You can read The Disney Diaries: Day One HERE.
We woke up really early Monday morning and had a small breakfast at the Roaring Fork snack shop in our Wilderness Lodge resort. We then jumped on the boat to the Magic Kingdom. The boat service is so easy and convenient and the boats run about every 15 minutes. I booked Annabel an appointment at Magic Kingdom’s Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for 8:30 AM, so we entered through the Magic Kingdom gates before everyone else. It was awesome and I highly recommend the early appointment for this reason.
On our way to the boutique, which is inside Cinderella’s Castle, we stopped to take some photos of the kids on Main Street. It was just us and a few other families milling around. Perfect.
We arrived at the boutique and the first thing Annabel did was pick out her princess dress from the big wardrobe in the entrance. Now this was a BIG decision. She finally decided on Ariel’s dress, which is an adorable mint green color. We purchased the “Castle Package” which included the dress and the salon service. (It DOES NOT include shoes and we made the mistake of letting Annabel fall in love with a pair of silver sparkly slippers before we realized they were EXTRA. Ooops.)
Annabel put on her dress in the dressing room and was then brought to her salon chair for hair, make-up, and nail service. Now, I know what you might be thinking, “Isn’t this a little too Toddlers & Tiaras?” It really isn’t. It’s truly magical. Annabel was wide-eyed the entire time. It was a really sweet experience. The makeup is just some play eyeshadow, blush and lip gloss and a glitter sticker for her cheek. I’ve never put makeup or nail polish on Annabel before, so she really felt like a princess. They even ended the experience with a pixie dust sprinkle. The only cringing thing was watching them put an entire half bottle of gel into her long, curly hair. She loved it, but it took two days to get it all out. The things we do for some magical Disney fun!
After the boutique experience, we had brunch reservations at Cinderella’s Royal Table inside the castle. Cinderella does not do the rounds inside the restaurant. You meet her in the lobby before you enter.
During the breakfast we met Aurora, Belle, Jasmine, and Ariel. Annabel loved that she was wearing the Ariel dress when she met Ariel. It was super cute. Daniel was thrilled to eat two cinnamon rolls and a plate of pancakes. Hubbie and I loved the food and the endless cups of coffee. They gave all the girls a princess wand and all the boys a sword. Everyone also received a wishing star. We had a great view of the park from our table. All in all, I highly recommend Cinderella’s Royal Table, even if you don’t do the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. And if you make an early reservation (before 9:00 AM), you can enter the park early (like we did) which is a very nice perk.
Then it was finally time to go on some rides! Fantasyland was first with Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Goofy’s Barnstormer, Peter Pan’s Flight, The Carousel, It’s A Small World, and Mickey’s PhilharMagic. The kids made me go on Barnstormer two times even though I’m not a fan of roller coasters. (At least it’s a short ride.) There were some technical delays with the PhilharMagic show, but we stayed until they fixed it. It was nice to rest in some air conditioning and it was worth the wait. The 3D experience was really neat. Then, we headed to Adventureland for a snack: The famous Disney World Dole Whip and Dole Whip float!
You can only get the Dole Whip at Adventureland’s Aloha Isle snack window. The verdict? Very yummy, but Annabel and I prefer the Dole Whip ice cream while Daddy and Daniel loved the float with the pineapple juice.
We spent some time in Adventureland riding Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, and walking the entire Swiss Family Treehouse (Daniel’s favorite.) The lines were getting long so we decided to head back to Main Street to get some good seats for the 3:00 PM parade and grab a quick lunch. We love the “Celebrate A Dream Come True” parade. It’s definitely one of our Magic Kingdom not-to-miss experiences.
After the parade, we took the boat back to our resort for some rest/naps and then we were back at the Magic Kingdom by 5:30 PM. We grabbed dinner at Tomorrowland’s Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe. (Annabel went bonkers for the piano playing puppet.) Daddy and Daniel rode some race cars on the Tomorrowland Speedway while Annabel and I strolled around looking at the shops. We met up at Cinderella’s Castle for dessert and the 7:30 PM “Dream Along with Mickey” show. Dessert was the famous Mickey ice cream bar (they are AWESOME) while we watched the show. The sun began to set and it was the perfect ending to the day.
Quick note: We did rent a Disney double stroller for the week. We received a week of vouchers that we could show the stroller attendant each day. It didn’t matter if we left and came back later either. And they were good for any of the Disney parks. It is expensive, so you need to budget for it. But it was worth it. Even four and five-year-olds get tired of walking and Daddy didn’t want to always have someone on his shoulders.
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