Using hotel points, we spent the night half way to break up the drive (total drive is about 7 hours). We arrived in WDW on Monday afternoon and checked into Port Orleans Riverside. I chose this hotel, a "moderate" resort in Disney terms, after reading reviews and wanting something mid-priced.
The resort is modeled after the antebellum south along the Mississippi and has two areas with guest rooms: Alligator Bayou and Magnolia Bend. We stayed in the latter, the rooms in southern plantation-style mansions. When I saw the look of the "royal guest rooms" online for just a little extra, it sealed the deal. These royal rooms are decorated in a fancy, New Orleans style and feature Princess Tiana (from The Princess and the Frog), one of our favorites.
We scheduled an earlier dinner at 'Ohana, a fun restaurant at the Polynesian resort.
The atmosphere is great and the food was delicious. The waiters bring you a big bowl of salad, rolls, and sides and then come around with chicken and steak on big skewers. We ate until we could eat no more, then had dessert, a yummy bread pudding. ;)
{Joseph does not like the flash.} Towards the end of our meal, the man playing the ukulele came around to our table and Joseph was fascinated - both with his wireless mic and the instrument. He also taught the kids how to do the "hang loose" hand sign. Hannah met a friend, too, a boy about her age traveling with his mom. By the end of the night, he gave his Pirates of the Caribbean swords to Hannah and Joseph. This family lives in Macon, not far from us, and we also drew connections to several mutual friends. Small world.
When we got back to our room, we gave the kids surprises: Mickey shirts to wear the next day, Minnie ears for Hannah and Mickey ears for Joseph. I bought these "extras" months ago and included them in our Christmas spending budget, buying a Mickey shirt for Joe and Minnie ears for me as well. Disney, as you know, can get super expensive, super fast!
One of the highlights for Joseph was definitely the transportation system. The buses, the monorail, you name it. Each morning we found ourselves at our bus stop having to wait no more than a couple minutes. We had heard about transportation taking a lot of time and needing to allow plenty of margin in getting from the park to the resorts, but we did not have that problem. I think one day at Hollywood Studios, and one night upon leaving Magic Kingdom, did we have to wait longer that a few minutes. It was really pretty easy.
We spent our first full day in the Magic Kingdom. We arrived before the "rope drop" or gate opening at 9am to watch the welcome show. It's short but very cute and the kids loved it. Mickey and friends come in on a choo choo. {Joseph talked about that train for the rest of the day.} A bunch of cast members wave and dance, including one of our favorites: Mary Poppins!
As soon as the show ends, the gates are opened and everyone rushes into the park. We went straight to the stroller rental, which, by the way, was one of the best decisions we made. A double stroller for two smallish children was a necessity.
Just inside, after we got the stroller, Minnie came out into the circle in Town Square. We could not believe our luck, there were maybe 3 or 4 people in line in front of us. Hannah was thrilled!
After grabbing breakfast (and coffee!) at Starbucks on Main Street, we got to visit Merida in Fairytale Garden and Ariel in her grotto without too much of a wait. Hannah made fast friends with other little girls in line and, in the case of Ariel, we were right behind a dad that does triathlons. Perfect!
First close up of the Castle! {The crane was taking down the lights from Christmas and it was gone after this first day. Go away, crane truck, you're ruining our view!} Still so magical though...
The kids had not seen Brave and did not know much about Merida (they now have). She was good with a bow, though, which they thought was pretty cool. There is a big stone table in the garden with crayons and paper; Joseph drew a treasure map.
Ariel was awesome. She was so in character - as they all are - and so much fun, playing and giggling with the kids. She taught them how to act like jelly fish, talked about Joseph being a shark, and studied his treasure map. They loved her.
Then it was time for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Joseph was not too sure about it, but the rest of us enjoyed it immensely. We had a FastPass and glad we did; the wait was really long most of the day. FastPasses allow you to wait in a much shorter line but you only get three of these per day.
We hit the Tomorrowland Speedway, Enchanted Tales with Belle (super sweet interactive time with Hannah's favorite princess), Peter Pan's Flight and It's a Small World all before lunch. Remember Joseph and the transportation? Well, he was fascinated with the attractions and how they worked. In fact, on the rides, he was more concerned with how the various "cars" operated than what he saw on the ride (the boats at Small World, for example).
