Disney World Part 2 – The Magical Kingdom

Yes, I know it’s called the Magic Kingdom. Thank you, spellcheck police. But for us, it was just plain magical. Our trip to the Magic Kingdom (as previously mentioned) landed on Lucy’s 5th birthday, and I was a little afraid she would be overwhelmed with all the magic that was in store for her. This is a kid who cries when she’s happy, so I was prepared for a lot of tears. She rode over to the parks in a separate car from us, as she had some awesome little second (third?) cousins who were coming too and she couldn’t get close enough to them, so I have no idea what her reaction was as they drove in to the park (sad face here). I can tell you, however, that this was my face as we rode on the first of many rides of the day, the tram from the parking lot to the monorail:

It was about 9:30 a.m. and already 90 degrees outside, so we were a bit afraid for what was in store. We got in our first line of the day to get on the monorail, the train that goes around all the parks and would take us to the Magic Kingdom. At this point, I finally got to sit with Lu, and she was super excited, but nervous. I think this picture says it all:

When we arrived at the entrance of the park, the first thing we did was go to Customer Service and get a birthday badge. They have these badges for free for all sorts of occasions (birthdays, anniversaries, first trips to the park, etc.) and a nice man with a sharpie will personalize it for you. Again, this is free. Did I mention that this is free? Because it’s probably the only thing in the park that is. Lucy wore her badge during the day, and every “cast member” (they don’t call them employees at Disney) that we encountered made sure to wish her a happy fifth birthday. She was floored. And it was an awesome little extra that lots of people don’t know about.

We also, of course, stopped to get some ears and an autograph book. Lucy picked the cheesiest, pinkest, sparkliest ears she could find…which was not what I wanted her to get (come on, a classic photo with the black Mickey ears would’ve been so neat), but it was her birthday, so I let her pick. The autograph book was a recommendation from other moms that said it was a must have. She carried it with her during the day and all the characters we met signed it. It has a space for pictures too, so we can make it into a photo keepsake if I ever get all these photos printed (hahahahahaaaa!).

We then headed down Main Street, following the masses to Cinderella’s Castle, which is in the middle of the park. On the way Lucy saw a guy with a huge thing of balloons and begged for one. Her dad, who is usually the voice of reason in these situations, pulled out his wallet right away and bought her a giant pink one. While it made for some cute pictures, it was a total pain to carry around all day, whacking me the face as it was tied to our stroller. I’d recommend getting one on the way out of the park instead. And prepping your kid by making sure they understand they can’t bring it home with them on the airplane. Because that melt down was no fun at all.

We had planned ahead that we would probably spend most of our time in Fantasyland, which is directly behind the castle. Most of the little kid-centered rides are there, and even though we would have loved to explore more of the park, we only had one day and wanted to make it as enjoyable for Lu as possible. As luck would have it, we ended up right at the base of the castle just as a parade came down Main Street. They rope off the streets for the parades (which happen several times per day) so we were roped into the circle at the end of the street, with only a couple other families. This was our first stroke of luck, as all the other park patrons were crowded against each other on Main Street, and we were literally just hanging out in front of the castle, where no one could get in. The parade came up the street and then circled us for about 20 minutes, performing an entire show with characters and dancers. At one point they asked if anyone was having a birthday, and invited us to come out and dance in the parade with them. Seriously. It was a dream for Lu. She has told everyone and anyone that Disney World had a special parade just for her birthday. She even got air kisses from Minnie Mouse. Such a wonderful way to start the day!

After the parade, we headed up to Fantasyland and did all the rides we could without waiting in line for hours. We hit up all the classics, It’s a Small World (Lucy’s favorite, by far), the flying Dumbo’s, Peter Pan’s Adventure and a 4-D Fantasia-like movie. Literally, that took all day. The long lines plus the need to be constantly stopping for water and to cool down ended up eating most of our time. But that was okay. Lulu had a great time, and I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t stress about those kinds of things, and I didn’t, which made a huge difference in the happiness of everyone.

But let me tell you, it was HOT in Florida. Poor Grandpa Lee and Trent were pretty overwhelmed with all the PRINCESS and PINK and LOUD and HOT of it all…so when they started complaining we made them get in the stocks until they calmed down. Then we let them dork it out in the Hall of Presidents. It was air conditioned and historical, so I think they enjoyed it. That may have been the only thing they enjoyed, but they hid their scorn well. We love you guys!

At this point (around 4 or 5 p.m.), we met back up with Trent’s cousins. Though we had all come to the park together, we decided early on to split up, as it’s way too hard to coordinate that many people in a place like Disney World. And since they have six kids…well, that wasn’t going to be easy. So around this time we met up with them at Frontierland, where Lucy rode her second favorite ride, Aladdin’s Magic Carpet (I was nursing Tater in the Disney Baby Center at the time, so there are no photos). Trent and his cousin then took the kids to the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, which was such a hit, they had to do it twice. Lucy fell in love with her cousin Greta and they spent the rest of the day together. Greta, who is the oldest of six, became a favorite of Tate’s as well.

At this point, we were all close to “MAJOR ENGINE SHUTDOWN” as Lucy was falling asleep standing up, the boys were hungry and tired and poor Tate was a ball of sweaty, teething unhappiness. Tate spent the entire day in his stroller or in the Disney Baby Center nursing, but he was a sweetheart the whole time. We bought a stupidly expensive Mickey Mouse fan to hook on to his stroller and a bottle with a fan that squirted water (the perfect weapon in a water fight), but it was still very, very hot. Tate was a trooper though, not surprising, as he is the best baby ever in the history of the world.

Soon after, we asked if Greta would like to join us for our fancy birthday dinner at the castle, and she decided to stay at the park with us while the rest of her family went home. I’m going to save the tale of our fantastic dinner for another post, as this is already way too long and if you’re still reading you deserve a medal. Or some Mickey ears…pink ones.

Next up – The most amazing birthday dinner a five year old could ask for….