I mentioned in my last post that every day in Florida brought us something to look forward to. I also said that my favorite Disney park is EPCOT. That is a statement I stand by, but the Disney park day I was looking forward to the most was our first Magic Kingdom day. I just knew the kids would love Magic Kingdom, and I couldn't wait to see their reactions to the park.
Because I was feeling so excited about our day in Magic Kingdom, I woke up early and opened the shades to our balcony that overlooked the lake. The view was incredible, and I couldn't wait to wake the kids to show them!
Since moving into our Disney suite the night before, we obviously hadn't had time to get groceries (like food for breakfast). We needed to save our granola bars, beef jerky, and cracker packs for park snacks, so Chris and I had come up with a plan for breakfast the night before. We decided we would walk on the skybridge to the Contemporary and eat breakfast at the Contempo Cafe. We were even able to place a mobile order so our food would be ready as soon as we arrived.
We were able to get ready for the day fairly quickly, and we began our walk over to the Contemporary at about 7:40am.
We had seen the view of Magic Kingdom the night before from where we caught the elevator to our suite, but seeing it in the daylight was still super exciting. In fact, I don't think seeing the castle from Bay Lake or the skybridge ever got old! The kids kept saying, "And we're going there TODAY!"
This day was truly magical from start to finish. It all started with the amazing sunrise and never stopped! Even when I poured my hot cocoa mix into my hot water at breakfast, it made the shape of a hidden Mickey. One of the ears partially sank before I could snap a photo, but it was a magical moment the kids still laugh about!
We ordered the kids Mickey waffles for breakfast, and they loved them! Mickey waffles for the win!
Brianna and Brooke
Brecklyn and Brenson
As soon as we finished breakfast, we started walking toward Magic Kingdom. I think the fact that we could walk to MK was my very favorite thing about staying at Bay Lake Tower (although there are many things to choose from!). Before we had even walked for one minute, I realized that I needed to grab another jacket. I had been watching the weather fairly closely and knew that the high for this day was only about 60 degrees. Because of this, I had put all the kids in lots of layers. For myself, though, I had only thrown a light jacket over a t-shirt. I had underestimated the wind factor and decided I needed to run up to our suite to put on a sweatshirt and grab an extra sweater so I wouldn't be miserable all day. My trip back to our suite put us running behind where I wanted to be this day, but I'm so glad I grabbed the extra layers!
The park opened at 9:00am, and by 9:30am we had walked to the park, through temp checks, through security, and were ready to walk into Magic Kingdom!
As soon as we entered the park, the kids were awestruck by the giant Christmas tree and gifts set up in the grassy area at the beginning of Main Street, USA.
I finally said, "Guys, look up!" Everyone looked up and saw this:
The squeals that came from our girls at that moment were priceless! It was so funny to me that none of them realized we were right in front of the castle because they were so distracted by the Christmas decor. Brianna grabbed my arm, said, "Oh!" and literally got teary-eyed. It was a magical moment, for sure!
Good morning from Main Street, USA!
There were no photopass photographers out yet, so I decided to try and take a family selfie. Thankfully, a kind woman walked up and asked if she could take our picture for us. Yes, please!!!
As we continued to walk toward the castle, I couldn't stop taking pictures. The girls just kept saying, "Wow!" and "It's so beautiful!" and "I can't believe it!" over and over again.
I'm a fan of the new look!
I didn't expect Brianna's reaction to be so emotional, but it really was. I hope to remember that moment always!
These two were just excited. Lots of squeals of joy and telling each other to "Look! Look!"
Chris and I both knew we were going to walk through the castle to get to Fantasyland, but we didn't tell the kids. When Brianna figured it out, she was over the top excited!
Brooke said, "Mom! We're at the castle! Can you believe it?!? It's a real castle!"
Once we walked through the castle, I asked who wanted to pull on the sword. Brianna was excited to give this a try.
Bren did not want to do this, but I finally talked him into it. At this point, he was very unimpressed by Magic Kingdom. He came around, but it took him a while. Castles and princesses aren't his thing, lol.
The park was not busy at all, so we really had the freedom to start where ever we wanted to. Since we were right by Mickey's PhilHarmagic, I suggested we go there first. We were able to walk right in!
Once again, Brooke and I had to sit away from the group due to social distancing.
Everyone loved the show, and it was the perfect way to start the day. Even Bren said he was glad we did it!
We decided our first ride should be Peter Pan's Flight. I mean, it's a classic, right?!? However, before we made it to Peter Pan, Chris spotted a photopass spot with Cinderella's carriage and asked the girls if they wanted to do that quickly. We only had to wait behind one family before it was our turn!
On our way to get in line for Peter Pan, we had to stop and enjoy Rapunzel's area!
Peter Pan's Flight was a first for all of us, and I loved the queue!
