Disney World: Day 3 (Magic Kingdom)

Day 3 is when the magic really began.  We got up early and headed to the Magic Kingdom.

It was an early magic hour day for people staying at the Disney resorts, so we arrived at 7:30 am to watch the Welcome Show at a little before 8:00.  It was so worth getting there early!  In my mind, there’s no better way to start a magical day than to with a catchy tune like “Good Morning,” and I’ll never forget the kids’ faces as they watched Mickey and the gang get off the train to wave hello!

Good Morning!

Once we got inside, we got a few pictures in front of Cinderella’s Castle.  The girls were in total amazement!

 

After that, our first stop was the new Fantasyland!  The extra magic hour was great because we spent the first hour going on rides without any wait!

The girls are waving to Ariel on the Under the Sea ride.

And then we met Ariel herself afterward.

The Winnie the Pooh ride was super cute.

Next up was a break to go meet Mickey at the Town Square Theater.  Here’s Emily’s face when we told her we’d get to meet Mickey Mouse…

Mickey was a lot of fun because he actually talked to the kids!  He greeted them by saying “I was wondering when you’d come over to say ‘hi!’” as if they were long-lost friends.

As the “Darling” family, we had to make a stop at the Peter Pan ride. (We actually had a few people comment on our last name in regards to the Peter Pan family this week.) Here we are, pretending to fly!

It’s a Small World…

My favorite attraction, hands down, was Enchanted Tales with Belle.  We had a fast pass, so we were able to go right in and avoid the 1 hour wait time.  All of our fast passes were stored on our “magic bands” which we wore on our wrists.  It acts as a room key,credit card, park admission, fast pass tickets, and it held our dining reservation.  Pretty cool!

During Enchanted Tales with Belle, we all got to walk through a magic mirror (very cool!) into Belle’s castle where they choose kids to play parts in the story of Beauty and the Beast.  I was shocked when they chose Logan to play The Beast… and even more shocked that he was willing to do it (with a little encouragement from us).  Luke played a soldier, Audrey played the horse (Philippe), and Emily played the silverware.  Without a role, I did my best job at taking some photos and videos. 

As The Beast, Logan first gave Belle a “ferocious roar.”

But then The Beast falls in love with Belle and they have a dance together.  MELT MY HEART!!!

Beauty and the Beast

Afterward, they take a picture of each child with Belle and she hands each of them a bookmark that says “You’ll always be a part of my story.”

I wish I would have gotten a video of this, but Emily gave Belle three separate hugs.  She just kept hugging her.  It was so cute, and Belle didn’t seem to mind.

By this time, it was lunch time and we had reservations to eat lunch at Be Our Guest Restaurant, which we loved.  The food was the best I had at Disney!

We were undecided whether to stay longer at the park after lunch or head back for an afternoon rest, but when we stepped outside, it was pouring rain!  Rest time it is!

Check back tomorrow for pictures from Day 4, our biggest day there!

Disney World: Days 1 and 2

We arrived home Sunday night from 6 wonderful days in Disney World!

Prepare yourself for some picture-heavy blog posts over the next few days, because we have 750 pictures to sort through and share.  I promise I’ll only post a small portion of them.  And feel free not to look at all of them if you’re not a grandparent.  :)

We had such a fun time!  It was so nice to be just the five of us and spend some quality time together.  The kids were fantastic and were at great ages to enjoy the rides and experience the magic of all the characters there.  I will always remember the looks on their faces as they met some of their favorite people (Mickey, Minnie, Snow White, Rapunzel, Winnie the Pooh, and on and on…)

But, let me start from the beginning.  We told the kids over Christmas that we were going to Disney in May and got them a countdown clock so we could all anticipate the trip together.  It started at like 123 days to go in December.  As the numbers ticked down, the anticipation rose!

Day 1… We picked up Logan and Audrey from school on Tuesday and headed straight for the airport.  All happy faces ready for Disney!  What fun!

Riding the bus from economy parking to the airport.

At the airport, things didn’t go as smoothly.  There was a presumed fire near O’Hare that resulted in the cancelation of hundreds of flights out of Chicago.  Thankfully our flight was only delayed by a few hours, but the airport was a zoo!  Honestly, the kids’ longest wait time for our entire trip was to check in at the airport (1.5 hours)! 

Then Emily missed her step on a moving walkway and got a huge goose-egg on her forehead.  Poor dear.

Finally we were on board the plane and ready to head to Florida!  The kids were really excited to be riding on an airplane, and they did fantastic after such a long day. 

We arrived The Polynesian pretty late due to the flight delay and didn’t get into our room until 2 am, but we were impressed with the size of our room and the balloons, stuffed animals, and welcome message from Goofy that were waiting for us.

Day 2… On Wednesday, we slept in a little but the kids were eager to wake up and take in the view.  We loved it.

We got dressed and explored the resort.  It was so nice! Our building was called the Rarotonga, the building on the left.  It was nice to be really close to the monorail too.

We took a monorail ride to see a little more of the surrounding Disney area.  Logan will still probably say that his favorite part about Disney World was the monorail. 

Then we put on our swimsuits to enjoy the pool and the slides!  The Polynesian has two pools, but the kids were eager to go to the Volcano Pool where there’s a huge waterfall and volcano with a slide into the pool.

Logan did the volcano slide approximately 2,463 times.

Then we headed back to our room to rest and clean up for our luau that night. 

The Spirit of Aloha Luau  :)

The luau was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed watching the hula and fire dancers.  They were mesmerized.

And here’s a short video from the night.

Spirit of Aloha

Tomorrow I’ll post pictures with our first day at the Magic Kingdom!