Magic Kingdom {Vacay Day 2}

Meeting Mickey in the Magic Kingdom
We kicked off the second day of our vacation at the Magic Kingdom.  You can read about the first day at Universal Islands of Adventure here.  And just in case you are not familiar…Magic Kingdom is a Disney park and Islands of Adventure is not.  They are owned by different companies and multi-day tickets are not interchangeable between the two parks.
Magic Kingdom at Christmas

So my plan was to be at the Magic Kingdom at “Rope Drop” and see the characters come in on the train and do their little song and dance and rush to meet Anna and Elsa first thing since I could not get a Fastpass+ to meet them.  Well…you know how those plans go.  We were a little slow in leaving the house and it took us longer to get there than we thought and missed rope drop.  Even when we got to the Magic Kingdom at 9:20 (it opened at 9am) the line to meet Anna and Elsa was already over an hour and half long.  So we scrapped that idea.  We went ahead and got our autograph books though.

Getting Pixie Dust at the Magic Kingdom
The cast member in the shop where we bought the autograph books gave both girls pixie dust.  It must have been the real deal because both girls still had glitter in their hair 4 days later after multiple baths and trips to the swimming pool.
And just for the record books I was 24 weeks pregnant with baby #3 during this trip.  (This is probably the only picture of me you will see as I’m normally the one behind the camera.)
Preggo at the Magic Kingdom
Both of my girls got Princess dresses from Santa.  Avery got Aurora but she decided that she didn’t want to wear it to the parks and McKenna did.  I was afraid she would have a melt down when she got there and saw all the other girls in their dresses but she didn’t seem to mind at all.  It wasn’t worth fussing over it with her even though I would have loved some cute pictures of both of them in their dresses.

We caught back up with the rest of our crew and made use of the shorter wait times.  In my experience, the lines are the shortest right after the parks open and right before closing.  We sailed through It’s A Small World.

All smiles at the Magic Kingdom
And the Haunted Mansion…This was McKenna’s first time riding (she’s scared of her own shadow).  She really wasn’t a fan but at least she gave it a try.
Waiting for the Haunted Mansion at the Magic Kingdom

Leave it to Averycakes…

Haunted Mansion at the Magic Kingdom
In the stocks at the Magic Kingdom

We headed through Frontierland and met Chip and Dale.

Meeting Chip N Dale at the Magic Kingdom

The wait time on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride was pretty short on the My Disney Experience app but by the time we got there it had shot up to 25 minutes.  We decided to wait anyway since we were already there.

This is what waiting in line with 3 small children looks like…

 

Waiting for the Pirates of the Caribbean at the Magic Kingdom
After the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, the park was really starting to get crowded.  Unknowingly, we had picked a bad day to visit the Magic Kingdom.  They even ended up keeping the park open an extra hour and adding an extra Electrical Light parade that night because attendance was so much higher than they expected for the day.

I was so glad we had these strong men with us to push the strollers.  They were a life saver to my sister (also pregnant) and me.

Stroller Brigade at the Magic Kingdom
We crossed back through the park to use our Voyage of the Little Mermaid Fastpasses.

 

Ariel ride at the Magic Kingdom
This ride is one of my girls’ favorites!

 

Little Mermaid Ride at the Magic Kingdom

We had planned to do quick service lunch at the Beast’s Castle but they were all full when we got there.  You couldn’t even wait in line…so we decided to have popsicles instead and try the Beast’s Castle later on.  (They never opened the line back up though.)

Ice cream at the Magic Kingdom
Then it was time to use our next Fastpass for Enchanted Tales with Belle.  This is Avery’s favorite. attraction. EVER.  She begs all day to go back on the “Belle ride.”  This time she got to be the Beast and I got most of the show on video.  It was pretty long but here is the end when she got to dance with Belle and take a bow.  (McKenna was Mrs. Potts this time.)

 

Then the girls wanted to meet Ariel in her Grotto…so we braved the 45 minute wait.  That was pretty painful but the girls loved seeing Ariel “in her mermaid tail.”

