Initially, we planned to spend Wednesday morning at EPCOT, but we decided to go back to Magic Kingdom Wednesday morning. We needed to change things around and not be at Magic Kingdom Wednesday evening, and we just weren't ready to say goodbye to that park just yet. So we spent Wednesday doing all the things at Magic Kingdom we HAD to do during our trip.
We got to Magic Kingdom at park opening and caught some of the opening show again.
Our first stop at the park was the Tomorrowland Speedway. The kids wanted to ride it on Tuesday, but the line was long, so we told them we would ride them another time. There was no line Wednesday morning thankfully, so we let the kids drive us around. I'm SO glad we didn't wait in line for that. The kids had fun, but Matt and I were very unimpressed. Maybe it's just because my kids aren't very good drivers :)
After the race cars we finished up at Fantasyland. We rode Winnie the Pooh and Dumbo one more time.
We also rode the Barnstormer roller coaster. They wouldn't let the kids ride without an adult for each child, so we had to ride it three times to be able to let all the kids ride. They liked it, but once again Matt and I weren't impressed. I'm pretty sure we skipped that ride the last time we were there :).
Then we hopped on the train for what we thought would be a quick ride across the park to Frontier Land, so Samuel could ride Splash Mountain again. It was still early in the day, and the line was pretty short, but we had an unexpected delay on the train that left us sitting on a stopped train for close to half an hour. womp. womp. I was pretty frustrated because the wait times for Splash Mountain kept increasing while we were stuck doing nothing. We had already told Samuel he could ride it again, so there was no way we could just skip it. Finally, we made it to the station, and I had a chance to politely complain to an employee and we ended up getting two fast passes out of the deal, so that delay on the train ended up working in our favor.
Since we had a fast pass to use for Splash Mountain, we decided to save it and do a couple of other things before the lines got worse as the day went on. The boys wanted to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. We had to wait close to 30 minutes to ride, but they really liked it. Then we grabbed lunch and got in line for the Magic Carpet Ride. This line was longer than I thought it would be too. I kind of kept putting it off because I thought it was a ride that never had a line, but it was a twenty minute wait. The kids had seen Aladdin before our trip, and I told them there were flying carpets they could ride, so they weren't about to miss it. Nathan liked steering our carpet and Elisabeth kept calling it the Shimmer and Shine ride. I think that's a Nickelodeon show maybe with genies? Anyway, it was fun. The kids got a kick out of the spitting camel.
After the Magic Carpets we finally made it over to Splash Mountain. We used rider swap and rode it twice in a row.
Samuel wasn't content and wanted to keep riding it, but we moved on after I insisted we document his favorite ride with a picture.
We headed back to Adventureland to explore the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. It had been closed for refurbishment for several months and I just assumed they were tearing it down to build something else (It's one of the least popular attractions). I told Nathan it wouldn't be open (He had watched about 15 minutes of the movie before he lost attention), but then surprisingly it was open! The kids had fun walking through it. Elisabeth was bummed she couldn't actually go in any of the rooms though.
We stopped for a few pictures before heading back across the park to Tomorrowland.
I had never planned on riding Space Mountain during this trip to Disney World. Initially I didn't think Nathan would be tall enough (but a tiny growth spurt and those Cowboy boots proved me wrong), and I just remember being a little let down by all the hype when we rode it last time. BUT after all the fun Nathan had on Mission Space and Expedition Everest, Matt and I talked about it and knew he would love it. Since we had an extra fast pass from the train debacle, we decided to ride it. Matt rode with Nathan first while Samuel and I explored a gift shop and Elisabeth napped in the stroller. Then we used rider swap so Nathan could ride it again.
Nathan and I got in line and the rest of our family rode the Transit Authority again. The fastpass line was long for Space Mountain (still way shorter than standby) but we had to wait like 20 minutes even in the fastpass line. So riding it took longer than we planned, but Nathan's expression was worth it. When the ride was over, I said, "How was it, Nathan?" His response was, "Whew, I'm alright, but I need to take a breath!" And I will say the ride was better than I remembered. I forgot how dark it was, like you are really in space and have no clue what's coming next. It was fun, and I'm glad we rode it.
After our first night at Downtown Disney where Nathan saw the "Build your own lightsaber" stations, he insisted that that was what he wanted for his big souvenir. By Wednesday he had never wavered on what he wanted so after Space Mountain we stopped at the gift shop and let him build one.
He ended up building a Kylo Ren lightsaber (which he already has), but he insisted this one was better and cooler. He had fun making it, and even now talks about what a good job he did making his lightsaber and how he could make any kind he wanted.
Before we said goodbye to Magic Kingdom, we stopped at a couple of shops (the kids were not cooperative) and stopped for a treat at the Main Street Confectionery. We sat and enjoyed the surroundings while we ate our treats. We also ran to the Christmas store to find an ornament before we left for the day.
Samuel fell asleep after his treat.
I was starting to feel a little bummed because this was our last time to
be at Magic Kingdom during this visit to Disney World. I had looked
forward to it for so long and I know it will be several years before we
make it back. Magic Kingdom was SO good to us, but it was sad to say
goodbye. I stared at the castle our whole way out.
