Magic Kingdom Part 1

Magic Kingdom

Again we got up early (6:15) to get ready for the MAGIC KINGDOM!!!  We were most excited about this park and wanted to make sure we got to the gates early to get a good spot for the morning show. One of S's favorite characters is Marie (from the Aristocats) and we had watched a few YouTube videos with her arriving in the opening train.  Unfortunately she wasn't on it when we were there.  I had told S that Marie might not be in the park that day and she was ok with that.

We initially hadn't planned on doing the Enchanted Tales with Belle, but S decided the night before she wanted to. I didn't have a FP+ for this, so we made it our first priority while we were there.  After walking through Cinderella's castle to Fantasyland, we arrived at Belle's house.  It was a fun show and I was even picked to participate!

 Belle's house

I was Mrs. Wardrobe.  Belle loved my singing--she told me so!

After Belle, we wandered up to the Be Our Guest Restaurant.  We didn't do the full service dining and we weren't sure if we would be in that area for lunch, so we took a quick peek inside. I loved this window!

 Beast's castle

 Belle and her Prince

One of the restaurant dining rooms

Near the restaurant, we went to the Under the Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid ride.  I had a FP+ for this, but didn't use it.  I switched our FP+ to Big Thunder Mountain.  S has never seen the Little Mermaid, but we have the read the book (the Disney book) so she was familiar with the story well enough.  Ariel was going to be next door, but she wasn't there yet.

 We're headed underwater (not really).

Ariel

Next we went to Peter Pan's Flight.  We really liked this ride. You get into a pirate ship and you fly over London and Neverland.  What I don't get is why this ride is SO POPULAR!!! We used our FP+ for this ride, because the wait was 60 minutes--not even an hour after park opening. The wait times on this ride rival Space Mountain and Splash Mountain.

After Peter, we crossed over to the "singing dolls," also known as It's a Small World.  S and I really liked this one-especially because it was a boat.

"It's a small world after all..."

The next ride was The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.  It was a fun ride, but the waiting might have been more exciting for S.  They had lots of interactive elements throughout the line to keep little ones busy. She especially liked the touchscreen "honey" wall.

hugging the honey wall

While waiting in line, I looked at the My Disney app and realized that Marie had actually come into the park and was doing a meet--at the same time we were supposed to see Cinderella.  What to do? I moved my Cinderella FP+ reservations and we went to see Marie on Main Street USA!!!  On the way there we spied Tiana, but she was getting ready to take a break, so we didn't get to meet her.  She was beautiful.

Tiana

The line for Marie was a lot longer than I thought.  Maybe because she and Pluto were the first characters as you walk into the park? Or maybe just everyone likes her? As we were waiting in line (Marie needed a waters break), the end of the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Parade came by and The Professor and S went up to watch it while I stayed in line.  I was just looking around when I noticed Mary Poppins and Mr. Penguin were close to us.  And they had no line-it was like no one saw them (they were in a courtyard between two buildings). When the parade passed, I grabbed S and we walked right up and spent some time talking to Mary & Mr. P! Just a little wait longer and we were able to meet Marie. She gave me a kiss and below one to S.  S wasn't quite sure about the characters and needed me as a buffer (not that I minded).

Pluto

Mr. Penguin, Mary Poppins

the family with Marie

We went back to the hotel after Marie to eat lunch and take a nice nap.  I'll finish up our day at Magic Kingdom tomorrow.

To read about Animal Kingdom, visit here.