Parking was the only inconvenience we had at Disney. It is just a pain to park and then trek all the way through the parking lot in the hot sun to get to the main gate. When you stay on property they drop you off close to the main gate. What's more walking though right? ;-)
In Magic Kingdom you can't just park and walk to the main gate. Instead you park at the Ticket and Transportation center. Then you choose to ride the ferry boat across Seven Seas Lagoon or the monorail. We always like riding these two...the boys think it's just another ride! This trip we chose to ride the ferry boat! If you have younger kids with strollers...the ferry is great because you don't have to fold up your stroller (which you sometimes have to do on the monorail if it's crowded).
Riding the ferry boat also gives you great views of Cinderella's castle and Space Mountain!
Once you get off the ferry you head to the main gate where you have to get your bag checked and then enter with your ticket. Then you head to Main Street, U.S.A. for that must have picture in front of Cinderella's castle!
Sawyer also got his beloved Mickey balloon from Grandma! When we came to Disney two years ago he wanted a balloon so bad! We never ended up getting him one and he was so devastated. So Grandma made sure to get him his balloon first thing! He was a happy camper!
Next, we headed to Tomorrowland so we could grab fast passes for Space Mountain. We grabbed the passes and then hopped on the ride because the wait was only 10 minutes! It was Hayden's first time on Space Mountain and he LOVED it!
Stephanie doesn't like the roller coasters but I LOVE them! And so does my hubby! So I promised Stephanie I would take her little girl Sydney on all the roller coasters while we were at Disney because Sydney loves them too. We actually ended up kid swapping a ton this trip! My two boys and Stephanie's two girls had to pick one adult to ride with for almost each ride. They picked from me, my hubby Andy, Andy's mom, and Andy's dad. Stephanie rode the rides with her son Mason. And when we rode rides that the younger kids couldn't ride Stephanie stayed with them while we rode...because usually it was a ride she didn't want to ride anyway. It worked out great!
We were able to ride Space Mountain back to back because our fast pass time wasn't long after we got them. It was awesome!
Then we headed to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin! This is a favorite for all my boys! We ended up riding it that morning and then again later that afternoon!
I can't ever get a good picture of Buzz in the line for this ride! His face always looks like a glowing blob!
Zoë and I rode Buzz's ride together! I tried to get a picture of the picture they took of us during the ride but it didn't show up very well.
We then headed towards Fantasyland! First we stopped so everyone could ride Mad Tea Party...except me. I don't like the spinning within spinning rides. But I spotted Alice and got in line to see her...until she left to go get "water." Yep...I was the next one in line to see her and she left! :-( Everyone was finished riding so I left...without seeing Alice.
We made it to Storybook Circus (where Mickey's Toontown Fair used to be) and got in line for Dumbo the Flying Elephant! I was happy to see that there was an air conditioned waiting area here as well as two of the rides instead of the former one. Our wait time...about 5 minutes! :-)
And you can't leave Storybook Circus without riding the junior roller coaster...The Barnstormer! Everyone enjoyed this one...even Stephanie! :-)
We then ventured to Frontierland to grab fast passes for Splash Mountain. Then we headed to find some lunch because everyone was starving! We ended up going back to Fantasyland and eating at Pinocchio Village Haus. I wish I had taken a picture of my lunch. I got the Chicken Caesar Salad and it was soo good! After lunch we went right next door to ride "it's a small world!" The wait time was only about 10 minutes!
Short little video of us all riding "it's a small world!" Sorry it's so dark...I forgot to turn the flash on for the video! I love the way Andy was swaying back and forth to the music at the beginning of the video. We were just happy to be in some air conditioning!!!
Next was Liberty Square to ride the Haunted Mansion! Wait time was only 10 minutes! Sawyer had been wanting to ride this one since we got there. But once we got inside and he heard the spooky voice talking he got a tiny bit scared!
Next we crossed over to Frontierland to get in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. While we were waiting (the wait time was around 20 minutes) it started pouring down rain! We crossed our fingers they wouldn't shut down the ride before we got to ride it. We got lucky! We got to ride...in the rain! It made a very different experience riding a roller coaster with rain pouring down on you! But it was a blast!!!
After that we got in line for Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room! Hayden and Sydney were super excited about this one because they learned the song in music at school. And believe it or not...I had never done this one! We all loved the singing birds and singing flowers! So cool! And we sang the song for the rest of the week lol!
All the kids loved the misting tikis after the ride!
It was time for our fast pass for Splash Mountain...but they shut down on the outside rides because of the thunderstorm. We had some very disappointed children! And me too! ;-)
It was raining but we kept walking through the park. We were all soaked already anyway! We headed to the new Fantasyland area called the Enchanted Forest!
The Beast's Castle! This is also where the new Be Our Guest restaurant is...which I hope to try next time!
And here's Ariel's World!!!
We got in line (about 20 minutes wait time) for Under the Sea- Journey of The Little Mermaid. I was super excited about this one because it is brand new! As always...Disney outdid themselves with the directions! The waiting area and ride was decorated to the tee as if you were underwater! We loved it!
For the ride you sat in shell seats! I took a ton of pictures during the ride because Sawyer kept telling me, "Momma, take a picture of that!" :-)
After Ariel's ride we checked to see if Splash Mountain had reopened but no luck. The kids wanted to ride the Prince Charming Regal Carousel so we did! I snapped a picture of Cinderella's castle while we waited in the 5 minute line.
We headed back to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin again. And then we did the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor Show...which is hilarious if you've never seen it! After that we decided to call it a night. The thunderstorms weren't letting up and they weren't reopening the outside rides so we headed out to grab some dinner.
But first we stopped and took a few last pictures!
If you made it this far through this post...congratulations! And thanks for reading about our day in Magic Kingdom! We really had a magical day!
Stay tuned for our day at Epcot!
QOTD: What's your favorite ride, restaurant, etc. in Magic Kingdom?
