We always like to start our vacation at Magic Kingdom. Even though we had squeezed in a visit to Animal Kingdom the night before, we were up early and ready to hit Magic Kingdom for the opening. The opening at any park is always a special experience. Unfortunately we just missed most of the opening ceremony at MK, arriving just as the train was leaving the Main Street station. We didn't mind—we caught the first show on the castle main stage at 9:30 instead. All of the princesses, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, even Malificent, make an appearance. It ends with fireworks (hard to see in the daytime though) above the castle. It's a must see at least once in every vacation.
We were ready for 'Dollies'! That is It's a Small World—Casey's favorite ride in all the parks, so we headed up to Fantasy Land and rode all of our favorites. We always get Fast Passes for Peter Pan's Flight since they usually are for within the hour, and the line-up can talk 30 minutes or more on its own.
We headed over to Mickey's Toontown Fair and tried to line-up to meet Tinkerbell. The sign outside said the wait was 75 minutes from this point—no thank you! I know a lot of people braved that line-up, but Casey wasn't as interested in meeting Tinkerbell as she was in getting on Goofy's Barnstormer—we have a real thrill rider in the making!
We had an early lunch at Peco's Bills Café around 11:30. We have learned the hard way that if you wait until 12:00 or later, you will have a long wait to get your food, and seating can be problematic, especially when you have a small child and are trying to juggle a tray full of drinks! The atmosphere was really nice here and it was the first time we had eaten here.
Later we headed over to Tomorrowland to pick up fast passes for Buzz Lightyear. Then we went down to AdventureLand to get on Pirates of the Caribbean. Just outside we saw a pirate setting up to do some sort of show. We had seen him packing up during our last trip, and didn't pay much attention to it. This time we stopped and watched for a while, and then he called out for Captain Jack Sparrow to join him. What a treat! This show was really great for the kids. Captain Jack called up 4 children to be his special pirate apprentices and had each of them enact a small scene with him. Then he got all of the kids to form a circle and made them all honorary Pirate Apprentices. Casey was delighted!
We headed straight to Pirates of the Caribbean afterwards. This ride seems like it has a long line, but it is constantly moving. It's another of our favorites.
We had dinner reservations at 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian Resort at 4:30. This resort if just a short monorail ride away from MK, but we had planned on heading back to Caribbean Beach to rest and clean up, before coming back to MK that night. We were having too much fun that day though, and decided to just push through. We walked back up to Fantasyland and stumbled upon Celebrate! A Dream Come True Parade. This was a nice treat as you get to see the characters in their true outfits, unlike SpectroMagic (which is still my fav by far).
We rode a few more rides, and headed back to Tomorrowland to use our fast passes for Buzz, but the fast pass line was at least an hour long! I have never seen this happen before (other than at Toy Story Mania in Hollywood Studios where you will always have a long wait). We decided to just skip this ride as we were coming back to MK at least 2 more times during this trip.
Finally we took the monorail to the Grand Floridian Resort. What an elegant property! It seemed targeted towards an older age group, but even families with young children will appreciate the little touches for kids set among the opulence.
1900 Park Fare—Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner is a character meal featuring Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine (the Wicked Stepmother), and Anastasia and Drisella (the Wicked Stepsisters). We had our picture taken outside, which they brought to our table while we were dining. We had the option of paying for this picture, or simply refusing. Normally I prefer the meals where the picture is included (like at Princess Storybook Dining at The Royal Akerhaus Banquet Hall in EPCOT), but this was a really nice picture, so we opted to purchase it.
The dining is buffet style, and available for 1 Table Service credit on the dining plan, or at a cost of $38.33/adult and $19.16/child. The food was fine, but I wasn't overly impressed. We were seated in a small room off of the mail dining hall, so this dampened the experience for me. We were the second group to be seated, so I initially felt it unfair that they would seat these tables first; however, this is likely due to seating a party of 3, and the order in which you make your advance dining reservations.
The character interactions were amazing—Drisella was one of the best I have seen! Prince Charming and Cinderella were standard, but Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, and Drisella were hilarious. Very in character. In particular, I walked by a table where Drisella was visiting, and overheard her ask, "Are there any eligible bachelors here?" A young boy, about 7 or 8, said, "Me!" Drisella looked him up and down, and then said dryly, "Are you wealthy?" Very fun!
We took the monorail back to MK, and then the bus to Caribbean Beach. Later, we sat on the beach outside Jamaica, building a sand castle and watching the very top of the fireworks show from EPCOT. I had heard that you could watch the fireworks from the beach, but it doesn't beat seeing them in person—more on that on Day 5!
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