Momma, Brecklyn, and Brenson were on a ship together,
while Daddy, Brooke, and Brianna had their own ship!
I snapped this pic after we got off our ships just to remember how well this ride is themed, lol!
We all loved Peter Pan and decided to try It's a Small World next. Sadly, it was temporarily closed, so we decided to make our way to Ariel's Grotto and ride Under the Sea. Bren was not thrilled about this. At this point, I felt like Bren wanted to desert Magic Kingdom.
On our way to Under the Sea, we stopped by Beast's Castle for a photopass opportunity.
Chris thinks this pic is ridiculous, but I think it's kind of cute :-).
The theming is so on point in Magic Kingdom, and the kids loved noticing little things like sea shell imprints in the concrete around Ariel's castle. When we noticed there was also a photopass photographer by Ariel's castle, I used my pretty pleases to get everyone to stop for more photos!
When we were at MK in 2013, Ariel's whole area was fairly new. We waited an hour to meet Ariel and ride Under the Sea. This time, we walked right on!
Yay for riding in seashells again!
I loved this movie as a kid, so this ride brings me allllll the feels!
I think Brecklyn was feeling all the feels, too!
Brooke, Brianna, and Brecklyn (obviously being tortured by that Florida sun!)
From Ariel's Grotto, we decided to ride the teacups next. At this point, Bren was still pretty mopey about everything.
Can you tell that Brooke loved spinning us?!?
Brecklyn was more interested in just enjoying the ride!
The big kids were spinning so fast that Brianna's hair was almost sticking straight out, haha.
Once we finished at the Teacups, the little girls really wanted to ride Prince Charming's Regal Carousel. No one else was interested in this, though, so we decided to go into the Big Top area and ride Dumbo!
This is the one ride that Brecklyn had brought up many times. She couldn't wait to finally ride Dumbo!
The girls loved it!
When I saw there was a little Dumbo photo area, I couldn't resist.
Brecklyn and Brooke
Brianna and Brenson
Next, we walked over to The Barnstormer. We figured it was time for the twins to experience their first roller coaster!
I rode with Brecklyn in the very back. I'm not a roller coaster person, so this was adventurous for me! After the experience we'd had with Brecklyn on several of the more intense rides, I was expecting her to hate this one. I couldn't have been more wrong. She loved it!
Brianna was a little stunned, but Bren thought it was good (although too short).
It was about 12:15pm when we finished on The Barnstormer. We decided to take a rest at a "relaxation station" nearby under a circus tent. While there, we broke out all the snacks and had "lunch". The twins were acting very cranky, and Brooke, especially, seemed tired. Chris and I made the decision that I would walk back to our suite with them for a few hours of rest time. So, as soon as we finished eating, we started walking toward the entrance of the park.
I love this view of the castle and had to snap a pic!
We walked a bit farther and discovered there was a photopass photographer taking pics. Yay!
Just the girls . . . the guys were being kinda cranky about photos.
As we continued walking to the park entrance, Brooke fell asleep in the stroller. I knew she was tired! However, this ruined my plan to take the twins back to our suite for some rest. Brooke would not rest very long in the stroller and would likely be wide awake by the time we made it back to our suite. Then, Brecklyn wouldn't be able to rest because Brooke would be awake. So, Chris and I came up with a new plan. He would take the girls in the stroller, park in a quiet place, and let them rest. Meanwhile, the big kids and I would hit up a few pin trading places and order Brooke and Brecklyn their first pair of ears.
This plan ended up working out really well. Before Chris made it very far, the princess parade came right down Main Street. This was new for us as we hadn't seen any parades at Animal Kingdom or EPCOT.
Brooke slept through it all, but Brecklyn was excited!
Bren's spirits had really perked up after riding the Teacups and The Barnstormer. Then, he was able to trade for some pins he really liked. After he finished trading, he said, "NOW I get why this is called Magic Kingdom. There really is some magical stuff going on here!" This made me laugh so much. I was happy to see that he was finally allowing himself to enjoy our day!
Brianna thought this statue of Minnie and Roy Disney was so cute. I thought she was cute sitting by them!
This girl had NO problems feeling the magic!
At this point, we had been separated from Chris and the twins for close to an hour. We picked up Brooke and Brecklyn's personalized ears, then met up with them where they had been resting under the train station. Brooke was just waking up, and Brecklyn had never gone to sleep. They were just tickled to have their own set of ears, and they looked so cute in them!
They were able to have their masks off in the photo above because we were enjoying a snack of cotton candy and popcorn. As we were finishing our snack, several characters came out onto the platform above us to greet guests!
Brecklyn was so excited to see Minnie Mouse!
And Brooke loved seeing Pluto (although she said, "Why is he standing up on two legs? He's a dog!)
