This was the day I had been waiting for my entire life. Disney World's Magic Kingdom. My ultimate bucket list in this life is to visit every Disney park in the world. This is number 3 of 5 current parks I've visited now. (Disney just announced a new park being built in Toronto that will open in 2028 so it will be 6 parks then.)
I've been SO excited to see Cinderella's castle up close & personal. I was sad Trek wasn't there to enjoy it with us, but boy were the kiddos excited.
One interesting thing about the Magic Kingdom is that you can have to ride either the monorail or a ferry boat to get to the actual park from the parking lot. Because it was Spring Break, there were THOUSANDS of people, so we crammed into every inch of space on that ferry boat & road our way to paradise. We even wore our ears to show our excitement.
Main Street in the Magic Kingdom is very similar to Disneyland.
But that castle. . . . oh that castle.
It's beautiful. I started crying the instant I saw it. I love how the magic of Disney makes me feel. There really is no place on earth like it.
Having previously worked for Disney (& knowing many of the tips & tricks of the trade), we made an immediate left into Adventureland for the first half of our day. Fantasyland & Tomorrowland are always the favorites. Nobody ever starts in Adventureland. . . which is very beneficial.
Our first ride of the day was The Jungle Cruise, which happens to be one of my very favorite rides. If I ever worked in the park as a ride operator, this is the ride I'd love to run.
It was very similar to Disneyland, but longer. I have to admit. . . I like it more than CA. I liked that it was longer, I LOVED the hidden temple you go through, & the guide we had was absolutely HILARIOUS. It made for the best start ever.
After Jungle Cruise, we headed straight for Pirates of the Caribbean. It's also one of my favorites, & most of my kids' favorite. My kids love pirates. It was super fun, like always. There aren't any drops at Disney World. My kids loved that, I liked the drops at Disneyland more. But all around, one of the best rides Disney makes. I love Pirates.
And immediately after Pirates, we headed to the Haunted Mansion. Those 3 rides are my favorite 3 rides, & they're always next to each other. By this time, the lines were starting to get long, but we still only had to wait about 40 minutes for this one which is NOTHING.
The Haunted Mansion is & always will be my all time favorite ride period. I love it at Disneyland, I love it at EuroDisney, & I love it at Disney World.
I was pleased with the interactive fun things it had to keep my kids busy in line.
After three rides right in a row, we headed back to the heart of Adventureland & found Aladdin & Jasmine. Lo's favorite movie is Aladdin, so of course we HAD to meet him.
Meanwhile, I was at the Tiki Room getting my world famous Dole Whip.
After that, we rode the magic carpet ride. We told the kids that we were only waiting in line for ONE of these rides so they had to choose between the magic carpets, Dumbo, or the rockets (all the same ride, just different vehicles). They chose magic carpets, so magic carpets it was.
I got to ride with Bladen on this one. We had fun making the carpet go up & down & up & down.
After finishing up Adventureland, we walked around Fantasyland until we came to Ariel's Grotto. The Ariel ride's line wasn't very long, so we decided to ride. The littles LOVED it.
We started making our way to Tomorrowland because we had a fast pass to Space Mountain & it was almost time for us to ride it. (Fast Passes are highly recommended. You can get your fast passes 30 days before your trip so get online & get them early. They get you on the ride FAST.)
In Tomorrowland both Craiger & I found Mickey Ears we wanted.
Space Mountain was a little different here than I was used to. Usually you sit side by side with someone, but this was one person per seat. Canyon was old enough to ride, but to put that poor boy in a seat alone on a roller coaster wasn't one of my finest parenting moments. He was SO excited until it started. Poor thing. He reached back & grabbed my hand & squeezed. He squeezed so hard that my hand went numb. He was crying when we got off. Poor kid. He very animatedly told me that he did NOT like that ride & that we were NEVER riding it again.
However, this was the first time my other kids rode Space Mountain & they absolutely LOVED it. It was their new favorite ride. Even Taya (who is scared of everything) loved it.
After Space Mountain, we raced back over to Adventureland to ride Splash Mountain. We had fast passes for Splash Mountain too. Splash Mountain is just a fun ride. It's a must every time to you go to Disney, & everybody always loves it. Taya was nervous about the drop, so she stayed with my mom & watched us. My dear friend Valerie who was stationed with us in Germany 10 years ago, lives near Disney & she met up with us here & stayed with us the remainder of the day. She rode Splash Mountain with me. I LOVE our picture. I've missed her SO much. She was SO wonderful too. She stayed with us the remainder of the day & showed us where to do & what to do & helped me with the kids. It made everything SO fun to have an insider there. She knew EVERYTHING about Disney. I loved it.
My sweet mom decided she wanted some family pictures taken in front of the castle. Right when we got there, a fun show started with a bunch of characters. It was fun just taking a break & watching with everyone.
We had several photos taken by a professional photographer (Valerie, being a season pass holder got free photos from the professional photographers there at Disney, so she just emailed them all to me after our trip. She is WONDERFUL.). You will see the nice pics towards the end of the post. They were beautiful.
We stopped at Cinderella's wishing well for some cute pics too.
After that, we had fast passes to Thunder Mountain Railroad, but I chose to stay with my parents & the younger kids who weren't tall enough to ride instead of that one. It's a big too rickety for my liking. We ended up going to Mickey's Philharmagic Show while they rode & I'm so glad we did. I love Disney shows. The theater was air conditioned, we were sitting down, & it was 20 minutes long. It was perfect after a day of standing for hours on end.
After we met up again, we ate dinner at Pinochio's Restaurant & enjoyed some relaxing sitting down time.
And then of course the kids begged to wait in line for It's a Small World. The line was 1.5 hours long, so I was dreading it, but the cast members were SO kind & saw that my mom was in a wheelchair so they moved us directly onto a boat first thing. We waiting maybe 10 minutes total. What a blessing.
My sweet dad LOVES It's a Small World. He was more excited than the kids were. I love him so much.
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| My brother can't take a real picture. He's a total goofball & that's why I love him. |
After It's A Small World, we headed back into Fantasyland & ran into Tigger & Eeyore on our way to the Teacups.
The teacups are a must at Disney. It's probably one of the most famous rides there. And my kids LOVE to spin them so fast that they make me sick. Of course Cadence & Bladen (my 2 strongest kids) were in my teacup. I almost lost my dinner after they were through with me.
We ventured over to the Winnie the Pooh ride after that. After waiting 30 minutes in line, the ride broke down so we had to leave. The kids were sad, but they had fun playing in the little kids' areas in the line.
It was getting late & the park was at max capacity (90,000 people), so we decided that we should go before the fireworks to avoid the 3 hour wait that would happen at the monorail & ferry as soon as they ended. We left just as fireworks began & made it home in less than 30 minutes. It was perfect.
BEST DAY EVER!! I swear, I could live at Disney. It truly is the happiest place on earth.
Here's a few more pics we took throughout the day . . .
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