We set our alarm so that we could be at Magic Kingdom when it opened early with the Extra Magic Hours because I really wanted to see Mickey and Minnie and the gang do their opening song and dance to open the park! And it was great...and the boys loved it. Sadly, Josh and I were separated already (darn bag versus non-bag entrances) and he had my camera, so no pictures of the awesome entrance. But once we regrouped, we headed directly to Elsa and Anna again. And the wait was 45 minutes. So we jumped in line. And I am glad that we did. But Josh took one for the team: he missed out on riding the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. But that meant we got to meet Elsa and Anna DRY! And because of all the trouble and wait time to meet these incredibly popular princesses, Josh and I jumped in the picture with them! Who knows, these may end up as our Christmas Card pictures! Ha!
My adorable boys in their Mickey Mouse Ears.
We may have passed through and around Cinderella's castle more than a dozen times during our trip, but I never could get over how magnificent it was.
Onto our next character meet-and-greet: Woody and Jessie from Toy Story. This probably rivaled Elsa and Anna for Keagan's favorite part of the trip. He was beside himself excited to see these two. While we waited in line, Keagan showed off his blue tongue from a blue drink, took pictures with my cell phone (funny to see his perspective of us and Finn), and studied the map of the park. Then it was our turn to meet Woody and Jessie. The family picture of THIS might be our Christmas Card!
A little ride action on Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride...identical to Dumbo...and the Triceratops Spin. These rides have long wait times for 45 seconds of ride. That is painful to me, but the boys loved it. I guess that's why we parents do it!
There was a lot of this going on: HOLD ME MOMMY!
And then this, too. Sleepy boy. I love that my kids can find a place anywhere to catch a quick couple of zzzz's.
Meeting Chip and Dale! These two chipmunks were hilarious. They were very silly and funny, and the line for them was super short. I was surprised, but thrilled! I laugh at how Dale is signing the autograph book...he's getting a good hard look with that one eye! haha!
Next up! MY FAVORITE! First, let me start by saying if there was one thing I wanted to do when we went to Disney World it was to eat lunch at Be Our Guest, the Beauty and the Beast castle. I read about this on a blog friend's post several months back (Hi Heather!!!) and I knew I had to go. HAD TO GO. I researched and studied on how to make this happen. I have always loved Beauty and the Beast, even had the soundtrack in my karaoke machine and sang it at the top of my lungs in my bedroom, much to my parents dismay I am sure. I am incredibly sad to report that I was unable to eat at Be Our Guest. You pretty much had to have a fast pass or stand in line for hours with only hope that you would get in and the restaurant wouldn't reach capacity first. I didn't have a fast pass (and couldn't get one: it was a random test that people even got them) and I couldn't let my family stand in line for so long with only a hope to eat there. So, we got to do the next best thing: Story Time with Belle. I was like a pageant mom when Keagan got the part of Belle's horse "Philippe." And he was pretty happy to get to play the part. His smiles are so sweet! And then all the kids in the audience got to get their picture made with Belle...and, of course, Finn wouldn't go by himself so I got to get my picture made with Belle. Oh, and Finn had to be a part of it too. Ha! :) If you can't tell, I am pretty happy to be meeting my favorite childhood Disney princess.
Look at Keagan eyeing the beautiful princess as he waits in line to get his special bookmark and picture!
Our next Disney character encounter was Snow White. She was gorgeous...and such a great sport. By the time we got to her Finn was fast asleep in the stroller and she got a picture with him. Keagan was a bit more interested in the Mickey Mouse confetti on the ground than Snow White...maybe brunets are not his type? I thought she was stunning. But she got down on his level. Like I said, she was an awesome sport. Then again she does hang out with seven dwarfs...
Have I mentioned that Disney pulls out all the stops! This goes for parades too...check out this parade with a real fire-breathing dragon! That thing was awesome! And the boys really enjoyed watching it and all the characters walk by!
Our final adventure of that day, before we headed to supper, was to meet Tinker Bell. She was just as spunky as you would expect and I love the pictures we got of Keagan with her. Finn, as usual, was non-participatory. I think he really only cared about Mickey Mouse and his buddies...
We took a quick "break" in Magic Kingdom to go have dinner at Chef Mickey's with Mickey and Minnie Mouse and all their buddies. The pictures are not the best qualities because we used my cell phone and it was like a giant up-down-up-down party with a little eating in between the meet-and-greets. Despite the poor picture qualities, the boys' faces are priceless. I would pay another $100 on top of what we paid for this dinner to see how much fun the boys had. This was by far my favorite character meal!
Finley's favorite thing to do with Mickey Mouse was walk up behind him and "touch" him and then run away! He did it like five times! And became tickled each time. It was hilarious!
Pluto! Finn loved Pluto...he kept saying "Puppy Dog!" And he just now started calling him Pluto. I liked how he signed the boys' autograph books too! :) And I don't think he felt Keagan trying to touch his tongue. Ha!
Mmmm...dessert. Of all the delicious desserts my littlest boy wanted M&Ms. And my biggest boy played with his Mickey Mouse dessert. Oh well..I sure helped myself to it all!
After we finished the super-fun dinner with Mickey and his friends we headed back to the park....this is where we got to ride nearly all the rides we hadn't had the chance to ride. Keagan even rode Splash Mountain TWICE!! He absolutely freaked out when he rode with Josh, and the freak out occurred right at the time he was getting into the log. Josh said that he was afraid the workers would escort them out!! But then Keagan became brave and rode it again with me, right after getting off. I was so proud of him! And because he did so good, he got a light-up toy (yes, we bribed. but we delivered!). And then he rode a real rollercoaster with me: Big Thunder Mountain. Now, before you go judging me...it was an accident that I rode it. I shouldn't have and I worried a bit after I got off because it was a bit rough. But it was fun (I LOVE rollercoasters!) and I really enjoyed having that experience with Keagan. But he refused, put-his-foot-down-refused, to ride it again with Josh.
We managed to get all the rides in, except one (Mine Train), before the park closed at 10pm. But just because the rides end, doesn't mean the park actually closes. Oh no. Nope. There was still a parade! The Electrical Parade. And it was awesome. Finn was fast asleep in his stroller, and had been the last hour or so, and Keagan was fighting sleep. He didn't make it through the end of the parade, but he saw a bit.
The boys with their light-up toys. Unfortunately, they were both sound asleep when we bought them...and they didn't wake up to play with them at all that night
We closed down the park...the kids may have not made it but Josh and I certainly did! It was magical. It was beautiful. And writing this blog, I kind of miss it!!
Praise the Lord! The last Disney blog is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER. Hang with me!!!!
I made it...in my comfy pants :). That is a crazy full day my friend but it does look crazy fun! So glad your last day was nothing short of magical. Am I seeing correctly that you had the forethought to make a quick change mid-day? Impressive! Now what will you and Josh do with all your House of Mouse attire? Wear it next go-round I suppose? It's sounding like there'll be a next. When the next occurs you're sure to book your Beauty and the Beast event for sure! Glad for you that the Disney blogging is almost over..I'm sure you're "over it". Looking forward to the next and last.
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