The Magical Magic Kingdom! part 1

Tuesday morning means Magic Kingdom!!! I am a thrill ride type of person, and most of the rides at MK don't really appeal to me that much...but even so, there is definitely something wonderful and magical about walking down Main St, seeing the Castle, and the spectacular parades and fireworks here. For our first day there, we arrived about 15 minutes before rope drop and got a great spot to watch the opening show- it was great and Maddie was thrilled to see Peter Pan ride in on the train!

 My headband was originally intended for Maddie, but it wouldn't stay on her head, lol. I got asked 3 times at MK for my age, bc I was trying to ride something with Maddie and kids under 7 have to ride with an adult...

First up was a mad dash to Enchanted Tales with Belle, the most popular attraction in the New Fantasyland, while our trusty FP runner got Peter Pan passes. After a minor communication snafu, we did end up having to wait about 15 minutes for Belle, but much better than the 45+ minute waits we saw the rest of the day. It was cute, but not worth longer than 15 minutes in my opinion!

comparing to Belle in her cottage...Belle was a shorty!

Posing with Belle after story telling...Maddie played the part of a plate, hahaha.

Next we tried to do Philharmagic, but it broke halfway through the show! We knew we'd have to come back to that one- this movie shows clips from Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, Lion King and Peter Pan...it's like they made it for Maddie- she said it was the best movie she's ever seen! So we went over to Prince Eric's castle and rode Voyage of the Little Mermaid, which was fun but nothing super special. Then it was time for the Peter Pan ride- for anyone that doesn't know, Peter Pan is the new Lion King in our house...so Maddie LOVED this ride. For some reason, this ride has really long lines all day, so we got a second fast pass to ride it again after lunch! Then we tried Philharmagic again- this time it worked all the way through and it was great.

Next was lunch at Cosmic Ray's before we headed over to the old Fantasyland rides. We got FPs for the Barnstormer and got in line for Dumbo. The wait was 25 minutes, but they have a new system where kids can play in a fun indoor playground while you wait- you get a buzzer and they buzz you when it's time for you to get on the ride! Maddie LOVED this system. The girl loves a play area and we were happy to sit down in the a/c. Dumbo was as fun as Dumbo can be, then we played in the water area a little bit before riding The Barnstormer! Maddie loved that- she is well on her way to being a full on thrill ride lover!

After loading up on cotton candy, we moved to Tomorrowland, where we got FPs for Buzz Lightyear. While waiting for our time to arrive, we went to the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor- hilarious! I could have done that several times, I thought it was really funny and enjoyable. For our last ride of the day it was Buzz Lightyear! Always fun to ride in the dark and shoot stuff.

It was about 3:00, and time to head back to the hotel for pool time and rest. We had a big night ahead! My one regret about our trip is not having more resort time- AoA was SO over the top cool and Maddie loved her time spent hanging out at the pool or playing in the elephant graveyard. There are 3 pools at AoA, two small quiet pools in the Little Mermaid and Cars sections, and The Big Blue Pool in the Finding Nemo section. It's one of Disney World's biggest pools and it's great! There's a little playground, a splash ground and the big blue pool itself. I can't believe I don't have any pictures of it, but I never took my phone to the pool! Here's a stock photo to give you an idea.

photo courtesy of Papa!

After that it was naptime for Maddie and rest time for everyone. She, of course, did NOT have any trouble falling asleep! In fact, she was downright grumpypants when it was time to wake up for a quick bath and on to our night time suprise!!! But that frown turned upside down when she found out what she was going to be wearing to that surprise...her Peter Pan outfit! 

Pan ready for her adventure!

The surprise was the Pirates and Pals Fireworks Voyage at the Contemporary Hotel. Basically, you go to the hotel, have a meet and greet with Captain Hook and Smee, enjoy a multitude of desserts, snacks and drinks, and then board a pontoon boat to view Wishes (MK fireworks) from the lake in front of the park. When Maddie found out who we would be meeting, she literally fell to the floor and started laughing and convulsing. She didn't know what to do with herself- Mads loves a good villain and Captain Hook is not only in her favorite movie Peter Pan, but also her favorite show, Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Ever since she found out she was going to WDW, she's been talking about meeting Captain Hook.

 first look at Captain Hook walking in the room!

 the only character that she was slightly nervous to walk up to- after all, she was dressed as his nemesis!

They were GREAT with her! Smee gave hugs, and CH did double takes and then challenged her to a sword fight! 

 After they were done signing autographs for everyone, Hook came back to Mads and played with her some more, trying to steal her popsicle. It was so great- easily the best time of our trip!

We boarded our ship, and while we were making our way to Magic Kingdom, we got to see the Electrical Water Parade up close! That was pretty neat. The pirate in charge of our ship was our entertainment, and he was VERY entertaining! And the view of the fireworks (they piped in the music and narration into the boat) was seriously awesome. We were able to see the whole show so well, but the fireworks weren't too loud and no crowds to deal with! 

On the way back to the Contemporary, there was lots of pirate trivia- mostly questions from Peter Pan, and I couldn't believe how many answers Maddie knew! As we pulled back into the dock- there was a special surprise waiting for us.....Peter Pan himself! A nice cast member back at the dessert party had told us (after seeing Maddie's love for all things Peter Pan) to get in line quickly to see PP, bc it could back up and it was already VERY late (fireworks started at 10!). So we booked it off the boat and up to the meet and greet area, and only had to wait maybe 5 minutes.

Peter Pan was great! Maddie especially loved him because he's a face character, so he could talk to her :).  He loved her costume, and taught her how to stand like Peter Pan and then gave her a lesson on how to crow like Peter Pan!  He even wrote her some messages on his autograph page. I've never seen a girl smile so much as she did that night! There were many declarations of Disney World being the best place in the world. Meeting her hero, her favorite villain, eating cotton candy and pineapple popsicles, flying back to the car- how could a night possibly be any better?!?!

Tomorrow- sleeping in (woohoo!) and then more Magic Kingdom!