
We hopped in a 5 minute line and waited to meet him!
What does Landon do as soon as he greets him?
Give him the biggest hug ever.
Literally!
hahaha! I am still laughing about this!
Stitch was a really fun character to meet!
We knew Buzz would be out within that area soon to meet people so we asked a worker what time he typically came out. They told us 10 and showed us exactly where we needed to go to meet him. Well, that cast member was wrong and we ended up finding out he didn't come out for his first meeting until 10:35. We were the 2nd people in line so we decided to just wait. (Side note-- the 2 days/nights we were at Magic Kingdom, the longest wait we had on anything was the 30 minutes we waited for Buzz. We really got lucky!)
30 minutes later and the kids were able to meet him!
I love the way Landon is holding his arm. He was loving it!!!
He was talking up a storm!
Giving Buzz a High 5!
(I can't help but to smile as I am uploading these pictures. I am so glad we were able to let are kids experience this trip!)
Before our next fastpass, we had some time to kill so I wanted to find Princess Tiana. I knew she was in Liberty Square and we found her behind Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe. We learned she was about to take a break and would return in 30 mintues so we put the stroller first in line to meet her and shopped around in the Christmas shop. They had all kinds of ornaments and my mom bought them their ornaments there (she buys them ornaments every year. Something that normally represents what they like or did throughout that year) While we were browsing, (and I had to keep my eyes on Landon like a hawk. He was on a search to find a spider so he was touching everything in sight haha) a lady came up to me and asked if these two kids were mine. I said yes and then she asked if they could help her with something. I said sure! I had no idea what it was she wanted them to do but she took them to a little Christmas tree and asked that they decorate it for her. She had a basket of ornaments (I asked her first if they were glass b/c I knew Landon would break them if so lol) and told them to put them on the tree any way they would like. Landon put on a few then continued his search to find a spider (he is so funny when it comes to spiders) and Adalyn took the job seriously and kept decorating the tree over and over again.
She wrote their name on this slip of paper and told me their "masterpiece" would be kept like they left it for 24 hours. I thought that was really neat.
She gave them two free mickey head ornaments and this certificate as a keepsake. So cool!
Next up, Princess Tiana! The kids watch Princess and the Frog all the time so I was excited they were able to meet her, too!
She was soo pretty and sounded just like Tiana from the movie. She was so country- I loved it!
Guess what Landon was saying to her?
"Look! There's a spider!"
hahaha!
She must have saw the spider, too.
;)
We were ready for our next Fastpass so we walked over to Fantasyland to ride Peter Pan's Flight. This is a very popular ride and the stand by wait time was always 45 minutes when we walked passed it or I looked on my phone.
Choose a Fastpass for this if you want to ride it!
Or ride it at 11:30 PM and the wait won't be too bad!
I only took one picture of the whole ride- sorry about that!
We love to watch this movie at home so being on the ride felt like we were watching it all over again!
We spotted Rapunzel's tower!
It's not a ride or anything, just something neat to look at!
We packed our lunch on this day as well, but we were finished with everything we had planned for that morning so we decided to go ahead and head back to the condo to eat our lunch. On the way out, we came across a show at the castle so we stopped and watched some of it.
Once back at the resort, we ate and we all went to sleep and napped for a few hours. I love afternoon naps!! On Monday night we arrived back at the park around 8:30, but this night was different because we had dinner reservations at Chef Mickey's!
On the tram, headed to hop on the monorail to go to Contemporary Resort for dinner!
Adalyn loves to play the "don't blink" game lol
Just FYI, if you are interested in a character meal, you are able to make reservations 180 days before your trip. I made ours back in February and the only evening that was available during the week we were going was on Thursday. Well, I take that back. Other nights had openings but not until like 8:30 or 9:15 PM. I did not want to eat that late! I was able to snag a 5:20 dinner reservation on Thursday and I was thrilled with that time slot! That meant we would have the rest of the night at Magic Kingdom. I did lots and lots of reading about Chef Mickey's. I read a lot of reviews as well. It was hit or miss regarding their experience but I am happy to share that we had the best time and we loved every second of it! If you read reviews, you will read that people say it is very loud and crowded in the restaurant. Since our reservations were at 5:20, I remember thinking to myself as we were eating, "Why did people think this place was loud and crowded?" Well, we left around 6:30 or so and it was definitely much more crowded then. So, my advice and if you are able to secure this time, I would suggest 5:20 or earlier (maybe 5?) if you want to have dinner at Chef Mickey's. It was very calm and quiet the entire time we were there. You also have to know, going to a character meal is pricey. Just get over it! The food was great (it's buffet style with lots and lots of options) but you are really paying for the experience. We did not wait in line at the park to meet Mickey or Minne and I never saw the first sight of Goofy, Pluto, or Donald at all within the park. (not that they weren't there, I just never saw them)
The characters came around to each table one at a time and spent lots of time at every stop they made. They never seemed rushed and took their time with my kids. (and everyone else's!)
