Disney - Day 1

Day 1 of our vacation was AWESOME! We decided to head to The Magic Kingdom on Thursday since it was a bonus time day for anyone staying at the resort. They had a Halloween party that night and the park was closing at 7:00 p.m., so we were glad we got to go an hour early. Bummed we didn’t get to see the fireworks, but it worked out.

And can I just say that Oh. My. GOD. Disney knows what they’re doing! They should since they’ve had so much time to figure it out and perfect it. But really, I think Magic Kingdom is the only place I’ve ever been that can make standing in line not seem like standing in line at all. For example, when we went to the Mike show (Mike Wizowski!) it said 10 minutes from that point. And it WAS 10 minutes, to get to the next room where they count you off to go into the auditorium. Then we stood in a room for another 10 minutes watching a Mike video, but hey, we were in “the room” so we had to be close! And we were . . . we were next. So after a 20 minute wait, we got to see the show. 20 minutes isn’t bad at all, but I have to say that they know how to make standing in line not seem so bad. UNLESS, you’re waiting for that freaking Dumbo ride. Princess just HAD to go on that ride . . . it’s the only ride we waited more than 20 minutes for . . . we waited almost 45 minutes for that stupid ride! But she loved it, so oh well. And also - whoever thought up the Fast Pass was a GENIUS! We had a 5 minute wait for Space Mountain, Pirates of the Carribbean, Jungle Adventure, and Thunder Mountain Railway with the Fast Pass. The rest of the time, I think we were just in the right place at the right time. It was SOOOOOO cool! So anyway, I was very pleasantly surprised with our experience at Magic Kingdom.

Ya, I know. Princess looks all kinds of excited, doesn’t she. Have I ever mentioned that she’s not much of a morning person? 

After a couple trips on the Buzz Lightyear ride and the Tea Cups, we put got some Fast Passes for Space Mountain and headed to Mickey’s ToonTown Fair - cuz ya know the Princesses are there They had the entire Kingdom decked out for Halloween, so we got to see some fun stuff.

Toon Town didn’t open until 10:00, so we decided to go get some breakfast - at the ONLY place in the Kingdom that sells breakfast stuff. The line was HUGE, so Princess and I headed back to Toon Town while Hubby and Dude stood in line. On the way, we saw these guys behind Cinderella’s castle. I thought Princess would be all kinds of excited to see them! But, when we got close, she FREAKED out! Turns out, she thought they were going to mean to her like they were to Cinderella. I did get her to turn her face toward the camera a little, but she was NOT impressed.

We got in line for Toon Town to open, and when the gates opened, Oh. My. GAWD! Who ARE these people? Especially these mothers that are actually pushing other kids down (yes, I saw this happen) and literally dragging their kids screaming and crying across the pavement. Seriously, who ARE you people! Apparently, they just HAD to be first in line to meet the Princesses. My Princess and I apparently didn’t know where we were going, so we ended up in Mickey’s house Fun fun fun! We were right at the front of the line to get our pictures taken with Mickey and Minnie . . . woo hoo! I was way excited because 24 years ago when I was here, I didn’t see Mickey Mouse . . . no I didn’t. So we got our picture taken, and it was COOL!

Dude and Hubby had come back with breakfast, so we sat outside the Princess house to eat a nutritious breakfast of donuts, muffins, and orange juice - YUM YUM YUM! After that, we got in line for the Princesses - it only took us 30 minutes to get in to see them - not bad at all - and certainly better than dragging my kid across the pavement and knocking other kids down so I could get there and stand for only 15 minutes. I must say, I was once again very impressed with this part of Disney. The Princesses were SOOOOO nice! I was so surprised that they actually talked to each of the kids and posed for more than one picture. It was so fun for my Princess! And so worth the 30 minute wait She got to see Belle, Cinderella, and Aurora and loved every minute of it.

Notice that you haven’t seen Dude much yet. Well, he’s 8 and WAY too cool to be caring about characters Especially princesses, who did their best to embarrass him.

After the Princesses, we Fast Passed Space Mountain, which Dude LOVED! I didn’t tell him what the ride was about because I knew he wouldn’t go. He ended up LOVING the ride. Princess was bummed because she was just shy of the required 44 inches, despite wearing “tall” shoes and having a pretty on top of her head to make her taller. I know she would have loved it, too. We made it around to Tom Sawyer’s Island, which was fun. This was more up Dude’s alley - hiking, walking through caves, tackling barrel bridges. It was a nice break from the crowds where the kids could run around and have fun.

We had also fast passed Thunder Mountain Railroad, which obviously, Dude was NOT so fond of. I think as long as he can’t see what’s coming, he’s fine. But, unlike Space Mountain, this ride is all out in the open He didn’t HATE it, but he didn’t love it either. He pretty much just tolerated it. Princess, on the other hand, thought it was the best thing since sliced bread

After the roller coaster, we got front row seats at the very beginning of the parade. This was TOTALLY by accident. We actually thought we were at the end of the parade route and had gone to buy some ice cream and get ready to wait. Just when we got done getting ice cream, they closed off the road, so we got a front row seat. It was PERFECT! Our perfect timing day was continuing The parade was awesome and totally worth watching. We ended up toward the front of the Pirate’s of the Carribbean ride line, which was cool cuz it got WAY huge really fast after the parade. That was a cool attraction! After a few more rides, we headed back to the hotel for some dinner.

We weren’t much in the mood for getting the car and trying to find somewhere to eat, so we ate at one of the restaurants in the hotel. Expensive, but worth it And, Goofy and Pluto came to visit our table, which was way cool! We were all about the characters  . . .  it was kind of fun to get it over with on the first day so we didn’t have to try to “find” characters the rest of the trip.

Back at the hotel all cleaned up, we were going to relax and watch a little TV to wind down. But to my surprise, hotels in the Disney Resort do not, I repeat do NOT have the Disney Channel! I couldn’t believe it! So, Dude ended up reading a book while Princess watched a movie on my laptop. She crashed about 10 minutes in to it.

So, Day 1 was an incredible success and Day 2 was coming up! SeaWorld was on the schedule for Day 2, and we were not disappointed