While I fully intended to condense our trip into two or three posts, right now it’s looking like I may have a post for every day we were there. I don’t want to forget a single thing about it!
Day 2- Magic Kingdom
We were so excited for our first real day at Disney World and we had a breakfast reservation at the Magic Kingdom at The Crystal Palace.
Our hotel, The Wilderness Lodge, is not on the Monorail, but it does have direct boat service from the hotel to the Magic Kingdom. And the boat ride is only about ten minutes, at most. We never had to wait for a boat and it was so convenient!
The Crystal Palace is a beautiful spot located just off of Main Street USA. It is a character that features Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore. We were there for breakfast and the buffet was good! Typical breakfast buffet items, but the cast members were all so nice and accommodating and the kids absolutely loved it.
They were incredibly excited to meet the characters, and their reactions were just priceless!
I loved Hayes’s mouthful of Mickey waffle when he met Tigger.
When we left breakfast, we were just out to explore the park! We took advantage of the new Fast Pass Plus system, which is just incredible. So this is the thing that will make Disney World seem like a more manageable trip to people. We have our Magic Bands that electronically hold all the information for your trip– hotel, dinner reservations, dining plan information, park passes, and most importantly, they hold your Fast Pass information.
A few weeks before we left for Disney World, I reserved all of our 3 Fast Passes per day on the My Disney Experience website. And then it showed up on our Magic Bands! Magic!
We had three guaranteed times that we wouldn’t have to wait in line that day. And, thankfully, the parks are not crowded at all during the week that we went. It was so wonderful to not have to wait.
We headed straight for Peter Pan’s Flight and the boys loved it. Peter Pan was definitely their favorite ride of the entire trip.
Then we rode Prince Charming’s Carousel, It’s a Small World, Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, Goofy’s Barnstormer, and Dumbo.
The Dumbo ride now has a play area in the waiting line,which is wonderful. You receive a pager when you enter the play area, and your kids can play while they wait. And then when it’s your turn to get on the ride, they page you. So wonderful! We were able to ride Dumbo three times that first day and Hayes never wanted it to end. Poor guy! Meltdowns happen, even at Disney World!
We made our way to the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and the boys had an absolute ball! We rode it twice, too. I’m telling you, there were no lines.
We were right next to Cosmic Ray’s to use one of our quick service meals, so we ran in there to grab some lunch. The food was good. Maybe a small step up from fast food, but I can’t say enough great things about the Magic Bands.
After lunch, we went to ride Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, and they just loved it. We rode the Astro Orbiter and then went into the Monsters Laugh Floor. Such fun! And then it was time to head back to the hotel for naps. Because, even at Disney World, these boys needed a nap. It saved us from meltdowns. So we headed in around 2:00 and put the boys to bed.
They woke up, we grabbed a bite to eat, and then we headed back to Magic Kingdom for the Main Street Electrical Parade and the Celebrate the Magic and Wishes shows. The parade is incredible! I highly recommend seeing it at least once. But the Celebrate the Magic show is a showstopper. It’s a projection show on Cinderella Castle and it is quite impressive. The boys also loved the fireworks. Seeing their faces and hearing their laughs were just the best!
We rode Peter Pan one more time after the parade and then went to see Mickey’s Philharmagic 3D show. The kids loved it!
And then it was back to the hotel for a long night sleep! The kids crashed every night and Todd and I would watch a little TV before passing out. Disney World will wear you out!
Crystal Seed says
Hey there! I loved reading this!! My family and I are going to Disney at the end of March, and we’re so excited to get to use our Magicbands and the awesome fastpass+ thing!!! Yay! I can’t wait to read more on your trip! You’re giving me some great ideas on where to dine 🙂
September says
I’m loving this trip report–my kids are 8 & 10 now but we have so many fantastic disney memories from when they were little (and #3 on the way–and wouldn’t you know that one of the things they keep talking about is planning for “when we take the baby to WDW!”). Great choice on hotel; we have Disney Vacation Club and have gone quite a bit and stayed pretty much everywhere and that’s one of our favorite resorts for that age because of the close proximity to MK. My kids love the boat ride (shhhh, we’re not supposed to but we’ve been know to just park there occasionally so we can take advantage of their transportation).
Rhi says
These posts are great! We’re heading to Disney World at the end of March. So excited to see it through Henry’s eyes!
Grace says
So fun! Such beautiful pictures! Those fast passes are straight magic. Can’t wait for more pictures!
MeganTree says
Every time we’ve ever gone to Disney World we always say that we need a vacation from that vacation. It wears you out! But it’s SO FUN! Loving the recaps! Makes me want to go SO badly!
Brittany Fry says
Awe the boys look like they are having so much fun!!! Glad you were able to get those magic bands, less fuss and waiting which could probably lead to more meltdowns!!
Lindsay says
Erin – what were the dates of your visit? We have been a few times but it seems like it was much busier than what you describe! No lines sounds great! My kids are still not in school so we can plan a trip whenever. Sounds like your timing was perfect! Great pictures, too!
Sarah M says
It looks like you all had so much fun! I actually was down there about a week ago…a day my myself…long story! I blogged about it. I cant wait to hear about your trip. I am a Disney Travel agent, so if you ever want to go back, let me know. My services are free, I make all of your dining reservations and give free gift cards when you book with me 🙂
Becca @ Becoming Adorrable says
You’re making me really excited for our trip to Disney in the fall!
Mercedes says
The daily posts are great! While we don’t have kids yet, I certainly can’t wait to plan these trips.
kate nautical by nature says
Loving these posts! I think the family I nanny for may go this year or next and I’ve only been to Disney World once very briefly.
Where are the boys truck/helicopter shirts from? I discovered Honey Bee Tees thanks to you and “my” H lives in them!
Brista Barrington says
Love reading these Disney recaps through someone else’s eyes! We love Disney World! But the new Memory Maker option is new! I haven’t done this yet. So, you pay a fee and it downloads straight to Disney Experience for you to make a CD or print photo prints? We haven’t even used Disney Experience yet either!
Amanda says
Did y’all have a suite or were you all in one room? I’m always curious about how to do naps in that kind of setting. Our little will sleep pretty well at night even if we want to watch tv, but nap is another story. It would be hard to get him to settle down for a nap if we were in the room doing anything but napping too (which would certainly be justified at Disney!) I’m excited to try the magic bands. They’ve been testing them at certain resorts the last times we were there, but we haven’t had a chance yet! I’m hoping to go back in October when Gray is two.
Sonya says
The Magic Kingdom is my favorite! I will always love it best after working there during an internship in college. The Main Street Electrical parades is one of my favorites. They had just brought it back when I was working there in 2000. At some point it went away for a bit and then came back out on the last visit we made in 2010. I’m excited that it will still be there for our visit this year too.
Leigh says
I love Disney! We are planning on taking our son this fall. I read that the Dumbo play area can be a nightmare with watching your kids and having to get them out when ride time came. How did this work for you?