Disney World: Day 5

On our last full day, we woke up and rode the monorail to Chef Mickey’s!

The kids LOVED it!  They sure felt like royalty at Cinderella’s Royal Table, but here they were able to do more talking, interacting, and even goofing around with Mickey and his friends.  It was all just a little more laid-back and fun.

Donald came by first.

Silly Donald

Then Mickey stopped by.

“Mickey Kissed Me!”

Then Pluto came and got really silly with the kids.  I love how excited Emily is to see him!

And, of course, Minnie.

And Goofy!

After breakfast, we let the kids each pick out one souvenir from the gift shop at the Contemporary.  We told them to keep their eyes open all week for what they might like to get on the last day.  Logan picked a monorail play set, and the girls each picked a two-in-one doll (skirt flips up and down to make two different dolls).  Audrey picked Anna/Elsa and Emily picked Aurora/Ariel.

Then we headed back to the pool and beach for some more swimming fun!

After swimming we were all pretty tired, so we all took a 1.5 hour nap in our room.  It felt great!  When we woke up, we decided to go explore some of the other resorts.  On our way out, they were offering hula lessons in the Polynesian lobby, so the girls and I learned how to hula!

Then we went to The Grand Floridian for a cookie.

We stopped at the Contemporary again to make some more pressed pennies (we have 22 from Disney stored in a pressed penny book).

And we rode the water ferry back to the Polynesian from the Magic Kingdom monorail stop.

It was another great day so far.  Only one more special evening meal, one more parade, and our trip home (involving high-level screening at the airport) left, all of which I’ll post about tomorrow!

Disney World: Day 4 (Magic Kingdom at night)

This post is a continuation of Day 4…  To see the first part of Day 4, click here.

Ok, are you ready for some princess pictures?  If not, I suggest you stop reading now.  Fair warning. :)  After changing our clothes and freshening up, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for our dinner reservations in the castle at Cinderella’s Royal Table.

We loved the ambiance of the room (we’re “castle” people).  Then the waitress brought over magic wands and a sword for the kids, which they loved!

After receiving our food, the princesses started making their rounds.

We really enjoyed the opportunity to go inside the castle, and the kids had a lot of fun playing the parts of knight and princesses.  A magical experience for all of us!

Following the fairytale dining experience, we used a fast pass to visit Audrey’s favorite princess, Rapunzel.  Audrey asked Rapunzel how she got her hair to be so long, and Rapunzel replied, “I just never cut it!”  Audrey has now sworn off all haircuts from now until forever.

Afterward, Luke took the girls for a ride on the carousel while Logan tried to pull out the sword in the stone.  (I told him that only a true knight could pull out the sword.)

Then I heard someone call out “Mrs. Darling” and I turned to see Audrey’s friend from school, Reece, riding the carousel!  Audrey and Reece were unknowingly riding the carousel at the same time!  What a fun surprise to see your friend at Disney World!

Off to Tomorrowland Speedway where Logan and Audrey got their chance behind the wheel!

Thankfully there is a track in the middle to keep the car on course, but Audrey hit that central track more times than the average driver, I’m sure!  (Although the car in front of us – with Logan driving– had their fair share of jolts too!)  :)

Tomorrowland Speedway

To end the night, we used fast passes to get front row seats at the nighttime Electrical Parade.  We were seated right in front of the castle.  Super seats!  And, wow, Disney sure knows how to put on an amazing parade! 

The kids didn’t want to stay for the fireworks (too loud) so we went back to The Polynesian and watched them from the beach instead.

Whew!  What a big and fun day, starting with our Winnie the Pooh breakfast in the morning and ending with the fireworks at night. 

And this is what you look like after 13 hours at the Magic Kingdom!

Disney World: Day 4 (Magic Kingdom)

Day 4 took us back to the Magic Kingdom.  This was a full day, but it was full of so many wonderful things!

I really wanted a good family picture in front of the castle, and since we had breakfast reservations at the Crystal Palace this morning, we were able to enter the park before everyone else!  It was so cool to walk and skip down Main Street USA without the crowds.  Here’s my favorite family photo.

Main Street USA

We ate breakfast at the Crystal Palace where we got to meet the characters from Winnie the Pooh.

The kids even got Tigger to do a little jumping!

Bouncing with Tigger

We were at the Adventure Land rope drop.

The girls (and I) really wanted to see Tinker Bell, so it was great to be the first ones to greet her that morning.  I loved Tinker Bell!  She was cute, animated, and a lot of fun! 

My favorite souvenir from this trip doesn’t have anything to do with Mickey Mouse.  It’s the silhouettes we had done of the 3 kids.  For me it captures my three “babies” in a precious moment in time.

The silhouette artist works only with a piece of black paper and a small pair of sharp surgical scissors.

The finished product:

To help burn off some energy we took the raft over to Tom Sawyer’s Island.  The kids loved it!  It has caves, secret tunnels, forts, bridges, and winding trails.  It was very shady and the kids loved being able to run around and explore!  A great place to let their imaginations run wild!

Tom Sawyer’s Island–Fort Langhorn

As we were walking past the castle again, we saw a live stage show taking place.  Audrey really wanted to stop and watch it.  I love this video -- it reminds me how carefree and fun this vacation was!

Dream Along with Mickey

We had already had a big breakfast that morning, so we decided to have some Mickey Mouse ice cream pops and frozen lemonade in place of lunch.  The kids thought it was great to have ICE CREAM for lunch!

Tomorrowland and the People Mover (the only ride we did twice)

People Mover

The girls and their nerdy adorable flip glasses.

DUMBO!

We were about ready to head back to the resort when we saw the Festival of Fantasy Parade coming through.  The parade was spectacular, and the girls and I loved it.  I’m so glad we stayed.  AND… it was a good way to see Anna and Elsa (from Frozen) without waiting in the 5 hour line!

After the parade, we headed back to our resort to change clothes and freshen up a bit before our dinner reservations at Cinderella’s Royal Table.  I’ll be posting those pictures tomorrow!