I'm pretty sure it was almost 4:00 before we left the park. It was a busy, full day. We went back to our hotel to rest for a bit and eat dinner. I think Elisabeth was the only one who actually napped. Samuel was good from his stroller nap, and Nathan insisted on playing with his Legos. It was nice to have a little downtime though.
So, when I booked our trip and planned where we would spend our park days, I remember being disappointed that the new Star Wars Fireworks show was only running during the summer, and then about three weeks before we left (after all our dining and fast passes had been booked), I saw that they had brought it back for the Fall and it was going on while we were there. I freaked out a bit, because I knew how special it would be for Nathan but we had NO plans to be at Hollywood Studios during the nights it was showing. I had us at Magic Kingdom Wednesday night (with fast passes booked). Matt told me to keep our plans the same, and we'd just see how things were going once we were on vacation. We kept it a secret from Nathan, in case it didn't work out. But we changed our plans around and went to Magic Kingdom Wednesday morning, and sacrificed some time at EPCOT, so we could spend Wednesday evening back at Hollywood Studios for the show. We ate dinner at our resort and then hopped on a bus around 7:00 to make it to Hollywood Studios for the 8:00 show. We found a spot for the show, and I sent Matt off to ride Rockin' Rollercoaster while I stayed with the kids. He came back in a much better mood. He said he needed the chance to ride an adult ride, so I'm glad he got a chance to ride it. He wanted me to ride it on Thursday, but it ended up being closed on Thursday, so I'm really glad he got to ride it Wednesday night.
The show was really good (even for a non Star Wars fan). I thought the fireworks were a little better than Magic Kingdom even. They seemed bigger and there were more than the Magic Kingdom show. They projected classic scenes from the movies on the theater and had lasers and all sorts of special effects.
Nathan loved his surprise, and I'm glad we all got a chance to see it.
Hollywood Studios closed after the show, and Wednesday ended up being our earliest night. We tried to do a little shopping since the rides were closed and we knew the lines for buses would be long. Nathan was pretty excited to find this yellow Power Ranger. He's still confused why it was there since Power Rangers aren't made by Disney. I'm a little confused too, but he had to have a picture with it.
We made it back to our hotel around 9:30, and it felt like an early night. Ha! We went right to bed to rest up for our last Disney day.
So, Tuesday might have been my favorite day at Disney World, especially the morning. It was just a wonderfully fun morning. We started our day at Magic Kingdom, and got to the park just in time to catch the opening show.
This was our third day at Magic Kingdom, but is was our first time to be at Magic Kingdom in the morning, and it was SO nice. The weather was awesome, and the crowds were low. We had the best morning. As soon as we got into the park, we headed to Enchanted Tales with Belle because it's a super popular attraction, and we wanted to do it before the line got long. But, we got in line, and the attendant told us they had to wait to get more people before they could do a show, and that we'd probably have to wait awhile, so she sent us away. It was weird, because she kept sending people away, and if we had all stayed, there would have been plenty of people to have a show. Oh well. Anyway, we headed out to explore Fantasy Land for a bit before heading back to meet Belle.
Our first stop was the tea cups. Classic Disney fun.
Then we rode Dumbo. Yay! Elisabeth talks about riding Dumbo a lot too. It was one of her top rides for sure.
Then we headed back to Enchanted Tales with Belle. And out of all the magic Disney gave us throughout our five days, this was Matt and my VERY favorite. The attraction was so cool with a talking Lumiere, and a magic mirror that led us from Maurice's cottage to Beast's library, but the best part was that each of the kids (and a couple of adults) got to play a part in a play reenacting how Belle and the Beast met.
Matt got to be a suit of armor. I was thrilled when they cast Samuel as Chip (perfect role for him), but my heart leapt when they handed the beast cape to Nathan. Nathan LOVES to dress up, perform, put on plays, it's just his thing, and for him to get the biggest role among all the kids, it was just an awesome experience. Oh, and Elisabeth got cast as a salt shaker. She was thrilled :)
Nathan was the BEST Beast. He embraced his role and gave a scary roar. He was so proud of himself.
The play was super cute, and all the kids did great in their roles. They
got to parade around during "Be Our Guest" and then each individually
got to meet Belle and she gave them a special bookmark.
Nathan was star struck when he got the chance to dance with Belle and take a bow. He was BEAMING. It might have been the brightest smile I've ever seen from him.
SO VERY MAGICAL.
After our time with Belle, we all headed to ride the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. This was a new ride since Matt and I visited, and I was excited to ride it. It was a fun retelling of the Little Mermaid, and I love how Disney goes all out with the Queue and makes it a whole experience. Prince Eric's castle was awesome.
Matt stayed with Elisabeth to meet Ariel after we rode, while the boys and I used our rider swap pass to ride Seven Dwarves Mine Train.
I wished I could have been there to watch Elisabeth meet Ariel. Matt said she was really cute, and told Ariel that "Daddy buyed her her pink magic band".
