Disney Vacation - Day 4

On Wednesday, we headed back to Magic Kingdom--we planned out our days pretty well, and we knew we'd need to spend several days there because it would be Em's favorite.

She never got tired of seeing Cinderella's castle!

We walked through it, but didn't go inside again.

The walls are beautiful, and tell Cinderella's story--I guess I had never really noticed them before, but Em sure did.

As soon as you come through the castle, the carousel is in front of you!

And we couldn't pass it without taking a ride.

The parks all have free wi-fi, and I had the My Disney Experience app on my phone and iPad, so I could constantly update our FastPass picks, depending on the wait times (all available on the app--it was awesome!).  I had picked Enchanted Tales with Belle for a morning FastPass a couple of days before--it was so popular that the line was an hour long and you couldn't FastPass it on the same day.

It starts out in Maurice's (Belle's father) workshop, where they tell a little story and then the kids get to walk through a magic mirror.  This thrilled Em beyond belief--she has a book about Mickey Mouse dreaming that he goes through a mirror to another world, and always talks about wanting to do that!

Once they came through the mirror, they were in the Beast's enchanted castle, where the wardrobe talked to them and said they'd be surprising Belle with an interactive story of how she and the Beast met.  The kids got to play different parts, and Em got to be Mrs. Potts, the teapot.

We went into another room where Lumiere, the candelabrum continued the story.  And then Belle came in, and all the kids had their parts to play.  Mrs. Potts served her some tea.

Em was excited to play her part, but more excited to meet Belle!

When the play was over, each of the kids got to go up and meet Belle individually to take pictures together. Definitely worth skipping the line for this one with the FastPass!

There's no ride or attraction for Rapunzel, but Em knew her tower right away!

There's always something going on, and we stumbled upon this parade at least twice.

It's always a great day for a parade at Disney, I guess.

We had decided not to go to Animal Kingdom (and I think that's where The Jungle Book characters are), but Em was excited to see Baloo and King Louie in the parade!

We also didn't meet Donald Duck at the park, so she loved that she saw him up close.

Then we headed over to meet Aladdin and Jasmine, and got lucky by landing a spot almost first in line!  She talked and talked to them about their pets, Abu the monkey and Rajah the tiger.  Then she told them about her pets, Gracie and Bella.  Aladdin told her that dogs are very exotic in Agrabah.

I just can't say enough about the characters--they pick the perfect ones every time.

We went on the jungle cruise, which was fun, 

but not nearly as big a hit as the Magic Carpets of Aladdin!  We went on this one at least three times--Em loved that she got to work the controls that made us go up and down.

From there, we headed to Fairies' Nook to meet Rosetta and Tinkerbell.

Rosetta complimented Em on her red toenails and silver sandals.  Em, of course, told Rosetta how beautiful she looked.

She had a ball with Tinkerbell!  They growled at each other,

made silly faces together, and talked all about Peter Pan and Captain Hook.

This picture says it all--Em was super excited to see her.

Em was really tired, and after we ate lunch, we somehow convinced her to lie down in her stroller long enough that she fell asleep!  Soon after that, it started raining, so it was perfect timing.  It gave us a chance to look around in some shops and rest under shelter while we waited out the rain.

When Em woke up, we headed to a few more rides--one of Mick's favorites was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, which carried us in a space ship that you could move and spin while shooting laser beams at the Emperor Zurg.  It was actually pretty fun.

Em loved these race cars--she and Mick had a wild ride, I'm sure!

One of the reasons we wanted to force the nap Wednesday was because we planned to stay for the fireworks show when the park closed.  As it got darker, they lit up the castle to get ready for the Dream Along with Mickey show, which started a little before the fireworks.  We got a great spot right up front!

The show was fun and interactive, and had all of her favorite characters in it--Mickey and his friends,

Peter Pan, Wendy and Captain Hook,

and several of the princesses with their princes.

Plus, it was a beautiful setting in front of the castle with all the lights.

A little before 8pm, they start a light and movie clip show projected up on the castle--it's everything from Nemo to Rapunzel to Pinnochio...and let's not forget ELSA!  Yes, they played "Let It Go" with the movie clips projected onto the castle, and Em stood up and performed.  It's too bad I couldn't get a great picture of her and the castle, but it was too dark.

Just a few of the cool castle pictures with the lights before the fireworks started.

Em is still a little nervous about fireworks--she loves them, but doesn't love the noise.

Still, she wasn't about to let us leave in the middle!  She loved the show.

And we stayed until the end, which never would have happened without that nap!  We caught another photographer on our way out of the park.

