Magic Kingdom was, well, magical.
Especially since we got there before the park opened and got to see the train roll into the Main Street USA station. Being the goober that I am, I got all teary eyed with sentiment and excitement before we even went through the gates.
We went straight to the back of the park to enjoy Fantasyland first. I read several "inside tips" that suggested starting in the back of each park, and I really do think we avoided crowds this way. We walked right on to Cinderella's Carousel. Hannah even got to ride Cinderella's very own horse! (It is the only horse with a golden ribbon on its tail- another insider tip I discovered, which was confirmed by the Cast Member working the ride who showed us right to it.)
Little Sister screamed when I tried to get her to sit on the horse with me. She fussed until the ride began. Then she started fussing when it ended: "I ride ponies!" But then we showed her our next destination, and she started saying "I ride elephants."
This is a terrible picture of me, but I made the sacrifice of sharing it to commemorate Little Sister's favorite ride. After this, all she wanted to do was "ride Dumbo."
We rode Peter Pan and then headed to ToonTown. We missed the "ribbon cutting" (I'm still not sure what that entailed) but got there right after it opened so we didn't have to wait long to see Big Sister's favorites: The Fairies of Pixie Hollow.
I was actually very impressed with how they did this, since fairies are roughly five inches tall. But as we got nearer to the characters, the objects on the walls around us seemed to be getting bigger & bigger. We were shrinking to Fairy size! Then we rounded a corner and were met by TinkerBell's friend Fawn.
Little Sister was not interested in Fawn or in being in the picture. But Big Sister was very excited! Especially to see the next Fairy, Tink herself.
The last fairy in Pixie Hollow that day was Tinkerbell's best friend, Terrence. I don't think Big Sis was as excited to see him at first (her favorite fairy, Silvermist, was not there). But he was possibly the most friendly and fun fairy of them all. When Little Sis started bouncing, he yelled, "Look out, Tink! She's going to take off!" which prompted Tinkerbell to remind us that Mickey said Magic Kingdom was a no-fly-zone. Then Terrence showed Big Sis how to use her fairy wings, too.
Big Sister rode the Barnstormer twice with Daddy; she loved her first "real" roller coaster. But she still wasn't ready to put her hands in the air, Daddy.
We left Toontown to see someone else before the lines got too long. Nope, not these guys. The girls just wanted to keep on going.
Even though we'd seen Ariel with legs at lunch the other day, Big Sister really wanted to visit her grotto. While we waited, the girls played in the little splash area, even though it was probably only 50 degrees with wind. After they took a picture with Ariel, Big Sister reached into the pocket of her Minnie jacket and pulled out a little white seashell. At first we thought she was just going to show it off, but then she gave her treasure to Ariel to keep. It was very generous and very precious.
At the Grotto we met up with some other people too, Penny & Nicci! They "Gave a Day" to get to come to the Magic Kingdom for Penny's birthday. We loved sharing the day with them and hope they had a good time enjoying everything through our girls' eyes, too.
Also, they did most of the heavy lifting for us because by the third day of Little Sister refusing to ride in her stroller (and Big Sister needing to be lifted up several times to see better) our backs were worn out!
We watched a 3D show called Philharmagic (cute!) and rode The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. I awkwardly rode it by myself because of how the lines divided up. I was worried I might miss some cute reactions from Little Sister (she sleeps with Eeyore every night) but Penny said she was more concerned with the Baby Wipe she was carrying around.
We were heading out after lunch when we passed the castle and saw the last part of a great show featuring the princesses & princes, Mickey & Minnie, Captain Hook, Peter Pan, Malificent, and more.
And then we settled in for the parade. At this point, my camera battery was on its last leg. My Mom & Dad didn't have their camera, although Dad did run and buy a disposable. Penny & Nicci were cameraless. Big Sister only had a few shots left on the disposable we bought for her to record her own memories of the trip. After these few photos...
... we couldn't document anything else. I'm hoping there are some fun pictures to show for the rest of the day. So we can remember how cute the girls looked in their Mouse ears- and how Nicci had to run down the parade route with them just before everything got started. Thanks again ladies!
I hope someone got a picture of the girls riding the Carousel and Dumbo again- this time with Penny & Nicci. Little Sis got them with her "Iiiii ride ponies."
Then we all rode "It's a Small World" (okay, not all, my dad refused to ride it because he remembered having the song stuck in his head for days the last time he got on it) and headed for a treat. I'm really hoping that when we develop the film we have some pictures of how ridiculous we all looked covered in sugar after devouring three+ funnel cakes.
I do not, however, want a picture to remember my daughter's meltdown when the sugar came crashing down. But the trip to Tom Sawyer's island afterwards was sweet and calm. Then we found Aladdin's carpets, but Big Sister's favorite princess Jasmine was nowhere to be seen. Little Sis didn't want to get off of the carpets, but when we told her we were riding the choo-choo, things were looking up.
We rode all around the park, from Frontierland through Toontown and into Main Street USA. By then the sun was setting and it was FREEZING! We found a seat (outside, unfortunately) and had dinner. Thankfully we picked a restaurant that had chili and hot chocolate. And a table with a perfect view for the Fireworks.
We were dreafully cold, but the colorful lights on the castle (Little Sister caught them changing one time and said, "Oh! I saw it! Blue!") and the spectacular fireworks really were... well... magical. And like many of the magic moments in my life, there are no pictures to capture the moment. To remember the magic.
But it's okay. We'll not soon forget it.
It's not like a picture could ever really do it justice, anyway.
