Friday, May 1, 2009

Magic Day @ The Magic Kingdom

Wednesday morning started early with a wake up call from Mickey Mouse himself! (Is getting up before 7am ever ok on vacation?!?) We were excited because we had breakfast reservations at the Grand Floridian with Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, The Mad Hatter, Pooh & Tigger. On top of that, we were going to be able to ride the monorail for the first time.

Walking into the Grand Floridian was stunning! It was... well, grand! Jaleigh was wearing her first of 3 princess dresses. As we were walking down the (very grand) staircase, I turned to see Jaleigh holding up the front of her dress- very princess-like- and Saroya holding up the back of her dress. I wish I had my camera out- it would have been priceless.

In the lobby, the florists were re-doing a flower arrangement and gave the girls some of the longest stem roses I have ever seen!

The breakfast was fantastic (again a chef to show me around and TONS of options!!), the Characters were really lovely and came around alot, we ate a ton and were ready to have a great day! We WILL definitely do this again.

We didn't get to the park until 10:30a because of our breakfast, so we started to the right and just started seeing things. I think we may have started with Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin because we liked Toy Story Mania so much and heard it was similar. It was fun, but Toy Story Mania wins hands down!

We hit Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor which was HILARIOUS. Then I got bugged because I think the longest wait we ever did that day was for Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, and we can do that exact kind of ride 5 minutes from our house. In the end of the day, the kids loved it, so I guess it didn't matter.

After the Tomorrowland ride, we decided to separate while Nathan, Ethan & Saroya went on Space Mountain (Saroya was NOT a fan!)

Jaleigh and I went for a walk through Mickey & Minnie's houses and then for a leisurely ride on the train over to "Frontierland". (I know, I know... ME on a train. It was nothing!)

We met up with everyone there and headed to Pirates of the Caribbean. LOVED IT! I was worried that the kids wouldn't like it, but Nathan said, "They will be fine." And they were!

We went to Aladdin's Magic carpets,

The Swiss Family Robinson tree house, The hilariously funny Jungle Cruise,



and then... THEN we ate Dole Whips for lunch! (Did you know that these dreamy desserts are dairy free??? :D)

On our way over to Fantasyland, we noticed a parade was coming through. We had a terrible view, and didn't even try to get closer, but Jaleigh was THRILLED! She kept saying, "Here I am Princesses!! HERE I AM!!!" So funny!!

We stopped to see a few things, but then ate dinner at Pinocchio's Village Haus. Again, pizza for the kids and DELICIOUS salads for Nathan and I. OH- and you see that book on the table in the foreground? It is a total Walt Disney World MUST have. It's called Passporter's Walt Disney World. Thank you SOO much BETH!

After dinner, we went on a few of what turned out to be MY favorite rides! Peter Pan's Flight and It's a Small World.

The girls really wanted to see Tinkerbell & Friends in Pixie Hollow but the wait was 60 minutes- at least 30 minutes longer than anything we had waited for. I figured that with the holiday crowd showing up in a few days, this would be the shortest wait we could get. The boys waited with us for a while, but then I told them to go ahead and we would catch up to them. They had TV screens showing movies, so the wait wasn't bad at all. I don't even think we ended up waiting that long. Reguardless- it was totally worth it for the girls!

One glimpse of the castle and we knew what time it was!

We got an "insider tip" from an employee on where to stand so that Tinkerbell would fly right over our heads- so we found our spot, got a few snacks, and waited for the show. (Saroya is on the phone with Grandma Pam & Grandpa Dave who called to say, "Why haven't we heard from you??" :)

Perfect end to a perfect day! Ok- and even though I flimed it on another day when the Garricks were with us, I just wanted to post it here too... I couldn't wait! :)