Meeting Ariel at the Magic Kingdom
Prego Mama was struggling after standing in line for 45 minutes though (and we still hadn’t eaten a real meal for lunch).  I found a seat while Chad and the girls caught the show in front of the Castle from a side angle.  If you really want to see the show and want a great spot you need to be there at least 30 minutes ahead of time on a busy day.

 

Watching the show at the Magic Kingdom

 

Show in front of the palace at the Magic Kingdom
We had never seen the Festival of Fantasy parade and I had that on our must-do list.  They rope off 1/2 of the walk-way on both sides of Main Street for people to stake our their spot for the parade.  People start holding prime parade viewing spots up to an hour before parade time.  We found a little niche in the store front to park the stroller and watch.  Avery watched most of the parade from Chad’s shoulders and McKenna stood in the stroller and they could see it all.

 

Waiting for the Parade at the Magic Kingdom

 

Beauty and the Beast in the parade at the Magic Kingdom

 

Anna and Elsa in the Magic Kingdom

I think they were both enjoying the parade…what do you think?

Parade at the Magic Kingdom

 

Ariel's float in the Magic Kingdom

 

Peter and Wendy at the Magic Kingdom

After the parade the park was so crowded that we decided to head back to the house for a few hours and rest.

Monorail to the Magic Kingdom

After a rest and dinner at home we changed clothes and headed back to the Magic Kingdom.

Outfits for the Magic Kingdom
We met Mickey…

 

Meeting Mickey in the Magic Kingdom
Meeting Mickey for the first time at the Magic Kingdom!
How cute is Tyler’s Woody outfit?  He got so much attention in the parks due to his little outfit. (It’s actually a pajama set from the Disney Store Outlet.)

 

Squeezing Mickey's nose at the Magic Kingdom

We also met Tinkerbelle (she’s moved her house to the Main Street theatre where Mickey is)…

Waiting to meet Tink at the Magic Kingdom

 

Meeting Tink at the Magic Kingdom

Making silly faces with Tinkerbelle…

Meeting Tinkerbelle at the Magic Kingdom

And we caught the end of the Electrical Light parade…definitely a must-do for everyone.

Electrical Light Parade at the Magic Kingdom

 

Dino Electrical Light Parade at the Magic Kingdom

 

Christmas Castle at the Magic Kingdom

The wait times were finally at a decent level so we hit as many rides as we could before the park closed.  I couldn’t ride the Tomorrowland Speedway so Chad did a Rider Swap with the girls.  Avery drove the first round.  Then McKenna got to drive in the same car!

Driving at the Magic Kingdom
(I watched from the Grand stand.)

 

Roadsters at the Magic Kingdom

By this time, it was 45 minutes until the park closed and meeting Anna and Elsa had a 45 minute wait.  I had checked the wait time all day and that was shortest I saw.  I saw the wait get as high as 210 minutes during the day we were there.

Okay.  So I took this picture while we were standing in line waiting to meet Anna and Elsa.  Do you notice anything weird?

Waiting to meet Anna and Elsa at the Magic Kingdom

Where are all the children???  There were not many.  I’d estimate there were probably 8 adults for every child in line.  I don’t get it.  I like Anna and Elsa…but you can bet I wouldn’t have been waiting in line to meet them for 45 minutes were it not for my two little princesses who had dreamed of meeting them.

Meeting Elsa at the Magic Kingdom

 

Meeting Anna at the Magic Kingdom

By the time we actually got through the line, it was 30 minutes past closing time but was still full of people.

The castle at the Magic Kingdom at Christmas

I snapped these pictures of the back and front of the castle on our way out.

Iced out Castle at the Magic Kingdom

When we made it back to the entrance…two of the three children were fast asleep.

Worn out after a day at the Magic Kingdom

We had a great day but I think I pushed myself too hard.  I was already sick and by the end of the night I felt like I had swallowed 12 razor blades and could barely walk.  I wasn’t in that great of shape to begin with and being pregnant and walking 15 miles through the park was a little more than I could handle.  The next day, I spent the 1/2 of Day 3 in Urgent Care begging for an antibiotic.  True story.

You can read about the other days we’ve spent in the Magic Kingdom here.

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