Since both of the girls were awake, we decided to mosey down Main Street and take in the sites once again. Photopass photographers were out this time, but Brecklyn fell asleep in the stroller almost as soon as we started moving. Ah well, I got to take some fun pics with the big kids!
We slowly made our way over toward Liberty Square, enjoying the flowers and beautiful grounds as we went. We're not used to seeing flowers like this in December.
Since Brooke was awake, we took a few photos together.
Brianna wanted to get a photo in front of Rapunzel's Tower, so she and I did that quickly.
While we did that, Chris hung out in Adventureland with the other kids. By the time we made it back to them, Brecklyn was awake and a parade was coming through. They were all so cute waving to the princesses on the float!
Quite a float, for sure!
As soon as the parade was over, we headed toward The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. This whole day, I never felt crowded until this time. Adventureland was pretty congested and it seemed like there were a lot of people in the park. We even had trouble finding a place to park our stroller.
It wasn't long before we were on the Magic Carpets, though!
The view of Adventureland from the Carpets is pretty great!
Since we were right by the Swiss Family Treehouse, we made that our next stop. I'm not sure the kids were too interested in this, but Chris and I enjoyed ourselves!
Chris had placed a mobile order for food for us at Pinocchio Village Haus. We had to be there to get our food between 4:00 and 4:15pm. At 4:00pm, we started making our way back to Fantasyland from Adventureland. We were already fighting the crowd a bit, then a parade came through. We were happy to see Santa, but we also needed to cover some ground!
Thankfully, we made it just in time to get our food, and we were grateful for the opportunity to sit down for a bit and take a mask break while we ate. During dinner, Brooke and Brecklyn mentioned how they really wanted to ride Prince Charming's Regal Carousel. Bren had no interest in that, but wanted to go to Tomorrowland and ride the Tomorrowland Speedway. Chris and I decided we needed to split up and knock out both things. Brianna couldn't decide who she wanted to go with, but finally decided to stick with the girls.
So excited for the carousel ride!
It was a long wait, but they were very patient.
The people in front of us in line for the carousel were a group of women who were dressed very inappropriately. The sun was starting to set - and the air was getting very chilly again - but they were wearing low cut, ultra short, and super revealing clothing. One lady in particular had the entire bottom half of her butt cheeks hanging out of her shorts. Some were in leggings or shorts so tight that you could see everything. We had seen very similar things at Animal Kingdom . . . boobs, bellies, and bottoms hanging out all over the place. Brianna turned to me in line and said, "Mom, I've seen more body parts in Florida than I have in my whole life!" Yep, sad but true.
When it was finally our turn to ride, Brooke and Brecklyn were so sweet with their horses. They hugged them, petted them, and talked to them. It was the cutest thing!
Meanwhile, Bren and Dad were having a great time at the Tomorrowland Speedway.
The boys finished a bit before us, so they waited while we rode the carousel. Then, we decided we needed to ride It's a Small World.
The queue for this was pretty long . . . we waited about 50 minutes. Worth it!
I love this ride!
I think the whole thing is just fascinating.
At the end of the ride, there are electronic screens (you can see them in the photo below). Our names came up on the screens as we were floating by! Brenson and Brecklyn were extra impressed by this as they never see their name anywhere!
While we were waiting in line and riding It's a Small World, the sun had set. The castle lit up in the dark is so pretty, though!
And eeeeek! Disney had the castle lit up in Christmas colors!
The park was only open until 8:00pm, and it was about 6:30pm at this point. The kids really wanted to ride Jungle Cruise. I didn't know anything about this ride, so we agreed and walked alllll the way back to and through Adventureland. They thought it was hilarious that the sign had been changed to "Jingle Cruise" for Christmas.
We didn't have to wait too long for this ride and were on the boat before we knew it. I didn't realize it had animatronic animals in the water, so I hadn't warned the kids at all about it. Brooke hates the dark (always has) and was pretty terrified on this ride.
I felt so bad for her! Brecklyn didn't like it either. Had I known more about the ride, we wouldn't have ridden it at night. Or maybe at all, haha!
It was pretty fascinating how the castle was lit up in several different ways at night. On our way from the Jungle Cruise back toward Main Street, we had to stop and get some pics in front of the castle!
Main Street was so beautiful all decorated and lit up for Christmas!
Before we left MK for the night, Bren really wanted to revisit some of the pin trading spots we had visited earlier to see if they had anything new. I took Brooke and Brecklyn to use the bathroom over by the fire station while Chris took Brianna and Brenson to hit up a few pin trading spots on Main Street. We ended up waiting for a bit on them, but we just found a bench and enjoyed the people watching.
You can probably tell from the photo above that the girls were getting very worn down at this point. I was feeling it too! It had been a wonderful, magical day, but we were ready to get back to our suite and rest! All day in a Disney park is not for the faint!
Just before 8:00pm, we said "until next time" to Magic Kingdom and walked back to our suite.
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