Disney Trip 6: Magic Kingdom

 

After our rest day on Day 5, we were ready to hit up the Magic Kingdom again with force. It was a beautiful Monday, crowds were predicted to be much lower, and we were headed out with Scott's parents. We got a great start and go to see our second park opening show This time Michael knew what was coming and was excited to see Mickey and friends on the train! 

 

I had to take a few pictures of Michael enjoying the transportation on our way to the Magic Kingdom. He loved the parking lot trams and especially the monorail!  He would always say, "Here comes the monorail!" and when we look at photos of Disney he always tries to pick out the monorail. So cute, I remember our nephew doing the same thing when he was 3 at Disney.

We got in the park and while my mother in law was in the restroom, Michael and I had a great opportunity to be first in line to meet Marie!  The shortest line is the best line, right? Marie was super cute.

 

My mother in law was trying to get a good photo in front of the castle so I flagged down a photopass person to take our photos. These are off the cd I bought. I just added a little editing and I think they look pretty great! Again, I think it is really important to have proof that we were all there at the same time...even if the photos aren't perfect.

 

We had a game plan this morning, following a plan from touringplans.com. We hit up Peter Pan's Flight right away, followed by It's a Small World. We then visited the new Rapunzel bathrooms and went around the corner to the Haunted Mansion. We walked on to all the rides with no wait! 

 

Michael loved Small World. He sat with his grandparents on every ride so it was almost like Scott and I were on a date. It was weird! 

 

After the Haunted Mansion (which was waaay cooler than I remember it- kind of spooky!) we backtracked to Winnie the Pooh. They had a fun play area for kids while we waited and the line was about 10 minutes long. 

 

After Winnie the Pooh, we took a spin on the carousel. Actually, I was doing this: 

 

 Did you know the Carousel is actually from an old amusement park and was built in the early 20th century? Some people say it is the best carousel in the country.

After the Carousel, we got fastpasses for Under the Sea and then caught a showing of Mickey's Philharmagic while we waited. It was one of my favorite shows last time and didn't disappoint this time. It is so great with all the music scenes from Disney movies!

We headed over to the new Fantasyland with a little time yet to wait so we grabbed a quick snack at Gaston's Tavern. It was awesome inside and not busy at all. We had chocolate croissants, (free!) water, and Michael got some apple slices.

 

I wandered outside to see if I could get my photo taken with Gaston in secret without my family making fun of me, but the cast member attendant said line was closed (or maybe I was just too old??) so I had to settle for taking photos stalker-style. I watched Gaston interact with a few people and he was soooo good.

 

He was so cute with this little Belle and before that there was a BABY dressed up as Belle. I was dying of cuteness overload. 

 

 (I may or may not have already posted photos just like these, it is just so beautiful!)

We had a great time on Under the Sea. Michael liked just as much the second time!

Mine train under construction:

 

Pirates of the Caribbean had been down all morning and was just back up so we went over the Adventureland to check it out. It was being refurbished the last time we visited 7 years ago so it was a must see on our list. It was also really good and I had fun trying to spot the Johnny Depp pirate (he looked great!). 

At this point, Dave and Margie were headed out to the next leg of their vacation in Daytona Beach so we headed out of the park and back to the condo. We caught a short little parade (Celebrate the Magic at 12:30) on the way out and then they were on their way.

 

 Notice anything funny about the way Michael loves to point?

After a lunch back at the condo consisting of...you guessed it--turkey sandwiches,  we called a taxi to get back to the Magic Kingdom around 5. We had checked off quite a bit on our plan for today in the morning, so the next thing up was Country Bears. I've heard lots things about this being an underrated attraction but...I just don't see it. I couldn't really hear so I think might have had something to do with it.

 

 When we came back outside some characters and cast members were doing a fun little street dance hoe down party. It looked fun! And also crowded.

We got some fastpasses for Jungle Cruse than explored Adventureland while we waited for our time window. 

Where there is a water feature, there is this boy: 

 

Michael and I did the Tiki room. I thought it was neat and Michael liked it. However, I did see a man taking a nap (lying down!!) in the row behind us.  We met up with Scott and explored the Swiss Family Treehouse. Michael loved climbing all the stairs.

After a quick snack break (which we brought with us) and knocking on some doors, it was time for Jungle Cruise!

Again, the finger?

We headed over once again to Dumbo for a few more spins. This time the play area was totally deserted and we had it to ourselves!

 

We also worked in another ride around the Barnstormer. How much does that picture just kill you? So adorable.

It was getting dark so we headed over to the parade route to stake out some spots for the Electrical Parade. It was craziness! We got a good spot about 30 minutes before the parade started. We were kind of blocked into a little area which was good because we had a tough guy at one end giving anyone the stink eye who tried to squeeze in. I saw him use it on some teenagers! This was a really fun parade and I'm glad we got to see it in its entirety.

After the parade it was about 9:30 so we figured that would be a perfect time to grab dinner....ha! We bought one of our few meals from the park at Cosmic Ray's in Tomorrowland. We all got burgers and let me say-- they were awesome! I think I was just happy it wasn't another turkey sandwich. :o) Scott got tipped off by a cast member that a good spot to watch fireworks was between new and old Fantasyland so we headed over there just in time for them to start. You could still hear the Wishes music and you were kind of right between the action. It was loud, exciting, and probably the best fireworks show I've seen! It was also not crowded at all, which is not the case for in front of the caste- wowzers.

After fireworks it is a mass exodus from the park. I felt like were in a Zombie movie with all the people slowly shuffling towards the exit. I wish we would have tried to squeeze in a few more rides but we were getting close to the next parade time and that might have just blocked us in for longer. It is hard to know.

This concludes our second day at Magic Kingdom---an action packed day for sure. I loved staying late for all the night time fun!

Here's the rest of the recaps:

 Day 5 Rest Day & Downtown Disney

Day 4 Magic Kingdom

Day 3 Animal Kingdom

Day 2 Hollywood Studios

Day 1 Travel and arrival day