(Sun, Sep 11, 2016)
Hannah and I were up bright and early Sunday morning, excited for our first day in the parks! The Magic Kingdom is our park of choice for our first day whenever we can organize our trip that way! As the week would progress we would enjoy quieter starts to the day but this day we were both excited to get there so it was an early one for us!
In the past Hannah has work a silicone wristband with my cell number on it but this year she felt she was old enough not to as she has my number memorized and also placed this little piece of paper in her show with my number on it. It was a big step but we talked through (again) what to do if we got separated and knowing she keeps close I was okay with her decision.
We donned our new purple MagicBands and were ready to go! I noticed that they have changed the material that the bands are made of and they are a little more flexible now and more comfortable to wear.
Squeeeeeal! It’s the Magic Kingdom!!!
Disney is always changing and updating their parks, resorts and so much more! Literally within days (if not hours) of leaving things will change! One of the changes that took place the day after we left last December was the installation of metal detectors and another change I noticed was the addition of many more bag check locations at the Magic Kingdom. This was wonderful as bag checks were VERY thorough this year with every single pocket of our backpacks, bags and stroller checked each time we entered a park. I will never mind Disney helping to keep us safe but I will also say these additional bag checks were greatly appreciated as we never waited long!
Disney security randomly selects guests to go through the metal detectors after their bags are checked. In the end I was asked to go through a metal detector twice out of about 12 park entrances.
As we entered the Magic Kingdom the flag at half mast reminded me that it was September 11th. A sobering reminder of a terrible time yet one I never want to forget.
We picked up a hat for Hannah as it was hot, hot, hot and made our way down Main Street. I’m sure there was a skip in my step as once again we were back at our favourite place with our entire vacation before us!! The Happiest Place on Earth!!!
Even though it was early September the crane was up adding the lights to Cinderella’s castle that will adorn it for Christmas. It takes almost 3 months to add the Christmas lights but they are SO worth it! This pic is from our visit to the Magic Kingdom in 2014. Amazing!!!
Our first FastPass+ (FP+) of the day was for Splash Mountain so we made out way to Adventureland. Such a great ride and getting splashed was a welcome relief!
I was able to snag this picture from the monitors. One of the few that you could see both of our faces so glad we have it.
From Splash Mountain we took the train to the other side of the park and spent the remainder of our day in Casey’s Circus, Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. We enjoy Tomorrowland Speedway and I can honestly say Hannah’s driving was vastly improved this year! In the past it’s been a recipe for whiplash but this year she was an amazing driver!
Please ignore my purple face in this video. September is still toasty in Orlando as the temps reached well over 90o each day of our trip with high humidity. We don’t mind the heat and were well prepared for it although were mindful of staying hydrated and drinking water often. Our refillable mugs were full of ice water and tucked into the cup holder of the stroller the entire trip.
Our favourite roller coaster at the Magic Kingdom (MK) is Seven Dwarfs Mine Train so we were sure to secure FP+ reservations each day that we were in the MK!
Walt Disney World has an age requirement of 7yo in order to be able to ride alone. This year Hannah was excited to ride the Teacups on her own. I’ll say it’s not my number 1 ride so I was happy to let her try out this new freedom.
My independent girl. Pretty proud of herself!
We talked often about Auntie Trish, Uncle Dave, Makenna and Kallen who were originally going to be with us on this trip but unfortunately had to cancel. Dumbo is Kallen’s favourite character so Hannah wanted to ride this for him. So sweet!
Hannah has never been a huge character person when it comes to meeting characters in the parks so I’m never sure if she’ll want to or not so just take her lead. This day she did want to meet some of the Fab 5 so we took advantage of the AC and lined up to meet these special friends. I love to see her excitement as she approached them and the smiles as she posed with them. Cherishing these moments!
It was a party night in the Magic Kingdom so we needed to leave the park by 7pm as at that time Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party was beginning. We haven’t attended this party yet but possibly another year we will as Hannah is able to stay awake later into the evening and she’s now expressing interest in going. We’re not huge Halloween fans but this party does look like a lot of fun and it’s neat to see many families dressed up in coordinating costumes.
When we left the MK we took a bus to Disney Springs (DS). (It’s such a time saver that Disney now offers direct buses from the parks to Disney Springs after 4pm!) DS (formerly Downtown Disney) has grown and changed so much since we were there last year and is absolutely beautiful!!!
We tried a new pizza place for supper called Blaze Fast Fire’d Pizza and it was delicious! f After supper we walked through the new part of DS and found something I wanted to see in person. Can you believe it? A cupcake ATM! Oh baby!!
One of the stores we wanted to visit this evening was the Lego store hoping to see the new Disney Castle Lego and we were not disappointed! Check out this beauty!!
Hannah has told me this is the only thing she wants from Santa this year (yikes!!!) but Santa and I are pretty close and I’ve let her know that he brings toys that are most appropriate for little girls and boys and since this one says it’s for ages 16+ she shouldn’t be too disappointed if it’s not under the tree. With all my heart I would love to buy it for her and I know we would enjoy putting it together over time but with a $350US price tag it’s just not going to happen….at least not this year. (Until it does she can enjoy watching ellieVtoys put this project together in Part I and Part II of the Castle Lego build. It’s over 4000 pieces broken into 32 different bags!!) Hopefully Santa will have other Lego for her though as playing with it is something she thoroughly enjoys and we enjoy working on kits together. She played at this little table for well over an hour until I had to finally pull her away as it was almost 10pm and we had many more days of Disney adventures before us.
Sweet dreams baby girl. Tomorrow…Epcot.
A perfect day! I'm glad you two had a good time and got to try out a new pizza place! We have not been to Disney Springs in about a year so we need to check out what's new! Good save on the 16+ castle age limit! Marin would want this too! Yikes! It does look amazing though! For some reason I thought you'd done the Halloween party...maybe I was thinking of the Christmas one. We've never done either. I still can't justify the extra cost in my mind. Marin is asking to go though so maybe one day we will try it too. I wish you were coming back with us this month! Loving your Disney posts as always and looking forward to more!
ReplyDeleteThe Not-so-Scary Halloween party is so amazing! You should spring for that special event sometime. My daughter also would love to have the huge Disney Castle...they actually have a smaller version of it at the $70US price point which we have already picked up and hidden away. I imagine it will be harder to find closer to Christmas!
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