Adventures in the Magic Kingdom

Happy Tuesday, friends!

Today we’re going to be chatting about Magic Kingdom, one of my very favorite places!

I feel like Magic Kingdom is the heart & soul of Disney. Walking down Main Street is magic to me~ the sweet smell of caramel corn, the perfectly manicured landscaping, the busting stores, the beaming store clerks who smile & wave as you stroll by.

The Hubs & I had prepared for this trip~ we read The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World with Kids 2012 {which I highly recommend!} and created a touring plan based off of the author’s suggestions.

Our game plan

For our first day at the park, we wanted to keep it simple: watch the Good Morning welcome parade {a must do~ seriously, I tear up just thinking about it!} and head to Fantastyland as soon as the park opened.

The goal was to hit Dumbo, the Teacups, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan’s Flight & It’s a Small World before heading back to the hotel for lunch & naps.

Totally feasible, right?

We sure hoped so!

Lucky for us, the crowds were fantastic {I highly recommend the first week in September if you have little ones who aren’t in school yet!}.

We hit everything we wanted to ~ including multiple trips on Dumbo and the Teacups~ before 11 a.m. Woo! 

That left just one thing to do: have a delicious Mickey-themed snack, of course.

Yummy. {Seriously, if I could have shipped a box of those Mickey ice cream bars home, I would have! So delish}.

Our Magic Kingdom adventure continued the next night, when the Hubs & I decided to bring the girls back after their naps for a few hours. His parents were out on their date night, and we thought it’d be fun to hit a few rides with the girls & eat dinner at the park.

Hello, princesses!

Who knew that we’d end up hanging out with the princesses all night? We were on the lookout for Rapunzel {one of Little O’s absolute faves}, and once we figured out that we could only see her in Town Square, we headed in that direction. We met Cinderella {again}, Belle {again}, and then at long last~ Rapunzel! 

{Sidenote: Little O was totally into having their autograph book signed. And the Hubs & I were totally into checking out the different signatures of all of the characters~ each one is amazingly unique!}

We also managed to track down Tiana & Naveen from The Princess & the Frog out in the gardens on our way back from dinner.

Little O broke the ice quite nicely, saying “this is my sister, Dozerella. She dozes everything!” Princess Tiana couldn’t stop laughing, and the Hubs & I quickly explained that H-Berry’s nickname is Dozer, and we modified it to Dozerella for the Disney trip.

Never a dull moment, I tell you.

Can’t miss Wishes!

Since Magic Kingdom was the closest to our hotel {we stayed at the Bay Lake Towers at the Contemporary}, we ended up popping over to Magic Kingdom almost every day for one reason or another. 

We had been told not to miss the Wishes fireworks, and we were lucky that on Tuesday night, the fireworks were at 9pm instead of the usual 10 pm. Past Little O & H-Berry’s bedtime for sure, but not by too much by vacation standards.

It wasn’t super crowded so we hit a few Adventureland rides first, including Aladdin’s Magic Carpet, Pirates of the Caribbean & the Jungle Cruise.

Let me just say that if there is one teeny-tiny negative to have no wait times, it’s that as a parent, you don’t have enough time to fully think through what you are doing. {Ahem: like if Pirates of the Caribbean is appropriate for your very small children {answer: negative. At least not for poor H-Berry, who was a rockstar but definitely not a pirate fan}}.

The fireworks lived up to expectations~ just like with everything Disney, they were magical. We had a chance to snap a few pictures in front of the glowing castle as well~ love! 

A lunch fit for a princess

When the Hubs & I booked this trip months ago, the first dining reservation we made was at Cinderella’s Round Table. We thought Little O would adore being inside the castle…and we were right. It was such a fab experience for all of us~ can you tell the girls were excited?? 

We also had Little O’s hair done at the Harmony Barber Shop on Main Street before lunch{we wanted to wait until our next trip for the Bibbity Boppity Boutique}. It turned out super cute & it was just the right amount of sparkle for our sparkle girl! 

The princesses were all so sweet & gracious. Little O was full of questions for them~ where are the seven dwarfs {at the mine working, of course}, where was Flounder {swimming in Cinderella’s bathtub upstairs} and where was Cinderella’s glass slippers {the prince bought her more sensible shoes with straps for everyday life}.

Our little princesses were given magic wands, wishing stars, and a whole lot of ice cream & toppings. Happy kiddos, I tell you!

Electric Parade

The Electric Parade is one of my very favorite parts of Magic Kingdom. I remember this parade vividly from when I was a little girl, and I couldn’t wait to share it with our own sweet ones.

It was even better than I imagined~ possibly because I was seeing it again for the first time through Little O & H-Berry’s eyes. Little O was glowing with excitement, and Baby H was blowing kisses to everyone. 

Love love love!

Dumbo, for the 93849384th time

Our last full day at Disney, we decided to spent at Magic Kingdom. We were insanely lucky with little to no crowds all week {the most we waited was maybe 10 minutes}, so we asked the girls what they wanted to do on their last day.

The verdict?

Meet Tinkerbell, Jasmine & Aladdin and Mereda from Brave…

and {of course} ride Dumbo, the Teacups and the Barnstormer roller coaster for O.

It was a pretty fantastic way to cap off our time at the Magic Kingdom! 

I do think that by the end of the week, the cast members who worked at Dumbo & the Teacups knew us by name. Certainly by Little O’s happy shrieks and H-Berry’s giggly “moreeee….moreeeee” requests.

And really…what’s not to love about that?

Counting My Kisses: This place is magic. Even though we’re only a few days removed from vacay, I know that is one of the things I’ll remember the most from this trip: the look on Little O & H-Berry’s faces as we spun them around & around on the teacups for the 10,000th time. Their squeals of delight are permanently etched on my brain~ and I know that memory will be making me smile for years to come.

What’s your favorite part of Magic Kingdom? Share in the comments section below!

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