Magic Kingdom 2014

I feel like my posts of late have been more pictures than stories. But I'm doing a lot of photography lately and loving every minute. So I guess the blog reflects that. And pictures do tell stories. Plus, I am documenting our family memories, and this is my way of doing it.

If you didn't know, we love Disney World! Davey and I even went before we had kids because it's the happiest place on earth, didn't ya know? Since she was a newborn, I have looked forward to the moment when Lailey was old enough to go (and appreciate it). Now that the kids both love Disney movies and characters, we knew it would be a perfect time to make the trip while we were already staying in Florida on our family vacation. Davey had been mentioning it for months, but I wasn't ready to spend quite that much. Then the deciding factor happened: we realized that this would be the last summer that Maddox got in for free. Now we "have" to go, right? Well, we did.

Sleepy heads ready to go, bright and early

Since we stay on the coast, the trip is about an hour and a half drive to Orlando. This means we get up when it's still dark, wake our very sleepy kids and load them in the car. I had hoped they would go back to sleep, but it didn't work.

Baby Mickey came along

Almost asleep

The beginning of a gorgeous - and ridiculously hot - day

We started the day by heading to the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride. Maddox was too short to ride, so Lailey and Davey got in the 60 min. line to wait while he and I walked around Fantasyland to find something else to do when we came across the Sword in the Stone. 

Now, if you know anything about Maddox, you know he loves swords. LOVES swords. He plays with them all day, makes anything he can into a sword when he doesn't have his toy ones, and even sleeps with them. I'm not even joking. He likes the Sword in the Stone movie ('cause it has a cool sword in it of course), so I thought this would be a fun thing for him to do (and a picture moment for me).

"It won't come out!"

Look at that face of determination in the last picture! He was serious. So serious in fact, that bystanders were smiling and laughing at how hard he was trying. He was up there longer than most kids when I had an "uh-oh" moment. I gently took him down to let other kids have a turn. He didn't have a melt down, but just kept saying "It won't come out!" and "It was stuck!" Had I known he would have gotten so irritated and frustrated I would have prepared him way ahead of time about it not coming out!

I was hoping a change of scenery would help...

But no. He wouldn't smile at all. I felt so bad for him! 

Some good distraction came from a little sideshow where they called up various people to attempt to pull the sword, and I found out there's a hidden button that a cast member will push to raise the sword about a foot if you ask them. On our next trip (if he's still into swords then) we'll have a long talk about this and I'll find someone to push that button. Oh well. You can't anticipate every problem in life.

Watching the funny actors

 Since the line for the Mine Train was quite long, Maddox and I had time to go to Winnie the Pooh as well. Maddox was still not super happy, but a cast member gave him a lanyard with a card on it (helps them time the lines) and he enjoyed twirling it around. Another favorite pastime besides swords.

In Pooh's house with the honey pots

"knock knock"

By the time we finished Pooh, Davey and Lailey met us in line for a second ride so we could all go together.

I have wanted to eat at "Be Our Guest" for a long time, but the wait time has always stopped us. Thanks to advice from Julie, my sister-in-law, we got there at 10:45...and there was NO WAIT! The cast members said that's very unusual, but we were very excited about the chance to see this amazing restaurant/castle. There were suits of armor, stained glass windows, and some kind of red rose device that they give you to know where to bring your food. We still can't figure out how this works, because you get to pick ANYWHERE in the three dining rooms to eat, and they magically bring your food out in minutes. No table number or anything. Disney magic is all I can say.

Suits of armor

Lailey holding the red rose device

Of the three choices for dining location, Lailey chose the "West Wing," which all Disney fans know is "forbidden." There was an enchanted rose, a torn painting of the prince just like the movie, and it was very dark. Lighting and thunder crashed dramatically from time to time, making Lailey hold on tightly to me every time. It was not the best picture opportunity, but I was more intent on eating my delicious food than taking pictures in the dark.

Beautiful stained glass

When we left the restaurant, we were amazed by how long the line had become! It stretched all the way across the bridge that leads to the restaurant.

Beast's castle is in the distance at the top of the rock

They didn't want to smile. This is all I got.

After our lunch, we headed around Fantastyland trying to get in all the rides, since that is Lailey and Maddox's favorite thing to do. It was quite hot by early afternoon, and we decided to park it in the shade and wait for awhile for the parade. It's hard to get a good spot if you wait too late, but we got the perfect vantage point.

Olaf, Anna, and Elsa!!! We weren't going to wait 4 hrs in line to see them,
but this was the next best thing.

Rapunzel on her float

Ariel, Flounder, and Sebastian

Can't see them, but Peter Pan and Wendy are up there.
The ship moved forward and backward on that rainbow

Merida from Brave on the giant bagpipes

Maleficent as the dragon - and a fire breathing one at that.
One of my favorite parts of the parade.

After the parade, we headed over to use our FastPass at Enchanted Tales with Belle. This was one of the highlights of the new Fantasyland expansion for sure. The kids got a chance to be a part of the "show," which is an interactive experience involving re-telling the story of when Belle and Beast met. At the end, she gave them each a bookmark, which was really cool!

Lumiere

Maddox watching the show and waiting for his part as "Chip" (the little teacup)

Lailey shivering as "Maurice," Belle's father. She was great!

He got really shy with Belle. It was adorable. The whole audience thought so too.

Posing for pictures afterwards.

She was really sweet and patient with Maddox.

I think he was telling her where his mom and dad were.

A sweet reluctant smile.

I'm so glad I got pictures of this sweet moment! I know we'll treasure it forever.

By mid-afternoon, Maddox was wiped out and Lailey and I went to ride Splash Mountain for her first time. She was nervous but liked it. She wasn't so sure about riding again with Davey though. She did decide to ride it at the end of the day with him.

Another great moment of the day was watching Maddox play with all the guns and swords after the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. He was so excited! He ended up picking two for souvenirs. Then Lailey decided she'd like one too, and hey, why not? So we took 3 souvenir swords home that day. I was having so much fun taking video and watching them have a blast I didn't get any pictures.

As evidenced on his shirt, Maddox loves Buzz Lightyear too. So, the Buzz Lightyear ride was a favorite for him that day. At the end, they all had to get in jail with the evil Emperor Zurg. I went back and found the picture from 2 years ago. Maddox, a very happy easy going baby, kind of freaked out when we put him in jail! He did not want to be in there. Not this time! He smiled and posed perfectly. I think Lailey was pretending to be unhappy about jail, but her expression is priceless!

2012                                                        2014

We happened to be at the park during one of the extended hour dates, which meant the park stayed open extra late. We decided to go back and get on some of the rides we missed earlier in the day.

I think the next time we do Disney down the road, we'll save up and go two days to Magic Kingdom. I can't wait!