After Amanda's suggestion at Dixie Delights, a blog I follow, we had Friar's Nook for lunch. She was right, the pot roast mac and cheese is amazing. The bbq option was yummy, too. We ate it up and then went right over to Gaston's Tavern for one of their famous cinnamon rolls (they're huge = we shared!). Wow. So good.
Gaston was out front but the line closed before we could get there. That's ok, Hannah was trying to get her daddy to show Gaston a thing or two. Hard to explain to these youngins why you would want to meet the villains, and even harder - why they won't do anything bad. They do in the movies! And if the princesses are real...you know how it goes.
Anyway, the cinnamon rolls lived right up to the hype.
Next up was Dumbo the Flying Elephant. This ride was rather calm, and way more Joseph's speed. The little controllers go up and down and he loved to be in charge of that while riding with Joe. I thought the actual wait was neat. You go inside to a Dumbo circus-style play place.
Leaving Fantasyland, we caught the Festival of Fantasy parade on our way to ride Space Mountain with our third and final FastPass of the day. We were looking right into the sun (Joseph's archenemy) and were further back in the crowd so it wasn't ideal but still, a little excitement on our way to Tomorrowland.
We went into the Lilo and Stitch ride, "Stitch's Great Escape" and that was not a good move. I had no idea what it was, but it's a sci-fi show. You go in a theater style space and sit with overhead restraints holding you down as special effects surround you. It gets really dark and is rather long. I didn't enjoy it myself. Joe got separated from us and went in on his own after we did. He sat on the front row and got "spit" on by the robotic Stitch. This was Joseph the whole time:
I felt so bad for him and couldn't comfort him. I just kept telling him it was okay and would be over soon.
Since we knew Joseph would not want to ride Space Mountain, I went first with Hannah and then we got what is called a "rider switch" and Joe rode it with Hannah, all of us getting to go through the FP+ line. We did this with most all of the roller coasters, giving us one on one time with each child. It really worked out well and everyone was happy. While Joe and Hannah were taking their turn in space, Joseph and I went for another spin around the track.
Of course we had to ride the teacups, or Mad Tea Party as it is properly called (I didn't know that). Joe spun us around as fast as he could. Hmmm hmm. And, after a ride on the carousel and a photo op with the Sword in the Stone, it was time for Hannah's appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.
This was such an exciting part of the trip and the perfect end to our first day ever in the Magic Kingdom. The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique came highly recommended, and while I debated it at first, I was so glad I got one of the last available appointments when I called a few weeks before our trip.
The Boutique is located inside Cinderella's Castle. Upon arrival, Hannah was ushered into a dressing room where she changed into her Belle dress - the costume she picked to bring for this special occasion. When it was her turn, she was introduced to her Fairy Godmother-in-training, Carolyn. We watched as Hannah was getting all dolled up.
She got her hair done, nails painted and makeup. She was in princess heaven! The cast members were very friendly and Carolyn answered all of Hannah's many questions, including how many years they had been in training and when would they get to become a real fairy godmother. It was cute.
Fairy dust for lots of sparkle!
She was told to make a wish under her fairy dusting. It was so sweet when she told her Fairy Godmother-in-training that her wish was that she (Carolyn) would get to be a real fairy godmother. Our child wishing that someone else's wish would come true. So like my baby girl.
She asked to wear her Belle tiara. The Mickey barrette was a surprise. Even Joseph got some fairy dust!
We fled the castle and made our way through the parade crowd and out of Magic Kingdom. A monorail ride took us right to The Contemporary resort where we had dinner reservations at California Grill.
The restaurant is at the top of the hotel and overlooks the MK. When it comes time for the fireworks display, they dim the lights and pipe the music in. We sat right there at our table beside the window and took it all in. A magical evening indeed! During the "Wishes" fireworks show, we are told to make wishes. Joseph wished "to be a police officer." Hannah wished to "go to heaven one day, to be with God." Again, my Monkey's sweet heart melted mine.
Our first day in Disney was non-stop and so much fun...and we were exhausted when we boarded the bus back to our hotel.
