Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Family Trip 2014: Day 4

Magic Kingdom 
Day 4

Today was our first day of Disney World and we started at Magic Kingdom.  We woke up and were ready to go by 7:20 and then drove to Disney World.  My first impression of it was - gigantic!  It had it's own freeway system with signs and the parking lots were huge.  The parking lots had trams that picked you up and dropped you off at the entrance.  We parked in the parking lot of Magic Kingdom, got our tickets at will call, and headed through the gates...but we weren't to the Magic Kindgom yet...we had to take a ferry or the monorail to get there!  I was blown away!  

Here are the kids at the ticket office entrance. 

The first thing we did was stop and take a picture of the castle.  About 5 years earlier Nick and I went to Disneyland and when Nick saw the castle there, he said "that's it?!"  When Nick saw this castle he said..."now, this is what I was expecting!"

I was the only one interested in taking this picture...the kids just wanted to get going!   

The first ride we went to was........DUMBO!  (Nick and I had heard that we needed to sign up for touringplans.com to get an itinerary to follow so we would get to the most rides in the least amount of time, so we did.  We followed the plan for the first few rides and then we just used it as a reference for the rest of the day.  We did like that it gave us a place to start, but what we used the most was the app that came with it that told wait times in line.)

Ellie in line for Dumbo, she was so excited!!!!  This became her favorite ride and all day long she asked to go on it again!



After Dumbo Nick took Trevor to space mountain and I took Ellie and Jacob to the Mad Hatter Tea Cups.  (Before we did that we got on the train to ride it, but was told it would be a 20 minute ride so we got off, but not before a took a cute picture of Jacob and Ellie.)

Riding the Tea Cups (Ellie's pirate smile)







After the tea cups we met up with Trevor and Nick.  Trevor liked space mountain, Trevor is up for any ride though...he loves roller coasters!

Next up Adventures of Winnie the Pooh!  This ride was great because there were different activities for the kids to do while we waited in line!



The ride...the kids loved seeing all the different things in the ride. 


Then we were off to Peter Pan where we flew through the sky!  (Side story, while we waited in this line...which was about 60 mins. I saw someone from my college ward at BYU.  She looked at me and I looked at her and she said, "do I know you?"  Then she said that he husband tells her she thinks she knows everyone but she really doesn't...but this time she really did know someone.)



When we got done at Peter Pan we headed to Splash Mountain!  This was a family favorite ride, we all loved it!  Trevor and I went first and then Nick took Jacob.  Nick reads the Disney version of Uncle Remus Stories to Trevor and Jacob which has all the characters from Splash Mountain.  The boys knew the story of the ride so that was fun!

 On our way over to the ride, Jacob saw these stocks and had to take a picture in it.     

Once we were done with Splash Mountain (none of us got very wet!) we headed to Pirates of the Caribbean.  Here is our family picture for the day, waiting in line at Pirates.  We all had Mickey Mouse t-shirts on.  
On the ride...

Trevor and Jacob loved when the cannons went off from the pirate ship.  My favorite part is when we went in this tunnel that was pitch black and the boat started to pick up speed and then we dropped down a ramp...it was great!  One of the scenes from the ride.   

Next up, Swiss Family Robinson...nothing like climbing in a tree house!  The boys kept arguing who could go first!  





Once done climbing the tree house we headed to Mickey's Philharmonic 4D show.  The kids LOVED it...they thought it was so fun getting to wear the glasses, and that Donald was so funny messing up Mickey's show!   
Getting ready for the show to start.  

After this we decided it was time for lunch.  We ate at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe.  It was just a cafeteria type restaurant but they had chicken nuggets and french fries for Jacob and Ellie so it was perfect!  

Then it was time to drive at Tomorrowland Speedway.  While we waited in line the kids got a drivers license that got them excited to hit the road!  Jacob wasn't quite tall enough to see over the wheel!    
Trevor drove our car.  
When we got done there we headed to 
Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin
Trevor getting pointers from his Dad.

Jungle Cruise was next...
Our tour guide was hilarious, she kept making joke after joke. 




Ellie is so cute!  She just loved DisneyWorld!  
Once done with the jungle cruise we split up.  Nick had showed Trevor and Jacob youtube videos of a ride called 7 Dwarves Mine Train ride and they were so excited to go on it.  From the moment we got to the park in the morning Jacob was asking to go on that ride.  But, it was a ride that we couldn't get a fast pass plus for and the lines were at least 60 mins long...but at this point Nick just decided it was time to stand in line. So they did!  And it was worth the wait, the boys LOVED it(though Nick probably wouldn't do the wait again)!!!  

While the boys did that we went to Barnstormer in Fantasyland.  It was a roller coaster that Ellie could do!  She wasn't really sure if she loved it, but once we got done, she said "again!"  
After that we went and got in line for  Enchanted Tales with Belle.  We waited in line for about 50 minutes when Ellie decided she needed to poop, and we had just made it to the front of the line!  I asked a worker how long the ride was and she said about 20 mins...but she told me I could go change her and then use a fast past plus and get back into the front of the line.  So that is what I did.
Here is Ellie in Belle's home.   
Come to find out, this actually wasn't a ride at all, it was a interactive play where kids in line could have a part and act out the story of Beauty and the Beast.  Ellie didn't have a part, she was too little, but she loved watching the play.  Lumiere (on the mantel) came to life and was the narrator of the story.    

At the end of the play, all of the kids could go up and meet Belle.  Ellie was a little shy at first, but she loved that she got to meet a princess.  This was her one and only princess meeting at Disney World!
Once we got done with this we met up with Nick and the boys (who were just coming out of the Haunted Mansion) and did  Big Thunder mountain railroad.  It was fun to do it in the dark and the boys loved this roller coaster as well.  They wanted to do it again, but we were just out of time.  The park closed at 8 pm tonight because they were doing Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and we didn't get tickets.  On our way out we saw the castle all lit up and when we walked down Main Street it was snowing...it was so magical!     

On the ferry ride back to the parking lot, Ellie was getting so mad at Jacob and she started to push him...it was really funny!     
The kids did such a great job going and going and going. It was such a wonderful first day at Disney World!  Jacob fell asleep in the van on the way back to the hotel, we picked up a pizza to eat in the hotel room once we got back, and then we headed off to bed...it was a fun filled busy day.  Tomorrow, Epcot here we come!  

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