Disney Vacation - Day 3

Day 3 (Tuesday) was our first day at Magic Kingdom, and we had a very special breakfast reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table, which is actually no small feat.  These reservations can't be made more than 180 days in advance, but it's recommended that you book right at the 6-month mark, so I did.  We had a 9:00 AM reservation, which meant we actually got to go in the park before it opened.  It was super foggy that morning, and combined with the empty streets, made it feel a bit like a ghost town!

 We don't take many pictures as a family, so I wanted to take advantage of our photo package.

 We stopped almost every photographer we saw!

Em was ecstatic to finally go into Cinderella's castle!

We opted to skip the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, where Em could have been turned into a princess for the bargain price of $200.  We skipped it 1) because I think the price is ridiculous, 2) because Em can't stand for me to fix her hair, much less have someone pull it into a super tight bun and spray glitter on it, and 3) because it feels a little unnecessary when she brought her own princess dresses from home and was more than thrilled to wear them.

When we first walked in the castle, Em got to meet Cinderella and take a picture with her.

Then we were seated at our table and Em got a wishing star and this magic wand that they used a couple of times during breakfast.

Breakfast was actually delicious, and the castle was really beautiful inside.

 The princesses make rounds and come by every table to meet everyone and take pictures.

Em was so excited she could barely eat anything!

Her tiara kept falling off, and I think every princess helped her put it back on at least once...Snow White,

Aurora (Sleeping Beauty),

Jasmine,

and Ariel (the one with human legs, Em clarified).

As soon as we left the castle when breakfast was over, we ran into Cinderella's Fairy Godmother!  She was very animated, and I didn't hear what she said here, but it must have really taken Em by surprise.

She was very sweet--Em kept asking her where she put her magic wand, hoping she'd pull it out of the air like she does in the movie.

We went to Mickey's Philharmagic show, which was Em's first 3-D experience.

I don't care where we are, the carousel is one of Em's favorite things!

Then we stopped by Fairytale Hall to visit with a couple more princesses, and saw Cinderella's glass slipper!

Em was thrilled to meet Rapunzel, and immediately asked her where Pascal (her pet chameleon from the movie) was--Em met her match!  She finally found someone who talks more than she did!  Rapunzel didn't miss a beat, and told Em a long story about playing hide and seek and forgetting to find Pascal.  Em loved it.

She talked to Snow White about the dwarfs and her woodland friends.

And then we headed for some rides!  She adored It's a Small World.

And why wouldn't she?  Still one of my favorites, no matter how many times I ride it.

There's a new Seven Dwarfs ride under construction that Em wanted to see.

And then we crossed over into the Hundred Acre Wood to see Pooh and Tigger!

 She loved the Pooh ride, which whisked us around in a giant honey pot!

Some of the rides did a great job of entertaining the kids in line during the wait--there are games and TV screens with cartoons playing, which helps when you're not using a FastPass!

We timed the lines just right to meet Peter Pan and Wendy.  This, of course, was a no-brainer for us.

Em really entertained them with her stories--she told Peter that she dressed up like him for Halloween last year, but that she was going to be Elsa this year :).  The two of them traded movie lines, and it was just priceless!

Again, the characters are just amazing--they sure know how to pick the right people!

When there weren't games to play, Em entertained herself by practicing dance moves in line. 

She met the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.

And then we went to Ariel's Grotto to have some one on one time.  This one was pretty popular and the wait was a little longer.  We figured out our strategy pretty early in the trip, and I took my iPad to help keep Em content when we were in some of the longer lines.

Em thought it was worth the wait though, and asked great questions like "what's inside your mermaid tail?" Ariel replied "fish bones."  Of course!

 More dance moves while in line to see Gaston from Beauty and the Beast.

Another great choice here--he stayed completely in character the entire time, and even told Mick as we left "you sir, can go over and admire my statue."  Mick loved it!

Em loved the Dumbo ride, and Mick sat this one out--she liked the ones where she could control how high up we flew!  This was another one where we didn't use a FastPass, but they had a great waiting area where you got a pager and the kids got to play while you waited.  Great idea!

We headed out of the park before it closed again on Tuesday since we started so early and Em didn't take a nap again that day!

We got  back to the hotel and decided to spend some time at the pool.

Here's a cool view of the hotel at night.

The pool wasn't crowded at all, which was really nice.

We stayed at the pool until around 7:30, and then headed back to our room, ordered dinner in, and watched the fireworks from our balcony before getting a very tired little girl in bed to rest up for another big day tomorrow!