Where Dreams Come True

You can read about the first day of our trip at Disney's Epcot here.

I was so excited for our Disney trip, but I really thought that I might be the Mom that said "Never again!" after we got back home. I detest chaos!! I literally get a little shaky at the thought of more than four people going to a resturant together b/c it's just chaotic so I was a little concerned about how I would do at Disney World - especially Magic Kingdom. I went when I was 13 and it was in summer (SO hot), the lines were long, there were people everywhere and I just didn't like it. So, while I was really excited, I was also a little apprehensive.


Turns out, there was no need to be. I LOVED it!! I mean, it was exhausting, but I would go back today and we've only been home two days:) There were people everywhere and I would never go in the summer (our weather was perfect the entire trip) b/c I couldn't handle all that in the heat, but it is a very organized chaos. I so appreciate their ability to organize and run that place. Sometimes I would just sit back and watch them work, but that probably says something about my personality that's more than a little on the weird side so I'll move on:) Regardless, our family enjoyed Magic Kingdom. We spent two days there so the first day we used to sort of figure everything out and get our bearings. Tomorrow's post is the one that's really full of fun (and we left the park at 2:00 a.m. if that tells you anything - yes, we were hard core!)


Tip: As you enter Magic Kingdom, there is a shop where you can get personalized Mickey ears. You child gets to pick the hat; the ears; everything. It's my favorite keepsake from our trip and I think we will get a different one each time we go. They have TONS of choices from Princess to Toy Story to the more original ears. We had so much fun with this - it was the first thing we did. Here are Jack's ears:

He also enjoyed trying all the other hats on too.


Tip: Make reservations to eat with the characters. The lines are always long to see the characters, but if you make reservations to eat with them, they come right to your table while you are eating. We did a different meal with characters each day. The kids loved it and the bonus was that the only ones we stood in line to see in the parks were Woody and Buzz. I would also make breakfast reservations. It's a fun way to start your day in the park and the breakfast buffets are MUCH better than lunch in my opinion.

Lunch at The Crystal Palace with Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet:

We realized at Magic Kingdom that Jack was NOT going to be scared to ride anything. We went to Splash Mountain first and from that point on, the faster and higher, the better for him. He loved the kid rides too, but it was the roller coasters that he wanted to ride over and over and over again. Ben and I were THRILLED b/c those are the ones that we want to do over and over and over again too!

Aladdin's Magic Carpet:

Jack's favorite ride - Thunder Mountain Railroad (renamed Storm Train by Jack:):

Tip: If you are eligible for fast passes, decide the ride you most want to ride (they are normally the longest lines) and send "Dad" with everyone's tickets to that ride to get fast passes right when you get to the park. (We did this while we were waiting to be seated for our breakfast or while we were picking out our ears). You can only have one fast pass at a time, but they will let you get another one right before time to ride the ride. So, on our way to use our fast pass, we would get another one for a different ride. This technique worked very well and there was little time that we didn't have something to ride and we didn't have to wait in long lines. For the shorter lines, we didn't use a fast pass, but rode those during our filler time.

Because we were going to be at Magic Kingdom for two days and we could stay until 3:00 a.m. the following day, we left a little early on Saturday and took the kids to Downtown Disney for the night. They have really neat stores including the biggest Disney store you've ever seen. They also have shows and other attractions and some really great resturants. It was a fun night too!

Tip: There's no way to do Magic Kingdom in just one day. If we hadn't had the extra hours, we couldn't have done all we wanted in two days. I suggest at LEAST two days here and in my opinion, it's that much better than the other parks. It's worth it to miss one of the others (we skipped Animal Kingdom). I suggest taking two areas each day. The first day, we did Frontier Land and Adventure Land and saved Tommorrow Land and Fantasy Land for the following day. That way, you really get to explore and you're not going from one end of the park to the other.

Tip: The parades are GREAT and y'all know, I'm NOT a parade person! Frontier Land is the best place to find a spot to watch. We would get there 45 minutes to an hour before the parade time. We set our strollers up and the guys sat and took a break and Tara and I would take the kids to the Country Jamboree show or to get a snack while we waited. We had great seats for the parades and it was totally worth getting there a bit early. They came right by us and most of the characters would stop and wave to Jack and Piper. Such FUN!

We didn't get a LOT done on our first day because we were feeling everything out, but we were able to ride some of our favorite rides and make a plan for all the wanted to do the following day. We also figured out quickly that Magic Kingdom is a Foreman Family kind of place. All three of us were thrilled with it and SO happy that we were going back the following day! More Magic Kingdom tomorrow....