I took TONS of pictures, but I'll spare you and just add a couple from each character :)
You're welcome.
See what I mean about Landon being the hugger?
It was so sweet that he was like that with every character they met.
After dinner, we got on the monorail and headed to Magic Kingdom. Upon entering, my dad pointed and told me he just recently found a picture from when he went to Magic Kingdom as a child and they took a family picture in front of this Mickey landscape.
I thought it would be neat to have our family picture taken there so we asked someone to take it for us.
I love it!
The rest of the night we rode rides and watched fireworks. We did notice that Thursday night seemed a little bit more busier than it did on Monday night but still, going at night is definitely the way to go.
We rode a lot of the same rides we already had (the kids love Dumbo!) and we also rode The Barnstormer which is a really awesome roller coaster that goes super fast and is so fun! Landon was tall enough to enjoy the ride, too and he loved it!! That ride is a must!!
Sleepy boy waiting on the light show!
Tip- I think a light show starts at 10:00, followed by fireworks. A staff member told me to bypass the first light show and wait for the 10:30 show. There were SOOOO many people on Main Street waiting for the light show to start so we took her advice and we shopped in a few souvenirs shops and caught the 10:30 light show. We were right in front of the castle. The crowd that watched the 10:00 show left immediately afterwards so it was nice to not be squished beside 2,000 people!
The light show on the castle was seriously the neatest thing I have ever seen. It was synced with music and scenes from various Disney movies. Landon fell asleep and didn't get to see any of it but we all enjoyed it. :) I didn't get great pictures of it but you can get the idea!
After the show, most of the crowd left so I checked my app and discovered Big Thunder Mountain only had a 20 minute wait. (which is nothing because normally the wait is always at least 45 -60 minutes long.)
Adalyn was tall enough to ride with us so mom stayed with Landon while he snoozed in the stroller.
I am so glad my girl likes roller coasters as much as we do!
It was midnight (or later) by then and we were ready to call it a day! So our second day at Magic Kingdom was another success and I felt proud of allll the reading and research I did because I felt we really made it through the park very easily!
Another tip, wear tennis shoes! You walk a lot, and the last thing you want are sore feet while you're there. To keep the weight down on our luggage (due to flying) we all wore tennis shoes on the flight because I knew we would be wearing them while we were at the park. I knew my flip flops would kill my feet by the end of the night so wearing tennis shoes was a good call.
Adalyn and Landon were also able to each pick out a souvenir on this night. Landon chose Buzz Lightyear and Adalyn chose a Princess Belle music box. I also forgot to mention we rode the train around the entire park on this evening as well. You can get on at the main entrance, Fantasyland, or Frontierland. We were in the Frontierland area so we hopped on and enjoyed it so much. This was the kids first train ride, too.
Also, when you do leave the park for the night, you may (or may not, depending on the night I guess) notice a huuuuge line of people waiting to get on the monorail to head back towards the parking lot. You will also see another entrance to the monorail that goes to the resorts if you are staying on property. People think since it's going to the resorts that you won't be able to ride on that particular monorail but that isn't true! Thankfully Adam overheard a cast member telling a few people to get on the resort monorail. We listened to him so we were able to walk right on while hundreds and hundreds of people were still standing in line waiting to get on the other (main) monorail. It took us straight to the main area to get off to catch a tram to head to the parking lot after they stopped at The Floridian and Polynesian.
We had a wonderful experience both days we visited Magic Kingdom. You hear this saying a lot but I came to realize how true it is. It really is a magical place. I cannot wait to go back and start planning our next Disney vacation. We will be hitting up the beach the next few years though but I'd say once both kids are in school, we will venture there again!
It's safe to say I am a true Disney fan now :)
We had sooo much fun!!