I was excited to ride the Mine Train though (another new ride). It's the most popular ride at Magic Kingdom right now, and the line was crazy long even first thing in the morning. The boys need to give their sister a big thank you for allowing them to ride so many rides twice because of rider swap.
It was a fun ride. One of Samuel's favorites for sure.
After our ride we stopped at the Winnie the Pooh gift shop to pick up a Tigger for Samuel. He was pumped to have a friend for his Pooh and Eeoyre.
We left Fantasyland and headed to Tomorrowland
We rode Buzz Lightyear and defeated all the aliens and Zurg
And took a ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority.
We also waited in line for the Astro Orbiter. We waited about 30 minutes which aside from Jedi Training was the longest we had to wait in line for anything while we were there. That ride totally wasn't worth waiting in line that long for, but the kids loved it. It was just like Dumbo and Tricerotop Spin but on top of a building. All the lines were long at that point in the afternoon though, so we didn't have anything better to do.
Then we ate lunch and took the train over to Frontier Land to ride Splash Mountain again (thanks to rider swap)
During all the times we rode Splash Mountain, Elisabeth played restaurant at this little playground. We ordered food and she delivered it to us. She named it as one of her top favorite things at Disney World, which was good because she spent a lot of time there! Splash Mountain is a long ride (even with fastpasses).
After Splash Mountain, we posed for a picture and got in line for the buses. Again, we planned on leaving just after lunch time, but we stayed until close to 3:00 again. The kids were all SO good during our days at the park.
Everyone napped on the bus, which was good because we only had about 45 minutes at the hotel before we had to leave for dinner at EPCOT. Bus naps for the win on Tuesday!
We made it to Epcot around 5:00 Tuesday evening, ready for some fun!
Our first stop was dinner at the Garden Grille. This was a fun rotating restaurant with Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale.
The food was served family style, which I really enjoyed because it came out quickly, but I didn't have to make 15 trips to the buffet line to get food for everyone.
It was a relaxing, fun meal.
I don't know why, but Elisabeth had a thing for Chip and Dale at Disney. She thought they were the best, and was always excited to see them! Dinner was great for her.
Since we were in the Land area of Epcot, we rode the Land boat ride after dinner. It was a let down for everyone. I knew it would be, but there was no line, so why not. Nathan thought it was boring, but I think the other kids just had fun riding in a boat. And since Nathan was missing school, we'll call it educational, right?
Then we walked over to Norway to ride Frozen Ever After. I woke up at 6:00am to get this fast pass (and they were already out of the time I wanted), so we were NOT going to miss it. The standby line was always like two hours long. It was one of my favorite rides. Matt was not impressed. He preferred the Viking ride that it replaced, but I thought it was really cool. I feel like the animatronic technology has come a long way even in the last six years since we were at Disney. They had cold smoke and fireworks and all the great Frozen music. Elisabeth and I really liked it at least :)
While we were in Norway, we decided to go ahead and meet Anna and Elsa too. I had just commented to Matt how I was done with all the character greets and then asked him if the kids could meet Anna and Elsa. I liked the princess meet and greets because they talked and interacted more with the kids. Elisabeth enjoyed meeting Elsa the most. She calls her the "Let it Go" Princess. She didn't know much about Frozen before Disney World, but now she's a big fan.
We skipped the fireworks at EPCOT. I remember not being blown away by them last time, so we hoped the crowds would be down a bit and we focused on riding rides instead.
We rode Spaceship Earth which was a hit for Samuel. He thought it was so cool to ride inside the big ball. I almost fell asleep during it. Ha! Then Samuel and Nathan traded shoes so Nathan could ride Mission Space. He ended up riding it twice in a row (once with Matt and then with me), because he liked it so much. They had a fun space themed playground nearby, so Samuel and Elisabeth were content to play while he rode it. Riding Mission Space with him was another big highlight for me. He rode with Matt first, but he was still SO excited to ride again. He was very concerned he wouldn't remember his part of the mission and asked me about 12 times to remind him when it was time to do his job (push the button). He saluted the ride attendant at the beginning and was all into making sure we had a successful mission to Mars. I was glad once again he could meet the height requirement with those silly boots :).
The boys also rode Test Track while Elisabeth and I browsed the gift shop and got a snack.
The boys talked a lot about the fun race car ride. Before we left the park that night, the boys and I rode Soarin' Around the World. Samuel needed his cowboy boots to be tall enough for it, and right after the ride attendant measured him (He was very close!), she commented on his boots, and he said, "I wear them so I can ride the big boy rides." She was sweet to assure me that there wasn't anything wrong with it, but I was still a little mortified. Soarin' was a great ride. It was different (in a better way) than last time because we went all around the world. They insert smells for the scenes, and the boys thought it was awesome when we soared through the fireworks at the big ball at EPCOT. It was a great ending to our spectacular day.
We stayed until the park closed (They had extra magic hours until 11:00), and Samuel didn't make it out of the park.
It certainly ranks up high as one of our best days ever!
