Tuesday, September 17, 2013

A magical place to celebrate turning 5!

We've been to Disney World many times for many reasons, but we've never celebrated a birthday here until now!

Wow.... just wow!

We had a marathon day of driving yesterday.... in the car from 4am to 7:15pm!  Jim and I really wanted to get here in 1 day so we'd get to enjoy an extra day here so we could feel less rushed and plan a pool/down day into the schedule.  It was a really long time to be cooped up in the car with 2 five year olds.... especially our little chatterbox teacher wannabe!  They really did great for the most part.  We checked in... brought our luggage to the room and then got a delicious quick service meal in the Contemporary.  When we got back to our room.... we had some surprises from Mickey (our wonderful Daddy!) and a phone message from Mickey & Minnie singing Happy Birthday! 

Much to our surprise since I booked a Lake View room and not a Magic Kingdom room (to save on vacation points).... We have a Lake View room with an angled view of the Kingdom!  So we were able to watch the fireworks from our balcony!  Woohoo!!!!


Sunday's Plan: Magic Kingdom

I have been reading about the opening "show" at Magic Kingdom and REALLY wanted to get there early enough to see it.  I figured since we were staying within walking distance to Magic Kingdom this was our chance if we were ever going to see it.  But since we drove all day yesterday and the kids were pretty wound up when we arrived... everyone (but me) slept in a bit today.  And by slept in... I mean 8am and not 6:30.  I was pretty disappointed that we were running just a few minutes late and would probably miss the show.  We were approaching the park and I could hear the singing.... when all of the sudden I heard the train whistle and then actually saw the train that I assumed was involved in the show.  The train went right past us and we had a great view of all of the characters that were about to arrive at the main street station.  They all waved to us as they went by.... it was AWESOME! 

After we got in the gates and swapped our paper tickets for the new cards (the new technology coming Disney's way is pretty cool).... we were on our way!

First stop some Main Street family pictures and Starbucks!  They recently opened in Magic Kingdom and EPCOT and we heard they will soon be opening locations in all of the parks and Downtown Disney.  Then it was off to find characters and rides! 
Summer spotted these ears as soon as we walked in the park and had to buy them with her money!

Cole wanted to find Stitch first!!!
Then we did several rides and had so much fun on things like the teacups, speedway, Dumbo and Goofy's Barnstormer!  Then we headed into Pete's Silly Sideshow for some autographs and pictures...


 
After more rides.... we had lunch and headed back to our hotel for some downtime and cooling off before dinner at Be Our Guest restaurant.  I took the kids on an adventure to find the ice machine and when we returned to the room.... a birthday card from Mickey and Minnie had been slid under the door! 
 
Dinner at the newly opened Be Our Guest was really great!  Unfortunately our server left much to be desired, but everything can't be perfect right!  We sat in the main dining room which features a beautiful wall of falling snow. 
 
Me & Cole with the Beast after dinner

Be Our Guest Restaurant
 
After dinner we hit some more some more rides like It's a Small World and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Summer was so brave on the roller coaster and kept her hands up the entire time.  I was holding onto her for dear life because mommy was so scared that her little girl wasn't holding on at all! After that we headed back to our hotel and hit up the pool which we had completely to ourselves!  What a first day.... 
Pool all to ourselves

1 comment:

  1. What a great start to your trip :) Sophie LOVES having her birthday at the park - did you stop and get the *happy birthday* buttons?

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